With Christmas just a couple of weeks away time is quickly running out to get all your shopping done. Personally I leave it until Christmas Eve, but so it seems does almost everyone else, as the shops are always bursting with frantic customers desperately fighting over the last Power Ranger (or whatever) toy for their kid. This is where ordering online can be a good idea but this still raises the problem of items not arriving on time so if that is your avenue then it’s a good idea to get ordering early to be sure that everything is ready in time to be placed under the tree.

Anyway, for anyone thinking of getting someone a new phone this Christmas I have decided to try and help by giving a rundown on some of the best touchscreen phones on the market at the moment. Some of these are newly released but some have been around for a while, but either way they are all virtually guaranteed to put a smile on someone’s face this Christmas.

HTC HD2

Following on from the success of the highly popular HTC Hero, Taiwanese phone maker HTC has gone one better with their latest phone the HD2. While at one point in the not too distant past the little island of Formosa had a reputation for producing shoddy merchandise, the likes of the HTC HD2 should certainly put those accusations to rest. This Windows Mobile handset boasts a staggering 4.3″ high quality touchscreen and superfast 1GHz Snapdragon processor that sets it apart from its heroic predecessor as one of the fastest and cinematic touchscreen phones on the market today.

Nokia N97 Mini

Earlier this year saw the release of the N97 from Nokia, and then some months later the Finnish company decided, for some reason, to produce a slightly smaller version: the N97 Mini. Whatever their exact reasoning was we are most certainly grateful. If you have considered buying the N97 then the N97 Mini is well worth your consideration, with all the same appeal and functionality but with a much more ergonomic feel to it. The QWERTY keypad of the N97 Mini is ideal for whacking out long messages or emails and makes this an ideal touchscreen for the more professionally oriented phone owner.

Sony Ericsson Satio

For all the photography enthusiasts out there the phone of choice has to be the Satio from Sony Ericsson. This phone boasts an impressive 12 megapixel camera with a wealth of features including geo-tagging, smile detection, touch focus and the highest quality xenon flash. Although this is its main selling point there is more to the Satio than its camera however, with a wealth of other entertainment features and a very pristine 3.5″ TFT display.

LG BL40 Chocolate

There are two new Chocolate phones from LG making their way onto the shelves this season, but the one that stands out this Christmas is the BL40 for its unique entertainment features. This handset is for the movie lovers and all those phone owners who love watching videos on their phones, as the BL40 is the only handset to boast a 21:9 widescreen screen resolution. This means that all those widescreen films you have amassed over the last few years will now be displayed in all their glory on your very own phone. No more black bars and eye squinting for owners of the BL40. While having one of the highest quality displays to be found on a phone today the Chocolate does not fall short in other areas either, with high speed HSDPA connectivity and a very nice 5 megapixel camera into the bargain.

Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB

Although the original iPhone was released a few years ago now, the Apple handset is still one of the most popular touchscreen phones doing the rounds. New iterations have seen an improvement on the original however, with the latest version having much more memory and a far speedier interface. All this while still retaining all the features that have made the Apple phone so popular, including the exceptional media player, first class web browsing experience and of course that famous app store that has a downloadable application for just about every endeavour you could wish to perform on your phone, and lots of useless (but quite amusing) ones also.

LG GD510 POP

Falling into the more affordable range of touchscreens the LG Pop follows in the footsteps of the highly successful LG Cookie and Samsung Tocco Lite. These phones were designed to bring the touchscreen craze to a wider audience by placing the technological revolution into more affordable handsets, but neither company were quite prepared for just how popular they would become. These two phones have been some of the best selling handsets for their respective manufacturers and two of the most popular phones released in the last few years. The LG Pop follows on where the Cookie left off, providing all of the fun of a touch screen phone without any of the extra baggage that makes them cost the earth.

So here are some ideas for you to consider if you were thinking of purchasing a certain someone a new phone for xmas. There are many other great phones being released at this time and in the coming year, but there are too many to mention them all by name. For now however, these should provide some ideas for presents if you are struggling to think what to get for little cousin Timmy, or even if you just felt like treating yourself this festive season.

It was pretty busy week last week in the Mobile phones arena as a series of brand new mobile devices were released to the fold, some rumours were confirmed while others were dispelled. Not forgetting the series of new application launched for mobile devices varying from Android to Windows Mobile e.tc. There were also firmware updates for carious Operating system.

Notable amongst the list of mobile phones launched was the highly anticipated Samsung Omnia II which is scheduled for a release with Verizon on December 2. We also received information about the HTC Touch Pro2 which was slated to be released with the US cellular. Also not forgetting AT&T, who introduced a brand new Windows based 6.5 mobile device which is the HP iPAQ Glisten although formerly called Obsidian.

Another Windows Mobile Powered device was showcased last week. i.e. the HTC HD2 which was released to a couple of European and Asian markets including but not limited to O2 UK, T-Mobile Germany, CSL limited in Hong Kong & T-Mobile UK. Another mobile device was also announced to be released in Poland. Also worthy of note is the fact that the HD2 is acclaimed as the best thing that has ever happened to Windows Mobile in the whole year although it is flawed with some camera issues that could be fixed though.

There were also a variety of devices released last week, some of which are the Dell Mini 3i which debuted on China Mobile, BlackBerry Bold 2 launched with AT&T in the United States, also Telstra was released in Australia and Nokia N86 was showcased in selected markets across the world. Not forgetting the Motorola Milestone with Android 2.0 Operating system which was available for pre-order in the UK. Nokia also unleashed two new devices to the mobile market which are the Nokia 6700 slide and Nokia 7230.

The HTC HD2 is now out and this Snapdragon powered mobile phone will be running WinMo. Yes, you heard that right; the HTC HD2 uses the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, but on top of this infamous operating system will be the proprietary HTC Sense interface that makes operating the whole phone a whole lot easier.

In this way, the HD2 is able to have all the great and useful features found in Windows Mobile, without having to endure the often-critiqued WinMo interface. Of course, that is not best part of it all, the real showcase in this device is its glorious touch screen display.

Fancy Hardware

The 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor takes a second stage in this mobile phone as the HD2 showcases its’ amazing 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen display. With a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and amazing brightness, the only things missing from this screen are multi-touch capabilities (no confirmation on the official spec sheet, but reports show that there is multi touch on some HTC apps, but not natively within WinMo 6.5).

The processor-interface-screen combo delivers a smooth mobile experience thanks to accurate and responsive controls. The 1230 mAh battery provides the phone with long lasting power for at least 6 hours of talk time and over 400 hours of standby time.

Availability

For those of you who have been waiting for this device back when it was still called the HTC Leo and HTC Touch 2, good news! The HTC HD2 is now available on the market. Those who prefer to get on a contract may want to check out some HTC HD2 deals for free plans (good for two years or eighteen months, there are also other plans available). Still, anyone who prefers to be without a monthly fee is better off on retail. Those who are eagerly awaiting a non-WinMo phone should wait for the upcoming HTC Hero instead of the HD2.