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.

No internet meme will ever generate enough love for full touch screen phones (there is not a single one by the way). But it’s enough of a novelty that I wonder why no one takes a moment to poke fun at it. I do love LG, with their recent releases; I am not surprised that they are the 3rd largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. Still, nothing about a full touch screen phone impresses me. There is always need for buttons. Even if touch screen had texture for off-sight controls, there is so much wasted space.

Allow me to go deeper. A mobile phone is composed of six sides. Obvious, yes, but consider this, that is six potential faces for controls. The top and bottom are prime spots for placing jacks and connector ports. Sides are perfect for shortcut buttons. This is because it is so easy to reach the buttons on the sides of a phone. As for the back, well, the battery and camera usually go there. The front is usually occupied fully by a screen on most touch screen devices, but it would still have space for a couple of shortcut buttons. If you ask why shortcuts, then you have not fully maximized a touch screen phone.

The touch screen experience is composed of a series of gestures, taps and slides. There is always a series of these commands that you need to execute before getting something done. A button needs a press, nothing more. Instantly you get access to features and functions. More often than not, you can assign the shortcut itself. LG’s GD510 Pop is a cute mobile smart phone but hardly impressive. Any phone that chooses style over function needs a serious re-design. Too bad this one phone is already out on production.

Amid a crowd of complicated touch screen mobile phones, LG has come up with something simple but attractive, the GD510 Pop. This touch screen phone has a remarkably compact and minimalist design, with only one physical button. The same button can perform different functions, which can be judged based on whether the color light in its background is either green or red. LG GD510 is just 4 inches long and 0.6 inches thick. The size of the touch screen is 3” and it is a TFT screen with 256 colors and a QVGA resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. The phone has an attractive aluminum finish, with the screen making most of the area on the front, lined by a thin bezel.

But one of the most important aspects of the GD510 is that uses solar panels on its back, which is an exemplary innovation, but this power option is secondary to the conventional charging of a standard Li-ion battery of course. Although the intent is appreciable, it remains to be seen how viable it will prove to be practically.

The phone supports, EDGE and GSM networks, but support for 3G and Wi-Fi is missing, so there is no special features the phone offers when it comes to connectivity. LG GD510 will attract the attention of people who love to listen to music on the move, and like to have a mobile phone with all the features of an MP 3 player. LG GD510 offers multimedia playback support in a variety of formats, and with the internal memory of 8 GB, thousands of music files can easily be stored on the phone. At least you won’t need an MP3 player, if you are using the LG GD510.

LG GD510 Pop is expected to be released in mid-October, and is expected to be one of the most affordable touchscreen phones with many LG GD510 Pop deals to pick from.