In a smart phone market dominated by the iPhone, Blackberry and various Android offerings, Microsoft certainly has its work cut out to stake a viable claim on the market. In this spirit, it has recently released 10 new phones running its Windows Phone 7 operating system. These phones are manufactured by a range of companies – 5 by Android specialists HTC, and others by LG, Samsung and Dell. With so many to choose from, which are the best and what are their key features?

The HTC HD7 is one of the most eagerly anticipated Windows Phone 7 phones and it boasts a 4.3inch touchscreen, up to 16GB of storage and a 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording capabilities. Overall, it’s a good phone with a decent-sized screen, although the display quality isn’t as good as it could be as it’s a little lacking in pixels. It features some good apps such as Notes and Photo Enhancer, but the build quality is a bit low compared to other HTC offerings.

The HTC Mozart is thought to be the most successful of the Microsoft phones and it certainly has the spec to suggest that this is the case: it boasts an 8 megapixel camera with Xenon flash and generally excellent picture quality. The apps are as good as they are on other HTC phones and the appearance of the phone, plus the 8GB storage capacity, are also attractive. The 3.7inch touchscreen makes it a good pocket phone and the build quality is definitely excellent.

Samsung’s Omnia 7 is another good example of a Windows Phone 7 phone. It comes with a 5 megapixel camera and the high contrast AMOLED screen blows other LCD out of the water. The loudspeaker is good, too, with barely any distortion. The apps from Samsung admittedly aren’t that brilliant, but the camera is excellent although you have to be patient with the focus. The build quality and appearance of the phone are brilliant and the layout is also excellent, with the exception of the location of the power button.

LG have also produced a Windows Phone 7 phone known as the Optimus 7Q. Overall, it’s a good phone that has good connectivity and 8GB storage capacity. The 3.5inch screen and 480 x 800 pixel resolution, plus the 5 megapixel camera are all excellent. It’s also currently the only Windows Phone 7 phone to come with both a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard. Largely, the keyboard is a good thing but it’s a little uncomfortable to use and also adds considerable bulk to the phone, which weighs it down.

Technorati Tags: , , ,