Android - how they are aking over the mobile world

In the months and years since Android arrived in the world, it has appeared in pretty much every market niche one could imagine, from 'beginner' all the way up to high-spec superphones. Let's have a gander at the best Android handsets currently available in each niche.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini

Let's kick off by taking a look at a handset for people who would like to have a smartphone, but hate the idea of a big phone or a phone that costs a lot to buy: the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini. As you should be able to guess from the phone's name, the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini is a shrunken version of the Xperia X10. Sony Ericsson have taken all the good stuff from the X10, and compressed those features down to fit into a new frame which makes the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini, considering it is a smartphone, ludicrously small. So, for customers who need a smartphone which is 'weeny' enough to squeeze into the most restricted handbags, the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini is the one to choose.

HTC Wildfire

Android is trying to take over the mid-range, too, and it's now taken up residence in the gorgeous HTC Wildfire. The Wildfire comes with the same exciting features that made its big sibling (the HTC Desire) brilliant, but puts all those good bits in a smaller, more affordable shell, that manages to remain both sleek and beautiful. Of course, being put in this mid-range shell means that the HTC Wildfire has not got the 1GHz processor of the Desire, but it still performs beautifully. It also comes with the Sense UI, installed on top of Android in the HTC Wildfire, yet again like its larger brother. Based around that logic, if you would like something which is close to the Desire when it comes to specs, but which costs a lot less, then the HTC Wildfire is the right choice.

Samsung Galaxy S

In conclusion, then, there's the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini with its super-small shell, and then there's the HTC Wildfire, the mid-range equivalent of the HTC Desire. And finally you've got the big top-ender, the Samsung Galaxy S, which has the largest screen of any of the phones on this list. Weighing in at a whopping 4 inches, it is simply gigantic, and the WVGA, 800x480 resolution means that it is incredibly easy to use the touch elements onscreen. On top of the underlying operating system, the front end interface is built around Samsung's TouchWiz UI. It is truly easy to use, and while it is definitely not as powerful as HTC's Sense UI, it (as well as the super fast 1GHz Hummingbird chip) is the big reason why the Samsung Galaxy S is such a wonderful phone to live with, day to day. But then, it's never been only about raw number-crunching, a handset has to have exciting features and the Samsung Galaxy S has a wealth of cool features, from the 5 megapixel camera, through GPS, to super fast HSDPA internet access ( and Google's brilliant WebKit browser), and that is why a large number of users say that the Galaxy S is one of the most impressive mobile phones ever.