It started small, but today cellular phones have got the interest of nearly anyone in our society. With thousands of models to choose from and hundreds of different combination of features and price, it has become really tricky to spend money properly on buying a new phone. In this article Ill go through top 10 phones based on my experience, surveys and reviews all around the globe.

#10: Nokia 6310i: Switch back to the days when people used to buy phones to use it as a phone; and still today there are plenty of people among us, who rely on solid performance of cell phones; and thats why Nokia still manufactures this 4 year old gem. Its looks and performs like an 80s muscle car. It comes with Bluetooth, IrDA, GPRS, 500 (x3 numbers) entries, Timed Profiles, 150 SMS Storage etc. But what makes it a must have is its extremely powerful Tri Band Antenna which gives you the best signal reception barely available even in the latest phones and an ultra slim Li-Ion 1050mAh battery, which has a stunning record breaking standby time of 17 days. The phone is purely meant for professionals seeking features related to a phone and staying linked to everyone no matter which part of the country or planet they travel to. The phone is very rare and uncommon, but sold widely abroad. Its price seems a bit high for a Black & White screen phone but regarding its reception and in-call performance, the price is still justified. You really cant play games, use multimedia, watch video, or control your microwave oven with it you do what you were supposed to do with a proper phone: talk without worries.

#09: Nokia 6101: Nokia 6101 evokes mysterious feelings in people. It is a middle-class phone with a brilliant equipment and attractive design can be considered as the best charm-shell phone ever produced by Nokia. This moderately priced phone provides all the basic features of a color phone with a touch of a nice VGA camera and executive looks. The phone has Nokias renowned standards for good battery life, reception quality and excellent built quality. It also features EDGE, GPRS, polyphonic ring tones, short duration video recording, IrDA etc. The lack of Bluetooth is indeed shocking for this phone. Of course, the phone has a very formal outlook, and a fresh and clean design thats rarely seen in phone these days, and could be more attractive to people who wants a nice built phone with a modest amount of extra features.

#08: Motorola MPx220: Can be considered as the best looking Windows Mobile OS powered charm-shell. Equipped with 1.3 mega pixel camera, mini-SD card support, GPRS, Bluetooth, IrDA, USB and 65k colors screen this phone can be considered the best feature rich, and nice looking charm-shell phone. The phone also features MS Pocket Outlook, Windows Media Player, Internet, E-Mail and 25 MB built-in memory. The phone also features a good battery life and reception quality. The quad-band world phone priced around $300 is a perfect tool for fashion conscious business class people.

#07: Nokia N70: The best Symbian and multimedia combined phone ever created. The N70 is among the top of the lines in features and also has an attractive look. With its 2MP camera, excellent screen, good MP3 support, this can currently be said to be the best feature rich multimedia phone available from Nokia. However, its extremely high price tag doesnt equal to the phones performance, as even being filled with features it doesnt have best in class. For example, the over size heavy N70 doesnt really boast the best in 2MP camera, neither doest it have the best sound quality in MP3 playback and sometimes irritating with some old unsolved bugs of firmware. Since Nokia is charging so much for the phone, they should have made it more perfect to justify the phone. Still in respect of overall quality, this should be the best made feature rich Nokia phone to date.

#06: Samsung X150: If a few phone calls are all thats needed, and youre on a tight budget, then this is exactly whats needed. It can be said to be the best value phone currently available on market. Groups looking for a basic phone with simple features, and trying to avoid low build quality should definitely look for this model. Priced around $80-$90 the Samsung X150 is a justified entry level phone. The received signal strength and sound quality is average, the vibration is good enough if kept in pocket, and it ads a sophisticated appearance. The phone features a nice color screen, monophonic ring-tones, SMS, calendar, voice memo, calculator support, and a simple yet nice looking design. Its a quality phone and it doesnt look low-priced. People really cant ask for more at this price range.

#05: Sony Ericsson K700: This phone is the best bargain for its price. The phone has the finest VGA camera, and a very top class display. It also features flash, 42MB of internal memory, MP3 support, GPRS, Bluetooth, IrDA, Email, tone composer, 40 channels polyphonic ring tones, extra theme support and gorgeous designer class looks. Its a small sized, fashionable phone with good features.

#04: Nokia 8910/8910i: There are some objects in this world which set a class of their own. The highly durable titanium made Nokia 8910/8910i is such a phone which is a legend itself. Undoubtedly the best looking phone ever designed is a sign of elegance and pure passion. The phone is still rare in our crowd which gives a pride in carrying this phone. But, looks are not all that matters even in reception quality and in call performance it equips itself with the best in class. The phone uses same receiver performance as found in the Nokia 6310i. Camera, games, multimedia these are excluded to make this phone exclusive for people with choice and attitude who wants to stand out form the crowd, and carry gadgets that defines the pinnacle in rank.

#03: Motorola RAZR V3: Less in features, more in performance and design the slim is definitely in fashion: the most popular phone in world, Moto RAZR came in market with a never before seen or expected design and slimness. Dont be deceived by looks, the phone has the best reception among all GSM phones in the world. With its excellent quad-band powerful antenna and good call quality, it easily ranks among the top of every list. Its also equipped by a fine looking screens youll hardly see in a phone at this range; however the quality is not good under direct sunlight. The limited edition versions of these phones (which are not quite limited anymore anyway) also feature ability to record videos. The recent price drop to less than $200 of this phone makes it a must have. I myself have tested the phone among one of the worst reception areas, and where all other phones failed, it did kept it signal good enough. But the extremely limited memory space as well as too much popularity makes this phone stop from going to number one. The RAZR lacks in features, but boasts in call quality. The phone can be a marvel for style conscious budget limited teenagers and older people who are less interested in extra features and more into design and performance. Although the phones not exactly easy to use but dont be confused with its durability because of the slimness, beauty isnt really skin-deep: the aircraft grade aluminum body is a very muscular metal which protects the phone well as well as adds a special feeling in skin while holding it.

#02: Sony Ericsson K750i: You just cant beat Sony Ericsson in price-feature comparisons. Can be said to be the best camera phone in the world (until their K800 comes out); its 2MP camera beats the quality of any other camera phone with auto focus, excellent lens, and flash. The phones MP3 players sound quality no less if not better than any MP3 player, and can be compared to the quality of iPod. If you want more music features, simply get the W800i (with better battery life for playback, 512MB card and higher quality headphones). It comes with 38MB internal memory and support for 2GB of memory card (64MB provided for k750i), the K750i simply cant be beaten. It even has a FM radio with RDS tuner. K750i also features display superior than any other phone on market and a solid build quality. The phones fast in response, good in call quality and justified in current price. Only its outlook (although are not bad) doesnt make it look like a phone of this high class, and thats why may be it cant be the number one phone in the list. Users looking for good camera, video recording, MP3 should absolutely go for this remarkable phone. This phone is also enormously parallel to W800i and D750i.

#01: Sony Ericsson P990: The apex of all phones, in both killer looks and wide range of applications. This is the best smart phone that ever entered the GSM market. Its big, but its heavy duty looks, speaks of its quality and smartness. Equipped with high quality touch screen, state of the art Wireless LAN (with VoIP support) as well as all standard smart phone support and a stunning 2MP camera, this phone is built with only a sole purpose on mind to be on top of everything else. The tri-band phone has 80MB internal memory with memory card support of 4GB, and standard office application as well as support for download and installation of tens of thousands of Symbian applications, MP3/video player, FM Radio, Email, Opera 8 browser, handwriting recognition and 3G UMTS support. The P990 is posh but not overpriced. This phone is made for industry leading professionals who need every tool and best communication capability regardless of the price tag.

Hope this review will help you get your next cell phone and happy shopping!

(By M Saquib Hussain)