This week Value for Money compares five smart phones

Apple iPhone, €169

Highs: This was the only handset to make people "ooh" and "ahh" as though encountering a particularly cute newborn infant. Aesthetically, it is wonderful, but there is also serious substance behind the prettiness. It has all the bells and whistles and lots of additional applications available for easy download. But the thing that impressed us most was its idiot-proof nature. It is idiot-proof; all the functions - including accessing contacts, sending mail, surfing the web and playing music - are instantly familiar.

Lows: You're tied to one provider (O2) and there are question marks over the price they are charging Irish consumers. Getting your hands on one is tricky - last week the O2 website was telling us they were still out of stock. The keypad is a little small, and there's no flash on the camera, although of more concern to us was the absence of a radio.

Verdict:Believe the hype

Star rating: *****

Sony Ericsson P1i, €359

Highs: This is a natty little PDA-style phone that is immensely powerful and commendably slimline. It has a wonderfully clear display and excellent multimedia capabilities. The camera is pretty good and the storage substantial. It marries the touch screen with a keypad and, once you get your head round its workings, it is very good.

Lows: Truth is, however, on more than one occasion we felt like throwing it against the wall. It is not at all intuitive and comes with some incredibly annoying fiddly features. The qwerty keypad was too small and hooking up our e-mail was problematic as no settings were available from Vodafone - which illustrated another problem with this phone in that it is only available on the O2 network.

Verdict: Powerful but patience needed

Star rating: ***

Nokia N95, €339

Highs: It is hardly a year ago that this was a top-of-the-range offering from Nokia and while there is still much to commend this, it is already being eclipsed by newer models. It has advanced multimedia capabilities, making it more like a PC than a phone, and a 5-megapixel camera that produces excellent photos and videos. We were blown away by the speakers, although we wouldn't appreciate them in the hands of a 14-year-old sitting next to us on the bus. We also liked the natty two-way slider which separates the music player buttons and the keypad but allows easy access to both. The GPS system is excellent.

Lows: It is certainly a very good phone but we fear it will inevitably be overshadowed by the imminent arrival of the N96 on the Irish market. It also looks a bit clunky and old-school when compared with some of its rivals.

Verdict: Soon to be outshone?

Star rating: **

Blackberry Pearl, €109

Highs: This is the sleekest of the phones we tried and it was also, unsurprisingly perhaps, the easiest to set up to receive e-mail from multiple sources. We loved its cherry red colour and its price. Unlike many earlier Blackberrys, it comes with a camera, although at just 1.3 megapixels it's a long way behind in terms of picture quality. The pearl-like trackball is tactile and responsive and easy to manipulate. The qwerty keyboard, with two letters assigned to each key, works well once you get used to it, and reading big documents from the small screen is surprisingly simple.

Lows: It has some irritating features: when the battery comes close to empty, the phone essentially dies on you. The interface was frustratingly unfamiliar to us, although we trust it is something you get used to. A more insurmountable problem is the lack of high-end multimedia features.

Verdict: Perfectly functional

Star rating: ****

LG U990 €279

Highs: In terms of stylish sexiness this comes closest to the iPhone and betters it in some respects. It is very sleek and very slimline and we liked they way the touch screen pulsed gently and pleasingly when we selected items from the menus. The 5-megapixel camera with an in-built flash takes pictures of a ridiculously high quality. The phone is available through 3 and it also comes with Skype as a very economical additional feature.

Lows: While its user interface is not the most complex we have come across, it is nowhere near as easy to use as the iPhone and we did find ourselves getting lost in some of the menus. It comes with an attached pointer which we found to be just a little pointless.

Verdict: Very cool

Star rating: ****