Many MIA from the Mobile World Congress and some not even available in stores, a range of smartphones are infiltrating the market. Funny thing is, they are either as rare as hens teeth, more expensive than tuition or not available in the US.

GSmart MS820

Going quickly through the list, the ones that jump for me include the The Pharos Traveler 137 GPS smartphone which was actually unveiled at CES 2009 and is scheduled to ship in April for $599.95 unlocked. This beauty does not need a cellular connection to operate as a navigation device, preloaded with a pile of map and route creation software. Meanwhile the 3G capable and message centric smartphone Lenovo ET700 (only spotted in ‘model’ mode), has a 624MHz processor and 128MB RAM/256MB ROM.

A Samsung Windows Mobile 6.1 device named Valencia is out there with a rumoured 20GB of storage. Does this take into equation the microSD expansion slot? The GSmart MS820, found only about the Internet features a 2.8 VGA touch screen with a G-sensor and proprietary user interface similar to HTC’s TouchFlo. Upgradeable to Windows 6.5, the sleek GSmart S2100 also comes with a 3 megapixel camera, FM transmitter, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0.

If the menu of phone specifications alone moved me, this would be the one. The Toshiba TG01 blows touch-screen smartphone’s away with a 4.1-inch and 800 x 480 pixel display. Features wise comes with WiFi, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, HSDPA, support for DivX video files and Adobe Flash content from the Web. (If anyone is wondering – my birthday is in April although this phone will [at this point] be available only in Europe). Also available in Europe (and potentially not in the US) is the Mio GPS Phone, running Windows Mobile 6.1 with a huge touchscreen, 3-megapixel camera and 3G support.

Pharos Traveler 137

Lenovo ET660

GSmart S2100

Lenovo ET700

[via CNET]