Dozens of new cell phone salons have opened in Moscow over the last three years offering various kinds of cheap and not-so-cheap mobile phones. This wide variety makes it hard to choose exactly which stylish and trendy phone you want. After all, a cell phone is something more than a means of communication — it’s part of your image and indicates your personality and class.
Of course, if you can afford it, the best choice is a truly elite gadget, like Vertu, for example, which created a big to-do among the Russian nouveaux riche last year. At the initiative of Nokia’s chief designer Frank Nuovo, Vertu cell phones are produced in various materials, including platinum, white gold, yellow gold and stainless steel. Unsurprisingly, prices range between $6,000 and $24,000. If you decide on buying such a cell phone, you should remember that the electronic part will die within a year, and it will become no more than a beautiful accessory.
Rich people do have their whims. A friend of mine, Dmitry Voronov, an enormously reckless and profligate guy, has a habit of buying a new mobile phone every two months. He just has to have the latest Nokia phone.
"It is widely believed that Nokia phones have the best reception quality, the highest sound fidelity and lots of other advantages," he likes to say. The most popular Nokia models include Nokia 6100, a business model with a high quality display; Nokia 6610 with multimedia features (from FM stereo to screensavers); and Nokia 7650 with an inbuilt video-camera and MP3 music system. It so happened that my friend lost his two mobile phones in one day, which had a very detrimental impact on his financial situation. Being short on cash, he decided against buying the latest model and decided in favor of the time-tested Nokia 8310. "It’s small and functional, which is important for me," he explained.
With other labels, too, the market is rich in variety. Siemens is believed to be a label for the young. Its special charm is Siemens C55 with polyphonic melodies. As for me, I’m complacently happy with my Siemens M35i. Though it is a bit heavier than its brothers and sisters, it is convenient and practical. While in my possession, it has endured multiple falls on the pavement and a "swim" in a spring puddle. But it still works!

A good friend of mine (in spite of an argument we had two weeks ago) has a nice LG W5210 with a dual display, a Dictaphone, games and alarm clock. Its special charm is a graphic and color 7-line high resolution display. Her boyfriend, a student at the Russian State Academy of Foreign Relations, has a Panasonic GD55, which is very small, polyphonic, supports WAP and GPRS formats and has seven background display colors.
As for the latest innovations on the market, the French company Sagem announced its entry to the Russian market in mid-May this year. This means we will have a choice of five cell phone models, including the latest generation designed in line with ultra-modern technical standards. The Sagem X-6 comprises an in-built video camera, hi-fi sound card, Java, WAP, a loudspeaker and color display with 65,000 colors.
Incidentally, at the beginning of spring, South Korean Samsung presented its first GSM cell phone with an in-built digital camera — SGH-V200. Its main display has a resolution of 128x160 pixels and the memory to support 65,000 colors. Its second display has a 96x64 pixel resolution. Like all other Samsung models, SGH-V200 combines the features of a business phone with those of a stylish accessory.
Now, a few words about cell phone cases. There is a wide selection of these in each and every cell/communications salon. No cell phone producer manufactures cell phone cases for its own label, so it’s up to you to choose the right one. If you want something for a high-profile evening event, I recommend that you buy a conservative Louis Vuitton or elegant Hermes mobile phone case. Stylish youngsters tend to choose felt cell phone cases decorated with glass beads and worn over the shoulder from designer Olga Soldatova. They are available at the Marki boutique. For those who are into extreme sports, I would recommend the air-tight, water-tight and shock-resistant case Boxit 5.0 Dolphin. It is made of shock-resistant polyurethane, reinforced with Gore 1M special material and its front face is transparent for your convenience.