There were perhaps a couple of things that could have been better, and with the forthcoming release of the GX30, Sharp have addressed almost all the shortcomings and zoomed back up to the top of the class. Firstly, the similarities. The GX30 is still a fairly conventional looking silver clamshell with a layout thats instantly recognisable from the rest of the range. It still has a large 240x320 pixel colour display, and the size and weight is virtually unchanged from the GX20. The large, friendly navigation key is still unchanged and the phone retains the ease of use of its predecessors.

However, the GX30 has several major improvements. One of the strengths of the GX20 was the VGA resolution camera. The GX30 goes better with a 1.1 megapixel resolution camera - the highest resolution of any phone currently on the European market - with three and a half times the pixels of the old model. The screen, although the same large size as the GX20, has been upgraded to 262,000 colours. Instead of a tri-band phone, the GX30 is a quad-band phone. The GX20 didnt have Bluetooth - the GX30 does. In addition to all of this, the GX30 takes SD memory expansion cards and can play MP3s. The GX30 also has a much larger external display than the older phone.

The new GX30 Quad band (GSM 800/900/1800/1900) 1 Megapixel camera Bluetooth Built in flash for night shots Built in torch. Built in IrDA port Shoot and send video clips MP3 Player GPRS-enabled WAP MMS Size: 25 x 95 x 49 mm Clam shell case Weight: 102g 2 Mb memory storage capacity Supports JAVA™ technology Handset manager software Battery Standby Time Up to 250 hours Battery Talk time Up to 225 minutes.