Most of us have probably done it before. Seen or heard of a new interesting phone. And to learn more we have entered our preferred search engine and typed in the name or model number of the phone, followed by key words like “review”, “test”, “rate”, “feedback” etc. and then browsed through our findings.

With online shopping on the rise, I’m sure that quite a few of you have also considered – or maybe already tried – to purchase your next mobile phone online.

But sometimes a review, however good and detailed it might be, is not always enough to take the leap of faith and purchase a mobile phone from an online shop. You want to explore the phone and its features by yourself. Get a feel for the UI, menu system and usability.

Now, how do you do that without having to actually go to your local phone retailer?

You go to tryphone.com, of course!

It is an exciting new website, which offers everyone the possibility to test drive mobile phones before buying. The phone you choose to test will appear in your browser and then you are able to interactively navigate through the menus, thus getting a feel for the setup and User Interface.

There are also demos available, displaying how to ‘add contacts’, ‘change wallpaper’ etc. You can find specifications for the available handsets and finally, there is a section dedicated to user reviews.

One thing I particularly liked was the “compare” feature which allows you see two phones side by side, and then lets you navigate them both at the same time – If, for example you have doubts whether the Nokia N95 or the Palm Centro is the right phone for you, this is an excellent way to find out.

Of course, this still doesn’t beat going to your mobile phone retailer where you can hold the phones in your own hands, but I would say it is as close as you can possibly get right now without getting out of your chair.

Tryphone is still in its beta stage, and there are only a handful of phones available at the moment, but I’m sure that they will be adding new devices to the list on a regular basis.

Certainly this will help a lot of people, who are considering to upgrade their phones, to make the right decision.

Well done Tryphone!

Written by
michael thomsen