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Ringin' roses: Top 10 pink mobile phones

Pink phones are all the rage, but they aren't created equal. Whether you're a girly girl or a confident metrosexual man, we sort the wheat from the chaff to find the perfect phone for you

Janet Harkman
6 min read

Pink phones used to be unusual, but now they're everywhere, in every colour from blossom to rose, bubblegum to candy heart, and palest peach to bright magenta.

Whether you're a girly girl taking your fashion cues from Legally Blonde, a metrosexual man making the ultimate statement about your sexual confidence, or -- more probably -- you just like pink, the perfect phone is just a few clicks away. Click the numbers at the top to browse through our top 10, then let us know which ones you like best -- and what we should have left out.

And if temptation gets the better of you and you simply must own one of these phones, don't forget to use our mobile comparison feature to find the best deals.

Update: This feature was updated on 12 February 2010 with new phones.

HTC Hero

CNET UK rating: 9
Price: From free on £25-a-month contract
The Hero is not only one of the best phones available in pink, it's one of the best phones full stop. It's got a lovely big touchscreen that makes it very easy to use and the onscreen keyboard works brilliantly for tapping out emails and text messages. The phone's Android operating system is wonderfully versatile and the phone is packed with zillions of great features. We love clever touches like the way the address book links to Facebook. The only real downsides are the high price and the fact that all those features sometimes make it feel a little sluggish to use.
Read our full HTC Hero review

Sony Ericsson W995

CNET UK rating: 8.3
Price: From free on £20-a-month contract
Only available from Carphone Warehouse, this special edition of the W995 includes a 'love match' application just in time for Valentine's Day. Enter two names, and it'll tot up a love match score across four different romantic categories. People with the names 'Katy' and 'Russell' score a scorching 99 per cent for sexual chemistry apparently, although they'll probably have split up by the time you read this. The other good news is that this phone will let you cut down on clutter in your handbag because it's got brilliant music playback features that mean you can leave your old MP3 player at home. What's more, with an impressive 8.1-megapixel camera on board too, you can probably ditch your digital camera as well.
Read our full Sony Ericsson W995 review

BlackBerry Pearl 8110

CNET UK rating: 8
Price: From free on £25-a-month contract
Sleek and girly without looking silly, this phone is ideal for those who want great messaging features on a phone with a feminine touch. Unlike most BlackBerry devices it looks and feels very much like a normal phone, but still offers the great email support BlackBerrys are famous for. There's also onboard GPS, which works brilliantly with Google Maps and is ideal for when you've had one too many tipples and feel a bit toppled, but need some friendly guidance to find your way home. The only problem is the lack of 3G means the phone's Web browser can be a little slow to load your favourite sites.
Read our full BlackBerry Pearl 8110 review

Sony Ericsson Jalou

CNET UK rating: 8.0
Price: £380 SIM-free
The rose edition of the Jalou has been designed by Dolce and Gabbana, which knows a thing or two about fashion. Unsurprisingly it looks gorgeous and despite being no taller than a lipstick it's still packed with features. It supports 3G for fast downloads of music tracks from the Web, there's an onboard FM radio and the 3.2-megapixel camera takes good quality snaps. The screen also has a glossy finish so when you press the cancel button with the phone open it goes dark allowing you to use it as a mirror to fix your hair. And to help you stay in shape, the Jalou also has a step counter and a BMI calculator.
Read our full Sony Ericsson Jalou review

Samsung Tocco F480

CNET UK rating: 8
Availability: Play.com
Price: £180 SIM-free
Unlike many touchscreen phones, the Tocco is small and elegant rather than big and butch. It uses Samsung's TouchWiz interface, which looks bright and cheery and is a cinch to use. There are also a bunch of widgets that you can drag and drop on to the home screen to give you quick access to stuff like the FM radio and picture gallery. The 5.1-megapixel camera takes good pictures and has neat features such as smile detection, which does away with unflattering grumpy shots because it waits until your subject smiles before capturing a snap.
Read our full Samsung Tocco F480 review

Sony Ericsson T715

CNET UK rating: 7.8
Availability: 3
Price: From free on £15-a-month contract
Available in a rouge pink finish, the T715 is a lovely looking phone that won't break the bank. It's a slider handset, so when it's closed it's very compact and will fit snugly into the tightest of skinny jeans pockets. Despite the diminutive dimensions, it still has plenty of goodies onboard, including an FM radio, a great music player and a nifty 3.2-megapixel camera that has an excellent panoramic mode. Naturally it supports 3G, so Web sites are fast to load and it also includes Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena, which is an iTunes-like online music store.
Read our full Sony Ericsson T715 review

Nokia X6 16GB

CNET UK rating: 7.8
Availability: Nokia Shop
Price: £299 SIM-free
Nokia has recently released this pink version of its impressive X6 touchscreen phone. Because this model has half the memory of the first X6 phone and doesn't include a subscription to the Comes With Music service, it's available for £150 less than the original. As you would expect from a high-end Nokia handset, it's packed with features, including an excellent music player and top-notch camera. It also comes with Nokia's free sat-nav software and you can access Nokia's Ovi store directly from the phone to download new apps and games.
Read our full Nokia X6 16GB review

LG Arena KM900

CNET UK rating: 7.0
Availability: Pixmania.co.uk
Price: £240 SIM-free
The Arena is available in a dusty pink metallic finish and is stuffed to the gills with features. Text and pictures look great on the large, pin-sharp screen and the 5-megapixel camera takes good shots even in dingy bars and clubs. There's also a handy FM transmitter so you can beam music from the handset to your car stereo and, like the iPhone, it has multi-touch zooming where you can zoom in on pictures, Web pages and maps by pinching your fingers together on the screen. The battery life isn't as good as some of the other touchscreen phones in this top ten, however, and the phone can feel a tad sluggish at times.
Read our full LG Arena KM900 review

Samsung S5600 Blade

CNET UK rating: 6.9
Availability: T-Mobile
Price: From free on £15-a-month contract
Originally only available in black, Samsung has recently introduced a pink version of the S5600. The phone can be thought of as a cheaper, cut-down version of Samsung's popular Tocco model. It has the same easy to use TouchWiz interface and a range of widgets for stuff such as instant messaging that you can drop on to the three-panel home screen. Unlike its more expensive sibling though, it doesn't have GPS or Wi-Fi. Nevertheless, it's still a stylish and usable phone.
Read our full Samsung S5600 Blade review

Nokia 7310

CNET UK rating: 6.6
Availability: Tesco.com
Price: £87
The 7310 is something of a throw-back to the 1990s, because like many of Nokia's older models it has swappable covers so you can choose a chassis to match your outfit. All the available covers have a mirrored coating over the screen, so when the display is off it can be used for applying a spot of emergency lippy. As this is a budget handset, the lineup of features is a tad basic, but you do get a decent MP3 player, an FM radio, a 2-megapixel camera and support for downloadable Java apps. The result is a phone that's fun and funky rather than sleek and sophisticated, but at this price, that's no bad thing.
Read our full Nokia 7310 review