A far cry from the Samsung Souls and Nokia N96s of the world lie two unassuming new models from Philips. Wow crowds, they won’t, but there’s a certain elegancy to simplicity that’s hard to ignore here. Both the 198 and 199 candybars share 128 x 128 color displays, a miniUSB port, 20 days’ worth of standby time, a handful of games to pass the time, GPRS data, and that’s about it; the 199 adds an FM radio for those times when the games get a little tiresome. The GSM 900 / 1800 radio isn’t going to do much for you stateside, but both should be available in China, Russia, and parts of Europe shortly for 1,000 Czech koruna and 1,100 koruna respectively — about $63 and $70.

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