Since the release of the GX10 a couple of years ago, Sharp have shown themselves to be one of the class leaders when it comes to designing high specification and desirable clamshell phones. The Sharp GX20, released early in 2003 was, and still is, one of the best specified camera phones on the market with innovative features that set it head and shoulders above most of the competition.

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.