Vodafone have announced the launch of a number of phones recently.  Obviously the Apple iPhone 3GS has got the majority of the publicity but they’ve also announced; the Nokia N97 mini, the 360 Samsung H1 and the HTC Tattoo all for October/November 2009.

The Nokia N97 Mini has many of the features of the original  N97 including the slide-out Qwerty keyboard, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and built in GPS navigation.

On the down side the internal memory has been slashed from 32GB to a paltry 8GB which seems pretty mean with the current cost of memory.  You can add a further 16GB with a Micro SD card for a total of 24GB which still isn’t as much as an unexpanded N97.

Interestingly the mini is mere millimetres smaller than the original N97, has the same resolution resistive touch screen and is only £20 cheaper on the Nokia website.

Available free from Vodafone on pay monthly plans of £35 and over from the end of October.

The HTC Tattoo looks to be a very cool implementation of the Android operating system and available to order now.  Unfortunately the small 2.8” touch screen, 512mb internal memory, 3.2MP camera and missing flash are all disappointing on a newly released phone. I know there is a memory card slot but 512mb of built in memory just isn’t enough for a modern phone.

Available free from Vodafone on pay monthly tariffs of £25  and over from October.

Finally the Vodafone 360 Samsung H1 is available in black or silver for pre-order now and delivery in November. The H1 is being marketed too social networking types and offers a 3D interface showing the connections between your contacts by using their photos.

The H1 is compatible with the new Vodafone 360 service allowing you to backup and update your contacts, photos and emails on your 360 account.

Services such as Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Goole Mail and Facebook are catered for by the Samsung.

With its 3.5” OLED touch screen, 16GB of internal memory, 5MP camera, WiFi, HSPDA, Bluetooth, GPS and app downloads the H1 seems to be taking a well aimed pop at the iPhone. The big question is will it succeed where others have failed?

Available free from Vodafone on pay monthly plans of £35 and over from November.