teXet TM-5200 comes with a 5.2 inch touch display with a 800 x 480 pixel resolution and Android 2.3.5 as the OS, running on top of an 800 MHz CPU with a PowerVR SGX 531 GPU. The handset has a 0.3MP cam upfront and a 5 megapixel shooter at the back. It also has WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio and 3G connectivity, plus dual SIM capabilities. Then there’s the teXet TM-3200R, a rugged handset that’s dust proof and waterproof, plus it comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS and FM radio.

The last of the trio is the teXet TM-3000 a budget phone with a 3 inch capacitive display, two SIM cards, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and FM radio. All of these handsets will come with preinstalled apps like the Opera browser, Mail.ru Agent, Yandex services and more. I guess we’ll only get them in Russia, since the company that makes them is Russian…

LG A290 comes with a 2.2 inch 176 x 220 pixel display, a 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and a 1500 mAh battery. The size of the device is 12.9mm in thickness and the width is 51mm. It remains to be seen if all 3 SIM cards can be active at the same time or one at a time, maybe two at a time. As expected, the A290 will have a low price tag and you must know that it will be entering Russia by late February with a price of about 75 euros. Don’t expect too much from this handset, aside from the multiple SIM card thing…

The design of the phone looks OK for this amount of money, especially if it’s more metal and less plastic. Looking forward to the quad SIM mainstream phone right now…

Star 3 and Star 3 DUOS come with a 3 inch QVGA display, a 3 megapixel camera, a microSD card slot and the TouchWiz UI as the main… platform so to say. There’s no trace of Android here, in case you were hoping for that. These are basic phones with EDGE connectivity, so no 3G and not even GPS for you. Both models should pop up at the end of the current month starting with the Russian market and then taking over the rest of the world. No info on the price, but I suspect it will be less than $200, if you ask me.

With all these dual SIM handsets out there with average features, what is the decisive factor when purchasing one? Is it the price, the brand, the hardware quality or design?

This dual SIM phone features HSDPA connectivity, WiFi, Bluetooth and a 3.5 inch touchscreen, while Gingerbread runs with the aid of a 800 MHz processor. As far as the tablets are concerned, both are 10 inch units, with the ViewSonic ViewPad 10e running Gingerbread, while the ViewPad 10pi runs both Windows 7 and Gingerbread. More info can be found out here, if you’re into such tablets.

Back to the ViewPhone 3, this model is meant to hit Latin America first and in case you’re wondering, its CPU is the single core ARM Cortex A8 kind. The folks who played with it at the ViewSonic booth mentioned a bit of lag caused by the 800 MHz processor, especially when swiping through homescreen pages and scrolling down applications list.

This dual SIM device, called Galaxy S II Duos (I929) will come with CDMA2000 and GSM connectivity. The phone will come with a 1.2GHz dual core processor, Android 2.3 as the OS and a 4.52 inch Super AMOLED Plus WVGA screen. There’s also an 8 megapixel camera at the back and a 2MP cam upfront, as well as Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, GPS and FM radio among the specs. MHL video out, a microSD card slot and 16GB of internal storage round up the hardware feature list.

An 1800 mAh battery will power up the entire unit and if Samsung keeps this up I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Galaxy Nexus getting the same treatment soon… There was a time when dual SIM phones were considered cheap and only served the purpose of hosting two SIM cards and that’s it, but now we have flagships turned dual SIM units.

The handset comes with two 3.5 inch 480 x 800 Super AMOLED screens, plus a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor and Android 2.3 with TouchWiz UI. There’s also a HyperSkin back cover, just like on the Galaxy Nexus, with the purpose of providing additional grip. A 5MP camera, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi and WAPI are also available on the phone, in case you’re wondering.

The device is available on China Telecom and as I said it comes with dual SIM slots and dual mode connectivity (GSM and CDMA2000). There’s also support for penta-band radio for people who travel all over the globe. 2012 is the launch time frame of this original smartphone, that has no official price just yet. The predecessor of this handset (yes, there is one) was  available for something like $1,410, so don’t expect a reasonable price here…

The device is known as the LG Optimus Link in Russia and LG Optimus Net Dual in Brazil. The device comes with a switch SIM key, Android 2.3 Gingerbread as the OS and a 3.2 inch HVGA display, plus WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth 3.0. There’s also a 3.2 megapixel camera with VGA video capture on board, as well as 512MB of RAM and an 800 MHz processor.

150MB of internal memory are also included and in case that isn’t enough, you get a 2GB memory card bundled with the phone. In Russia, the LG Optimus Link/Net costs around $290 and the price should be kept in other markets with minor modifications. Or will you rather get an Asha unit?

The MT73 was recently taken for a hands on ride by the guys of Engadget, who spotted it at the China Mobile booth at Mobile Asia Congress. This is a prototype right now, one that runs Android 2.3.4 and also comes with a 800 MHz processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4.1 inch 854 x 480 LCD screen and a 5 megapixel camera. There’s also a VGA front cam for videocalls and a 1,100 mAh battery to juice up the unit.

ZTE build quality is present as usual, so there’s a cheap feel for this product made in China. China Mobile mentioned that the release of the phone depends on the government issuing a commercial license for TD-LTE. Will dual SIM LTE phones ever be hot in the USA?

As a plus, this unit is really cheap at 244.99 quid including vat. Viewsonic V350 measures 12.45mm in thickness, weighs 125 grams and comes with the following specifications:

• CPU: Qualcomm MSM7227, 600 MHz
• Connectivity: GSM/WCDMA, quad band GSM, WiFi, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, Bluetooth 2.1
• Memory: 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, microSD card slot
• Display: 3.5 inch, TFT, 480 x 320 pixels
• Camera: 5MP, autofocus
• Battery: 1400 mAh

These specs aren’t all that impressive, reminding us of the good old HTC Hero, but many months have passed since its release. The appeal here is the presence of the two SIM slots, good call from Viewsonic. Would you rather use two phones or this one?

Micromax Q80 measures 13mm in thickness, weighs 113 grams and its SIMs both work in GSM networks. Here’s what the specs list for the phone looks like:

• Display: 2.4 inch TFT, QVGA, 320 x 240 pixels
• Camera: 3MP, face smile, face detection, 0.3 VGA secondary camera
• Connectivity: 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi
• Memory: 68MB internal memory, microSD (8GB)
• Battery: 1200 mAh, 5 hours talk time

What’s really interesting is that this handset comes with a Yamaha amplifier, that’s always a plus, as well as stereo speakers, so top notch audio experience is insured. Preloaded software such as Opera Mini, Facebook and Nimbuzz is included.

For now you’ll find this model in India, but let’s hope we’ll also see it internationally.