Trendy and stylish. Whereas these words normally conjure up images of underweight women strutting down the catwalk, people are also describing their mobile phones as such.

China Polling’s recent survey looked at four major manufacturers of cell phones (Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson) and the attitudes citizens of mainland China hold towards the images of these brands. According to respondents, Samsung dominates in terms of trend and style.

Not to be outdone, Nokia was chosen by an overwhelming 64% of respondents as having the best service for SMS. Interestingly, amongst non-Nokia users, almost half of all respondents still choose Nokia as being the best provider for SMS. Findings suggest other cell phone manufacturers would do well to investigate this aspect in order to improve their own SMS services.

As for quality of music, the numbers broke down with Sony Ericsson leading the pack with 50% of respondents deeming it the best. Amongst respondents that download ringtones, this statistic jumps to 63%. Another point of interest stems from respondents that identify themselves as Nokia users; 45% of them still maintain that Sony Ericsson still provides the best service for music.

On the surface of China’s cell phone market, it would appear that Nokia has a stronghold. However, data collected in this survey indicates that companies may have valuable opportunities to grow in the market should they improve various weak points.