Are there any phones with Irish as a language option ?

Samsung have been very supportive of all things Gaeilge ever since their Tocco phone came out in Feb 2008, and it seems that all their new smartphone models from Galaxy onwards now have Irish built-in as an available language. Just follow these prompts. Menu >> settings >> language and keyboard >> Select language >> Irish. (That's Feidhmchlár >> Socruithe >> Teanga agus eochairchlár >> Roghnaigh teanga >> Gaeilge, see our newsletter issue 38 for photos) .

You should always try this out in the shop prior to purchase just in case the provider has decided to "localise" their handsets by removing the Irish language option and probably some other useful features as well, in which case just get your Samsung elsewhere. Incredibly, this disabling of the Irish language option by some providers even happens in Ireland, in full view of the constitution. Read the full story here

If, like president Obama, you are a keen Blackberry user, you may be in for some good news. Apparently at one time there was a language add-on pack available for the Blackberry Bold that included Irish. It was downloadable directly from the phone manufacturer and it should still be available. More details

Users of other smartphones without built-in Irish or a manufacturer's language pack may be able to find a third party app that gives Irish for the screen prompts and shortcuts, but this is considered something of a band-aid fix and generally will only translate those things that are common to all phones and not any manufacturer-specific features.