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The phone has a PC Sync feature and you get software for that purpose. It'll synchronise your contacts, calendar and even SMS messages and some files, which could be handy. The phone also works in USB mass storage mode which means you can copy individual files - such as music tracks - from PC to phone.

Really annoyingly, though, the phone doesn't update its internal file listings automatically after you've added new stuff manually. You have to force an update of the ‘My Stuff' folder. This is a real pain, and if you copy new files to the phone irregularly is likely to be something easily forgotten, amid howls of ‘but I just copied some new tunes across, why aren't they showing up in the music player?' The phone also includes an alarm, calculator, calendar, notepad and stopwatch.

Here's a real annoyance. This is a 3 handset, but there is no front facing camera for video calling. You can make video calls, but the back facing camera is used for them. This camera is a 2-megapixel job with self-portrait mirror and no flash.

Indoors its stills shooting performance was just average. The coloured dish should be against a white background and not the pinky orangy one that shows in the photo. Still, the colours of the dish itself are fairly nicely reproduced. Outdoors the phone made a good attempt at capturing colour. The passion flower's whites are not over exposed, though the pinks on the other flower are far less uniform than they are in real life.

Verdict

In terms of general performance this mobile is average - though with better than average battery life. But its hook is Skype. You'll have to work out if the cost makes sense for you, if you really need Skype on the move, and if you can live with this phone's other features and quality. Either way, I can't help wondering how the other operators will react. Is this a flash in the pan, or the start of a new wave?

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