I’ve never been all that fussed when it comes to mobile phones really. As long as it’s presentable, has internet access and isn’t the size of a brick, then I generally don’t mind what make it is. Over the years, I’ve tried Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sendo, an O2x4 and, most recently, a Sony Ericcson. Generally these have been rush purchases made when I’ve lost or broke the previous one and have wanted a new one in a hurry. Most recently, my choice was usually limited to whatever O2 pay as you go mobile was most readily available in Argos (I had an O2 sim card with free texts I wanted to keep). But I had been considering getting a contract phone for quite some time as I spend waaayyyy too much money on calling credit due to the fact I am completely text-obsessed - I was spending around 250 quid every three months on top of the 300 free texts I was receiving every month so it was definitely getting a bit ridiculous.

The first reason was because of the fact it was a designer phone. I could not consider myself in any way a label queen, but the idea of owning something designer, especially a phone, was a real draw for me. Secondly it LOOKS cool - black, slim line, extremely lightweight, shiny and classy. The fact it had a half-decent camera (my last phone had a crap camera that made everyone I took a picture of look like they were appearing on “Most Haunted“) and MP3 player. But the REAL seller was the fact it was touch screen. I had no idea how easy it would be to use, but it just sounded really modern and, to be honest, I just kept thinking “for once, people will be jealous of my phone”. Shallow? Perhaps. True? Definitely.

*****TEXTING*****

I’m more of a texter than a caller, but obviously now I have 500 (or is it 600?) free mins a month on my contract I’ve been trying to make the most of it, much to the amazement of my family and friends who had almost forgotten what my actual voice sounded like.

I prefer my phone to be as easy to use as possible, able to access all the functions I need at the touch of a button. The LG Prada is pretty good for this, although it may be worth having a look at the user’s manual to familiarise yourself with where everything is. Once you know, though, everything is easily found again. And it all seems so much EASIER than with a normal phone, due to the handy little symbols they use and, of course, the touch screen!

If I’m watching a film or something and someone says to me “who’s that actor? He looks familiar, what’s he been in before?” I’m a bad one for immediately going onto the phone in my internet and googling, imdb’ing, or wikiepedia’ing whoever it is, therefore internet access on my phone is pretty important to me - it’s instant knowledge right at my fingertips, you know!!! I always like knowing the answers to questions people ask…

My last phone was a Sony Ericsson and it was a bit of a disappointment, as it had shit memory, a crap camera and, although it had an mp3 player, it didn’t even supply you with a usb cable for it, so any songs I had on my phone had to be blue toothed to me by my friends.

The phone has a camera, camcorder function, voice recorder, MP3 player and an FM radio (although the headset must be plugged in to use this as it acts as an aerial to pick up the signal). All in all I think it is pretty cool to get all these inside your phone, especially since they all appear to be really good quality. I’ve been loving the fact I can download my pics from the phone onto my bebo page, after ages of relying on other people to post pics from nights out so I could steal them! And they transfer to my pc easily with the use of the USB cable and CD, so I can’t even complaint about that. The only other function I’ve used so far is the MP3 player, on which I’ve transferred a couple of tunes onto so I can use them as ringtones if I wish. I have a Sony Walkman anyway, so the quality of the mp3 player on my phone isn’t hugely important to me, but it is actually very good, and sounds far superior to several dedicated mp3 players I have owned in the past.

*****BATTERY*****

Unfortunately, this is not ideal, the price is pretty high if you are buying it pay as you go. However, if you choose to opt for a contract you can get some pretty good deals on it. I got mine from the O2 website for £19.99 on a £35 a month contract, which seemed fairly reasonable to me. But I would probably avoid it if you have a prepay phone, as it is just going to be a huge amount of money to spend on a phone you might not necessarily like (although it looks fab in your hand!).