Motorola T720i

It's hard to be anything but indifferent about this phone.

On paper at least, it ticks all the boxes; small, lightweight, reasonable build quality, colour screen (why?) Voice, text, data, web, Java, polyphonic ring tones, name it, and it's probably featured, but somehow when it all comes together, it's just a bit lacklustre.

Motorola tried terribly hard to convince us all it was as cool as it comes, even enlisting former Manchester United star David Beckham to provide an apparent endorsement.

Remember the TV ad where he's seen playing the motorcycle game in the supermarket checkout queue? Yeah - like he pops down to Tesco to buy disposable nappies and Victoria's album!

I suppose if that's the sort of thing which impresses you (like it did, my teenage daughter), then you'll probably be perfectly happy with this little number!

If custom facias are your thing, then prepare to be disappointed; the 'standard' covers only cover the back and front of the unit, the middle is still a rather naff silver plastic - you *can* get a full body replacement but you need special tools, and it probably does for your warranty.

I am, to say the least, a reluctant mobile phone user.

The only reason I have a mobile is to provide on-call telephone support for my work.

They must have done a special deal with the network, because everyone in my office has exactly the same phone - and by some amazing quirk, just about everyone chooses exactly the same ring tones, so when one goes off in a meeting, you get twenty people all checking their mobies at once!

The other disadvantage is that they somehow got the 'good stuff' (WAP access, Java etc) disabled, and it only came with a charger, pathetic manual, and hands free kit.

No camera, no case, nuffink - so I can't review those features here.

Because I don't make many (any) voice calls, the charge lasts a respectable week long, for my purposes, a colour screen was a complete waste of time.

The phone format is the trendy 'flip top' design, big screen at the top, buttons at the bottom, cursor keys and a couple of programmable function keys in the upper half of the keyboard, numeric keypad at the lower half.

The only trouble with this is, if you want to text one-handed (walking down the street whilst carrying a briefcase, rather than driving a car, of course!) the open phone has a habit of tipping backwards out of your hand, and some keys are a little difficult to press with just your thumb.

The menuing structure is, to be polite, idiosyncratic. 'Call Forwarding' for example, is part of the 'Initial Setup' menu, I would have thought a 'call features' heading might have been rather more obvious!

Now, I might be barking right up the wrong tree, but after six months playing with the phone, I've still not managed to find a way of locking the keyboard, yet allowing it to take incoming calls. I might be missing something obvious, but that in itself is a worry.
I suppose the only thing which really scores a plus point for me is the signal reception

I've previously used a number of NOKIA phones, and living in a bit of a radio 'blackspot' I found using them inside my house more than a little temperamental - not funny if you are called at 2am, sleep in the buff, and have to stand at the back door to get a signal! - not a pretty sight, although in this cold weather, unlikely to cause too many of the neighbours a great deal of alarm,

With the Motorola, the reception is sufficiently good for me to at least remain within the kitchen.

So - in summary - it may help preserve your dignity in somewhat unusual circumstances, and impress teenage girls (the phone I mean - steady!), but otherwise, promises a lot, but barely registers in the 'cool toy' stakes.

Price wise - what you pay will depend very much on the sort of deal you have with your telephone company. Checking Ebay shows a standard unlocked unit is about seventy quid, and you can probably get one 'free' with a suitably expensive contract with a network.

It's hard to imagine people talking fondly of these in five years time, it won't become a cultural icon like the Nokia 5110, it is, simply, a triumph of marketing over substance.