It's always an exciting occasion when the time comes for you to renew your phone and you have the pick of the bunch because it's free with your contract. I always feel like a kid in a candy shop, albeit a slightly confused kid, because there is so much choice. I always choose a pink phone but after that I am stumped. Eventually, and after much mind changing, I chose the Samsung Pixon 8 mobile phone in baby pink. That was almost two years ago and it's still going strong.
When I chose this phone, it was just before the empire of the Iphone and the Blackberry began and took over the world, so I have been a little left out of that phenomenon. Having my contract frozen when I went travelling means that I am now way over the 18 months that I signed up for and although I feel like I'm falling behind with the technology a little bit, my 'Raspberry' as it fondly known to me, has remained my faithful companion.
What does it look like?
Although it is also available in black, I chose to purchase mine in a beautiful powder pink colour. The phone is quite large without being chunky or inconvenient, measuring about 108mm in length, 55mm in width and it has a depth of 14mm. It feels quite heavy and weighs around 122 grams.
One of the most eye catching things about this phone is how large the screen is, as it takes of almost the whole of the front cover meaning you can see everything in great detail. Beneath the screen, there are two oblong buttons. One button is to answer calls, the other is to end them and one small circle button, which allows you to cancel an action.
On the right side are three buttons. One of them activates the camera and takes the pictures while the large oblong button controls the zoom function or when it's not in camera mode, it controls the phone volume. The play button between the other buttons, brings up any photos that you've previously taken.
On the left, there are two buttons. One locks and unlocks the phone, while the other quickly brings up the menu. There is also a slot for a memory card which is covered by a pink piece of plastic. The bottom has two little holes onto which can be attached a phone charm and at the top, there is a button to push down on in order to remove the back and a covered slot for the charger. On the back is the giant camera lens that takes up just under half of the back cover. Beside that, is a little bulb which acts as the flash.
The phone has a LCD 3.2 inch colour display and the background can be changed. You can either use one of the installed options or one your own photographs. You have four icons at the bottom for super fast access to your address book or messages etc and you can change the icons to suit your needs. Every other function is in a list down the left hand side of the phone although this can be hidden. At the top, there are icons to show you your battery level, signal level, the time and whether your alarm is switched on, amongst other things.
Phone calling and messaging
The phone is simple to use and you have an address book in which you can store all your contacts and locate them quickly.
You can store up to 2000 contacts on the phone and 2000 contacts on your Sim Card but I haven't stored anywhere near that amount.
It stores all your missed, received and dialed calls and it is even quicker to find your regular contacts that way. Each caller can be designated a different ringtone so you'll know who it is without looking. Sound quality is perfect and I never have trouble hearing anyone properly. The phone also has a speakerphone which is really handy but not as clear as it could be. You can also make video calls.
According to Samsung you have 7 hours of talk time before the battery dies. I'm not sure if I agree with that as my battery seems to be used up very quickly with any prolonged activity. This is especially true if you have the vibrate function on and the phone also vibrates a little bit every single time that you press a key. When the phone is left alone completely, it should last for 310 hours. Again, I'd say that's optimistic.
You can use the phone to send both text messages and emails. It stores your received messages, sent messages and draft messages. You can chose your own message tone and choose whether to have the phone on vibrate or not. The cutest thing about the messaging is that you can chose your own font and I've got a lovely curly girly font which I love. You can also adjust the size of the font by simply pushing the volume button.
Features
Touch Screen
The phone functions with a touch screen and you're given a little pen to use with the phone. Unfortunately there is nowhere to store the pen other than to clip it onto the hole intended for the mobile charm and it just gets annoying. I felt a little silly using the pen anyway so that never really got used but using my fingers has always been fine.
Camera
The 8 megapixel camera is one of the main selling points of this phone. It takes incredibly clear and detailed images that can easily be viewed on the lovely big screen. The photos are so good that I stopped taking my camera with me on days out and used this instead. The flash is very bright and I've used it as torch before during a power cut. Despite this fact, it doesn't take fantastic pictures in the dark and so I only use the camera on this phone in the day time. You can also use the camera to film things and the quality is clear and the sound is fine providing there isn't too much background noise.
The camera is simple to use and pushing the button with the picture of a camera on it, activates the function. It focuses automatically, has a x16 digital zoom function and you can change the light exposure and switch off the flash when it's not needed. The phone has smile and face recognition and you can tag people in the pictures and all of their photos will automatically get sent to their own individual album.
You can view the photos both vertically or horizontally and the photos flip as you move the phone onto its side and upright. If you tilt the phone accidently, all your photos go running across the screen quickly which can be frustrating as when you try to correct it, they then go running the other way!
It brings a whole new meaning to a slide show, which by the way, this phone is also able to perform, but in the usual way.
Media Album
The phone has an album where all of your music, videos and photos are stored. The phone supports MP3 formats so it can be used as an MP3 player but you'll need to get a memory card because without one, it won't let you hold many songs as its memory without one is only 200mb. The sound is crystal clear and the volume goes up quite loud. You can chose your own songs to be used as ringtones or chose from the ones that have already been installed into the phone. You can assign each person a different ringtone and even choose your own ringtone for the alarm.
Applications
The phone has access to FM radio but you need to use the headphones which come with the phone in order to pick it up. The headphones are snazzy white ones though, which are comfortable to wear, so I didn't mind doing that. The phone has a browser and you can use the phone to go online and it has 3G capability. It also has GPRS so it can be used as a map when you are lost.
There are functions to edit the videos that you have recorded and a drawing application to create your own works of Art. It also has a voice recorder so you can make notes so that you don't forget things, and there is both a timer and a stopwatch which has suprisingly come in useful. The phone also has bluetooth so it can be linked up to other phones and data can be swapped.
Organiser
The organiser has everything you need to prevent you from forgetting things and to make sure your on time. It comes with a calendar, memo pad, task folder, a calculator, a time zone clock for around the world, an alarm clock and a converter for things like money and distance. I've used everything in this folder on more than one occasion and found it all really helpful in keeping me organised.
Problems
I've only had a few problems with this phone and when you think I've used it constantly for nearly two years, you'd expect a few problems. Firstly I find the back is really difficult to remove. If you have long nails, you feel like your nail will snap when you push the button and if you don't have long nails, then you'll need to find some long and thin to push the button in.
The cover for the camera lense has jammed which usually closes automatically when the camera is not in use meaning the lense is no longer protected. This only happened recently however and I have this phone juggling around in my bag with goodness knows what else and I almost judge it for not jamming sooner.
After about 16 months, I started to have problems with the charger. This only started when I took the phone abroad and it refused to charge, and it still wouldn't charge even when I got back home. I assumed it had just got old so I purchased a new charger but when I went abroad again, the same thing happened. Maybe I've been unlucky or maybe the charger can't cope with the change, I'm not sure.
And finally and most importantly, I could never get the installation disk to load.
I tried it on three different computers and it wouldn't recognise my phone. This meant that I couldn't upload music or download the photos I'd taken. I combated this by using a memory card which slotted into a memory stick but it was a big disappointment as it made the process too much bother.
Apart from those problems everything is fine. I can't tell you how resilient this phone. I have dropped on the floor more times that I care to remember, dropped liquid on it, stood on it, and it has only bared a few scratches from the trauma. The phone is simple and fun to use with all the functions that I need to use day to day and no fancy useless ones clogging up the phone.
The phone costs around £130 so it has kept its value really well. As the phone has been out for a couple of years, the price is likely to vary a lot so it's well worth shopping around to get a better deal. This is an attractive, well working piece of equipment that is still going strong. Who needs a Blackberry when you have a Raspberry!
This review also appears on Dooyoo under the same name *Sparkle1004*
I May Not Have A Blackberry, But I Have My Trusted Raspberry!! 
An exceptional review!