After my Nokia 7373 broke, I should say after I broke it, but that's not something to go into now, I realised I was still paying for a £35 a month contract and getting no benefit so I went in search in a new phone. The problem is now when you buy a pay as you go phone that so many of them are network locked, so I knew I was far better off buying a phone on the right network. Better safe than sorry. I didn't think I was in any great rush to buy a phone but one lunchtime after a particularly bad morning at college, I decided to pop along to the local Tesco and have a look for a new phone. The choice was relatively limited but amongst the usual tat I noticed something that I quite liked. It was a Samsung E250.

The phone looks attractive, the black styling creates a very sleek and elegant look. There is a silver strip above the screen which covers the upper speaker adding to the fashionable appearance. There is the familiar Samsung logo beneath the screen and then a ridge which is used to slide the screen. There is then a central OK button which is surrounded by directional buttons, this small group of keys is enclosed with a small silver lining. There are also a left and right selection key on the outside the grouping of innermost buttons, underneath these are the buttons used to accept and decline calls, a green phone on the left and a red phone on the right. The red phone button is also the power key. The last button underneath the screen, between the phone call buttons is the cancel 'C' key. When the phone is slid open the normal telephone pad. On the left hand side of the phone there is a large button which can be used to change the volume, up or down. There is also a microSD slot which is shielded by a small cover which is pulled away from the slot and turned but cannot be removed from phone. On the other side of the phone there is a similar slot which is used for the charger. This phone is available is silver or black and for the first time yesterday I encountered a pink one!

The menu on this phone can be shown with a black or white background, both of these are very extreme. The menu is shown in the grid like structure of the keypad, each menu option is shown with a small image. The nice thing about the menu is that when you exit the menu your last selection is saved when you next return.

There are a number of applications on the phone, these include
§ a music player which is actually very loud and produces a good quality sound, this really surprised me from some a cheap and past it phone
§ a voice recorder which I find I really have no use for, but it is very simple to use and records for an ample length of time
§ an image editor which I think is more of a game than anything else but can be quite good and produces very amusing results, if you have the phone I would definitely advise checking out this feature
§ an FM radio, this is nice feature but can only be used when the headset is plugged in, there is also an option to save your favourite stations
§ Bluetooth
§ Java world, this is the area where games should be saved, there appear to some games ready and waiting for you but when you have played them each once, they lock and a message appears to tell you that you must now pay to have the whole game installed onto your phone. I think this is awful.
§ GSM - the internet

A slightly strange option which appears on the menu of this phone My Folders. This shows you the area you can store images, videos, music, sounds and any other files you may which to store. This also allows you to access anything you may have stored on your microSD.

So, when you buy this phone the only accessory you get within the box is the headset which connects through the same slot as the phone's charger. A huge range of accessories are available for this phone though, the majority of which can be found using the following link http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/cat/Samsung-E250.htm

To sum up how I feel about this phone, it is light, the battery life is good and it does what it needs to but if you are looking for anything special or snazzy then this is not one for you. I would recommend this phone as a gift if someone you know is in desperate need of a phone or if you are. I would also say that this phone would be good for kid because nobody will be too worried if it gets scratched or lost, it's nothing too special to start with. Also if you just want a basic phone that makes calls and can text then this would be perfect for you, you can't make calls when the phone is slid shut, etc. This phone will probably go to my dad when I've finished with it, he's 61, that should give you a good idea of how simple it is.