My dad gets a new phone every year when its time to upgrade. I have never been keen on technical phones with many features as long as my battery lasts long enough to get me through the day, and that I can send and receive calls and texts.

So what makes this phone so spectacular I hear you ask...

My first impressions on seeing the phone was "oh no not one of those annoying slider phones". In the past I have hated them and vowed never to purchase one, so luckily it was free and as the saying goes "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". Three days later I don't think I could go back to my previous phone.

The phone looks expensive with the shiny silver casing and cold metallic feel. The screen is clear and due to the fact the phone slides up and down the screen is large enough to view and manage videos and pictures.

A new phone would come with an instruction manual however my dad had lost it and I found myself using the phone 'from scratch'. After powering the phone on I was prompted by an 'installation wizard' to set up the phone or skip this stage and do it manually. I felt the wizard would be the best option and in about 2 minutes my phone was ready to go. The menu is very easy to use and through trial and error it is possible to see what is available and personalisation is simple. The keys may be in a different place to most other phones however I realised that after 2/3 hours of playing I was so used to the features that I was navigating without so much as a thought - demonstrating how easy it is to use.

The 5 megapixel camera produced over 50 perfect photos and in my opinion could easily win a contest between some of the specialised digital cameras on the market. The 4 x zoon is an additional feature that I have made use of, I can see the phone being a nifty little addition to my daily life. The camcorder is also amazing and unlike other cameras if you stop filming and recommence it will carry on from where you left off making a more professional video clip overall.

It is possible to make a call without sliding the phone up and the quick dial numbers make it much easier to contact regular contacts. I found sending and receiving messages very easy and also noticed that you can set a reminder to sound every 2 minutes if you haven't heard the message alert the first time around. I was a little disappointed to find that I could not use my own message tone and was limited to the 5 pre-set tones provided with the handset; this is a very small issue with an amazing phone so there had to be something wrong.

The CD also makes it easy to move files from the phone onto my PC and vice versa. Whilst listening to the radio the other day I played with a few options and noticed that it is possible to record clips and place these on the computer. A few times in the past I have heard something on the radio and wanted to tell others about it, now if I record the show they can listen for themselves.

With a phone such as the G600 I expected the battery to run out rapidly, however I charged my phone for the first time today and I have been using the phone since early Monday evening. I have taken many pictures, sent and received several texts and called a few people. I have also played with all of the features, games and radio. My dad said that it should need charging for about 2-3 hours every 2 days to get the optimum performance. I considered this to be very reasonable considering its range of features and the amount of use it gets.

I wouldn't look twice at this phone in a shop due to its hefty price tag of between £150 and £190 (although if you are looking to upgrade any time soon it is available free on most contract packages).

All of this combined with clear crisp graphics, a user friendly music centre and a radio I am truly satisfied. With all of this in mind I can see why sales assistants in mobile phone shops nationwide are saying that the G600 a year on is still and exceptional phone.