This review is about the mobile phone I used to have. The phone itself is called the Samsung Soul and is a phone which has been around now for a year. Made by a big brand in Samsung you do expect a phone which has fantastic features and to last a very long time.

So I will now discuss the parts of the phone in order to give you the readers some sort of idea about what the phone is capable of doing and what it does well.

The phone design
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Well my phone is black which looks stylish and sexy, and is a slider phone. The backing of the phone has this silver backing which covers the sim card and battery and is quite solid.

On the front of the phone you have the touch pad and the screen which is quite obvious in some respects.

The charger connection is on the left hand side and is hidden by this little bit of rubber you move to the one side to insert the connection to charge the phone up with. The same connection you use to charge the phone up with is the same place you insert the headphones you get with the mobile phone.
On the opposite side you have a record button when you're trying to record a video and just underneath is a micro SD slot which is also hidden by some rubber but on the rubber clearly states that it is a micro SD slot.

Weight
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Well I find talking about the weight of a phone to be the first important part. The phone weights 112 grams and a lot of people might find this a good weight and some might not. You have to think about the phone you currently have. I used to have a phone which weighed 225 grams so reducing this weight in half to me was a good point.

The problem might be if you think this is a low weight is you might not know if the phone is missing and this does happen to me quite a bit. I am not sure if it is because I have huge pockets in my trousers or I am just not that alert but I do always seem to make sure I have the phone because the weight sometimes makes you lose judgment.

Physical Size
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The size of the phone is pretty good. The measurements are 105.9 x 49.5 x 12.9 mm.
Now it sounds pretty long in length but when you see the phone up close it does not appear to be the size that is given.

Battery Life
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Well the problem I have is that the battery life for me is very much based around how much texting I do. I find if I do just 25 texts a day then the battery well fully charged lasts just 48 hours.

It might sound good to some people but I would expect a battery to last a lot longer than this. I think the average though is about 90 hours.

Buttons
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Now the phone is a slide phone which means the buttons are hidden away and this is a fantastic part of the phone as well. I wonder how many people have dialled people up or send text messages when the phone they have has been inside there pockets without knowing it. Well this does stop all that completely.

The buttons are very soft to touch and you never need to fully hit them down at all in any way. There are some buttons on the front of the sliding section and there are 4 of those and they are for calling people up by pressing the call button or by ending the call.

Another button takes you to the menu screen and the other button takes you to the phonebook.
So those are buttons you can use at any time in some ways as a shortcut to get to other areas of the phone.

Screen
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The screen size is 2.2 inches long and has 240x320 pixels. The screen to be fair is very good in terms of brightness and colour. The best way to perhaps test this theory is when you're actually taking a picture and the photo comes out in superb condition on the phone and it makes you aware then of how good it can be.

You can obviously if you wish alter the brightness and contrast under the options on the phone and the set up but to be honest the phone works well with the features it comes with already.

Camera
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Now the camera is very good on this phone and is a 5 mega pixel camera. The camera is hidden behind the sliding backing to the phone which is good because it protects the lens from being damaged in anyway.
There is zoom capability on the phone and it can go as far as 8 times zone when I am using the feature.

There is an option to have the flash on if you wish to do so or you can have the flash off depending on light in the room.

With the camera there is an additional camera at the front and it does not take fantastic pictures to be honest and is located just above the brand name of Samsung on the front.

The camera can also do movies if you wish to do so and when you're doing a movie you can pause and record at different intervals and the other bonus part is that you have a timer as to how long the video can last.

Touch Pad
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This phone has a small touch pad at the front of the phone next to the buttons are the front. The touch screen is very easy to use because it actually shows you how to use when you are about to. If you press in the centre of the touch screen it takes you to the menu screen.

The touch screen can be very sensitive and be quick to swap screens without you noticing. You can alter this on the settings menu.

All around the centre button are little pictures like an envelope for messages, so when you press this it takes you to the messages if you wish to do.

A phone book as well to take you to the list of contacts you have with quick and easy access.

Calendars to check out dates and put things in a diary for you should you feel the need to do so.

Last of all there is a music player feature to take you to the music player on the phone. I am fairly sure you can alter which shortcuts are featured on the touch pad but I have never checked myself.
You can alter the colours on the touch pad on the setup screen on the menu to any choice of colour you wish.

Main Menu
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When you first go on to the main menu there are 12 little menus to choose from and they:

Call Log- this keep a record all the calls you have made and received.

Phone book- where you store all the numbers you have.

Multimedia - This has the video player, radio and voice recorder shortcuts

Web'n Walk - This is where you get the access to the internet

Messages - To view messages you have sent and received

My files- This is the games and pictures you have taken

Calendar- This is to look at the calendar on full view and any appointments you might have made

Camera - This loads the camera up

Entertainment - This is where the picture and video editors are located

Applications - Where additional applications are stored

Alarms- To set yourself alarms to wake up to

Settings - To change features on the phone.

Text Messages
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Text messages are what I use more than anything else when I am using my phone and this phone has different ideas when it comes to text messaging.
You can send a normal text and you can insert symbols as well if you wish throughout and little faces to show whether you're happy or sad. You are told when writing how many texts the message will take up and how many words you're using as well.

Your message is wrote by you and on the screen is note pad effect so when you're writing your text it comes out more clear.

You can send emails to people as well under the options in the menu of a text message and also if you wish send a picture message as well.
You can store 200 text messages and then you need to remove some before the phone actually tells you to do so.
You can store messages if you like in a folder so the ones you value most can be kept.

Phonebook
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The phonebook I was told when I brought it can store 1000 numbers. Now I currently have 202 names registered and it still lets me add more so this must in my view be correct.

The phone lets you add their name, surname, mobile number and even email address and home number.

The phonebook is very handy and puts the names in alphabetical order which I guess you would imagine it would do.

The other good part about the phonebook you can put some numbers on speed dial if you wish to do so. Certain favourite numbers can be allocated speed dial numbers to make you dial them a lot quicker. Extremely handy to have and I use this feature all the time.

Memory card
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Well the phones memory is 118mb already there but you can insert your very own micro SD card of any size inside the slot on the right hand side. The size I got was 2gb and it cost me £6 so there is an option there and with this you can store photos on there if you wish to do so and also you can put some music on there and upload it to the phone to play when you're in the mood to listening to some music when walking round.

Music Player
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The music player is very good as well. You have the options to play your own music you might have on their via the memory card option or by the music which is already stored on the phone. My advice listen to your own as the music already stored on the phone is pretty basic and mainly opera which seems to be a big favourite amongst many companies.

The supported music types are very vast but they do play WMA files and MP3 files as well. Two of the most common files and it plays both for you.

Radio
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Well there is a radio on their which again is a nice feature if you wish to listen to the radio but you do need the earplugs they provide because the signal is used form there to get the radio to work. There is local radio stations installed on there and some others but I am not a huge radio fan so I cannot really judge on what they are, but I am aware some of the bigger radio stations are not there at all.

Applications
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Well there are additional applications also on the phone such as the calculator which is extremely good and shows you on the touch pad you have ways of adding and making calculations.

There is a converter which I can assure people has been very handy to myself throughout. There is a converter on there to use for weight, temperature, currency, volume and many more.

Bluetooth is located here and this is where you can change your name and set the Bluetooth to on or off. The Bluetooth can reach 100 metres away and this is just a bit extra information for people who might want to know.
Timer and stopwatch are on there and I think they are many phones but they are there as a way for you to time yourself I think when you're out exercising which is useful as well.

Internet
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The internet is a feature on the phone but I would never say it was any good. You can go straight to your mobile phone providers webpage they all seem to have, or you can actually insert an actual web address to visit a favourite website you might have.

The phone uses I think Opera web browser and to be fair takes an awful long time for the pages to load up. If you struggle to read what is on the WebPages you can zoom into them which is a nice feature but the internet does take an awful long time to load up.
Ring tones
Well the ring tones you can use are Polyphonic tunes where there are 72 already loaded on to the phone itself. You can also use real tones as well if you wish to do so.

Overall
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The phone has some features which to be fair are nothing special in any way. The phone is very basic but to be fair has got some good features. The camera is 5 mega pixels and not a lot of cameras have this capability.
The phone layout is good and easy to follow.

The weight of the phone is just right and it is not too bulky and rough to handle.
The one final issue is with the scratching. One simple rub against anything and a scratch does appear.

The phone is solid in terms of durability as I have dropped the phone countless occasions and never had any issue with the phone after.

If you want a cheap phone but has features a child would like then this is a nice phone to have.

The volume of the phone could perhaps be better, but for me works really well

In terms of price I have no idea how much it is to buy on pay as you go as I got mine on a contract with O2. I think the handset is around the £80 bracket or may even be slightly higher.

Personally I give the phone a nice 8 out of 10.