I have never been a great fan of mobile phones but I recently decided that it was time for my slightly bulky Siemens C45 to retire. I still have it of course, but it could only save ten text messages at one time, was very slow and was a bit unpredictable with receiving calls.

I said that I have never been a great fan of mobile phones, but I have also never been a great fan of mobile phones with loads of features unrelated to its use as a phone. So I started looking at the entry level phones. There was an LG for ten pounds and a Samsung for a similar price, but the reviews for them were not at all favourable.

However, in all the reviews of Sony Ericsson phones, one problem stood out: the joystick was very weak and was soon rendered useless. Needless to say, my initial budget of around ten pounds was pushed right up to sixty pounds and I bought the joystickless Sony Ericsson K530i with favourable reviews.

The phone has a 3g internet connection which doesn't have brilliant reception, but, again, that will be more to do with Three than the phone itself. The phone comes with a browser in order to use the internet but it isn't very good and disappears if you open anything else. I suggest downloading another browser such as Opera Mini. This is an excellent little browser and although it has some faults of its own, it can be used, if you wish, with a little cursor like on a standard computer.

The text message system is nice and easy to use and requires no description on my part.

The phone has a nice calendar feature which allows you enter a fair amount of detail per appointment.

I can usually work out how to use electronic devices, only referring to the instruction manuals when there is some complicated feature unique to the device. It was so in this case too, but unfortunately the instruction manual was hopeless. It contained the most obvious instructions for the easiest things and did not explain features such as what he different settings do. I don't believe it even mentions how to increase the volume for during a phone call. I eventually worked things out, but it took some time. If you are not technically minded, make sure you know someone who is and who is willing to help you!

The physical aspects of this phone are nice and standard with nothing too fancy. The camera lens on the back is unprotected which isn't very wise - one's fingers touch it while holding the phone and it will also become easily scratched in this state. I had a few problems with the buttons shortly after I bought it - some grit had found its way under there and jammed a button. Due to the spaces between and under the keys this can happen easily. The keys also feel a bit weak and flimsy. When bought from Three, the button which should be for launching the web browser is instead a dedicated button for Three's Music Store which I will almost certainly never use. This button is therefore redundant in my case and it cannot be reassigned to anything else.