A couple of months ago, I was with some friends in town and we walked into a 3 shop. (3 is a mobile network.) I needed a new mobile phone but I couldn’t decide what was the best I could get for less than one hundred pounds (about $190).

One of my friends also was getting a new phone and they were looking into buying something really technical, but far out of his price range.

Then I came across a slightly boring looking phone that only cost £40 ($85) and I had a look at the details. Apparently I could use Skype voice and chat for free if I topped up once a month or more, and free with a contract. Not only that but there are a range of cheap deals for the internet and watching television with it. 1GB internet for a month for only £2 ($4) is really good for mobile phones. The internet with this phone is 3G, something that used to be quite expensive. It enables you to watch Youtube etc.

Picture on the below is of one identical to mine, there are black ones also.

The 3 network gave me £10 for switching over my old number from my previous network. To do this I called up my old network and supplied some basic details to identify myself and they sent me the changing over code in the post within a week. So I didn’t have to tell everyone my new number!

The phone can take additional storage in the form of SD cards which I think is good for a model of that price, it can play videos on Youtube with a nifty little app included that temporarily converts them to the video format mobile phones understand (3GP).

It can get reception virtually anywhere in the UK, because all though the 3 network doesn’t have as many transmitters, it piggy-backs off of other networks at no additional charge, although Youtube may get slightly laggy.

All in all I would recommend this phone to people who either don’t want to spend a lot of money on a new phone. The fact that you can use Skype when you are out of credit means it has the potential to be very economic, i.e. if you have a lot of Skype contacts you can use that for free.

To people in the USA - this hasn’t come out yet over there, but I hear it is soon!