HOWZAT

Four stars
Musical glamourpuss with modest functions

Sony Ericsson’s Walkman-branded phones have, until now, been hot on features, not looks. This clamshell glamourpuss is the reverse. Like all Walkman phones, the W300i sounds sharp and, in contrast to the BenQ Siemens E61, has a button that fires up the impressive music software. But the external playback controls are fiddly — a pity. The 256MB memory card holds roughly eight albums. Although that is upgradable, the low-resolution (VGA) camera and poor screen are not. Bluetooth is handy for swapping snaps or making calls unobtrusively. Yet, odd for such a youth-savvy phone, the Sar rating is the highest under review, at 1.2, though well within the UK limit of 2.

TEENAGE MUSIC-LOVER
BenQ Siemens E61 — from £80 with contract, or £120 from www.carphonewarehouse.com

Three stars
Stylish mobile for music-mad youngsters

This bargain-basement fashion phone has dedicated music-player buttons to play, pause or change tracks. They are easy to operate even when the phone’s in a pocket, though you must initially access the music-player through the phone’s menu, which grates. The E61 offers few other features — there’s no Bluetooth here, for instance — and the modest camera is only VGA-calibre. Music is stored on removable memory cards, and the phone comes with a 512MB card, enough for about 150 tracks.

Be warned, though, that changing cards is a faff, as it involves removing the battery. This phone is so youth-conscious, it’s called a “mofi” (mobile and hi-fi, get it?). However, its music playback is only decent, not outstanding.

DEDICATED FOLLOWER OF FASHION
LG K800 Chocolate — free with contract, or £230 from www.carphonewarehouse.com

Three stars
Slinky catwalk model hampered by practical niggles

LG’s swanky handset is the belle de jour of the image-conscious gadfly. The principal controls are, unusually, touch-sensitive lights, which look divine at the bar yet are far less fathomable in strong daylight. Indeed, these overly sensitive controls and the LG’s non-backlit keys, which swiftly shut themselves off, are as practical as high heels on a muddy hike. The suave slider mechanism at least prevents inadvertent dialling when you sit down, and the menus are mercifully intuitive. However, music-playback quality is average, the 128MB of built-in memory (enough for 30-40 MP3 tracks) is not expandable and the sluggish 1.3Mp camera is merely adequate. Still, a real head-turner.

STYLE AND FEATURE FAN
Samsung E900 — free with contract, or £225 from www.foneplanet.com

Three stars
Petite trendsetter with multimedia tricks

On the face of it, this should be a shoo-in for the title of ultimate trendsetter’s phone — it should be Chocolate with cream. The Samsung has a similarly fab design to LG’s catwalk kitten but boasts a higher-quality, 2Mp camera and expandable storage, for photos and music. However, this handset feels like Samsung’s earlier D800 phone with a fashionable, touch-sensitive upgrade. Worse, the controls are fiddly to use, with quirks that make the LG’s problems seem bearable. And because there’s a central navigation key that is a push button, the touch- sensitive design is compromised. The familiar Samsung operating system is accessible, though, so if you can stomach all these impracticalities, the E900’s parlour tricks may seduce you.()

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