The t68i is essentially a t68 with updated firmware allowing the phone to utilise MMS. Though the casing is slightly different to the t68, it is possible to upgrade a t68 to t68i software by going to any Ericsson approved outlet (such as the Carphone Warehouse on Oxford St) with your phone, and it will be done for free.

As a phone the t68i has a lot to commend it- long battery life (around 200 hours standby, 7hours talk time), excellent colour screen, easy to use interface, GPRS Wap Access, Bluetooth functionality, eight games and a very audible alarm clock (especially if you have the phone on vibrate as well). The colour screen is particulary impressive, allowing you to have colour backdrops (there are a number included with the phone, though you can download more from SonyEricsson's wap site) and send colour MMS.

However, to take full advantage of MMS you really need to buy a Communicam, which is basically a small digital camera which can be clipped to the phone. At around £200 these aren't cheap. However, when used this allows you to take pictures and send them to other MMS equipped phones using MMS. Essentially this functionality is the core difference between the t68 and t68i.

Though this is definitely my favourite phone produced to date, it does have some defects. The text messaging functionality (and in particular the dictionary) is slow compared to Nokia- clearly the phone's processor is not up to a great deal. The microphone is also very, very sensitive to background noise- you can be sat on a train and the person you are talking to will be clearly able to hear every other conversation within about 10 metres, which in my experience makes it problematic to keep their attention. Thirdly, the open keyboard is not to my liking- despite putting the keylock on constantly, several times I've had the phone in my pocket and inadvertently made calls from the keys rubbing against my body/clothing. However, these points as
ide, this is in my opinion the premier phone on the market today, and will remain so until the Ericsson p800 is released in early 2003. The price depends on the carrier, and what offers they have, but you'll most likely need to sign a contract to get it at a reasonable price, which should be less than £100 (and declining with the p800 imminent)