Samsung GT S3650 mobile is my latest mobile phone; it is completely touch pad controlled and has no numbers on the phone. The phone has taken some getting used to and the concept of a number free phone has been a challenge.

The concept of a touch pad phone is of course from the iphone and now every major phone company is trying to get on that particular band wagon. The mobile has a large central button, two side buttons on the front of the phone and on either side buttons along the side which control various facilities on the phone.

Switching on

Turning on is easy, you keep your finger on the right hand side button on the front of the phone, and this causes the phone to load up. The phone as it loads tells you the model and any message you feel like putting on as your welcoming message.

Phoning people

To use the phone errr as a phone is straightforward, pressing the left hand side of the touch screen where the words keypad are denoted brings up a 1-9 dial pad which allows you to type in any number you feel. Conversely you can use the right hand side button which stores all uses of the phone in terms of phone calls out, in and messages and it is possible to scroll down until you find something from the person you wish to contact and you have the option of sending either a text or actually calling. The options are easily distinguished by either a brown letter format or a green telephone image.

Alternatively you can press the central icon on the screen which holds your phonebook and scroll down until you find the name of interest, pressing the name once again gives you the option of either sending a text or calling.

Front of the phone

The touch screen part of the phone, has three little icons at the bottom, they are as mentioned above, a phonebook in the centre, a keypad on the right and a menu on the left. The menu button once pressed gives you access to all the phones facilities.

Facilities

The phone has all the facilities present on common mobile phones, message history, phone call history, internet, pictures, camera, settings, bluetooth etc. Pressing the settings icon gives you a chance to access the widget page which once entered allows you to put things on your desktop (if a computer, I guess we should use the term pocket top or something for mobiles???), these widgets include temperature, time, calendars, diet plans, icons on the pocket top for accessing facebook, itunes, you tube etc. These are fun but of course can clutter your phone front and can be annoying as well.

A keypad free phone call

If you need to tap in a number whilst calling someone, say a call centre then a phone without a keypad is a bit of an annoyance. To get a useable keypad you need to press down the hold button which is on the right hand edge. This brings up a few options one of which is an option for a keypad, press it and then you can use the phone as a keypad.

Camera

The camera is 5 megapixels and works by pressing the other button the right hand edge of the phone. The camera lens is at the top centre on the back of the phone. The pictures are automatically stored in the my files section of the phones hard drive.

Recharging

Recharging is by a side insert with a wide head and a line of scart socket like insertion point. The user can also use headphones in the same connection, though not iPod headphones.

Annoyances

Every phone has little annoyances, this one is no exception.

1. The volume control is the button on the left hand edge of the phone, this seems to get pressed an awful lot and causes your phone to become loud without warning. This includes the beeping when your texting and playing with the phone.

2. The phone keeps telling me that there isn't space on the hard drive even though there is.

3. The phone has a habit of placing things on the pocket top (I'm keeping with the name) and you have to work out how to remove it.

4. I still haven't worked out a way to get voice mail popping up telling me I've got a message.

5. Formatting pictures for the pocket top, it's a nightmare and tends to make everything huge as it zooms into the centre of the picture for the centre of the image.

Good things

The phones battery is awesome, once a week at most and it keeps charged throughout.

Messaging is easy

Scrolling for a contact is very fast and easy to manipulate

Placing all the recent contacts on the left hand button makes replying to regular contacts very quick and the option for call or message is a good one.

Overall

This is my first touch screen phone and it would be fair to say it's taken a little while to get used to but I kept with it and now the phone has become a user friendly tool rather than a pain in the bottom. The options are easy to skim through and the almost endless battery life takes a worry away about the battery running out every day. I'm impressed and like my new phone and suspect a lot of the gripes and moans are more to do with being old and new technology baffling me than genuine problems.