The recent decision to purchase a new phone (after my old Samsung gave up the ghost), left me with the usual dilemma of which phone to buy.

For the purposes of this review, I would like to point out that I'm not a technically minded person, and I had certain (simple) features & criteria that I wanted from a new phone:

* Fairly slimline & lightweight
* Touchscreen features
* Simple to use
* A camera of at least 3 mega pixels

My main requirements is that the phone makes and takes calls well, is easy to text (including a fairly straightforward messaging set up), and as I am a fickle girl, I want it to look good!

I was considering the Samsung Tocco F480, but found it too bulky for my tastes, plus the price tag of around £250 was somewhat off putting.
This led me to discover the fairly recently released Tocco Lite as a cheaper alternative.

**The Phone**

The Tocco Lite is more of a 'mid-range' phone, which appears to be a close rival to the LG Cookie (which I had considered, but I didn't particularly like the handset on closer inspection).

On a Pay As You Go tariff, this phone is around the £100 price tag; but this does vary slightly depending what network it comes on.
It is currently available in black or pink casing.

The phone comes with the usual accessories; headphones, charger, pc software.

I will not list reams of features, because when researching this before buying it, the features are everywhere, but I wanted to know what they meant in real terms.

**What I liked**

* Touchscreen - 3 inch full touchscreen:

In real terms, this means that the majority of the front of the phone fascia is the screen. This allows enough room for icons to be displayed at a good size, thus making it easy to see what you are doing.
There is a 'widget' menu down the left hand side of the screen which allows you quick access to whatever features/shortcuts you place there; a facebook shortcut, or message inbox for example.

The size of the screen allows you to use the touch function easily with your fingers, including texting (although the lack of using a real keypad did take some getting used to).

When making a call, the phone will 'lock' the screen to avoid any unintentional things occurring whilst the phone is to your ear. Should you need to, this is easily and quickly unlocked by the side button (see 'phone setup').

* Phone dimensions - 104mm x 53mm x 11.9 mm:

The phone fits in the palm of my hand nicely, without being as bulky as the more expensive Tocco.
The dimensions also mean I can put it in the pocket of my skinny jeans, without looking like I have a suspect package in my pants - one of my essential requirements was to avoid this look!

Weighing 92g means that you notice its presence enough to know its still in your pocket, but not enough for it to bother you if you are in a pair of skinnies!

* Phone styling/setup:

There are three buttons on the front of the phone (make call, cancel/power, go back), plus 3 on the sides of the phone (volume, camera, phone lock). Simple, but all you need.
All are easy to find (including whilst having the phone to your ear making a call), and at the same time, do not protrude in a manner which causes accidental functions to be activated.

The battery/sim compartment is easily accessible by sliding off the back cover.
Here you will also find the 3.2 mega pixel camera.

The camera is simple, and quick to take a picture (unlike my previous U600 Samsung). It does not however have a flash or LED. Regardless, I find that the pictures it takes are perfectly sufficient for my requirements; I have a 'proper' camera that I would use if I wanted superb photos, not my phone.
The phone also allows basic editing of your pictures, which again, I'm sure if you really wanted a swanky camera phone, you would not be considering this model.

* Menu/Functions:

Having previously owned a Samsung, I'm used to the operating system. Although I don't think all the menu functions are in the most logical (to me, anyway!), place; it is very easy to find your way round quickly.

You can personalise pretty much every element of the phone, including ring & message tones, wallpaper, screen savers etc. There is also the option to add additional storage to this phone with the memory card slot.
I do not bother with this, as I have around 10 mp3s on my phone and quite a few photos just sat there. I use my Ipod for this kind of storage and media, so for me the 50mb that the phone comes with is plenty, but I think it is great that the option is there nonetheless.

The alarm clock was also important to me, as I use my phone instead of a traditional alarm. This function works well, and includes many different alarm settings & various snooze functions.

* Calls:

I don't have any complaints with regards to the sound quality of my calls. The volume functions work very well, so that I do not need to press the phone half inside my head just to hear what is being said!

Having used this phone in quiet and noisy environments; I am perfectly happy with the call quality. This includes use of the speakerphone function.

* Internet:

The phone browser is hugely easy to use; just poke and go (useful for sneaky dooyoo visits whilst at work)!
The screen allows you to zoom and scroll web pages, thus avoiding trying to decipher minuscule text and images

* Battery life:

Of the many phones I've had in my life, this has to be one of the best for battery life.
I can quite easily go 4 days without needing to charge it (and this includes internet browsing and making calls). Obviously this will change depending on how much you use certain functions (for example, I'm not one for having my phone blaring out music to inflict it on all in the immediate vicinity).

The phone is quick to charge (I haven't timed it, but I'd certainly say so more than an hour & a half tops).

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**What I didn't like**

Although I'm generally happy with my choice, I do have a few bugbears about this phone...

Having been used to my hyper-sensitive Ipod Touch, I initially felt that the Tocco Lite was somewhat unresponsive in its touch capabilities.
After a couple of days, I managed to get the gentle/jabbing balance about right, but there are still times that I need to be slightly rougher with it.

The instructions mentioned a stylus, but unless I was mugged off, this phone does not come with one - it really should.

Generally, using your fingers is absolutely fine, but for certain things such as selecting links on the web browser, or the smaller numerical keypad, a stylus is really required. If not, I can find myself accidentally double-selecting, or going into the wrong menus (which does become annoying VERY quickly).

I found myself having to purchase a Nintendo DS stylus to use with this phone (which works very well), but as there is no stylus slot within the phone, I find that I have to attach it using the 'phone charm link' on the bottom corner of the phone. This can become somewhat irritating having it hanging off the phone, but if I don't, I'll lose it!

Linking on from these issues; some of the sub-menus need work as their sizing and placement means you have to scroll further down the screen. However, this scrolling is impossible to do correctly without the use of a stylus. The volume keys also serve as up/down function keys, but when using these, they are clearly set to scroll the screen only by a certain amount; meaning that you may go past the part of the menu/screen you wish to access. This can make it near on impossible to perform certain actions without a stylus.

Similarly on the point of 'lacking', I would prefer it if the phone did come with some kind of screen wipe or case (as putting greasy fingers all over it, inevitably makes the screen a bit icky).
Past phones that I've owned, from a similar price range have come with these things. As these weren't touch screen, I find it strange that a phone specifically marketed with this function, doesn't include a basic cleaning wipe?!

As a lesser point, the PC Studio software that the phone comes with is rendered useless to me as I use a MAC. Therefore, if I did want to do some additional editing to the phones content/media, I am unable to do so.

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**Overall**

If you want a fairly priced & good-looking touch phone with good basic features; is easy to get the hang of, then I would highly recommend this.

Although there are things that niggle me about this product, I'm pleased with its overall ease of use and durability (yes it has been dropped, put in a pocket with keys etc etc, and is still in perfect condition).

It could be improved somewhat, but I'm sure if you wanted to pay more money, you would get a more responsive touch screen, with additional features.
For calls, texts, web browsing, and fitting in my ridiculous trousers, this phone is perfect, and won't be changing it until it does a little *cough*splutter*die*.