I got this phone last week as my old one died on me. It cost me £50 from a third party via Amazon, just for the handset, and so far everything has been fine.

I have never had a Sony Ericsson but a few people recommended them so I thought I'd give it a try. I wanted a fairly simple phone - the ability to call, text and take photos were really all I needed from it but the bonus with this phone is that it has a radio on it as well. This is great for someone who commutes by bus in the morning and saved me from having to buy a separate pocket radio.

The phone itself is really lightweight and looks pretty good quality in my opinion. It's 4.5cm wide, 10cm long and about 12mm thick. The actual screen itself is about 3.3cm high and 2.7cm wide which isn't massive but it certainly does the job. The phone is two-tone and is brushed-silver coloured on the top half and black on the bottom, and this colour scheme continues onto the back of the phone.

Like other reviewers on here, I too like the design and layout of the buttons. They are all spaced out sufficiently enough that you don't hit the wrong one, and they are slightly raised as well so you get a real sense of actually pushing a button.

The only problem I have personally had so far is that when speaking to someone with this phone I felt that the mouthpiece was too far away from my mouth, and I felt that I kept having to move it closer to my mouth when speaking (and thus too far away from my ear). however, the person on the other end didn't seem to have a problem hearing me so it probably just felt odd because I'm used to a clamshell phone where it becomes quite long when flipped open.

Getting the back off the phone was a bit of a fiddle, as it seemed to be welded on. I could've done with four hands for the job really, but I did manage it in the end. Do not attempt it if you do not want to break a nail! Getting the back cover on again was less problematic, although the instruction manual tells you not to snap the back on, but to slide it into place. I found it impossible to 'slide' it and the only way it would go on was with a good, firm push. It didn't seem to hurt the phone so that's going to be the way forward from now. It's not as if the back comes off that often anyway.

Functions of the phone include; 1.3 megapixel camera (not great quality but alright for a basic camera), FM radio (you can save up 20 stations at one time), Bluetooth, alarm clock, calendar, stopwatch, calculator and two games. Personally, this is all I need from a phone and I prefer fewer functions as a rule as it means there is less chance of something going wrong.

All in all I have found this to be a good 'basics' phone. It looks smart, stylish and isn't too bulky. It's also not the end of the world if you lose or break it because it doesn't cost the earth to replace.