After just getting over the grief of my lovely blackberry dying on me, i thought I'd write a review to let others know just what a great little phone it was/is!

Now, I'm just going to start with the fact this phone lasted me two whole years...yes yes, not excellent of course, but I do not have a good track record with phones and all others have lasted under a year. Also, if getting this phone on contract, 2 years is the longest you will have this phone for anyway. It has a rubber material all around the edges, so it is well protected from droppings, it almost bounces back up.

Of course, compared to many smart phones these days, this phone is a little basic as it's not as young as it once was. However, it has more than enough features to keep you going. Although I very rarely used blackberry messenger, I found this was the app I most missed as it is very handy when wanting to send a quick message for free. The amount of applications available does not seem to be as vast as the amount available on Apple and Android, but never the less there are still a very wide range for you to choose from. My personal favourite was the app for having different coloured LED lights for notifications, I very much miss this feature on my HTC.

The track pad is very easy to use, just be careful not to use it with sticky fingers. The qwerty keypad takes a lot of getting used to but once you do, it becomes second nature and I personally find it easier to use than a touch screen.

The camera is not great, and it does not have a flash, however most people have a camera these days anyway. I liked the fact you can upload any picture straight to facebook from your phone to share with your friends and family. You can also store up to 16 GB worth of data on it with an SD memory card. This phone is 120 pounds at the carphone warehouse on pay as you go, but you can get it for free on most 15 pound per month contracts.

The only thing which annoyed me about this phone was the fact that it often kept freezing, so I would have to take the battery out: once you do this the phone takes a long time to start back up, probably around 10 minutes. It was most likly to do this whilst attempting to take a picture, but to be fair this phone had taken so much abuse from me this was most likely my own fault rather than a manufacturer one.

Overall this is a very reliable phone which only ceased to work due to my own doings, after spilling water on it for the 10th or so time. Good for a first time smartphone or for those who do not feel comfortable with a touchscreen, or those who just don't want to pay a fortune.