Samsung Tocco S5230 Lite - Noble black (Unlocked) Smartphone (Region: UK)

At fifty pounds new one might imagine the worst of such a modern mobile. not only did the phone meet expectations it surpassed them tremendously. The screen is much more precise then i had in mind, the casing is of high quality plastics as far as phones are concerned and the quality of the screen in terms of resolution is also excellent. Despite my 'non too slender' fingers i am still perfectly able to type on the virtual qwerty keyboard that appears when you tilt the phone over. There is a nice chunky weight to the phone which i like, enough to make it feel like theres actually some electronics inside there and that they are nicely protected, having dropped it a time or two i can say its a sturdy piece of kit.
As for memory, understandably at a price like this you can not expect to get a memory card, however maybe a little more than 100MB on board would be nice. The socket on the side of the phone is universal for all of the cables which is all well and good when transferring data and charging her up, yet the Samsung headphones come hands-free kit are nothing special and sadly does not give you a simple jack socket to use speakeridge of your choice. On the other hand the loudspeaker is well thought out as they have used the same speaker to deal with the caller's voice and the ringtone so there is no trouble hearing the caller in a loud environment, good thinking there.
With 3.2 mega pixel resolution the built in camera is, well, ok for a modern phone but again at fifty pounds anything above VGA is a surprise. This will however munch its way through your on board memory if your not careful, fill it with 8ish songs and forget about videoing, might be an idea to set aside some extra cash for a nice big memory card, especially considering it can handle up to a 4GB one.
Finally battery life is outstanding, lasting just over a week if your not daft and turn it off over night, after all how can you read texts while your asleep.
So all in all an excellent phone for the price, samsung have tried to cover everything, including a cheeky little part of the operating system that makes the phone act as though there is an incoming call from 'unknown number', triggered by holding down the volume down button on the side. The only thing i can see this being used for is to escape from that never ending meeting. Nice thinking again there Samsung.
Overall i give it an 'A', only being let down from 'A*' by the lack of on board memory.

I bought this as a present for my brother - he already had a Samsung - but decided he did not like it so as I needed a new phone I decided to keep it. Why I did not just go back on ebay and sell it only God knows, but it has lasted me.

I will begin by admitting that I do not like Samsung phones, but this has been very durable. I have dropped it loads of times - by accident - and it is yet to stop working. The battery life is not very long and it is not compatible with some memory cards so beware. Make sure you take the phone to the shop and see it working before parting with your hard earned cash. Costly mistake for me!

I have rated this phone as average because because there is nothing special about it. It does have a very good sound both through the speakers and via the headphones, but you cannot use just any headphones as with some other phones.
Another big minus is the charger. Only 2 models (I think)share this charger and so if you leave/ lose yours, forget finding someone with a similar charger.

The interface is too quick, so it has often gone on to something else before you need it to. Not really my cup of tea, but it does not mean you will not like it. It looks ok, is quite light and does much the same stuff - internet etc - as rivals. If you are used to Samsungs this may be for you, as it certainly has admirers amongst my circles, but I will be going back to Nokia.

i love this phone, it is stunning, easy to use, the only drawback is the slide function gets slightly annoying at times.
Find what you need with a touch. The TouchWiz interface and widget system lets you customise your home screen with all the information you need. Mobile widgets brings tiny micro programs to your phones home screen, see the weather, check your calender or listen to music. Drag and drop widgets onto your phone desktop, arrange and re-arrange widgets and information anyway you like See. View your photographs and movies on the the stunning wide-screen display. A finger friendly gallery lets you flick through your images with a simple swipe of your finger. A built in camera even lets you take photographs and movies of events as they happen. Hear. Perfect for music, use the built in MP3 music player and FM radio lets you listen to hundreds of songs or talk shows at a moments notice. Discover. Carry the best of the internet in your hand. Access websites with the built in browser, use the Find Music service to discover the name of a song you hear.

The phone is nothing special. It's no smart phone, it can't be compared to the modern day phone that has all the apps and are basically mini computers. However it is half the price of one, or less. So I'd say it's worth the money you spend.
It has a fairly good camera, I've personally taken some great shots of a beach. It was a bright day though and I think the natural light had a lot to do with it. It sends texts like an older style phone, which I quite like for nostalgia. Internet access is good, if not as good as a smart phone, it still has all the basics, such as a facebook 'widget'. I wanted it because I lose and break phones all the time, with this I can be on pay as you go, and not have to lose out on a small fortune every time I break/lose it. I get to use a reasonably hi-tech phone and look like I'm sporting a smart phone, but I don't have to worry about it being a waste of money after it's fallen in my drink 2 months down the line. (that actually happened!)

This phone had a very good review which is why I started looking for one to replace my faulty phone. The user interface is intuitive and the features are comprehensive and interesting. The touch screen works well and I find that a simple stylus works really well especially when typing text messages. There is the option of qwerty keyboard and hand writing recognition, but I haven't found an application that requires either of these functions yet; the standard mobile style touch keypad suffices and it pops up first when typing.
The battery life is excellent, even under extreme use and various applications running. As mentioned in the common reviews, there is no 3G or wifi connection and so internet usage is limited in appeal, however I am mainly interested in email retrieving and organiser functions, both of which operate superbly.
The phone is no larger than my original sony ericsson W595, however the screen is much larger due to the lack of permanent keypad, and the samsung includes all the features of the sony including 3.2 MP camera, mp3 storage, radio etc.
In summary, a great little phone that lies somewhere between the traditional mobile phone and the smart phone, certainly a welcome addition before I eventually upgrade to smartphone status.