First, I love philips mobiles. This brand has always been hidden by the nokia or ericsson fashion but always gives us strong and well finished mobile phones.

I have used a philips genie for 3 long years.
It was like an american soap opera story:
1st year was a love year.
at the end of the 2nd year some things went wrong:connectivity of battery, unbelievable autoswitch off..
the 3rd year was very hard: i saw it softly die, first some parts of the keyboard, the charge link.
Then on a bright morning (6 days ago) the keyboard was let for dead.

more seriously:
I had a game to demonstrate its solidity to my friends: make them throw it from everywhere...they fear and you smile-->undestructible.
What a small thing for its age (now again it still small comparing to others)-->I made my own Xpress-cover with a Camel 100's packet, very sexy lines and os.
Ok Ok there's nothing like T9 or funny games. Just the necessary features.
We were 4 in my crew to have this one; according to them it was the best GSM experience.

if you have one you know it.

The Philips Genie phone is very durable, reliable and offers lots of functions. Elegantly shaped however the Genie has only a limited no of call sounds.

The Philips Genie is a very good mobile phone with a clear and large display. the only bad point i found was the battery contacts did not always make a good connection. this led to a total loss of call and memory if you were not careful. overall a most discrete and useful mobile phone.

Purchased the Philips Genie 18 months ago (Nov 99), I still have no overall regret in using this handset. However, it has been surpassed by the Philips 9@9's WAP/animation/T9/icon sms/voice command capabilities.

Or, if you can obtain it (before the manufacturer closes its operation) the 9660; which shares the above features, but has more than the 3 WAPreadeable text lines + a rearmounted received speech speaker.

found this phone to have really bad battery standby, cracks develop in front housing on all of them in the same place & not something you would consider purchasing given the technology available today.

Radiation level must be reduced.

not bad.

Overall this is one of the best phones on the market, ton's of features and is very easy to use. Sound is the clearest ever, no annoying noises in the background like other phones, and doesn't interfere with electronic equipment like radios and TV's. Carasel menu is a breeze to use, and the organiser is very handy. Is ideal for the business person. Can also send icons.

Not bad for overall performance.

I fully endorse review # 536, particularly the display which I think is excellent. It is heavily featured with Dual Band.
I bought mine this week for £10, marked Reduced To Clear at a John Lewis store. Not sold with a network package, so I bought a Virgin one.

I picked this up for £19.99(!) from local BT shop on Cellnet Pay and go free best friend. This phone was priced at £149.99 this time last year! I have owned all 3 of the prepay phones with free best friend ( Philips C12, Motorola 3588 and this) This one is by far the best and at a crazy price. I think it may be discontinued soon because this price is unbelievable for a phone like this, which has been around for a couple of years but was one of the first to have voice activated dialling and vibration alert.

The screen is huge for a phone this small, miles bigger than Philips c12 and ericsson T10,18,28. Has a diary which can be used as alarm, 24 hour clock, date. Also has a call timer for each call and total calls made, which is unusual on pre pay. Mny more features too many to mention. This phone is absolutely superb and is worth buying if you can find one. Best bet is trying local BT shops.