Sony Ericsson Elm

I've now had this phone for a number of months and thought I'd post a review. For someone like me, who hates touch screen phones, this is one of the few models that has buttons and a reasonable spec. Unfortunately however, this phone doesn't quite manage to be as good as it appears on paper.

The camera is okay if you have a lot of light although the colours are a bit washed out. There's no longer a zoom feature, which existed on all of the earlier models. The video camera is initially of far better quality than any of the other SE's I've owned (k800i, k810i, k850i, c905) - however the processor can't keep up, especially if you're in a club and there's a lot of noise. It used to work okay but now it starts to lag, the video can't keep up at all. The camera has a flash LED which also works as a torch, a feature I love.

Google Maps finds your position much *much* faster than on my previous SE Vivaz or Samsung Wave, however this is one area where a touch screen would work a little better. But it kind of does the job, to help you work out wher eyou are.

The internet works okay. I installed Opera Mini for free which I've used for years and prefer over the inbuilt SE browsers. Wireless is handy and works a lot better than most of the smart phones I owned, although it drains the battery quickly. Unfortunately it does not work with BBC iPlayer, which is a disapointment as I used to use this to catch up on radio shows I'd missed.

The apps - Facebook, Twitter - are useless. Don't even bother. However as these all have mobile websites I use them instead. Also, the widgets from the home page can simply not be used - the phone runs so slowly as a result of turning them on that it becomes unusable.

I don't hate this phone, but over the past two months it keeps freezing, not saving video footage, or running slowly, making it a bitter dissapointment. However I still prefer this to *any* of the other button phones around. But Sony Ericsson really could and should have done better. I suspect that partly this is because I'm comparing a Green phone with my old Sony Ericssons - I suspect SE used a slower processor to increase battery life, but I don't know.

I've heard a lot of people moan about the proprietory connector on this phone, however I like it because I can use the chargers and accessories from my earlier phones. I have no problem with this (although having a standard headphone socket would save me having to carry around an adapter).

The keypad on this phone is superb. I've always used Sony Ericssons but the frustrating thing about earlier models was always the buttons - often made to look interesting but impossible to use! These are very nice and easy to press, making texting so much easier (and the main reason why I wanted buttons over a touchscreen was so I could text and walk at the same time!)

Build quality wise, I don't like how the back comes off to insert that battery and sim card. You basically have to rip the back of the phone off and it feels so fragile I'm convinced I'll break it when I do this. For the rest of the time, the phone is fine and feels very nice to hold.

Battery is fine providing you turn off wi-fi. I recommend this only on the grounds that you don't expect much from the features and you want a phone with buttons - because there simply isn't anything else available.

This clearly isn't the best phone, however as a cheapish (£110 PAYG on O2 but actually unlocked) dumbphone, it performs well and includes a lot of modern features, which I believe makes it the best dumbphone. I just wish it wouldn't freeze. After much consideration I gave this phone 4/5, a higher rating than I would otherwise say it deserves, on the grounds that it *is* better than the other dumb phones out there, but be warned it isn't perfect.

If you don't like touch screen phones but want a rich set of features then this will be perfect. If you're nostalgic for the days when Sony Ericsson were producing staggeringly good camera phones then this misses the mark and you should get a smart phone instead. Sadly, none of the phone providers seam to want to produce button phones of the same quality and feature set of their smart phones.