I am, frankly, a phone snob.

"It has got to be a PDA (at least) or it's the highway" type mentality rules me.

Normally.

When the Fly SL500i arrived I really wasn't expecting anything special. Something cheap, plastic and functional if I were lucky, perhaps?

Oops.

I owe Fly the hugest apology for my presumption - and please be careful you don't make the same mistake.

Firstly, the Fly SL500i looks and feels great. It's small but not in any which way inconveniently so and wonderfully light(90gms!). The slider mechanism feels solid and safe. Charging it up (USB cable incl!) I was enormously impressed with the functionality of this phone.

Check this out:-

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It has a built in 1.3megapixel camera with zoom (perfect for kiddie-winks to capture their friends birthday snaps on) - or they can use the built in video system (with playback)

There's an MP3 player - and whilst the phone only has 60Mb memory that's enough for anyone's commute.

Bluetooth - I couldn't live without it these days.

It's Tri-Band - you can call and text from pretty much any country.

It's WAP compatible.

Vibration alert, of course (I've had a few much pricier phones that have failed to include that gem)

Talk time is in the region of 150 minutes and standby time up to 150 hours!

There's quite a bit more to it too - and it is available on Pay As You Go from Virgin.

When I expected to not be impressed I have found my reaction to be the exact opposite. Fly is a name I will from this moment on be watching in the world of mobile phones - inexpensive and functionally superb, this phone would make an ideal gift.

See flymobile.co.uk for more details.

Available for £39.99 from Argos.