Having been glued to my Blackberry for so long, I was initially unsure how I would manage with this phone. The W205 is a basic phone, lightweight on features by comparison to many phones on the market - so no email, internet or Facebook – although it has an inbuilt music player and camera. I put my sim card in and held my breath as I turned it on. I felt like I was going to back school when I used to have a basic pay as you go phone, with limited features - but that was all I needed then and it hadn’t occurred to me I could use a phone for internet access, so I decided to put my mind back to that time, when all I expected of a phone was to be able to call and text.

The phone itself is lightweight and has what you'd expect from any basic phone on the market today:

• 128x160 pixel colour screen
• memory card (Memory Stick Micro) compatible
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• video recorder
• polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones
• Bluetooth
• Predictive text
• 96 grams in weight
• up to 9 hours talktime, 445 hours

It also boasts a few extra features:

• integrated light
• radio ringtones
• 4 personal address books
• "Track ID"

The Sony Ericsson phone came to life and I was asked if I'd like to run the set up wizard. Having skimmed the features, I was intrigued at perhaps learning interactively how the Track ID or radio ringtones might work as I hate reading manuals at the best of times. The intrigue was too much so I selected yes. Disappointment doesn't even start to explain how I felt when the “wizard” simply helped me to set up the date and time! But, as a product, Sony Ericsson don’t promise anything other than a modern-day basic phone for a bargain price, and I readjusted my expectation.

In terms of features, this phone is like any typical Sony Ericsson walkman phone. It has a great music player, and the makers at Sony Ericsson have been busy and managed to improve on this. The phone has a new piece of kit within the music player which they call "Track ID". You can play a piece of music and the phone will locate and download the full track. Additionally, whilst listening to the radio you can record, and set the audio you record as your ringtone. Even my blackberry can’t do this!

Another strange feature, which I still cannot come up with a use for, is that the phone boasts 4 personal address books. I looked on the Sony Ericsson website in the hope that they would shed some light, or provide some ideas, and all they promote about this feature is "who will be in yours?" Sounds like they don’t even know... this is a feature for feature’s sake unless of course you want to split your phone book into friends, best friends, work, exes...sounds like hard work to me!

Whilst the phone I trialled was black, you can pick up this phone in four other colours but all look and feel cheap and plastic like, you'd be forgiven for thinking, you'd picked up the dummy from your local phone shop with this one.

Whilst I enjoyed the basic features and the peace that accompanied the lack of email and access to websites, I struggled to find a feature that suited my needs.

Upon looking through the menus I found a text counter (I should note that the menus continue to follow the normal confusing Sony Ericsson layout of not only down but also tabbed across the top (despite having had 4 or 5 Sony Ericsson phones in the past, it always takes me a few moments to remember this and find the tab I'm looking for)). This is extremely useful for anyone on a contract with limited texts in order to check you don't go over the limit.

Overall I'd say this phone is fairly stylish in design, albeit on the plastic side, simple to use but with a few extra features.

Part of me wanted to say this phone was ideal for first-time mobile users or those who just want a phone that calls and texts, however the additional features say otherwise. I don't know that it is feature-loaded enough to be of interest to most teenagers these days who want the latest phones with all of the latest features so I am a little stuck to work out who the target audience is. I'd say this phone is ideal for parents to buy for their child as a first phone if they want them to have a phone without shedding out a lot of money, with a few cool features that the child will like, and to serve as a device which can double up as an MP3 player if you don’t want to spend a fortune on a music device as well.

Overall you get what you pay for, and actually a little bit extra with this phone. Definitely worth it’s money if it is what you’re looking for.

See www.se-store.co.uk for more details.

Available for free on selected contract tariffs or for £89.99 SIM free.

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