Sony Ericsson V800

As the launch phone for Vodafone's 3G services, the V800 set the bar pretty high when it arrived in February 2005 and, at the time of writing, it still looks pretty strong. The design remains one of the sleekest in the 3G marketplace (although Motorola's upcoming Razr model should put an end to that particular claim to fame), with some neat-looking recessed buttons and thumb pad cut into the stylish black and silver finish and a smart rotating 'motion-eye' camera in the hinge. The features list is equally eye-catching, with decent colour screens on both sides of the case, a megapixel camera with its own flash-style lighting, support for high quality MP3 music and 3D games, and the ability to store plenty of both via the Memory Stick Pro Duo expansion slot. The MP3 capability is particularly impressive, with stereo headphones and software allowing you to create playlists and the video/photo functionality (including video-calling and creating your own mini-movies) would have been similarly good but for a decidedly average quality camera. While it's easy to take subtle snaps, don't expect to be able to blow them up for front page newspaper exclusives!

As is typical from Sony Ericsson, the menu system is as intuitive and accessible as you could hope for, enabling you to rapidly find most major features using the joypad and accessing more advanced options from a sensibly laid-out menu (if only all manufacturers would have dedicated folders for games as standard!).

Whilst playing games isn't quite as simple as accessing and storing them, largely due to the recessed joypad, this is nevertheless a pretty good gaming phone. The 2D performance is impressive, with most titles running smoothly on the incredibly sharp 262K screen, and is accompanied by strong audio. And though the 3D capabilities aren't likely to win any awards, it's as competent as most of the other 3D handsets out there. Once you've got used to the slightly annoying joypad the controls are fine too, with well-spaced rubber keys triggering nostalgic memories of the Spectrum 48k in some of our older office members (ask your dad!). What does let things down, though, is a battery life that's only slightly longer than the average gnat. The official specification offers up 2.5 hours of talk time with 240 hours standby, but when it comes to playing games (or indeed video and music) you can cut this almost in half. Hence, while it’s fine for sporadic gaming breaks throughout the day, you wouldn't want to rely on it entertaining you for a long train journey. Unless you’re riding one of those Virgin trains with the sockets on and you bought your charger, anyway.

In short then, this is a sexy device with much to recommend it both as a general-purpose 3G handset and as a gaming device, but a slightly flawed control system and mean battery could curtail your enjoyment of it.