The Samsung X830 is an "Oooh! ... oh" phone. In the few weeks I've been carrying it around with me, without exception every person who has seen it has started off gasping about the size and shape, closely followed by puzzling over the distinctive (and here I use distinctive as a convenient short-hand for "ergonomically wretched") keypad. And it's this distinction which overshadows everything else the X830 can do, forcing it to bear that market-scything caveat of "as long as you don't want to..."

Could the X830 replace your phone and mp3 player?  You'll hate me for saying it, but it really does depend on how you use your gadgets.  Heavy texters are going to hate the keypad and small screen, keen photographers have better cameraphones to choose from and music-lovers will want more capacity than 1GB.  However, if you talk more than you text, prize size and design above all else and are reluctant to give up more space than necessary then the X830 could very well be the phone for you.

Many thanks to Samsung UK for the loan of the X830