Samsung E2330

Editor's Review of the E2330

Samsung's E2330 is reminiscent of the early noughties with its slider form factor and basic features. What becomes immediately obvious is that the E2330 is aimed at those who want a simple phone, as calling and texting are its stand-out features.

It may not be wielding a mammoth-sized screen or a super-skinny chassis, but the Samsung E2330 is quite a good looking handset. It rocks a brushed metal-esque casing and with a glossy back frontage, and it weighs in at a tiny 87 grams. However, at 15mm thick it's by no means small, but its feels like it could withstand the heaviest of tumbles.

Within its casing you'll find a 2-inch (128 x 160) display, lacking the touchscreen functionality of most modern mobiles. This is coupled with a large navigation key and call/hang-up buttons, and of course, that slide out keypad. It's alphanumeric keyboard is as simple as the come, offering an old-school arrangement for easily typing out messages. It's a pleasure to use, too, and there's also predictive text onboard.

It may be simple, but the E2330 comes with a bundle of multimedia features including a built-in music player, a stereo FM radio and a VGA camera. That's 0.3 megapixels to you and me - so this is by no means ideal for budding photographers. Still, the camera manages to shoot some decent looking snapshots, which can then be fired off by MMS.

It's not ideal for those who like to browser the web either. Given its bargain price-tag there's no 3G or WiFi connectivity, so you'll have to make to with GPRS and EDGE speeds. The onboard web browser feels crammed on the tiny screen too, and it struggled to load detailed web pages.

Once area where the Samsung E2330 excels however, is its battery. It packs an 800mAh juice-box under the hood - offering up to 10 hours of constant talk time and 500 hours on standby/ You can't fault the handset on memory either, as it features up to 8GB of expandable memory. With a 3.5mm also onboard, this means it could be a viable handset for replacing your MP3 player, too.

This is without a doubt a functional handset, and is the perfect choice for those interesting in only calling and texting. There's some added bonuses chucked in too - including its excellent battery life and ample storage.