Probably be rolling in his grave ifhe knew what he invented back in the early 70S can now also be 'played' with a plectrum! 50, was all the hype about the 'tube' worth it?
To start with, it's plastickyand bulky-about the same size as its older sibling, the Nn However, this phone is more about its software tharuhe hardware. With 5ymbian still running the show, the revamped platform's interface is touch-worthy, featuring large icons and controls, all big enough to use without resorting to the toothpicky stylus. The phone responds to each caress with haptic feedback, a small vibration meant to say, 'yessir'. You can of course, use the included plectrum to poke at the screen - an unusual alternative to the stylus, but handy sometimes. TIle accelero is there, and it works in all screens except the standby and camera.





One of our biggest gripes is the slight inconsistency in the VI - while icons require a single touch to operate, items in lists respond to doubLe touches¬one to select and one to click. You can scroll long lists, such as your cDntact list, fast enough with your finger. However, it's not possible to be very accurate and it's not quite as smooth as the iPhone. You can, of course, locate a specific contact by entering the letters in the search box. Options for text input include an onscreen full QWERTY, a compact one, an alphanumeric keypad, and handwriting recognition - a learning mode available for the latter. While the compact keyboard requires use of the stylus and the handwriting bit works, albeit slowly, the other two are suitable for relatively faster text entry once you get the hang of them. The browser is nice, and renders pages nicely on the large screen.