Samsung C5220

A stylish flip mobile phone available exclusively on Telstra's Next G network, the prepaid Samsung C5220 certainly looks impressive. This mobile phone is also Blue Tick rated, meaning it is recommended for use in rural and regional areas of Australia.

A successor to the Samsung A411 mobile phone, the C5220 has a standard flip design. The exterior is finished in gloss black plastic (the phone is also available in a wine red colour). The front of the Samsung C5220 mobile phone features a mirror-style surface — it looks attractive but is almost impossible to keep clean as it collects plenty of fingerprints. A handy external display shows the clock, as well as caller ID information.

Flipped open, the mirrored finish continues and surrounds the internal display and keypad. It certainly helps give the mobile phone a sense of quality. However, the glossy nature of the screen does have its negatives — under florescent lighting and in bright sunlight, the reflection off the display makes it almost impossible to see at times.

The Samsung C5220's keys are quite flat, though they are large and well spaced, so they're easy to press. A five-way pad handles most menu navigation. The interface is easy to grasp and it uses a familiar 3x4 grid of icons for the main menu and a simple list format for submenus, so it shouldn’t pose too many problems. Unfortunately, the interface is a little slow. Slight keystroke lag is evident when quickly typing text messages or scrolling through menus.

The Samsung C5220 is an HSDPA-capable mobile phone and supports a maximum download speed of 3.6Mbps. As this is a Telstra Next G handset, it provides access to a wide range of content including BigPond TV, Mobile Foxtel and various news and weather coverage; keep in mind, however, that these are all subscription services and cost extra. The included Web browser is handy but it doesn’t render pages particularly well on the small display. You'll also need to ensure you attach a data pack to your prepaid plan, as mobile browsing costs are expensive.

The Samsung C5220 includes an MP3 player and a microSD card slot for extra storage, but the lack of A2DP Bluetooth or a regular 3.5mm headphone jack is disappointing. Rounding out the package is a 1.3-megapixel camera on the front for photos, a VGA camera inside for video calling and a reasonable number of PIM features consisting of alarms, calendar, memos, tasks, a calculator, a voice recorder, stopwatch and world clock.

Telstra exclusively offers the Samsung C5220 for $199 outright on its Next G network. You can also select one of four prepaid offers that include extras like free talk and text to any Australian network, one cent text messages to other Telstra mobiles, bonus talk time and longer credit expiry periods. For more information about these offers, see Telstra's online prepaid mobile store.