I AM trying to find something nice to say about the Samart i-mobile 603 but words fail me. I cannot even give it points for original design because it looks quite similar to phones from other brands in the market. Granted, the silver housing and big colour screen is stylish but beauty is only skin deep – or in this case, cover deep – after all.

My first impression of the phone was not good because I had a really difficult time opening and closing the battery compartment.

In fact, I had to read the user manual to find out how to open the cover without breaking it. Removing the battery to insert my SIM card was another gruelling task. But it was all worth it because the battery lasted a good four days.

Too cramped
The phone has a tiny joystick similar to the track points found on some notebooks, which really made accessing key features on the phone really easy.

However, I cannot say the same about the keypad because the keys are small, loose and too close together.

And the U-shaped layout of the keys just made it worse – thumb typing on this phone is a tedious affair.

The T9 system is also unusual – I was given a choice to input messages in uppercase, lowercase and numbers but not a combination of these. So I could either “shout” or “whisper” but not both when I send SMS messages.

The 603 may not be SMS-friendly but it is truly wonderful when making calls as the other party comes out loud and clear. It also has a speakerphone function, which comes in handy when your hands are full but, unfortunately, it has its faults.

Even though I could hear the caller well, the caller couldn’t hear me and I had to repeat myself many times. So, I ended up not using the speakerphone after all.

Just like most mobile phones these days, the 603 is equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera that shoots stills and videos. like most candy bar phones, the camera is housed at the back of the phone but thanks to a rather nifty switch, it flips out to the front for self-portraits.

It comes with the usual bells and whistles found on most camera phones, including various photo effects as well as night and burst mode.

However, the picture quality was only passable and is definitely not the best I have seen. As it doesn’t have a built-in flash or LED light, shots had to be taken in well-lit areas or they come out looking like a badly produced horror movie – all dark and greenish!

Sounds good
Though I was disappointed with the phone's awful ergonomics and the stubborn battery compartment, the phone does have some features to make up for the flaws.

For instance, the 603 comes with an FM tuner and can play MP3s. The phone shines in these departments as the sound quality was great and it was easy to navigate between songs and radio stations using the tiny joystick.

I was also happy that I was able to preset radio stations so I didn't have to fiddle with the joystick to listen to my favourite station.

Although I did not have a good first impression of this phone, it did grow on me after awhile – the phone’s strongest points are its crystal clear reception and MP3 player function (which is helped greatly by the inclusion of an SD memory card slot).

Shucks, it looks like I did have some nice things to say about the 603 after all :-)

Pros: Lightweight crisp clear sound nice MP3 player.

Cons: Bad ergonomics stubborn battery compartment lousy for texting shouting required when using the speakerphone.