3 Skypephone S2 review

Calls for free? What more could our blagging souls wish for?

Think Tesco Value, Sainsbury's basics and just everything in Woolworths really, and that's pretty much the quality of the first 3 Skypephone. Now, 3 are back with the S2 and the little blighter's had the spit and shine treatment, and doesn't he scrub up well?

Decked out in the latest must have mobile attire of a metallic back and sporting some sultry metallic keys, the phone feels sturdier than its predecessor . The Fisher Price inspired plastic casing has been cast off and replaced by a much smarter dark plastic. It is still plastic though, this isn't close to the Nokia Arte or Vertu's of the gadge world.

The homescreen has also been updated with a nifty carousel. Whizz through your widgets with merry aplomb, and launch everything with a touch of a button. A saviour to those thumbs that have had to endure sticky touchscreens and fiddly Windows Mobile menu systems.

But, Skype is where this phone exels, well you'd expect a jam tart to have good jam in right? Calling and chatting to Skype buddy's is easy and best of all it'll cost you no pennies at all. We chatted for hours and battery life held on for a whole day, but log onto the web and battery life is squeezed out a lot faster. Admitedly we chatted to just the one other person we know with a Skype account, which is a bit of a drawback with Skype.

Internet access is speedy and could compare with most other smart phones on the market, which is pretty impressive for such a small device.Downloading time is nothing to quip about, and webpages upload instantly. Perusing your mates latest "I'm depressed" status updates on Facebook is a breeze using the specific widgets on the home screen. They've got the essentials covered.

Skype loving snappers can also rejoice as the S2's camera has been juiced up from a mere 2mega-pixels to a mug shot capturing 3.2. Its not up there with the kings of 8mega pixels, but picture quality isnt half bad and they look bright and detailed on the bumped up 2.2-inch screen.

3 has come out fighting with this Skype baby, and we're impressed. Only problem is that although the Skype calls are free, the handset will set you back 70 quid, but then again thats not as much as some other handsets on the market that cost as much as a round the world trip- we're looking at you Jobsy.