Philips 535

Philips has yet another crack at the UK phone market

Philips might be top of the Premiership in the TV and DVD market, yet when it comes to mobile phones in the UK, it's more Accrington Stanley than Arsenal. That isn't the case in mainland Europe, though, where the company's 535 was a sizeable hit last year. Now Philips has taken that handset, ditched its FM radio, replaced it with a camera and packaged it up for us Brits as the - wait for it - 535.

This candy bar-style product is actually a dead ringer for the Sony Ericsson T610 (T3 89 5/5), without the latter's classy black-and-silver casing. It has lots of other things in common with the T610 too - namely an average screen and a shedload of features. In addition to one of the better VGA phone cameras, which comes with a 4x digital zoom, there's POP3 email and a basic personal organiser. It also includes the BeDJ in-phone software that enables users to mix melodies on the 535's memory to create a dancefloor filler - or at least a rather annoying new ringtone. However, there's no Bluetooth, no video capture or playback, and the choice of games is rather limited, as there's no Java.

On the whole, this model is fairly simple to use. The menu is well laid out - similar to the system found on recent Motorola phones such as the V80 (T3 98, 3/5) - and accessing it involves flipping through options using the joystick. Given the choice between the two, the stylish T610 with its on-board Bluetooth and superior battery life just about shades it over the 535. This is still a neat, simple to use and feature- packed handset, though.