Vodafone 345 White Mobile Phone Vodafone VF345 Pay As You Go (PAYG)

I actually bought this phone as a replacement for an Android smartphone - I managed to lose mine and I still had several months to go on my contract before I could get a new upgrade. With no insurance to claim on, I wasn't going to pay several hundred pounds for a new smartphone so I thought I'd buy this as a stopgap until my contract entitled me to a new smartphone.

My contract is coming up soon but I am considering if I ever want to bother with a smartphone now. I did miss having the intenet on the move at first but I soon got used to it, and this little phone reminded me of the advantages of a basic phone.

For a start, the call clarity is way, way better than either the iPhone 3G or HTC Nexus One phones I had, and it seems able to pick up and hold signals way better too - I can get decent reception in areas my HTC smartphone struggled with - on the same network.

It's lighter, smaller, doesn't need charging every night and I prefer the real QWERTY keyboard to a virtual one - I can type much faster on it with less mistakes.

The phone is very basic but the keyboard is a really useful feature which I appreciate a lot every time I send a text. I found it better-spaced and easier to use than a Blackberry one as each key is in its own distinct housing. I couldn't go back to a non-keyboard phone now and I would see a touchscreen one as a step back in that area.

It feels flimsy but is actually surprisingly tough - I've dropped it loads of times and whilst the rear cover usually flies off, it's never broken or shown so much as a sign of a scratch, even when I dropped it from the top of the stairs to a tiled floor! The rear cover flexes in your hand when its off, and comes off easily, but it still hasn't broken despite rough treatment - I actually think its flexibility, and the lightness of the phone, makes it less likely to break.

I do miss being able to receive MMS messages - no camera and no ability to receive photos, but apart from that it's great - clear and loud, good signal holding and the QWERTY keyboard makes it great for basic calls and texts.

Only downsides are some very minor points but together stop giving me 5 stars are:-

1. The text system is generally easy to use but has some frustrating quirks - if you look your sent items folder for example it automatically goes into editing mode and when you come out it asks if you want to discard it. Then if you try and send a new text, your old sent text you just looked at will be there, and you have to manually delete it. If you go over two pages on an SMS it will warn you, but it's frustrating as if you need to delete a word and go under the limit again, it'll ask you to confirm again when you re-type the word.

2. The menu system isn't as simple as it should be considering the few functions - it's not a difficult phone to use but that's because it's low on features, not because the software is well-designed. For example the "profiles" system means you have to go into lots of sub-menus simply to put the phone on silent, and even setting the alarm requires lots of seperate steps and confirming it at each stage. You get used to it, but it's fiddly and irritating and an unncessarily poor design.

3. Battery life is decent but not outstanding for a very basic phone with a tiny screen - an old Nokia I had years ago could easily last me well over a week - this tends to want charging every few days.

4. I think the ringtone could be slighly louder - it's just a little too quiet for me even on "loud" profile, but it's passable. The choice of ringtones is also pretty poor - I'd prefer a decent basic "ring, ring" but it doesn't seem to have one!

5. It can only hold about 100 texts in total, which I'm not used to, but I suppose that's normal for a cheap phone.

On the whole this is a decent cheap and cheerful phone which does all the basics right and the keyboard is genuinely useful, not a gimmick, which puts it ahead of most other cheap basic phones. I've happily used it as my main phone for months and even if I do get another one eventually, I'll definitely keep it around as a basic backup phone.

I was after a little, simple phone as a second 'spare' for separating work and personal life.
I have been used to a phone with a QWERTY keyboard having used nothing but for the past few years and now finding it to be essential for fast texting which is what I do more than anything.
My main phone is the rather expensive and lavish Nokia E7, so I was looking for a cheap, no frills phone for my spare- and when I happened upon this one with a keyboard, it seemed to tick all the boxes and more.
When it came, I had it set up within minutes and have been nothing but pleased with it.
The little phone is tidy, attractive, light and very simple to use. It does everything I need it to do without me having to look at the instruction booklet at all. Very good for just £14.99, all you could want. Ideal for a younger child or an elderly person as a first mobile, or simply as a little spare when you don't need anything with extra features. And if anything happens to my main phone, I'd even consider keeping this one as my main phone -it looks good, it calls, it texts - who needs a complicated phone full of features afterall!?

I am pleased with this phone. It is basic but well designed, clear to use, very useful backlit keyboard. All in all, for the price a really good buy. Also it was well packaged and delivered on time.