Nokia 2330

The basics

The Nokia 2330 is about as basic as mobile phones get. Rocking a straight-up numerical keyboard and a screen just about sizeable enough for tapping out texts, this is a mobile for those who don’t need swift internet access or the chance to chow down constantly on emails. Arguably, these are just the kind of phones Nokia does best. It weighs in at just 80g, measures 107x16x13.8mm and has a basic VGA camera round the back for quick-fire snaps.

The good

This is one of the cheapest and simple phones around, starting at just under £15 on pay-as-you-go. Long-time Nokia users will be familiar with the basic user interface, with ten icons on the main menu which let you access music, messages and the like with just a couple of pushes.

The design is straightforward and sleek, everything you’d expect from a regular mobile phone. And what’s more, for something so cheap, it has a remarkably intuitive music player that couldn’t be easier to use. Throw in a battery life that kept kicking for four days while we put the phone through its paces and the 2330 has plenty to recommend it.

The bad

The music player might be easy to get to grips with, but Nokia’s failure to include SD expansion means you can only load it up with 32MB of tunes. That’s about one album, which pretty much makes the Nokia 2330 redundant as an MP3 player. Then there’s the keyboard, which causes no end of hand cramps when typing out all but the shortest of text messages.

The bottom line

It’s hard to quibble with the Nokia 2330, even if it does have some rather glaring omissions. Considering its bargain-basement price and the fact it handles all key mobile tasks with efficiency, this is a definitely the go-to blower for those in the market for something solid, cheap and dependable.