Rating: - Verey cheap to buy, a lot more to run
This is a nice phone to have, but the cost of email (17p per a day +) & other things makes it not the cheap thing to use.
Even if you never use the email, it still auto checks for email, at least once a day.
If you stop it, then after a few days, it will stop working untill it checked for email.

If you like older games, then you can download old Spectrum games (50p for four days or £1 for four weeks) + call charges)

If your going to buy this phone for someone, ask them 1st if they want it & will use it is (even after they get the 1st phone bill) my big tip.

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Rating: - Charge me what you like!
Bought this phone yesterday and having read the terms and conditions I'll be returning it for a refund.

Basically you pay a (very cheap) price for the hardware and from the date of installation the phone will automatically make premium rate phone calls at regular intervals to pick up emails and download software updates (the default for this dialing feature is every day but can be extended to a minimum of once a week). Call me paranoid but this is like inviting a stranger into your home on a regular basis to make calls to a premium rate line for as long (or short) a time as they wish.

If there was an option to buy the phone outright and disable the automatic phone calls I might think about buying one again but until then I'd rather have full control over what's dialing out of my home, for what length of time, and at what cost.

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Rating: - Stylish, snazzy, works great!
This is a great phone at a great price! Feature-packed and is great for any gadget-loving guy like myself! Buy it!

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Rating: - First email sent, aged 86 !
I bought on behalf of my father (aged 86) who is interested in the 'net but could never justify a PC of his own...

Let me say from the start - this is a marvellous device, and Amstrad deserve to sell shedloads. The attention to detail is exceptional and has been designed with "real" people in mind. Despite being a software developer, the first thing I did was to read the manual, and then proceeded to set it up. Although small, the screen is very clear even for 86 year old eyesight.

The compulsory registration was straightforward and worked first time. The questions asked were standard market research types, and my father declined to supply his income details. The guide in the manual matched what actually happened. Within 10 minutes, we were set up, and received our first advert - coincidentally, for Amazon :-)

I sent my father an email, and he was able to collect it easily using the large "one button send/collect" system. He coped quite well with the small pull-out keyboard even though he has large fingers and was able to reply. It was very straightforward and it boosted his confidence.

As for usability, the hands-free is very good and will help him a lot. The address book is very well designed, and the fact that you can store phone, email, mobile, fax numbers and postal address, and then dial using one of the single row of large buttons is a major plus point. The pull-out keyboard is very usable and has a good feel - my father's a one-fingered hunt and peck typist and he was ok with it.

The screen angle can be changed easily without tools. A nice touch is that the display backlight is automatically switched off from 10pm - 7am so you can get to sleep!

Web browsing was very straightforward: a one-button option once again, and low-graphics sites are rendered quickly. Cookies are supported. One extra feature is that you can also surf WAP sites ! You can bookmark sites as with any other web browser. Graphics can be set to be disabled completely, to normal size to scaled.

The device itself is very intuitive and has a well-designed user interface. The "stop" button is important and tapping it repeatedly steps you back through sequences of events. The only minus points so far:

* Needs mains power all the time, even for the phone - Amstrad mention this frequently - if you have a power cut, you can't phone!

* The pull out keyboard cable is short - it extends to the front of the phone, but it could be a couple of inches longer ideally.

In conclusion, I'd recommend this device - if the Government were serious about E-Britain, they would be issuing this to households as the French did with Minitel. If you can't afford or don't want the hassle of a PC but still want to email and surf a bit, then this is for you.