Labs

Virgin's Lobster 320 is an inexpensive phone that also manages to be stylish. It's a tiny, slim clamshell with a shiny front and textured back. Inside, the phone looks cheaper and less flash, but the large number keys and directional keypad are easy to use. The phone also has a good screen for the price, with bright colours and very clear text.

The menu system has large icons for the main menus

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and sub-menus arranged as numbered text lists, and is very easy to use. The phone comes with a USB cable and PC software for synchronising your contacts with your PC in VCard format. It's useful for backing up your contacts and SMS messages, and is a refreshing addition to such a budget phone. The rest of the features are basic, with no countdown timer or calendar reminder function.

Unfortunately, texting is confusing. Instead of the usual T9 predictive text system, the Lobster 320 uses a system called eZi English. As you type, suggested words appear at the bottom of the screen, and you pick the one you want and press OK to add it. This works well enough, but the phone doesn't recognise new sentences and add capital letters accordingly, and seems to switch between lower case and title case at random.

The Lobster 320 is a tiny and good-looking phone with a great screen. It's also very good value, but if you like to send lots of texts, you're better off with Nokia's 2310.