1 February 2008 9:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Touchscreen phones are clearly all the rage with everyone from Apple to Sony Ericsson to LG getting in on the act, but can a £50 offering from Fly Mobile really compete? We get tapping to find out.

The Fly SLT 100 is a small slider handset with an even smaller touchscreen interface.

Measuring 14.9mm this tri-band slider, unlike the Viewty that sees the screen dominate the package, has a small screen.

In fact if you weren't told that it was a touchscreen you would probably never notice. What does help give it away is the small stylus tucked into the unit around the side.

As the screen isn't the main focus, there are plenty of buttons to press for those who like that kind of thing including the regular option and back buttons, answer and hang up, and of course the now almost defacto d-pad for navigating around menus.

Slide the screen north and you reveal a keypad that, while a good size, suffers from being sunk into the design. Keys are responsive, but the bottom bar (see pictures) gets in the way.

The hardware is completed with a 2.0 megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity so you can stream music to a optional speaker.

Software- and interface-wise the phone is very basic and you won't really benefit from getting out the stylus as most of the menus have been designed with the keypad in mind.

There is the usual array of multimedia options such as access to the digital camera, a photo editor that doesn't actually allow you to edit your photos - just view them - and an FM radio (headphones must be attached) and the ability to record radio, again as long as you've got the headphones plugged in.

There is also a TV Out option so you can share your images on a bigger screen.

Aside from the multimedia functions the Fly SLT 100 comes with an organiser, alarm clock and other similar apps like unit converters and a calculator.

Verdict

On paper the Fly SLT 100 sounds great coming with a stack of features for a small price, however once you start to investigate further you soon realise that most of those features are either confusing to use or made redundant by the phone's own shortcomings.

It might feature a touchscreen, the ability to record radio and a decent sounding MP3 player, but we can't see you really benefiting from them after you've got past the hindrances.

For the money you would probably be better off opting for a lower spec model from one of the more traditional mobile phone operators.

Score

Review Recap

Made by

Fly

Price as reviewed

£50

The good

Touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD slot, ability to record radio

The bad

Menu interface hinders need for touchscreen, MP3 player confusing, basic

Quick verdict

For the money you would probably be better off opting for a lower spec model from one of the more traditional mobile phone operators

Key specs

2 megapixels, GSM, microSD, MP3 player, Touchscreen

Score

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