Motorola C168

The Motorola C168 is an entry level model phone that lacks the bells and whistles that most mobiles ship with today. It lacks just about everything else as well, making it suitable for absolute novices or those who want a cheap second phone.

The first thing that will catch your eye about this unit its slim form factor. It's not at good looking as the RAZR by any means, but rather thin nonetheles. The phone is also big enough though.

The small CSTN screen, while displaying vivid colours, iss a little too small, and this is a little puzzling as there is plenty of real estate all around it to make the screen a little bit larger. The screen is prone to picking up fingerprints. The screen display on the C168 is rather basic, and although useful information such as the time, date, reception and battery life are displayed, the icons are quite small.

The screen can also be used to display wallpapers, but as there is no camera, memory slot or PC connection, they have to be downloaded or pre-installed.

The C168 is like the Vodafone Simply, which is designed for beginners. The control set on this phone seems to be designed that way, and the only buttons are the keypad, a 5 way keypad and two soft keys. There are no volume buttons, power buttons or any other controls on the sides or back of the unit, keeping with the simple theme.

The 5 way keypad is used to navigate the fairly simple menu system. Pressing the centre button displays the menu while using the directional pad allows you to move to different options. To select an option however, you have to use one of the soft keys, not the centre keypad button. The menu itself consists of nine small icons, each fairly self explanatory.

The second icon, Recent Calls, contains some handy features including a Call Cost counter and a Notepad, which stores all numbers recently entered into the phone, whether they were dialed or not. For messaging, the C168 supports both SMS and MMS and uses iTap functionality for predicting text. A calculator, calendar alarm clock is provided as well as three games.

The basic feature set continues, with the phone lacking a camera, a memory slot or a USB connector. This phone really is just meant for messaging and calling and the extremely low RRP pricing reflects this. Motorola has outfitted the C168 with an FM radio, but it's nothing to write home about and this function can only be used with the supplied earphones.

Overall, the C168 lacks many features seen in other handsets. For those who simply want to make calls or send messages, the C168 should serve them well and its compact and thin design will ensure you look good doing so in the process.