The Orange SPV is the first phone to use Microsoft's Smartphone 2002 operating system to combine both hand-held computer and mobile phone functions.

The handset is certainly not dinky. It is the same size as a large mobile phone - but it does have a large colour screen and is smaller than hand-held computers and devices like O2's XDA.

Unfortunately, Orange was not so generous when it came to sizing the numeric keypad.

It is a little fiddly, which causes a few problems because there is no touch screen and you have to use it for every last bit of navigating.

Entering contacts and appointments would be a pain if you were restricted to the keypad but the good news is it is a doddle to enter them into Microsoft Outlook on a PC and then transfer the information across using the USB docking station.

After organising your life, the SPV can also be used to surf the web, email and even play MP3s, although the 16Mb of memory is unlikely to last long should you want to do much of the latter.

The phone seems pretty stable and is easy to use, although, because of its Microsoft ties, some more blinkered users will be against it.

In a sea of new phones this one is good value and worth taking the time to test.

Two of my more technology-savvy colleagues have just purchased SPVs and have not stopped smiling, which can only be a good thing.

Price: £200 (handset only)

Contact: 0500 802080
Rating: 8 out of 10