Nokia 6230i

Although it's not a smartphone, which will synchronise fully with Windows, the 6230i from Nokia is designed to work with a PC.

From the outside it looks fairly unremarkable; it's a standard (non-3G) phone with a built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, colour screen, media player, Bluetooth and infrared connections.

It's when the phone is connected to the PC that it gets interesting. The supplied software makes it easy to copy files to the phone, to back it up and even to install extra applications.

It will also synchronise with a selection of email programs on the PC. Connecting it to a PC via Bluetooth was surprisingly easy, but this depends on having a Bluetooth-capable PC.

The USB data cable, which is not supplied, is another way to connect, and will provide a faster link than Bluetooth, but at an extra cost.

The phone can also be used as a modem to connect the computer to the internet. Picture and video playback is good, but the camera quality is unremarkable, while sound quality is decent but slightly muffled.

It will play back either through the built-in speaker or the supplied headset, which will also allow it to make hands-free calls or listen to FM radio. Call quality is fine using either the speaker or the headset.