Gifts and gadgets for kids

The Vodafone 555 Blue is a non-contract Pay As You Go phone which is designed to appeal directly to heavy Facebook users on a tight budget. Whilst it doesn’t contain the bells and whistles of the market leaders, many would argue that only a fraction of features on such devices are ever used.

For a bargain phone, you may be surprised to learn it has a Blackberry style QWERTY keyboard and looks attractive in a blue and silver plastic chassis. In terms of functions, there is a Facebook key which takes you straight to your news feed, a 2 megapixel camera, and sockets include a micro SD slot and earphone jack. The phone’s menus can be navigated via the QWERTY, plus a series of five keys and navigation pad under the screen.

With only a 200MHz processor, this is not the fastest mobile on the market but the interface is intelligently designed and allows for ease of use. The menu page is customisable to an extent, although there aren’t a great deal of extra applications to play with. However, its simplicity is the strength highlighted by the contacts book which merges both SIM and Facebook contacts into one list. Messaging on this phone is intuitive and whilst the screen is only 2.4”, you aren’t going to need to squint.

On the downside, internet browsing is basic and slow, with only 2G available and no Wi-Fi, but the Opera Mini browser will allow you to view simple pages. Video capabilities are also rather poor, and it’s not possible to upload them to Facebook, as the file sizes are too big. You do get a music player, FM radio, a note editor and calculator, but the main draw is clearly the social media side of things.

Those looking for a more feature-led handset with deep Facebook integration may want to look at the HTC ChaCha, but they will need a much bigger bank balance. If you want to keep active within your social circles on the move using a simple and intuitive mobile phone system, it’s definitely worth trialling the Vodafone 555 Blue.

If you are wanting more information about this phone visit Dial-A-Phone.co.uk, it would be a great present for you child especially as its on pay as you go so you know they wont run up a huge phone bill.