You shouldn't expect too much from Nokia's 1650. The phone costs a mere £44 SIM-free from Nokia's online store, so it clearly falls into the lower end of any list of phones based on specifications.

The dual band 1650 is proof that lower end handsets don't have to be cheap looking or difficult to use, though. My review sample looked rather neat in its black, silver and cream design, and you can opt for an alternative red and silver version if you prefer. It weighs a mere 80g and so shouldn't trouble your pocket.

While it has an FM radio and comes with a stereo headset, there is no music playback facility. Nor is there a camera. The 8MB of internal memory can't be boosted with memory cards as there is no card slot. Storage is limited to 500 contacts, 250 SMS messages. There is no Bluetooth and no PC synching. The calendar is a simple reminders list.

The contacts application is interesting. There are five separate phone books meaning, we suppose, that several people could share use of the phone and have their own contacts listing. You can share a contact between all the lists by putting it into the ‘shared contacts' group.

There is a speaking clock that will shout the time at you till you turn it off. This could be useful as an alarm, though it is a rather harsh thing to use to wake you up in the morning. Better, you can use the FM radio as the alarm, waking up to your favourite station.

Low end phones can suffer from poor keyboard design, but Nokia has done well with the 1650. The keys are comprised of a rubber fascia rather than being individual and separate from each other, but they are divided by moulding and feel quite tactile. The D-pad disappoints in not having a central select button, and you'll probably take time to get used to its absence if you are accustomed to having one.

The 1.8-inch screen is a CSTN type. This is old fashioned technology and its 128 x 160 pixels are definitely below par, but as this isn't a phone with multimedia-hungry applications on board the screen is fine. It worked well for displaying text messages and contact lists, for example.

The S30 user interface is extremely dated and some people might find it a bit cumbersome. But there is a saving grace in that the right softkey can be set up to offer a number of options and settings. If you spend some time setting this up then it can get you to your most frequently used parts of the phone easily.

One of the applications you might want to configure in this way is the phone's torch. The top edge of the handset has an LED light that can be turned on and off as needed. It is certainly bright enough to help you find the front door keyhole.

This is defiantly not an all singing, all dancing mobile phone, but it offers a few useful services (torch, radio alarm) and small and neat design.