228

The Vodafone 228 is a prepaid GSM mobile phone with a loose slider, no camera and no Bluetooth connectivity. Despite the Vodafone 228's very low price point, it remains hard to recommend.

The phone is made for Vodafone by Chinese manufacturer ZTE — a company that also makes Telstra-branded phones. The phone is small and black with a gunmetal grey keypad. The slider is easy to open and is fairly loose when extended, which lends the whole device a flimsy feel.

The Vodafone 228 has a relatively decent 1.8in display with a 128x160 resolution, but it suffers from poor viewing angles. It doesn't have a camera or a MicroSD slot, but these are features we wouldn't automatically expect in a mobile phone commanding such a low price.

The lack of Bluetooth connectivity is less understandable given that similarly priced phones like the Samsung M610 and the LG KG370 offer it.

The phone does offer a calculator, world clock, calendar, conversion, alarm clock and two games (Tetris and "Push Box").

Using the Vodafone 228 is fairly straightforward thanks to a simple graphical menu. Unfortunately some of the keypad's buttons are overly firm and have very little bounce back, which can lead to frequent mistakes when text messaging or dialling phone numbers. We also found there was some lag when trying to bash out quick SMS messages.

With a maximum talk time of only 120 minutes, the Vodafone 228's Li-Ion battery has a relatively low life. Vodafone offers the 228 for $69 when purchased with a $29 Prepay Jumbo Cap account, which includes $150 per month for local and international calls.