With the BlackBerry looks and the purse-friendly price tag, you can see at a glance that this is a phone for the facebook generation. It has a great QWERTY keyboard, plus the benefit of a touchscreen - something that the BlackBerry 8520 doesn't have. This isn't the highest spec phone by any means, but for messaging it's great. As well as text and video messaging, the Rio II comes pre-configured for push email, and there are widgets for quick access to facebook and other social networking sites. The Rio II also has the benefit of 3G with HSDPA giving fast access to the internet, so there's no hanging around waiting for facebook to load.
There's also a basic 3 megapixel camera with video, plus a media player and FM radio. A 3.5mm audio jack lets you plug in your own headphones. In fact you'll need to, as headphones aren't included in the box.
The built-in memory is just 80MB - average for this price range - but you can add a microSD card to give plenty of storage for music, etc. Connectivity is by Bluetooth or mini-USB, and a USB cable is supplied in the sales package. Battery life isn't great, however.
We think this is a fabulous little phone. It's smart, it's easy to use and it's not expensive. We've just got to say it - BlackBerries are not the only fruit.
Features of the Orange Rio II include:
- 3.2 megapixel camera
- Video recording
- Display: TFT resistive touchscreen, 262,000 colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.4 inches)
- MP3 & media player
- Stereo FM radio
- Ringtones: MP3 ringtones, vibration alert
- Voice recorder
- Integrated handsfree speaker
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, email, Orange Messenger
- Internet: Web browser, HSDPA
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, mini-USB, 3.5 mm audio jack
- Memory: 80MB plus microSD memory card
- Triband plus 3G
- Size: 110 x 61 x 12.5 mm
- Weight: 106g
- Talktime: 4 hours
- Battery standby: 288 hours
