The Huawei IDEOS X1 is a small and inexpensive mobile phone running version 2.2 of Google’s Android operating system. As such, it’s a quite well featured phone, providing its owners with all of the functionality one expects from an Android phone.

The phone comes very well specified, and includes features such as a 3.2 megapixel camera, 2.8″ capacitive touch screen, WiFi so that it may be used on your home network, and bluetooth for easy connection to headsets and other similar devices. Being an Android device, facilities like Google Maps, and GMail are also standard inclusions.

As it’s a small phone, all of its physical attributes are also of a similar small size. What this means is that if your eyesight is no longer what it used to be, or if you need to have a phone with larger buttons, then this is probably not a phone for you.

On the other hand, if you’re wanting to get a phone as a gift for one (or more) of the grand children, the combination of the features provided in this phone, coupled with its affordability, makes the giving of one of these a great idea for you to consider.

In use, the phone was found to be acceptably fast, although not sparkling. You get more than what you pay for, but as you’ve not paid a whole lot, there’s good value for your dollars spent here.

One annoyance for me was the fact that the button on the front of the phone was very sensitive to touch. A light press would activate the phone, and I found that the phone would often be activated through touching other objects in my pocket, or perhaps when placing it face down on a table or desk.

Because the screen size is as small as it is, usability for some functions is less than optimal. Consider, for instance, when reading emails: the text is easy to read and clear, but only a small portion of the message is displayed at any one time. This is to be expected given the specifications of the phone, but as I’ve noted above, this means that this phone is not for everyone.

The Android system however is now well proven and reliable, the screen sensitivity to touch is good, as is phone performance. And there’s a good selection of applications available from the Android market.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive entree into the world of smartphones, the X1 is most certainly a good phone to consider.