In a welcome break from thoroughly non-mnemonic serial numbers, Orange has taken the provocative (though some might say downright obvious) step of giving their latest phone an actual name.
The Berlin is the first of Orange's new series of city-themed handsets. The idea is that if Orange's mobile tariffs can be personalised as types of animals (dolphin, racoon etc) then handsets can be described as cities.
Difficult to tell exactly why they came up with the Berlin handle for this one. Everything about it seems to be deliberately understated - this isn't a phone you would pick out of line-up with the usual 'look at me' suspects.
It's a fairly low-spec number that's apparently designed to appeal to Orange's 'Dolphin' subscribers - people who text more than talk, which tends to mean the youth market. But with that in mind, it works very hard behind the scenes to deliver the goods.
For starters, the look is a mean and moody matt black - it doesn't draw attention to itself and isn't even shiny. But the reason for the matt finish is its lightly rubberised plastic casing - this phone won't slip around when you set it down, but with its curved edges it's still smooth enough to slide easily into the pocket.
It feels sturdy and well built and it slides open with a satisfying clunk and a very nice ice blue backlight for the keys. The keypad itself is a model of economy - the buttons are on the small side, but well enough defined that pressing them is never difficult.
The camera lens is located under the slide, so you'll need to open the phone to use it, which seems a bit strange in these post-Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot times.
Camera options
Quick access to the camera comes from holding down the play button on the side, then it can be used in either portrait or landscape mode. There are five size options (176x144 - 1600x1200) and up to 8x zoom, which sounds good, except that it won't work if you're using the higher resolution mode.
