In the beginning of December I upgraded to a HTC P4350. It was a free upgrade on a Vodacom Talk 240 Contract. The P4350 is a mid level HTC phone, and the one I got has also been upgraded to Windows Mobile 6. I have been using it for the last month and I am really impressed with how functional the phone is. The phone fits nicely in your hand and the black colour really distinguishes it from the rest of the HTC Smartphone range. The keys are nicely laid out and easily accessible when you have rather big fingers like me. The phone has a very solid feel and the slide keyboard is smooth and easy to use. My concern about having to slide out the keyboard when sending text messages was quickly put to rest with the ease in which the phone can be navigated and used from the keyboard itself. The stylus also fits nicely into the back of the phone and I rarely need to take it out to do anything. The touch screen is very responsive to finger presses and dialling numbers are made simple with the big onscreen keypad. The front navigation screens also allows complete and easy access to the menu's and features of the phone, and the lack of 3G and Video Calls are a minor discomfort. Due to the lack of these features the battery life is surprisingly good with a maximum of 4 days of battery life with average use.

Having Windows Mobile loaded it took me no longer then 2 minutes to set up ActiveSync with my Exchange Server. I was very surprised however to find that it also has built in settings to add Gmail accounts and I had my SA Developer.Net and Gmail account added using POP Mail just as easily. Unfortunately it doesn't support push mail for Gmail yet but that is a minor inconvenience, as I am still able to keep track of all my email accounts when not in the office or near my computer. Email reading is easy on the big screen in both portrait and landscape views. With ActiveSync my calendar and contacts are easily downloaded from the Exchange Server. Wireless networking is a breeze and both my office and home wireless access points have been added to the HTC making it much more cost effective, as it will use the Wireless to sync when within range, cutting down on the Edge and GPRS bills.

HTC provides a copy of Sprite Backup with the phone which makes backing up a breeze, with a scheduled backup occurring to memory card on a predetermined schedule, as well as a PC backup when connected via ActiveSync using the Sprite Windows Client. Syncing with both Vista and Windows XP is painless and simple. I also purchased a 1GB MicroSD card to use with the phone to install a small array of applications I use on the device. The Camera on the P4350 isn't all that amazing, however I rarely use the camera on my cell phone and it is not the purpose for having a phone. However for the odd photo it does what it is meant to do.

Office Mobile is preloaded on the phone, and I quick visit to the Microsoft Website also revealed a free upgrade allowing the HTC to open OpenXML documents created in Office 2007. Remote Desktop is also available as a download from the HTC Club Website. A handy pouch is included in the box along with the normal hands-free headphones, although I had no problem connecting the HTC to my car Bluetooth radio.

My overall impression of the HTC P4350 is a good one. It's a functional phone with no major thrills, brilliant battery life and a very easy interface. I would highly recommend anyone looking for an upgrade to give the P4350 a good look, although it has been on the market for more then a year, it is still a powerful Smartphone, and with the upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 been made even more useable on a daily basis.