Samsung Ego (Samsung GT-S9402)

Discontinued
3rd December 2008

How much would you pay for the phone in the picture? Perhaps if we told you that the Samsung Ego is the latest handset in the Samsung DuoS range that can support two SIM cards at the same time, it comes with a 2" QVGA OLED display, 5 megapixel camera, 1GB of memory expandable with microSD cards, unique ringtones and themes and a novel lightweight alloy housing, you might have an idea.

From the photos, the S9402 looks quite cheap, but bearing in mind that the touchscreen Samsung DuoS D980 retails for around €600, then you might expect this version to cost around the same. Shockingly, the word is that the S9402 "Ego" will set you back a staggering €1200, or around £1000 or $1500.

Is it worth it? Nope. This phone is twice as expensive as the new Nokia N97, but a lot less impressive. It is even more expensive than the Motorola AURA which may be ridiculously silly, but it does at least look expensive. There are lots of phones that are more rugged than this, several which are more luxurious and hundreds which are better value for money.

Remember, there's no 3G support, no WiFi, no SatNav, no touchscreen or anything that you would really hope for if paying this much for a phone.

The kicker? Despite the clever lightweight alloy, we understand that the Samsung Ego still weighs in at a substantial 140 grams. Oh dear.

There's no exact word on availability, but the Cyrillic keypad indicates that this will turn up in Russia pretty soon.