If you've passed a poster or switched on your TV in the last few weeks, you'll be familiar with the Samsung Genio, advertised extensively to the beat of Bullet Proof by La Roux.

The touch-screen phone is aimed firmly at the young. It comes with a selection of back covers in youthful colours (Samsung chooses to call them “Fashion Jackets”) including shocking pink, bright yellow, orange, white and a slightly more classic black.

Further proof of its commitment to the young and trendy are the widgets which act as shortcuts to social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and MySpace – we all know that it's the only way to communicate for under 25s.

 

Appearance and handling for Samsung Genio

The only way we can really describe the Samsung Genio's shape is like a pebble. It fits nicely into your hand and feels snug. We weren't entirely keen on the brightly-coloured covers – clearly, we're not exactly the target audience – but the shiny black frontage is stylish and lovely. This is emphasised by the lack of clutter: there are just three hard keys (call, call end and back. Oddly, the back key is the centre key) sitting under a 2.8-inch capacitive TFT touch-screen.

Now, we like a responsive touch-screen, we really do, but the screen on the Genio is perhaps a little too responsive. Spelling words and texting with T9 turned off was a haphazard process: if you don't move your finger double quick, you're onto the next character before you know it. However, the screen could be a lot sharper. In particular, some of the menu icons aper pixelated and drab.

 

Web browsing and camera for Samsung Genio

There's no 3G access; the Genio relies on EDGE data speeds for the internet. It's pretty good although you need to be a bit patient for sites to fully load up, but the YouTube widget on the home screen is wasted, as the Genio can't cope with the streaming at all. We would also prefer to have been able to view the screen in landscape mode – a far more natural way of browsing web pages.

Social networking is one of the key selling points of the Genio. Sign in using the appropriate widget and you get feeds to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace – you never need be out of touch from your online world. It's a good job there are three home screens – each of the feeds takes up a lot of on-screen room, and we recommend putting one on each to make reading them easier.

Facebook works well, with a firm press of the quick feed taking you to the full site. Twitter is more frustrating – although you are logged on to the site to receive feeds, try to enter the site and you have to re-enter all your details.

The Samsung Genio's two-megapixel camera isn't one for photography buffs, more for snapping quick pics of friends before uploading them to a website or sending them as an MMS. The lack of any flash makes taking pictures in the dark or low light more or less impossible.

 

The verdict for Samsung Genio

Bear in mind that the Samsung Genio is an entry-level phone, and therefore cannot be judged alongside higher-spec, more expensive phones. So we overlooked the fact that there's no 3G data speeds, and the very basic camera and focused on what the Genio actually is: a social networking device that kids will be happy to be seen with for a price they can afford.

And be those standards, the Genio does exactly what it sets out to do, and we are sure it will appeal to social networking youngsters who want funky social networking phone they'll be proud to flash in front of their friends.