Slim and sleek mobiles rule the roost these days when it comes to making fashion statements. Though manufacturers may design some really cool-looking and stylish handsets, it remains to be seen how well they work. The SX100 is one such handset, and I put it through its paces to see if it lives up to expectations.

Form Factor
The SX100 is a looker all right. It has a sleek, elegant appearance and feel. At just 11mm thick it’s slim enough to carry in a credit card compartment in your wallet. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I’m sure some of you would get that impression too. It has a decently sized 1.7 inch display with a 220 x 176 pixel resolution. The keys may seem a bit thin, but it’s not a problem even for those with plump digits. The five-way nav-pad is great for navigating menus.

On one side is a proprietary USB/handsfree slot. Thankfully, the Fly has provided a converter to 3.5mm so you can use your own earphones... and it does make quite a difference using your own earphones. A dedicated camera key that activates the 2 megapixel camera with an LED flash is located on the same side at the bottom. On the other side are the volume/zoom keys.

The SX100 supports external memory and although the compartment for the microSD card may not be accessible from the outside, you won’t need to remove the battery to get to it as it’s just under the cover. Happily, even the SIM can be removed without touching the battery.

Features and Performance
The SX100 is a decently loaded phone. It has easy-to-navigate menus and a clear interface. The menu styling can be customized and selecting items form various sub-menus is quick. All the regular features of a basic phone are intact, including a calendar for keeping dates and memos as reminders, and a separate to-do List option.

Other features include an alarm, world clock, calculator, unit converter, stopwatch and even a health feature to calculate BMI and bio-rhythm (not that anyone would use these functions, but hey, they’re there just in case). It also has a flight mode and a file manager option for locating data. Video and picture caller ID are supported.

From the media angle there's a music player with nine EQ presets and a repeat and shuffle mode. As for the quality, well, using your own earphones makes a difference. The sound is adequately loud but not spectacular. It sounds a bit like you’re in a large hall, on any setting. The bundled video player is okay. What I was quite unhappy about was the FM radio's pick-up – I was unable to get a clear signal during much of my commute, and the AMR recordings from radio were quite inaudible. There's a voice recorder and melody composer for making ringtones, apart from a few games. The loud speakerphone is a plus.