The phone is already critically acclaimed, taking out the award for Best Mobile Handset at the 2005 3GSM World Congress in February.
Targeted towards business users, budding photographers and entertainment enthusiasts on the go the D500 boasts a 1.3 megapixel digital camera with LED photo light, MP3 player and 96MB of internal memory. The memory is shared between the functions of the phone, with room to store MP3s (which can be used as ringtones), photos and video recording. Any one of these functions allows for about 60 minutes of video recording or 20 MP3 music files. There's no radio, but Samsung includes a set of headphones for MP3 playback.

Unfortunately there's also no facility for external memory expansion as is the case with Sony Ericsson's S700i, so you'll need to use it sparingly. Samsung also includes an external speaker with the kit which can be used for speaker phone calls or making your sound a little louder when playing back music, although we found the quality dipped slightly and became with much more treble than expected.
Bluetooth is included for the first time and works with the sync function, allowing easy transfer of files to and from the phone. As no Bluetooth dongle or USB cable is provided, you'll need to purchase one separately.

The phone feels strong and solid, the hinge movement smooth every time without feeling at all loose or flimsy. The slide motion is natural and provides the keypad safety of a clamshell with the single handed operation of a normal handset.

There's very little wrong with the D500, though we will point out the three-second lag in taking photos. Barring this, and the lack of memory expansion, this phone is undoubtedly one of our favourites and is well deserving of our Recommended Award.