The Sendo X has been a long time coming. Announced last November, we've finally got our hands on one of the first samples to hit the UK. What we see isn't necessarily quite what you will get, though, as operators are able to customise the Sendo X to quite an extent.

This smart phone runs Symbian OS 6.1, over which sits Nokia's Series 60. But the interface looks very different from a standard Nokia Series 60 phone thanks to Sendo's Now! screen concept.

This provides a customisable home screen, and further screens arranged as a series of 'panes' which you move through using the joypad-like navigation button. Both user and operator can add panes and customise them. So if an operator has services they wish to draw attention to, they can develop the Now! screen concept to emphasise these.

Customisation aside there are plenty of features that will be available in any and all operator version(s) of the Sendo X. Sendo reckons you can see more, hear more, connect more and do more with this phone. We only have space to highlight a few features here, so let's go.

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The built-in camera shoots stills and video, and has a flash. This is in fact an LED which shines on the subject, illuminating it/him/her prior to a shot being taken. It works for close quarters photography but not for distant shots.

Desktop software allows PC owners to synchronise contacts, diary and e-mail with a range of software. Unusual but welcome is the e-mail synchronisation with Outlook Express (other smart phones require Outlook).

Document viewing is catered for. You can install document viewers for about 40 file formats from the installation CD, while readers for the commonly used Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF are in ROM.

For third-party software and all your own data there is a rather generous (in smart phone terms) 32MB of built-in memory. If you want more, use SD/MMC cards. The memory card slot is protected from dust by the battery cover, but you can swap cards without removing the battery.

Web and WAP browsing, e-mail support, SMS, MMS, GPRS, polyphonic ringtones and tri-band operation take care of the basic telephony requirements. And there is Bluetooth, an MP3 player and a rather nifty voice dialling utility that works fairly well with no training at all.

The Sendo X looks like an ordinary phone, but underneath its nondescript shell lies a complex, capable creature. It looks like giving next generation Windows Smart phones a run for their (or rather your) money.