Viewsonic launches dual-SIM V350 smartphone

If you never leave the country or phone overseas, then the V350 isn't for you, as you'll be getting by just fine with a single SIM card for your mobile. However, if you travel for business, want to use cheap pay as you go SIMs to make long-distance calls, or often find yourself carrying two mobiles (one for work, and one for personal use) then this smartphone is a dream come true.

The dual SIMs allow you to make the best use of two SIMs at once, without having to make fiddly swaps. You can choose which SIM to use for making voice calls whenever you dial. Incoming calls can be handled from both SIMs, and you can set up separate ring tones for each, so you know if its a business or personal call for example.

There's a range of options of handling data too, very important for business travellers, given the incredibly high cost of roaming data. You can use either SIM, or have it switch between them for the best connection.

We've seen dual-SIM handsets before, but this is the first smartphone, and it runs Android 2.2, so yu get all the benefits of Google's mobile operating system.

It's unlikely to find its way onto contract deals in the UK, as we can't see any network wanting to provide you with an alternative option for making calls, but it could be worth picking up SIM free if its unique feature set appeals to you.