The Spice S-9 is slim and stylish and actually surpasses the much talked about the Nokia 6500 Classic. It is only 9.6 mm in width, with curved edges and slips into the pocket quite comfortably. It has a metallic grey finish that gives it a pretty sophisticated look. One interesting design element is the back cover that opens from the top rather than sliding down from the bottom.

To make the phone easy to use short keys for camera and games have been added to the top of the keypad itself. There is just one universal port for connecting to the charger, USB (provided in the pack) or headphones. However the user can enjoy the music even on stereo bluetooth headset with the support of A2DP profile of its Bluetooth.

The Spice S-9 has some impressive features that definitely demand a second glance. A striking feature of the phone is 'Schedule SMS' wherein we were able to create a message, add a recipient's name and set a particular time and day for the SMS to be sent. DND (Do not disturb) may not have been able to prevent consumers from receiving spam calls or mes¬sages, but Spice has certainly taken a step in this direction. They have introduced a feature of'SMS firewall' wherein we could list up to 20 numbers we didn't want to receive messages from.

There is another option to delete all the messages from a particular number as well. Additionally, in the manner one does phonebook search, the user can do 'SMS Search' to identify all the messages, received from any particular name or number. This search can also be used to selectively delete all Another innovative feature was 'shuffle ring tone'. Usually there is an option to set up special tones for a particular caller but it really gets monotonous after some time and Spice has attempted to break this ringtone boredom.

It also has a video recorder and music player. And we were able to rewind and forward the lyrics by pressing left or right of the D-pad for about 3-5 seconds. However, we were disappointed to realise that the phone did not have an FM radio, which is considered a pre-requirement in all the phones of this segment.