The year 2004 is coming to a close, and Samsung has just dropped the D500, a phone that has effectively ended the debate over who makes the best sliding mechanism in the business. Before this, sliders were often seen as a bit of a gimmick, but the D500 is a ‘semi-automatic’ marvel; give it a gentle nudge with your thumb and the top half glides up with a satisfying, dampened ‘thunk’ that feels like the door of a high-end German saloon. It’s finished in a sleek, ‘Phantom Black’ that makes every other silver plastic phone look like a toy, and it’s currently the must-have handset for every upwardly mobile professional in Britain.nnTechnically, the D500 is a monster. It is Samsung’s first ‘megapixel’ phone to hit the UK, featuring a 1.3-megapixel camera with an integrated flash and a mirror for those inevitable self-portraits. It can record video clips with sound, and for the first time on a Samsung, the quality is actually decent enough to show to someone else without an apology. The screen is a 1.9-inch TFT with 262,144 colours, and it is arguably the best display on the market. It’s bright, saturated, and makes the Nokia 6230 look positively ancient. But the real technical breakthrough for Samsung here is the inclusion of Bluetooth. For years, they’ve resisted it, but its arrival on the D500 means you can finally use a wireless headset or sync your contacts with your PC without wanting to throw the phone out of a window.nnMemory-wise, Samsung has been much more generous than Sony Ericsson, providing 96MB of internal storage. While there’s still no expansion slot, 96MB is enough for a decent selection of photos and a handful of MP3s to use as ringtones. The audio quality is fantastic, and it even comes with a tiny ‘Sound Mate’ speaker in the box that plugs into the side to boost the bass—a gimmick, certainly, but a charming one. The keypad is hidden behind the slide, and while the buttons are a bit flat, the overall ergonomics of the device are excellent.nnThe UI is the standard Samsung grid, which is colourful and easy to navigate, though it still lacks the deep customisation options of a Symbian device. Battery life is surprisingly good for such a high-spec slider, comfortably lasting two days of normal use. The D500 is the phone that has finally put Samsung at the top of the technical pile in the UK. It’s sophisticated, it’s powerful, and that sliding action is so addictive you’ll find yourself fidgeting with it in every meeting until your boss asks you to stop. It is the definitive ‘black’ phone of the decade.