Samsung M1 with Vodafone 360 on sale

The Samsung M1, which hopes to bring you and your friends so close you start wearing matching BFF t-shirts, is now on sale on Vodafone's Web site.

Along with its more expensive sibling, the Samsung H1, the M1 is built to show off the Vodafone 360 social-networking service. If your friends have one of these phones too, you can use advanced Vodafone 360 features such as nudging each other with your GPS location.

Like the H1, the M1 has an innovative user interface that puts your contacts front and centre, and uses the Linux-based LiMo operating system. It's a cool idea, but when we reviewed the Samsung H1 we found the whole thing a bit confusing.

The M1 cuts costs compared to the H1 by having a plastic case, losing the OLED screen, and cutting down the camera to 3.2 megapixels. But we've already gotten our hands on the M1 and in our first look, we found the phone good-looking and solid, with a satisfying touchscreen.

That makes the M1 worth looking at, especially since it's free on a £20-per-month, two-year contract -- although that only includes 75 minutes of calls.

Stay tuned for our full review, and in the meantime check out our hands-on photos of the Samsung M1.