If you’re in search for the latest and greatest smartphone, then look elsewhere, for the Motorola WX395 isn’t it.

In fact, the WX395 is one of those often-overlooked devices in today’s smartphone-obsessed market: a cheap, basic handset that makes and receives phone calls and text messages - but doesn’t really do much else.

It must be said that for the price ($79), the phone does what it should quite nicely. It’s easy to operate and feels sturdy while still being compact and light enough to carry around comfortably in most pockets. Battery life is also much better than that of any smartphone, as you’d expect from a basic mobile phone (given that they don’t have any functionality that requires significant battery power).

The most advanced feature is the 1.3-megapixel camera with 4x zoom, which performs - well - in an average fashion. Motorola has equipped the WX395 with 2.5MB of internal memory for storing photos on, exapandable via the microSD card slot under the back cover.

Buy a cheap Motorola phone on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

If you like your cocktail rings with a hefty dose of the extravagant (and really, there is no other way to have them), then you’ll love the StudioLeanne Etsy store.

These unique statement rings are the work of a Melbourne-based designer, who works with glass and ceramic to create beautiful one-off pieces.

Prices aren’t too bad either - most of the rings are around the $30 mark, plus shipping.

The Spirals and Swirls cocktail ring is my favourite of the collection, selling for a very reasonable $25.

By Caroline Warnes

I was browsing through the sale section of a site called Yeltour this morning and came across some great buys from Australian designers.

There are some significant reductions on pieces from the likes of Sass & Bide, Moss and Spy, Seduce and more.

I really like the Katherine Brigade dress - it’s reduced to $100 (half price), and while short sleeves may not be a priority with the weather being what it is right now, it could definitely be made winter-appropriate with black opaque tights and a warm knitted cardigan or jacket over the top.

By Caroline Warnes

At $699, the new MSI Wind12 U230 is a decently priced ultraportable notebook computer.

Given its ultraportable and compact form factor, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the U230 for a netbook at first glance. However this isn’t the case - the 12.1-inch display gives it away, as does the slightly superior performance to what you’d expect from a netbook. Thankfully, the price is competitive with some higher-end netbooks.

Take a closer look at the hardware specs and once again, you’ll see that the U230 offers more grunt than your typical netbook. MSI has equipped it with an AMD Neo X2 Dual-Core 1.6GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, as well as an ATI Radeon HD3200 card for graphics. Connectivity is also slightly more comprehensive and includes ports for VGA, HDMI, gigabit Ethernet and three USB ports (2.0). It also comes with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Buy a cheap notebook or laptop on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

Today we had one of those bitingly cold mornings in Sydney that leaves you with hands incapable of proper movement when you first get into the office.

Naturally, I decided to leave my long Country Road leather gloves at work on Friday evening, and rest assured I was cursing my rampant stupidity all the way into work.

Everyone is always very jealous of my Country Road elbow-length leather gloves, but in the interests of discouraging copycats, my recommendations for other people are these short leather gloves from Country Road, which are also very smart and are more affordable than the elbow-length version ($79.95).

By Caroline Warnes

And the winners are:

A. Dovell-Cooney, 4670; J. Maunders, 3067; R. Colombi, 2022; K. Walker, 4508; D. Reynolds, 2250; J. Klotz, 3104; C. McKibbin, 5118; C. Merrett, 3088; A. Fowler, 5093; D. Rose, 4211; M. Brooks, 2261; J. Arthur, 2076; M. Rainsford, 5153; C. Svanberg, 6011; K. Morgan, 5167; R. Mayes, 4562; S. Barrie, 4108; S. Genot, 3211; C. Sikaloski, 6053; A. Wilkinson, 2259; M. Baines, 4551; T. Garth, 2261; C. Szymanski, 4153; G. Coyne, 4300; awaiting response from 6 winners.

The Nikon Coolpix S3000 is definitely a digital camera that leads with its price tag.

And given that it’s a price tag of $199, there’s no doubt which market Nikon is aiming to hit with the S3000 - namely, first-time digital camera purchasers or anyone who needs nothing more than the most basic of cameras.

The good news is that in this case, cheap does not equal nasty. In fact, the S3000 performs quite well for a budget point-and-shoot digital camera. For starters, it doesn’t look or feel cheap - it’s finished in brushed metal and comes in a range of eye-catching colours.

Then there is the image quality, which isn’t bad at all for a $199 camera, thanks to the 12-megapixel sensor. Naturally, it isn’t as good as what you’d expect from a higher-end compact, but it still handles most shooting environments well.

The feature set is also decent, but not brilliant, and includes a 27mm wide-angle lens with 4x optical zoom and a selection of shooting modes (automatic, scene, smart portrait, subject tracking and movie mode).

The Nikon Coolpix S3000 is available in Australia now.

Buy a cheap Nikon digital camera on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes

Perhaps I’ve been living under a rock in recent times, but I had no idea that Palmers had a hair care range.

Now I have always been a big fan of the Palmers Cocoa Butter skincare products, for a multitude of reasons - they smell great (like a chocolate shop), they’re inexpensive and they work very well for dry skin.

So when I stumbled across Palmers Cocoa Butter Conditioner at my local Cincotta Chemist yesterday, I had to buy it. And it was lucky for me that it only costs $6.50, because otherwise I would have been forced to choose between buying the conditioner and buying dinner.

Anyhow, I gave it a go this morning and I am so impressed. I have naturally very dry hair (so dry that some days it feels like I have bundles of hay taped to my head) and this stuff seems to have worked better than the more expensive salon brand of conditioner I was using before. It feels soft and somewhat moisturised, plus it has a faint chocolatey aroma.

If cocoa butter isn’t your thing, Palmers also makes shampoos and conditioners with coconut oil or olive oil for the same price.

By Caroline Warnes

More good news for shoe fetishists (AKA me) - Wittner is having a final reduction sale, with some items up to 70% off the original price.

You can shop for some items online, but if you’re near an actual Wittner store, I’d recommend paying it a visit instead, because there is a greater selection of sale items in-store.

The Wittner site is one of those annoying sites that won’t let you link straight to individual items, so I can’t link through to my pick of the sale - these Arcadia booties, which are going for $99.95, down from $209.95. The good news is there is still plenty of winter left to get some wear out of them!

By Caroline Warnes

For under $300, the new LG GW620 is a remarkable smartphone indeed.

It offers comprehensive smartphone functionality on the Google Android platform, all packaged up in a convenient landscape slider form factor (the phone slides out to reveal the full physical QWERTY keyboard, which can be used in conjunction with the 3-inch HVGA resistive touchscreen to operate the phone).

LG bills the GW620 as the “friendly smartphone”, which is reasonable given the phone’s emphasis on social networking and applications. Because it runs on the Google platform, the phone comes with a range of services pre-installed, including Google Gmail, Maps and Calendar, plus Gtalk and YouTube. You can also access the Android Market to download apps to complement those that come pre-installed.

The GW620 also offers decent media functionality, as you’d expect from a smartphone. The 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and auto-focus is definitely far better than what you’d expect from a phone in this price range, plus the Android music and video players come pre-installed (as does a 2GB microSD memory card for storing all your content).

LG has ticked lots of the right boxes, so by now you’d be expecting some negatives - and in this case, it’s definitely in terms of speed and performance. The GW620 doesn’t run on the latest Android 2.1 platform - instead it uses the older 1.5 version, and this means it isn’t as seamless to use as some of the more expensive Android phones.

The LG GW620 is available in Australia now for $299 outright.

Buy a cheap LG phone on sale in Australia

By Caroline Warnes