NOBODY I’ve shown the Verzio Skii to can believe that this slim, dual-SIM touch-screen phone costs less than $100.

Visually, everything about the Skii from Verzio of Singapore—black piano finish, the brush metal back cover, chrome trim and one-centimeter profile speaks of an expensive phone. That Verzio has managed to pack so many features into an attractive candy- bar phone that sells for only P4,990 is no mean feat.

The dual-band (GSM 900/1800) phone comes with a 2.2-inch LCD touch screen, a camera, a video recorder, a music player, two gigabytes of internal memory, Bluetooth support and a standard set of phone applications such as an organizer, a calculator and a currency converter, all accessible from an intuitive system of menus.

Despite all the bells and whistles, however, there is no doubt that the Skii’s ability to use two SIMs and have them both simultaneously active is what sets it apart from most other phones. This can be particularly attractive to people who normally carry two phones, each connected to a different network provider. But even those of us with less extensive contacts or hectic schedules can benefit from having two SIMs active, given how spotty network service can be. With a dual-SIM phone like the Verzio Skii, it’s easy. Simply dial the number as you would on any other phone, then select from one of two “Send” buttons, to tell the Skii which SIM to use.

You can receive calls on either SIM, If a call comes in while you’re talking on one network, the second caller is put on hold, and you can switch back and forth between calls.