Mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson has expressed its delight at being praised for its environmentally-friendly products.

The Sony Ericsson Elm was recently given a rating of 4.3 out of five by O2 when it compared the green credentials of 65 different handsets from six brands.

This was the highest rating overall, while four other Sony Ericsson models were also included in the top ten.

Mats Pellback, head of sustainability at the manufacturer, said it is very proud that its products have been rated so highly.

"Of all attempts to compare environmental performance, we believe this rating system gives consumers the clearest picture on the environmental impact of their phone," he commented.

Ronan Dunne, chief executive of O2, added that sustainability is very important to consumers, as they are becoming increasingly aware of how the technology they buy affects the environment.

The Sony Ericsson Elm contains a number of useful features including 280MB of internal memory and a camera with face and smile detection technology.