NEC E808

...NETWORK

This NEC phone is a so-called 3G (third generation) mobile. It uses an updated SIM, called a USIM (duh!), and expands on the 2G mobiles we've been using since analogue phones were phased out. The most obvious advantage is video calling, but other services - movie clip downloads, A to B maps and so on - are new twists in the world of interactive mobile phones.

The only network to offer 3G technology at the moment ...
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-> NEC e808 VS THE COMPETITION

There are currently only three 3G mobiles available in the UK - two of which are made by NEC. This e808 is the largest, and it originally retailed for £449. Now a new model is due for release, the e808 is already discontinued - hence the amazing free/£20 offers that are now abundant all over the internet.

It makes sense for Three to sign up as many people as possible ... more

You might think this phone is expensive. You might be wary of being tied to a tarrif. You might not know much about the Three network. Put your doubts aside - this is the mobile phone bargain of the year.

-> WHY I BOUGHT THE e808

Well, simple. It was free. On Pay As You Go. Well, OK, it cost me a penny (for the address verification) - but wow, was it worth that hard-earned 1p!! As I type the phone is available from one online retailer for £9.99 P&P only, and Carphone Warehouse are matching the price in their stores too.

With that kind of pricing, you have no excuse but to get a video phone. It's almost 2004 and I feel like my e808 has finally brought retro-futurism to the present day!!

-> BUT ISN'T IT A CONTRACT PHONE??

Yes and no.

The Three network offer their own flavour of Pay As You Go, called "3 To Go". It is a PAYG tariff without top-up cards - you are billed monthly via Direct Debit, but only for the calls you make and/or the content you download (more of that in a second). No fixed fees, no penalties, and no free minutes. It's PAYG with a twist - and is maybe a little more convenient in some ways.

This does mean that you have to pass a credit check - but it is very forgiving. My credit record is absolutely abominable, and I still got a phone, much to my amazement. As long as you have an account that supports Direct Debit and you are employed, Three seem happy to sign you up. (Of course I can't verify this, but my experience demonstrates that they're not too fussy).

So yes - you can get a PAYG video phone for £9.99 on the high street right now, and you don't have to have a clean record to get one.

-> A LITTLE BACKGROUND ABOUT THE NETWORK

This NEC phone is a so-called 3G (third generation) mobile. It uses an updated SIM, called a USIM (duh!), and expands on the 2G mobiles we've been using since analogue phones were phased out. The most obvious advantage is video calling, but other services - movie clip downloads, A to B maps and so on - are new twists in the world of interactive mobile phones.

The only network to offer 3G technology at the moment is Three. Coverage is still patchy. Most major motorways and railway lines are well catered for, but remote areas definitely are not. When you move from a 3G area to a 2G area your call may be dropped - and when in a 2G area, calls actually cost 5p more to UK landlines! If you're not in a major city, this might be something to consider.

I won't cover Three and their costs in too much detail here, but www.three.co.uk should answer any questions you have.

-> NEC e808 VS THE COMPETITION

There are currently only three 3G mobiles available in the UK - two of which are made by NEC. This e808 is the largest, and it originally retailed for £449. Now a new model is due for release, the e808 is already discontinued - hence the amazing free/£20 offers that are now abundant all over the internet.

It makes sense for Three to sign up as many people as possible - after all, for a video phone to be of any use, you need someone to chat to! Another reason why it's a good idea to snap up a cheap e808 while you can.

-> SIZE ISN'T EVERYTHING

The first thing you will notice about the e808 is its size. It looks like a wallet when closed, and a sandwich maker when open. It is, to be blunt, enormous.

But the size is well justified.

Just take a look at the huge - and I mean MASSIVE - colour TFT screen. If you're going to chat with someone via video, you NEED this, and NEC wisely stuck their necks out and gave this phone a beautiful display. You might think you look silly, but these phones are going to become more common now they are cheaper and people will come to accept the size.

-> KEYS AND NAVIGATION

I am SO GLAD that my e808 has freed me from the cumbersome horror that is T9 texting. No more embarassing mistakes in all your texts as you cycle through words and spell your boyfriend's name as "Body" instead of "Andy" every time.

Why?

Because the large screen has given NEC space on the bottom half of the clamshell - it boasts a full QWERTY keyboard, complete with backspace, enter, shift and space keys! The numerical keypad is nothing more than a row of numbers across the top of the 'keyboard' - it's not as much of a hinderance as you may think, though, especially if you program in your numbers. You will soon get used to the location of the numbers.

Unfortunately, the keyboard does not glow. You can normally compensate for this by tilting the screen over the keyboard, but it does seem like a basic omission.

The sheer width of the phone means you won't be able to type with one hand, though, and navigating with one hand is also a challenge. I think the phone is supposed to be held like a GameBoy instead.

Speaking of navigation... bad news, too many menu buttons. On top of the joypad (with "enter" key) and two select keys, there's also a direct link to the 3G video services and an extra Menu button. The Menu button is completely unnecessary, and seems to have been added to keep the phone from looking asymmetrical. When on the main screen, Menu takes you to the menu, but the logical Menu button - the one in the centre of the joypad - doesn't have a function. Odd, and a bad move in my opinion.

There are a few other niggles with navigation. The key used for "back"/"quit" is not consistant (sometimes it's the right button, sometimes you have to use "CLR" if there is no quit option). Neither is "backspace" - with numbers you use "CLR", with letters you use "BS". You get used to it, of course, but for a beginner faced with a massive rungbound manual, it's a bit strange to say the least.

Also, the O (letter) key and 9 key are the same key, and the 0 (zero) key is next to it. This can be confusing and annoying if you hit O instead of 0 and vice-versa.

Most importantly of all, all keys respond instantly - a far cry from my old Sagem MYG-5 and Sony T300 which regularly took three or four seconds to register each keypress.

-> MULTIMEDIA

This is what you wanted to know, right? The phone has a few key functions where multimedia is concerned, and with 64mb memory, you can do a lot of playing around before you run out of space.

The really clever thing about this phone is the choice of cameras... yes, it has two built in! So you can film/photograph yourself, or what's in front of you, and switch between at any time. A really brilliant feature, and one that can be used with video calling, video making and with the camera function.

Remember that the so-called zoom is digital, though, and therefore not worth using at all.

1. VIDEO
The e808 can film 12 second videos with quite a low framerate. They are great fun, though. The phone picks up sound, too, and the videos can be played back through the phone or emailed. Each one is approximately 100k in size.

As well as video calling - which I have not tried yet, as I'm still waiting for my friends' e808s to arrive - you can also download video content. The appearance and quality of downloaded clips is absolutely fantastic, but the material itself is patchy... strangely unengaging clips from the top ten movies, comedians you've never heard of, Monty Python and Bottom sketches, and the terminally unfunny Angry Kid from BBC3. Each downloaded video clip is maybe 30sec-1min long, and for 50p that's not good value at all. Three need to improve on this ASAP.

It's also worth remembering that you apparently need to use the handsfree headphones when making a video call. Another big oversight and something that is not illustrated in the phone manual (which shows people chatting happily wire-free).

You can also transfer video files to the PC if you have Win200/XP - see 'WMA player', below.

2. CAMERA

Images taken on this phone are brilliant. We're talking about a low end digicam here (we don't really want to be emailing 1mb photos with tarrifs as they are), but my Sony T300 is now on eBay, put it that way. All pictures in daylight are clear and crisp, and the camera even manages well in low light.

You can also transfer these files to the PC if you have Win200/XP - see 'WMA player', below.

3. AUDIO PLAYER

This is where the phone runs into problems. You can only use the WMA player by transferring WMA files - basically re-encoded mp3s - from a Win2000 or WinXP PC. No Macs, no Win98 or ME users. A massive oversight. So until I upgrade, no fancy solid-state audio player for me!

There is an Audio Recorder built in, which allows 60 second clips to be recorded and saved, but there seems to be no way to access the files, and no mention of the feature in the manual. Very frustrating. The voice notes feature, which is separate to the Audio Recorder, allows one 20 second note (or part of a phone call) to be recorded and played back.

-> 3G EXTRAS

This phone handles all available 3G extras... A to B maps and directions for 25p a shot, POP3 email and your own 3mail.com address, and something dodgy-looking called "Top Shelf" which I daren'y stray into. Price bands vary according to the type of content you are trying to access. Better hope you're lost on a main motorway though - no 3G coverage in remote areas!

Three also supply a fax number as well as a vice number - so you can use your phone to receive faxes and print them to any fax machine (at cost no doubt).

Remember, this phone does not yet support general internet access, GPRS or WAP - something that Three promise to change in the future. At the moment it reminds me of an AOL approach to the internet... 'you can download whatever you want, but we have to offer it to you first'.

-> BATTERY LIFE

Initially battery life on the handset is poor, but improves after a few charges. Video is a real power drain, but once you're playing with that less, you should get 2-3 days standby with no problems. A spare battery (or spare phone) may be advisable regardless - especially if you get stuck outside a 3G area.

Two mains chargers are supplied, but not two batteries, and no car charger either. A very odd approach, and a little too much like cutting corners for my liking.

-> OTHER FEATURES

The phone is very customisable with backdrops, polyphonic ringtones and images for contacts. The phone book is insane... four numbers, mobiles, email address, icons for every type of contact number and address, and strange entries I haven't even worked out yet. You won't be disappointed with the 'normal' features - NEC have covered almost everything.

Apparently the phone features Bluetooth but this seems to be disputed in some circles. I have no use for it so I have not investigated further.

-> CONCLUSION

The NEC e808 is an absolutely amazing piece of technology. Push the "brick" comments aside, and concentrate on what you are getting for your £20 (or your tenner, depending on where you buy): a video phone with audio player, a digital camera, and a fun gadget - all without line rental or commitment.

I have had my e808 for two days and cannot leave it alone. I take it out in the street to take photos and I make videos of my cats. I email friends the results and have convinced two other friends to get their own e808s so we can try video chat.

Get one. Use it as a cheap camera, a fun gadget, or a back-up phone. But get one. They are still selling for more than £100 on eBay, and for £20, who can complain?

-> A WORD OF WARNING

Because these phones are tied to contracts (albeit no fee, no commitment contracts), you may have problems buying one from eBay. You should never buy one SIM free as Three SIMs cannot be bought separately. These phones can also NOT be unlocked unless you pay Three £115 for the pleasure.

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Update - October 2003

Well, I've owned this phone for quite some time now, and have been using it as my primary phone. I have uncovered a few major problems with the network and handset.

Battery life. I tried to be optimistic in my review, but it is DIRE. The phone needs to be charged every two days - more often if you actually use it for any length of time. This in itself is a real pain. More often than not, I'll open it up to call someone and find the battery light flashing or the phone already dead. I do have one of those emergency chargers, but it does not fit this phone (few accessories do), and I really refuse to shell out for a car charger since I often need to use it when I'm wandering around the shops.

Next, the dreaded "USIM error". Every 24-48 hours, if the phone is still alive after that long, I'll open the flip to find the above message displayed on the screen. This is really the equivalent of the phone crashing. Three Customer Services plead ignorance to this fault, and yet every single e808 seems to be affected by it. So I've missed quite a few calls - some on my birthday - because the phone had crashed. And obviously because it's a clamshell I can't tell if it has crashed until I open it to use it.

I was also thinking of getting a car kit for the mobile to stay legal once the new handsfree laws come into effect. Unfortunately it is so wide that it does not fit unto any car cradle I have tried. And obviously the phone does not function for calls when closed, so I'd have to balance it on the dashboard - open - to use it handsfree.

I've had a few comments about the size of the phone when using it, including a teenager screaming "THAT PHONE IS HUGE!" while I was talking to someone. It doesn't really bother me that it's big, but it does bother me that NEC made a device the size of a Palm computer with none of the features. Navigation is still clumsy and it always takes forever to work out which button is the OK or YES button on any particular screen, as it varies as you progress through the menus.

Finally, 3G network coverage is patchy. Sitting with the phone on the seat next to me in my living room, it beeps and beeps as it switches from 3G - cheap - service to 2G - expensive - service. I am really reluctant to spend an extra 5p/min because the planet has wobbled on its axis and my phone has lost the 3G signal. In fact, I struggle to get 3G anywhere except near my city centre - it's just lucky I live close by.

I would sell the phone, but having changed my number, and being 'tied' to this strange no-fees contract, I can't port the number to another network yet. Seeing as I've already had one phone stolen this year, and sold the second when I got this one (so yep, we're up to three numbers this year), I can't quite bring myself to buy a new mobile and start afresh just yet. I really like the idea of video calling but One Stop Phone Shop never even delivered my friends' one-penny e808s so I've not been able to try it. More on that in my OSPS op.

So yeah, I like the phone, but it has too many niggles to be a practical primary phone. I am looking at a cute little flip next, like the Motorolas or Samsungs, and will hang onto my 3 Sim for the cheap calls - praying that one day 3 will replace my e808 for something that doesn't crash. It's been an adventure, but I would not be so keen to make a 100% switch to a new network if I got the chance to get another 1p phone again. My star rating has been reduced accordingly. 

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