So far, I love this phone! Okay, details. I got the grey/brushed aluminium look phone (known as the Champagne model)- much better than the black one IMHO. Bought mine through a direct mobile phone company, who were quite responsive and threw in a free minidisc player, so all good.
Out the box, it was simple as inserting sim, and I was up and running within 20 minutes. The phone is reasonably large, but feels much like my wallet in my pocket, so there it'll probably live quite happily.
Screen/Video ------------ The screen is fantastic and clear, and the quality of video playback is excellent. Recording depends on the quality setting chosen-- best quality tends to be a lower frame rate, low being the fastest fps. Typically I found medium gave the best results. Pics are good enough for mms- perhaps nothing else.
Sound ----- Ringtones are the usual polyphonic
stuff- but can be turned quite loud-- the first phone I've had for a while that doesn't necessarily need to be on vibrate (if yr happy to have a brass band start up in yr pocket). Having said that, the vibrate function is excellent-- far better than my old T68i. Oddly, video playback seems to happen from a rear speaker. Trick 1- If you cup you hand behind the screen when viewing, it's usually loud enough to hear without using the headset (despite what people say.)
Menu/Interface -------------- Fine- not quite as slick as Nokia, but adequate, and I found I quickly got used to the way they work buttons / when to use the middle-of-joystick button etc. Overall, quite happy with it as it feels pretty logical. Messaging is easiest to get to, one or two button presses from each screen. Email is reasonably easy to set up, thanks to the excellent manuals package included.
Keyboard -------- One of the best features in my opinion. The keys are quite responsive, and most people I've shown the phone to have been impressed (excluding one person with giant thumbs!) I was worried as the shop dummy phones felt strange-- but they work great. The symbol shift key is logical to get to symbols above the keys, and there's a special symbol button for the more obscure ones (Yen sign in England anybody?)
Email ----- Simple. Like texting. Adding attachments is a doddle. You have to be in 3g area to even send a plain text mail though.
Manuals/etc ----------- Fantastic-- comprehensive set of neatly packaged manuals-- quick start guides, in depth manuals, pricing manuals-- I'm glad they seperated the manuals into different areas-- i.e. I can find the pricing stuff easily without digging through 300 pages (a.k.a. Orange!). All in a nice semi-transparent plastic folder to keep it all together.
3g services ----------- Well-- they had me entertained for a while. The ITN news headlines are remarkably short and sweet-- good for quick overview. The comedy clips are basically one-liners, and I haven't had a chance to try the premiership goal stuff yet. Regarding the locate-me type functions-- they aren't as speedy as I'd like-- taking 15-20 seconds at each choice on each page- and it's typically 3 pages to get to a map, so we're talking over a minute. Quicker to page through my A to Z IMHO, and probably more detail there too. The directory is more useful, but only just. It all feels like cut down internet to me-- I'd prefer to go straight to www.yell.com, but there ya go. The games are not so great, but I don't really do that kind of thing anyway. Otherwise, fairly mediocre-- not as much useful stuff as I'd hoped for. I guess they're still searching for "that killer app".
Video calling ------------- Interesting, but you need the headset on to do it. Also, you need both to have video phone, both be in a 3g area etc. The framerate is about the same as the video recording, and the speech lags behind a bit, but I found that it didn't seem to be a problem. Overall, quite an exciting new technology, this-- I could enjoy having video conversations-- you tend to forget how much expression a person's face can give when they're talking, and I found the ever-so-slight-lag made me even more aware of this.
Battery life ------------ It's 3g. It's poor. 3-4 hours when you're going crazy with video's and music and and. A day and a half - 2 days on standby. probably just under a day with some moderate phone conversations. Also, unlike with the NEC e606, you *dont* get two batteries. Fortunately the 808 has a far better battery life than the 606!
Pricing -------
Currently, this is free on a 750 minute contract- and at £35, that's cheap! Most online operators will probably throw in a freebie (minidisc player in my case), or cashback etc. Interestingly, this includes a year's handsetinsurance, making it great value.
Incidentally, if you consider three, but find these drawbacks don't suit (battery life / mobile size etc), call up your operator and ask for your PAC number stating you want to change to three. Almost all operators seem to be offering a (hushed) three-contract equivalent at the same price... depends if 3g takes your fancy or not.
I'm already to used to the keyboard to just give it up (and I've reasoned the battery life and size away in my head!)
To take a look at the phone try going to http://www.3g.co.uk/e808.swf
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
3 brings together video calling, video clips, location based services and amazing content to browse and download. 3 has great offers and a huge range of the 3G handsets. Visit the 3 Shop to find more info. on offers
Dear Ciao User, We are sorry we can't show you any offers on this page for the product you have selected. You can find offers here: 1 - out of offers for NEC E808
Jul 21st, 2003
(Jul 30th, 2003)
very helpful by (91%):
helpful by (9%):
