Philips Azalis 238

...replacement. The “Brick” was a Philips btcellnet pay-as-you-go U-Phone, with a flat rate of 35p per minute and a minimum top-up of £10 every 3 months. Very clear reception was its sole feature.

Obviously, as a web addict, I was going to want a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) phone. Well, actually, I was trying to hold out until the faster and cheaper GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) became available, but one jibe ...
...model (Unlike our other 2 Philips btcellnets which do) doesn't offer roaming.

I then tried DX Communications, near the Bon Accord centre. This shop was full of salesmen in suits who seemed to know what they were talking about. The fellow I spoke to said they were out of Siemens C35i’s, but they’d get me one. Alternatively, how about the Philips Az@lis 238, he asked – Exclusively a BT prepay phone with loads of functions ... more

Recently my brick had its' second birthday. The ridicule I got when using the aforementioned brick was beginning to lose it’s funny side so I decide to start looking for a replacement. The “Brick” was a Philips btcellnet pay-as-you-go U-Phone, with a flat rate of 35p per minute and a minimum top-up of £10 every 3 months. Very clear reception was its sole feature.

Obviously, as a web addict, I was going to want a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) phone. Well, actually, I was trying to hold out until the faster and cheaper GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) became available, but one jibe too many put paid to that.

I set off around Aberdeen, looking for someone to sell me a pay-as-you-go WAP phone that would work abroad, in the back of my mind was the Siemens C35i. Simple right? Unfortunately not, I tried a number of shops and was put off by the assistants who were either un-knowledgeable or too pushy. I quickly discovered that btcellnet are the only prepay operator that offer a roaming (for use abroad) facility, so this at least narrowed things down. However, having been to France since buying it I've discovered this model (Unlike our other 2 Philips btcellnets which do) doesn't offer roaming.

I then tried DX Communications, near the Bon Accord centre. This shop was full of salesmen in suits who seemed to know what they were talking about. The fellow I spoke to said they were out of Siemens C35i’s, but they’d get me one. Alternatively, how about the Philips Az@lis 238, he asked – Exclusively a BT prepay phone with loads of functions and very cute to boot. After giving me a knowledgeable run through of its operation, he suggested nipping down to WHSmiths and flicking through the mobile mags to see what they said about it. This I did and was impressed enough to return to the shop an hour later. £69.99 including £5 worth of calls seemed reasonable so I went for it.

The first thing to really impress me was the difference in call charges from the brick.
Standard calls with BT are 25/10/2p peak/off peak/weekends respectively. Calls to other BT mobiles are 10/10/2p respectively. SMS is 10p, WAP and Voicemail 10p per minute. A far cry from my flat rate of 35p per minute, and to round it off there is no time limit for topping the phone up.

The phone itself is a nice shade of Cobalt Blue and Silver, and sizewise is a dinky 119x46x28mm and weighs 125 grams. The screen has 5 lines and the standby battery life claims to be a massive 500 hours, with 180 minutes talktime.

Features include an alarm clock that can be displayed either in digital or analogue form, along with the date. Predictive text input – This seemed gimmicky initially, but once you get to grips it’s a very useful tool. A version of the old arcade game Breakout (Arkanoid, as it became famously known on the Atari) that is very impressive considering the size of the screen. I did have to turn the contrast right up to see the ball properly, but after that it was fine.

The phone vibrates insanely when you get a call, and also for some reason when you finish a call, log off the net or send an SMS. It also has 20 pre-recorded dial tones, as well as the option to compose your own. There is a calculator and a call counter to keep track of your expenditure and a names list that can be configured in a number of different ways. As well as the predictive text, there are a variety of “Emoticons” (Smilies :-) to tag onto your SMS’s. You can also dial by saying the name of the call recipient, handy if you’re walking along in a hurry I suppose – Or driving if you’ve got a hands free kit.

The only problem I had with the phone was when initially trying to use WAP facility. There is a hotkey to put you straight online, but all I got was error messages to the tune of 8p each. After ringing several places I got the number for BTs WAP help desk – 08706009277. The guy on the other end of the phone was very helpful, apparently BT have been having some problems with Genie, the WAP portal provider. To rectify this he talked me through adding the numbers 141 to the front of the Genie dial up code, which made Genie recognise me as a BT user.

Genie offers e-mail services etc, and the WAP connection seems both fast enough and fairly reliable. The reception of the phone itself is very clear too, which when you get past all of the gadgets is probably the most important feature in a phone. Would I recommend this? It’s certainly good as fun phone and has low call rates and plenty of features. If you’re after the flip-top exec image it’s probably not for you - after all, my 9-year-old niece thought it was totally cool and wanted to take it home with her :-)

 

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