Ericsson Handsets
Ericsson compete at almost every price point with Nokia for the
hearts of paying public. Almost all their handsets are now dual band GSM
900/1800. They have pushed significantly into the style market with clip on
covers and selectable colours, and they have some great wap phones and
organisers. Their data products seems a little less bug ridden than Nokia and
they are likely to be the first to market with blue tooth devices, like their
new cordless headset.
Entry Level Handsets
The cheapest phone in the ericsson
range is usually the A1018s. A little bit chunky by the standards of the best,
but it works well and can be had for as little as £39 even on prepay.
Their newest entry level offering is the A2618 (shown left),
likely to become a big seller, it is well featured and even has some wap
features via sms. It has a range of very funky fascias where you can change the
back plate as well as the front.
Mid Level Handsets
The
most popular mid range handsets are the T10 and T18. Both feature active flip
for answering incoming calls, come in a range of colours and have a three row
display. They can be a bit brittle and the buttons are rather small.
If you want a more rugged phone, the R310 (featured left) comes
in reinforced rubber, has voice dialing and a vibrating alert, yet is reasonably
splash proof ie. you can drop it in the shower!
The I888 was one of the first GSM1900 compatible world phones,
for those of you who travel to the USA. It should be available reasonably cheap
now that it has been available for some time.
Top End Handsets
One of the best phones you can buy is the the T28 (shown to the
left). It is available in both 's form as dual band GSM 900/1800 or in world
form as dual band GSM 900/1900. It battles it out with the Nokia 8210 as the
miniature phone of the trendy set. It has every feature you could want except
Wap.
Their Wap phone of choice is the R320, with five line
display, data, infra-red and calendar. However wap has not taken off as well as
expected. So it is unlikely to be a best seller.
The phone of the
moment though is the R380. Even though it is really small, it is a fully
featured PDA. It means that you won't need a Palm Pilot or Psion, because it can
cope with all you calendar, email or data handling needs; with the flip folded
it looks just like a normal handset, yet once open it has a sideways screen with
all the tricks you could want.
BEST BUY
The
best buy has to go to the R380, because it is the best phone you can buy bar
none. It is quite expensive, at around £300 with a contract, but if it saves
you buying a personal organiser then it is money well spent.
