Ericsson R380s

Advantages Phone and personal digital assistant in one relatively cheap unit
Disadvantages Can’t upgrade the functionality available; comparatively large and heavy thus no “pose” value; multiple minor niggles (see opinion)

...Are you one of those people that can't live without an electronic organiser of some kind? If so, I'll bet you also own a mobile phone, and are sick of having to pick up and find space about your person for both when leaving the house. It was certainly a problem *I* endured until three months ago, when I consigned my old T10s handset and Palm V PDA to my technological graveyard, forever to keep the 48K ZX Spectrum company. Now I carry my Ericsson R380s everywhere. It's not a new product, having been out in the UK for about a year, but it does everything that I need. And not being the latest gizmo, it's now available quite cheaply; mine cost £100 on a pay-monthly contract. Let me tell you more. The R380s is large and heavy compared to most modern phones, but still small and light enough to slip into a jeans pocket. On the up side... Read review

Advantages Good at everything it does
Disadvantages Sim card import poor

...Again, have been lucky to have been given a R380 for work use. Firstly, look and feel. The phone feel firm in the hand, and is slightly heavier, but in a postive way, than most phones. I've done many drop tests with my L7089 for friends to show how durable the phone is, although I don't think I'd be tempted to do this with the R380, possibly because of the LCD in there! WAP: I've used the R380 primarily for WAP, and can say it is an actually joy to both setup and use. The multiple configuarion and the fact it asks you which configuarion to use is great for testing and the phone holds the connection quite well. I will also be testing this over IR from a palm, so watch this space! Voice: The phone is clear and holds a conversation quite well. Not too good at being cradled in the shoulder, but I shoudn't really be doing that anyway... Read review

Advantages lightweight, smallish
Disadvantages long-windedness of the whole affair,tiresome and tedious

...Ericsson is certainly not the first to come up with the innovative idea to splice the mobile with the handheld, yet the R380 succeeds were very few combination phones have failed. By converging the two technologies the resulting package is a reasonable lightweight, smallish (130x50x26mm) form of mobile communications. At 164g, the unit is nothing but slight in comparison to Nokia’s Communicators. The usability of the unit leaves a lot to be desired. Not that it’s lacking, because all that you need is right there. The big screen, the 1.2MB of RAM, the neatly packed stylus and the compact in-box which houses not only your SMS but also the e-mail function and the contact database. The problem is the long-windedness of the whole affair. The simplicity of making a quick phone call is lost. And while the vertical view... Read review