http://www.osnews.com/story/11442/Motorola_e398_The_MTV_Phone Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:03:48 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://www.osnews.com/thread?12826 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12826 What about the reception? How is call quality? What is the actual battery life? These are the most important questions to answer about a cell phone. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 18:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kyle) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12828 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12828 I already talked about battery time, it is excellent (better than my T310). And reception is very good too (and please note that we live in an area where only the Cingular network is strong, Sprint is the worse in my area). Tue, 02 Aug 2005 18:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12833 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12833 This phone doesn't seem to bring much new to the market. There's so many nice phones out, so why does this one deserve attention? Have Motorola done anything right (with the exeption of the Razor phones, design wise) lately? Nokia and SonyEricsson have phones out already which is light years ahead of e398. And at the same price point. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 18:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12846 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12846 The Motorola E1000. Doesn't appear to be anything new in the specs than the E1000 either. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 19:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (apple1984) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12866 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12866 "Nokia and SonyEricsson have phones out already which is light years ahead of e398. And at the same price point."

i'm looking for a new phone. can you provide models which have the same features? specifically the mp3 and mpeg4 playback, camera, and sd slot. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12874 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12874 There are some, but not in the $200 price range that this Motorola phone is. The Nokia 6680 is the best phone for the middle-smartphone category for example (series 60), but it's $600 without a contract. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12880 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12880 My ipod can run for 18 hours without charge.

Most phones are good if you get 300 minutes of talk time.

Play tunes = your phone is probably off or your tunes are interrupted by each call and sms message.


There is not convergence here just a conflict of inerests. Adding camera and videophone actually work but I believe a mp3 player conflicts with the overall use of the phone. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12884 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12884 You are confusing the fact that "talk time" is NOT the same with either "standby time" or "usage time". As long as the phone radio is not used (meaning, not "talking"), the mp3 player can have at least 10-12 hours of battery life. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12890 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12890 Thanks Eugenia.

That 6680 from Nokia is quite the little gadget. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12893 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12893 ugh but it has a proprietary mmc card... Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12894 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12894 Yes, it's a really nice phone, but too expensive. Check Russell's application recommendations for his 6680.

http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008503.html Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12896 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12896 Read Russell's link above, he explains about the MMC card. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12912 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12912 I don't think the headphones are actually proprietary - rather, they use the same smaller jack that many phones do. I think there are multiple stereo headsets available which would work with this, including some from Plantronics. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12922 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12922 That could be the case, not sure. Thing is, I tried 4 different headphones I had at home and none fit, so... Tue, 02 Aug 2005 22:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12925 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12925 nokia 6320i Tue, 02 Aug 2005 22:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12933 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12933 I didn't expect this phone cause many many problems. 1st time i get it from shop and it has internal problems. Next, after fix around 10 days by Motorola, the phone still has same problem + new problems. It is incredible fantastic in having such redicilious phone and the 2nd repair took around 3.5 months. So in total, i have to wait almost 1/2 years to use this phone properly. >. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 23:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12934 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12934 I am suspicious of your comment. You don't even tell us what the problems were! My unit was just fine btw. Tue, 02 Aug 2005 23:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12972 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12972 I'm guessing those are 3/8" jack headphones that you had. Did you try a regular wired headset for a cell phone, even a mono one? Those use the smaller jack.

These are the Plantronics set that I was referring to. They're not the only game in town for stereo earbuds with a smaller connector, either. I know BoxWave also make one.

http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/productName/MX100s Wed, 03 Aug 2005 01:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12973 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12973 Yes, of course, the included motorola one works. But it has not so good quality for mp3, so I wanted to use something better, and I had some very good SONY headphones here that I wanted to try with but couldn't. Wed, 03 Aug 2005 01:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?12978 http://www.osnews.com/thread?12978 For the most part all cellphones and even a large number of MP3 players are incapable of driving professional headphones well.

If you wish the best audio quality, you need a headphone amp. And even that will be limited by the quality of the output section in your cellphone or portable audio player. For a cellphone, the circuitry is usually cheap and does not perform well.

An example of a quality headphone amp:
http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/headroom-amps/the-... Wed, 03 Aug 2005 01:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (pravda) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13003 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13003 try the new k750i, am using its predecessor the k700i and its a very good fone, very sturdy, jez remember to update the firmware though. Wed, 03 Aug 2005 03:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Mr. Tan) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13005 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13005 I've had one for 10 months now and it's bad. The software's a kludge.
The speed of the bluetooth link to a PC is appalling(ie the same as the serial link).
The charger connection is a disgrace and I know of several (including my own) that have gotten progressively worse until the phone is useless because you can't charge it.
Mine's in for repair now and I've only had it working for 5 of the 10 months I've had it. Wed, 03 Aug 2005 03:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13027 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13027 Using Sony Ericsson k750i for a couple of weeks. It has memory stick slot with upto 2GB storage (64 mb free card), 2MP autofocus camera, fm radio. The media player can play mpeg4, mp3, aac and some other formats and has graphic sound equalizers. The phone comes with headphones and sounds very good. It also comes with USB cable that makes the memory stick card appear as flash disk and also charges the phone (at a slower rate).

With 9 hours of talk time and all the above features in a neat little form factor, this phone is probably the best out there at the moment.

Downside is that this phone is not sold through mobile carriers is the US and so you have to get it through online retailers. Wed, 03 Aug 2005 07:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13035 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13035 http://motocoder.com/motorola/template.jsp?filename=center_E398.htm...

Also, Eugenia, time to cleanup the mess on your desk, no!?

;-) Wed, 03 Aug 2005 08:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13045 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13045 The E1000 is also a UMTS phone, and IMHO a very good phone except for battery life (but throwing away original h3g firmware and installing no-brand helps a lot) Wed, 03 Aug 2005 09:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13215 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13215 The e398... is very a good phone if we think in price... yeah if have more many go for a nokia k750.

I have a e398 now i398.... and is fast yo can install some applications and games in the transflash memory some others dont work... capture video... is really a good phone... yo find a lot of games in the internet...

:) Wed, 03 Aug 2005 16:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13319 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13319 Stupid java piece of shit system. Wed, 03 Aug 2005 21:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13338 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13338 That would make the phones about as smart as the people who buy them. A good match, if you ask me. Wed, 03 Aug 2005 22:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (pravda) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13415 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13415 Why does the US consumer not have access to any decent cell phones? There seem to be quite a few knowledgeable people in this thread, if you were buying a phone in the US, what phone/service would you go with?
Ari Thu, 04 Aug 2005 04:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13442 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13442 I would go with Cingular's pay-as-you-go, the one that has a free phone-to-phone service. It's the cheapest plan if you are not calling too much and it only has a $35 activation fee if you already have a phone device you want to use it with. After that, it's $1 per day for the first time you use the phone in that day and 0.25 per minute for a call other to the phone number registered as phone-to-phone. So, if you only call the same person every day, you will only pay $1 per day and no other fees. If you are calling, let's say, 5 people per day for 1 minute each, that would be $1 for the connection of the day, plus the call costs at 5*0.25=1.25. Overall, that would be $2.25. Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13458 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13458 We are a little behind in the times when it comes to cell phones (approx. 8m-1y)here in Canda to the asian market. I was oversees recently and was quite impressed by the new selection of phones over there.

DG Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?13719 http://www.osnews.com/thread?13719 Do NOT forget that Shoey's i398 flash enables the fourth band, GSM850, on the E398, thereby making the phone QUADBAND.

GSM850 considered a MUST for Cingular Wireless and Rogers Wireless subscribers. Thu, 04 Aug 2005 21:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments