Buying Ericcson R380 GSM phone/PDA in USA

[saumil98]

I want to buy Ericcson R380 World GSM phone/PDA in USA. Does anyone know from where can I buy it? I have been looking at Ebay since two weeks but everyone has blue phone while I want to get grey/black color.

Also, if someone is already using it, how do u like it? Any other good phones with PDA (not PDA with phone.. I hope u understand the diff). :)

[agcameron]

I bought an R380 about 6 weeks ago here in UK. It's the "World" version which works in the US on 1900MHz as well as everywhere else on 900MHz. Someone has been unloading thousands of these phones at very low prices - mine was only £65 (less than $100). One of these, even bought in UK, should work for you.

As a PDA/phone it works quite well. I was previously using a Nokia 8210 - very small, quite clever, but fiddly to use - with a Psion 5mx for emaill, net access, and "proper" word processing and spreadsheeting. The R380 is about twice the size of the 8210, but has WAP as well as full email.

Plus points: WAP works extremely well on the wide screen and pen-based navigation is fine for these sites. Email is pretty impressive, although you can't read attachments. You can receive them, you just can't do anything with them! Text entry is OK - handwriting recognition is a little slow but better than any PocketPC effort I've seen. Virtual keyboard is also slow but OK. Synchronisation with your PC is exceptional. It takes everything from your Outlook, including Notes, Tasks, Appointments, and *all* your Contacts information. This makes the device a very effective desktop extension tool.

On the downside, the R380 uses only its own internal phonebook and ignores almost all the entries on your SIM card. The exception is the first 10 entries on your SIM card which are used as Speed-dial numbers. Strangely, although you can synchronise your Email Inbox between R380 and PC, this doesn't include SMS messages. Also note that you can't create SMSs using the phone's numeric keypad - you have to open the flip and use the stylus. Another quirk is the fact that the modem doesn't support faxing.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10. It's a competent device, pretty well does what it says on the tin, except it should have a fax modem. Meanwhile I still use my Psion 5mx for serious work but I know I've got 90% of my reference data with me when I just have my phone.

Alistair.

[DanC]

Alistair, thank you for a very complete review which answered the major questions I had about this phone. Do you still find it satisfactory? How do you manage updating your various data amongst your phone, 5mx and PC/Outlook? I would tend to use a PC connection only for backing up the handheld (I use a Revo+; actually it's a "Diamond Mako" since I am in the USA). I generally use my handheld with keyboard as my "master" device for contacts, appointments and notes, and so would hope to update the phone directly from my handheld using IR. Have you tried that with yours? For me, the key to acceptable data transfer between PC/Outlook and any handheld device (including a phone) is the ability to carry with me the "notes" I usually include in my individual Contacts entries (meaning the "notes" field data within each "Contacts" entry, not Outlook's "Notes" entries). Does the phone import that data from Outlook? Does it import entries having data in both the "home" and "business" fields? Thanks in advance for your further comments.
Dan