Motorola E398
Average Ratings
The more i use it, the more i like it!
What can i say, it's a great phone :) I spent a full 2 weeks researching thoroughly as to which phone I should get, and after contemplating this phone and the k700i I decided on this one. it definitely has a more masculine feel about it than the silvery shiny livery of the SE.
PROS:
- very high quality feel
- camera quality is better than i expected
- does everything a phone should
CONS:
- very laggy UI; i consider myself a really fast sms typer, however the iTap thing manages to compensate for the lag. smiley faces and *expressions* of all sorts are remembered very well and make for very fun texting :) sorry this con turned into a pro
- phonebook: i only just figured out how to show only one entry per contact: by telling it to display only primary contacts. then you can press left-right to cycle through the fields. however, because of the way it stores entries in the phone book (one entry per field) the last time i tried to synchronize it with my pc it corrupted half the database!! thankfully i had the whole db on my pda as well, if i hadn't then i would have lost a lot of information.
I've only had this phone for a week and already i love it! now if that bird outside will just stay still where it is so i can take a picture of it and set it as my wallpaper...
Unique 'Clikety-Klock' Sound...
Has anyone else heard that cool 'clickety-klock' sound that the e398 makes when an incoming answered call ends as the person hangs-up, yet 'before' you hang-up your fone?! My (unlocked) e398 makes this unique 'clickety-klock' hang-up sound...I believe it's an embeded sound file, yet I sure would love to get my hands on it so I can turn it into a cool ringtone! It's slightly reminiscent to the old Star Trek communicator sound, yet different! If anyone has any info on what this is, please contact Me. Thanks! (RoticBeatz@yahoo.com)
E398, UNBREAKABLE
Where can I start? The E398 is one of the best phones I have encountered over my past phones. I've had the V600, V80, 7260, and one of my older phones, T720. Out of all of them, this one is the most unique. Here are my PROS:
-Built-in stereo speakers
-Mp3 Format
-Stock 64 MB Sandisk, always upgradeable
-Sleek design
-Awesome sound
-Durable frame, this thing won't budge if you drop it, scratch free except for the screen.
-Strong Reception, I actually have reception at the mall and home
-Pulse Lighting
-If you are a show off.. this is the phone to show off with.
-Camera with Flash Lighting
-Video Player
-All-Round good strong phone.
And here are the very few CONS:
-No Video Capture
-2 Second Delay Menu
-With T-Mobile, you will run into a "_@" message instead of a voice message, but that is fixable using p2kseem editor.
Overall it's a pretty strong and superb phone.
Don't believe the Hype
Junk.
FM radio - wow, none here, almost standard on other brands.
MP3 - For some reason, I can't even upload 3mb MP3 files. Looks like I'm going to have to convert my collection to 64kbps or less.
Voice notes - amazing, since it records voice dialling, no additional software/hardware needed, but not available.
Video - you can play, but not record - amazing.
Keypad lock - 10 years ago, the 2 keypress lock idea was cutting edge. Others have implemented simple auto locks since then. Moto hasn't caught that particular train yet.
Clunky keys - soft/hard, weird key response. Joystick key one of the worst I've experienced.
Slow startup - Takes 10 seconds push on the power key to realise you want dearly to power on your phone, then you will wait another 20-30 seconds for the "funky" initialisation screens & slow network search to complete.
Games - I've played great, responsive Java games on a wide array of phones. This phone is way behind in the execution of Java apps. Poor response time, makes games anywhere between frustrating to play to downright a waste of time uploading anything to it.
Vibration alert - wow, this is generally a feature that was out in even entry level phones 6 years ago, but Moto has decided that you will want either, or - not both ring & vibrate at the same time. If you rely on the bass notes of the speaker to alert you in noisy envioronments, you will miss calls.
Dodgy software - when scrolling through menus, you hear at random, clicking/thumping from the speaker.
Keep in mind, I've only been using this particular materpiece for 4 days (and yes, I have read the manual very carefully). I have a Nokia 8310 that this phone was to replace, and guess what? Although I'll be paying for it for 2 years, this phone is going on ebay (of course at a substantial loss to me) to get the useless thing out of my sight. In terms of pure functionality & ease of use, my 8310 runs rings around this product that came out 3 years later.
Favorite phone to date
I've had several phones since my initial service date a few years ago. The E398 by far has been the best.
Pros:
- Very good reception
- Exceptional camera quality, plus it has a flash which doubles as a flashlight.
- Speaker phone is the usual high quality that I've come to expect from Motorola.
- The refresh rate on the screen is phenomenal, which is essential for the phone to play video as well as it does. (not video capture)
- Bluetooth, always a big plus. It's especially handy in doing file transfers between phones.
- Trans-flash card, gives the user the ability to cram in all sorts of extra media, a big plus in my book.
- MP3 player and FM radio, Motorola delivers a very good, well rounded, sound package with this phone. MP3's sound crisp and clear whether played over the phone's built in stereo speakers or on Motorola's stereo headphones. (Sound quality will be affected by what bit-rate the MP3's are recorded at).
- Built in stereo speakers. For a phone the speakers sound very good and render sound well. The added feature of haptics to use the vibrate function as simulated Bass is very creative as well.
Cons:
- No video capture, if you are looking take video with this phone, forget about it, though you can transfer and play large video files to the phone because of the trans-flash card.
Now I know I have listed only one Con which may make it appear as though I'm glorifying Motorola, but I haven't had anything which makes me need to list more problems. Please try to keep in mind that this review is based on my personal needs for a phone, which this phone easily meets. I hope this review has been helpful to any who are looking to purchase this model.
