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NEC e606 Review

Phone rating:

Review: June 2003. June 2006.

The NEC e606 was the very first phone in the 3G range. But don't be fooled into thinking this is a low-spec phone. The NEC e606 has an integrated digital / video camera, so that you can make video calls on the 3 network. You can record photos, video and audio to play back later or to send in a video or photo message. You can also use the built-in video player to download and play video and audio clips.

Add to this a huge array of other features, including Java games, superb 65,000 colour display, polyphonic ringtones, Bluetooth™ & USB connectivity, and the NEC e606 certainly packs a lot in.

Downsides of the phone are the high weight and very poor battery life that seriously reduce the usability of the phone. Compared with newer 3G phones the e606 doesn't make the grade when you consider the low resolution screen, poor quality camera and shocking weight and battery life - still, it was a milestone in its day and brought 3G to many in the UK.

Features of the NEC e606 include:

  • Video calling (when outside 3's video network supports voice calls and SMS only)
  • Video & photo messaging
  • Integrated digital camera with zoom
  • Media player (sound & video) - music player
  • Video download
  • Java Games
  • Polyphonic ringtones (16 voice)
  • 65,000 colour hi-res display (162 x 132 resolution)
  • WAP 1.2.1, GPRS, high-speed internet via 3G network
  • MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)
  • Buetooth™ & USB connectivity
  • Multi-tasking
  • Speed dialling & voice dialling
  • Predictive text input
  • Calendar, organiser, contacts (photos can be assigned to contacts)
  • Clock, alarm, voice memo, calculator, currency converter
  • Memory: 32 Mbytes
  • Weight: 150g
  • Size: 117 x 59 x 27 mm
  • Battery standby: up to 41 hours
  • Battery talktime: up to 2 hours (1 hour when using video)

NEC e606 User Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

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Phone rating:

Average rating from 100 reviews:

Reviewed by umair from england on 22nd Apr 2005
good phone but just too big too carry around everywhere. also the camera quality is not that good.
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Reviewed by m.sunil sandeep reddy from uk on 16th Apr 2005
ITS GOOD BUT .I DONT HAVE THE FACILITY TO DOWNLOAD THE GAMES THROUGH DATA CABLE . THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED FOR NEC-E606 HAS NO FACILITY TO DOWNLOAD THE GAMES .IF ANY SOFTWARE IS THERE PLEASE FORWARD TO MY MAIL ID : sandeepwow@yahoo.co.in
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Reviewed by Guy Ruddy from England on 14th Apr 2005
Honestly, this phone is really trying my patience. It keeps sending messages twice for some reason. I wish I this phone was not existing any more.
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Reviewed by Sho from England on 6th Apr 2005
This phone is not even worthy of one star. It is a load of rubbish never ever EVER! get this phone. The bluetooth doesn't work, the audio player doesn't work. It is extremely huge and the camera quality isn't all that good. You WILL regret it if you buy this phone as i do.
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Reviewed by CJ from UK on 30th Mar 2005
dis fone iz aite da bluetooth is rubbish but audio player is gd and da camera is betta than the early motorolas but only get it if u liv in a 3g area its rubbish wen ur nt in a 3g area
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Reviewed by wag1 from UK on 15th Jan 2005
DA FONE IZ GANGSTA BRUV I IZ BIN UZING IT FOR DA DAONLODZ AND ALL DAT TNGZ AND IT IZ GUD BRUV
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Reviewed by jon from uk on 11th Jan 2005
THIS PHONE IS GOOD FOR WHEN YOU ARE IN NEED OF A BRICK WHEN YOU FALL SHORT WHISLT LAYING THAT CONSERVATORY FOUNDATION.THIS PHONE IS JUNK ,YOU NEED 10 BATTERYS TO GET THROUGH THE DAY. THE PERSON WHO INVENTED THIS PHONE MUST HAVE WORTKED IN THE LADA FACTORY IN MOSCOW
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Reviewed by jack maloney from England on 3rd Jan 2005
This phone has many good points and bad points. Initially i was very impressed with the phones features, even if it was a bit big. However i quickly come to realise that the battery was very poor, so i purchased a desktop charger, which is great because it means i never have to switch my phone off. Howvever, the 3 customer services is very poor and cannot under stand what they are saying to you. The free internet on this phone is very good along with the great premiership downloads. So all in all i generally have been impressed with the phone.
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Reviewed by Dan from UK on 18th Dec 2004
Avoid this phone like the plague.
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Reviewed by Michael G from England on 6th Dec 2004
This phone is ok for music videos on 3. But its a little slow at loading. It has mixed reviews and I wonder why cos it is a good phone. The network 3 is ok but sometimes take a long time to answer your calls. So this phones total rating is Excellent
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Reviewed by adam from australia on 29th Nov 2004
EXECELENT MOBILE CAMERA GREAT. INTERNET GREAT. GAMES GREAT. THE WHOLE THING IS GREAT
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Reviewed by Andy from UK on 27th Nov 2004
Not really the phone I have a problem with but 3 in general. Lost my phone and tried to claim on the much vaunted free insurance. After finally finding someone in the Indian call centre who I could understand they told me I need a crime refrence number to claim on the insurance, even though I lost my phone and it wasn't stolen! Needless to say the police told me to get lost and stop wasting their time (totally understandable) and I ended up paying for the next six months contract and not being able to use it. Reception is also awful, even in areas like the M5. DONT SIGN UP TO THREE!!! The reason they are so cheap is that they spend no money on looking after their customers.
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Reviewed by James from U.K on 27th Nov 2004
Good phone but its a brick it weighs alot and the battery goes down too quickly.
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Reviewed by gerard from uk on 17th Nov 2004
uhhhhh....the worst phone ive ever bought!! total rubbish..nothing works..text is so slow, video messaging just forget about it... not only that it weighs an absoloute tonne...3g are rubbish
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Reviewed by J Gabbi from England on 28th Sep 2004
Ok, maybe there aint bluetooth, but I've just got one of these for £38 off ebay, and it's great. Take it to 3 and get a firmware update. It's fine now, bluetooth headset working, got it all sorted. The new battery type, which is included now gives me about 15 hours with backlight. So get off your high horse and say hello to the future. 3g. All them features dont work off air. And dont say u dont care about the features, otherwise, why would you have bought it?
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Reviewed by ahmed from egypt on 26th Sep 2004
concted from _ to computer
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Reviewed by Nitzy from Romania on 25th Sep 2004
Words are not enough!
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Reviewed by Stuart from UK on 29th Aug 2004
If I could rate it at 0 stars, I would. Hunk-o-junk! SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO MARKET!
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Reviewed by nick archer from manchester, england on 24th Aug 2004
absouloute rubbish as far as i am concerned. The only thing I use it for now is a dog toy! heres the long list of reasons why.......... poor camera poor reception very big, not easy to carry round poor battery power It could go on forever the phone was a complete waste of money and as others have said i am returning to nokia!!!
Rating:

Reviewed by Ryan from England-Liverpool on 23rd Aug 2004
1 Star isnt poor enough .... like most of you when you bought it you though nice looking flip phone but then ITS HUGE!!! you cant carry it arround Impossible..... The signal is poor on the e606 ... voice calls are poor the camera is poor no media player is poor... you cant get msn messenger on the e606 but you can on the e313 and motorola !!! so whats left to bad mouth against the e606 erm lets think i cant iv sed enough ..... one good thing but its on any 3 phone FREEE INTERNET!!!!!!! so dont get this phone if u do then u will come back to this review and say u know what they where right !!!!
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Reviewed by jamal from Jordan on 19th Aug 2004
Dear sir I'm Jordanian citizen , i bought NEC e606 cell phone from England , i tried my best to activate the MMs ,GPRs & GPS services but it doesn't work here in Jordan , so would you please send me any information or any websites that could help me to solve this problem . Thanks Jamal jamal_has_200@yahoo.com
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Reviewed by Anne from England on 6th Aug 2004
This is the worst phone ever - you perhaps could use it as a doorstop. 3 customer services are the worst services in the world and probably india. They had just sent a troubleshooter out there because they can not retain customers after the year is up. 3 - cheap but awful.
Rating:

Reviewed by Vasken from UK on 22nd Jul 2004
Guys... Guys...... Why do you all write bad reviews about this phone... You say the battery does not last. Fair enough... Have you ever tried setting the backlight on "off"? when you do so, the screen is still illuminated (and still quite bright) It is the main reason why the battery does not last... Do that and it will run for more than 15 hrs, even if you make 1 hr of calls a day! The phone is not the best I have ever seen, but it does have many features and I still haven't explored any ways of optimising the menues... but I believe once you familiarise with it ... it can be a great phone. And it is not so big... come on it is 3G, probably the first 3G phone on the market, and still smaller than most 3G phones on sale these days.
Rating:

Reviewed by John Broome Saunders from UK on 22nd Jul 2004
After 12 frustrating months I've almost made it to the end of my contract. I shall shed few tears when I say farewell to my NEC e606. The phone's absurd limitations (short battery life, no IR, PC connectivity only with WinXP...) are well documented. But the bugbear that annoys me most is the interface. Why, when a SMS fails to send (as they do with alarming regularity), do I have to press about 5 different buttons in order to resend the same message? In my golden days as a Nokia owner re-sending a failed SMS was a single-button-press job. Similarly, when a SMS arrives, I need to laboriously chisel my way into the SMS inbox before I can read it. Moreover, the actual processing power of the phone seems to be alarmingly slow - there's a painful delay between every key-press and a meaningful response from the phone. The entire device carries the air of a fairly unsuccessful prototype. Next week I shall be returning fondly to Nokia.
Rating:

Reviewed by **timmy** from england on 18th Jul 2004
okay where to start. i know 3 mobile its s$$t. it took me 2 weeks to get the phone activated when i bought it. it takes about 5 tries to make a phone call for it only to be cut off mid flow. it says you can text on this phone thats a new concept to me i couldnt make a text on all 5 replacment handstest i had. the 3 operators are arrogent and cant speak english. and when they could they didnt care, as long as you paid the bills they palm you off with a load a ****. but the minute you dont then only to give you another broken phone. wooow. okay heres the moral of this very long story ^^stick to a normal phone and dont touch the 3 network^^
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Reviewed by Robin from UK on 15th Jul 2004
Okay people - here's what you do if you own the e606. Get on e-bay and pick up brand new long life batteries cheap, then get yourself a charger that charges the batteries independently of the phone. (You should pick one up for around £15) Put one battery in the phone and leave one in the charger and swap them when needed. I never turn my phone off, and it never goes dead on me. Unless you are a compulsive yacker & texter, your e606 will not run down, and you will have a fantastic piece of kit. It really is time that people realised ALL 3g phones have a shorter battery life than 2g. It's the nature of the beast. All you folks who gripe about the e606 should try the Motorola A835 if you really want a battery eater. What a piece of junk!!! As for the 3 network - I've been with them for 6 months now and will never go back to any of the other providers. Apart from the price advantage, I have never had a call drop, never not been able to connect with any other network, and never had to pay for a call. (Apart from the brilliant video calls). I live in a rural area where reception can be dodgy, mainly with Orange, and a lot of my mates are now talking of switching to 3. It's nice to know I'm not the only one happy with my e606. But then sites like this tend to be a magnet for the people with a gripe. It's not human nature to take time out to praise something. Robin PS. All you users with battery probs - are you quite sure you know how to charge a battery properly for the first time? Get that wrong and you will have problems with ANY phone. Give it 20 hours minimum!!!!
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Reviewed by Dicky from England on 3rd Jul 2004
meh.. the phone on its own wasnt all that bad a year ago, but it should have been far better. 3G are hands down the most appauling network... neigh, company ive ever had the sorry experience of dealing with. Since this is a review of the phone ill stop there, just had to spread the word a bit more about just quite how poor the 3G service is. ;-)
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Reviewed by chrisQ from england on 22nd Jun 2004
i wish there was an option for zero stars, one star is far far too many for this heap of tripe
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Reviewed by dixie normous from uk on 9th Jun 2004
THIS IS THE WORST PHONE I HAVE EVER OWNED, ALL THE BAD THINGS SAID ABOUT THIS PHONE ARE TRUE, MY CONTRACT RUNS OUT IN ABOUT A MONTH WHEN I WILL BE SMASHING MY E606 WITH A VERY LARGE HAMMER AND SENDING THE VIDEO TO 3. I WILL NEVER USE THE 3 NETWORK AGAIN....DONT DO IT!
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Reviewed by Phil from England on 8th Jun 2004
The combination of this phone and 3 as an operator make this the most miserable mobile experience I've ever had the misfortune to endure. 3's "customer service" (can they be done by the trade descriptions act or advertising standards for even daring to use that department name?) ensures that you will never get anything resolved, but you'll continue to get plenty of bills, junk mail and threatening letters when you complain. My advice is DON'T BUY THIS PHONE AND DON'T USE 3!
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Reviewed by Nick from England on 19th May 2004
Well what more can be said? This phone is useless with the smaller battery supplied since it only lasts about 8 hours and fitted with the big battery it just gets sarcastic comments from people calling it a house brick. Bluetooth?? What's that? This phone has Bluetooth according to NEC but does not according to 3 Mobile and despite the fact that Bluetooth is in the menu, it does not work. At this point i am trying to remember why i decided to take out a contract with 3 mobile, i had thought it was for the technological advancements that they were offering but on reflection i see that i was foolish. Battery life that means this phone is dead more than it is alive, ergonomics for the blind, because there's no way you are likely to loose this baby down the back of the Sofa and connectivity which is limited to a cable, yes i said a cable. Of course i must be able to make good comments about the Service provider and their move into the future with 3G data calling. Ermm..well no i can't really. The fact is that 3 mobile drops my calls more often than my original Vodaphone Pay as you Go in 1997 and the signal jumps around more than a child on a POGO stick. Ahhh but i have just remembered why i decided to take out a contract with three, i knew i was not totally foolish. I took a contract out with 3mobile because they offer more free minutes for the money than the other service providers. I have also just realised why that is. 50% of my free minutes are used for calls to my voicemail to receive the calls that my voicemail kindly took whilst i was out of signal range, or my battery was dead or i had my call drop irretrievably. Surely there must be something good to say about this phone and its service provider, ermm No i don't think there is. Welcome to the future, one small step for me, one giant cock-up for three. I just hope their accountants are not banking on many returning customers once their contracts have expired.
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Reviewed by caroline from uk on 12th May 2004
It seems as though i was the last person to find out how truly dreadful this phone really is. When i took out a contract with 3g in feb 04 at ideal phones in newmarket i stupidly ignored the fact that the offer of ahlf price line rental and cheap anytime any network calls plus a free handset was far too good to be true. Ever since that day i have had the lowest monthly phone bills known to mankind because i've been unable to use my phone!!!!!!!!!! i've been offered a sales job so it has become necessary that i am contactable at all times so decided that i would try and rectify the fact that my phone does not work in an area shown on the 3g map to have good coverage. After at least 6 calls to 3g some ending in rather an irate manner i eventually recieved some positive feedback from abhijik this is the guy to speak to! not only was his english comprehendable unlike many of the other operators including 3g management, but he was extremely helpful and is going to take some actio n unlike his manager yesterday who asked me to give her a daytime telaphone number when i calmly explained that i could give her my mobile number only it doesn't work i don't think she was amused. I wish i'd found this website earlier before i signed a contract which incidently will cost me £218 to cancel. Abhijik was amazed to hear the number of complaints i was able to quote him from this website a one star rating is far too high for this phone
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Reviewed by alexandro from australia on 7th May 2004
well this phone is great, the battery last 4 days straight here in australia..and everything is free, calls, messages, text, all types of comunication is free, not to mention that downloading movies is free 2, probably coz my uncles part owner of 3 australia, i never get bills, but im only 15 and i prefer my n-gage over the nec thing, or if u want a mad phone get a nokia 6600, my 6600 is mad, vids are mad and its got bluetooth sexc phones nokia all the way
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Reviewed by Mark from UK on 5th May 2004
I'm feel very frustrated with this phone. The battery life is terrible and although I had heard about this problem before buying they assured me that these were teething problems with very early 3G phones. Nothing but a pack of lies if you ask me. Now i'm finding myself using my old GSM phone (7210) and leaving this brick in the cupboard.
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Reviewed by guy from uk on 2nd May 2004
Oh, i've just bought one of these phones and i have read this review page and now i regret it. I am lucky enough to have a degree and post grad qualifications, and i still find it confusing and difficult to use! The customer service is apalling. If i were able to speak urdu or whatever then i am sure i would have no worries. Why the hell are the uk companies opening up call centres in india? Low wages etc, big profits for them, for what about customer service? It seems the bigger a company gets, the worst the service is. I will be taking back my phone on tuesday and they can shove it up their arse. Dont be fooled by the smamry high pressure sales tactics they use as the UK high street store "phones4U". Utter sharks. Don't buy this phone.
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Reviewed by neil from uk on 27th Apr 2004
well if ur gonna go by features alone on a phone then this would have to get 5 stars, however if your gonna go by ( and lets be honest here ) a phone that actually makes phone calls then this one would receive no stars. Who needs all this stuff on a phone anyway, as long as battery life is good and the phone easy to use then that's good enough for me. And as for trying to get through to the customer services don't even go there. a nice idea maybe in a year or two when services become cheaper more widespread this will take off. untiil then don't believe the hype !!!!!
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Reviewed by Colin from Scotland on 21st Apr 2004
I hae just bought mine 2nd hand through Ebay, I had read the bad reviews but jst wanted it as a pay as you go. I have used it for several weeks now having bought a 3 simpack (not easy to obtain and not cheap) I have found the phone very good service has been fine, poor battery life and slightly slow opp system but no real problems. I obviously dont know the problems at the beginning and dont need to worry about the cll centre re billing but everything works well for me and great prices, I notice the phones are getting snapped up on e-bay pretty fast. All in all a good deal and a good buy for pay as you talk. I bought my phone for 50 squid. I was in a 3 shop where someone was paying 300 plus for a pay as you go 616 !!!!!! Ouch.
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Reviewed by Yahya from UK on 29th Mar 2004
2 words - DONT BOTHER - Im sick of writing to them, sick of talking to them (if I can get thru!) it's easier getting a tenner out of tramp than getting any help from 3. they are useless repeat, useless. they have changed my phone 3 times (scuse the pun) and still they cock it up. after countless calls and letters, I have given up. I aint even gonna bother trying to get out of the contract cuz its too much of a mission. i am now riding my contract out and cancelling and NEVER going back. just for a laugh I called and told them what I was going to do and no word of a lie, 1 min after i put the phone down, i received a text asking me to upgrade...what a p*ss take. I even left a message on their website 2 weeks ago explaining my problems.... have they got back to me? B******S HAVE THEY. 3G.. I will be looking down from heaven when your rotting in hell...
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Reviewed by Clark from UK on 27th Mar 2004
Can I add more insult to this phone? Just got a nice bluetooth headset. I struggled with setup, so I phoned customer service for some help....just to be told that My phone does not support bluetooth!!!!!!!!! I still find it hard to believe .
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Reviewed by deborah shan from england on 23rd Mar 2004
this handset is a load of sh***,takes up to 10 atempts to make a call, phonecalls crash- list of flaws too long to write about-i haven't got all week! all i can say is ,it has to be the most infuriating phone on the planet.DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR IT!!!!
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Reviewed by Rich from ENGLAND on 22nd Mar 2004
This phone originally was absolutely s##t. More the first few months there was no 3G coverage, calls kept being cut off (when you could make them at all) and you had to charge the battery every day. After this it started getting better with more 3G and better download options and actually being able to make calls. Now I am back to thinking it is effing w*#k. Both of the batteries (why have two when you need the phone to charge them? or did 3 know they were rubbish?) run out in less than a day now. The most recent case was that after charging the battery for 10 hours, it ran out after 5 without a call being made or even using the handset at all. This is bang out of order and I am not going to pay the bill if it is impossible for me to use the phone. If 3 don't like this they can take me to court as, as somebody else said in a review a contract is subject to both parties of the contract complying with it and 3 are meant to provide me with a working phone and the ability to make calls (amongst many other promises). There is no point ringing the customer services as they don't understand English and just end up trying to blag you that everything is OK. This whole network service is rubbish. Don't bother!
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Reviewed by Patrick McEvoy from England on 21st Mar 2004
As glamourous as 3g looks it is not as it seems. In the tangles of its infrastructure there is something wrong... THE WHOLE BLOODY LOT OF IT IS NAFF! The service is apalling it drops calls like hell and yes, you could build a wall with its phones. The NEC e606 is one of those phones. Inside its bulky clamshell lies what is one of the worst things that ever happened to communications devices since Bush TV internet. Far from sleek this phone is heavy and feels as though it's going to fall out of your hand. The memory is small, the battery is low and, you better believe it, despite the massive size, the screen is smaller than the gx10's. What happened to decent small phones? Errrm... We wait 30 mis for the phone to answer that then recieve the answer; 3G As you select the menu button it is astounding how ugly the icons are. Unlike that of a nokia the task menu has a dirty blue background and, it gets worse, once you select an icon you are given a 30 minutes wait while it decides that when you press on multimedia you might actually want to go onto it. The advanced JAVA technology (ahem) cannot be used to the full because of 3G's disgusting service, this phone does not let you browse the internet or even WAP. Just within three's walled garden where good gaming is sparce and many games are just old atari ones. God knows why, once we finally got rid of Atari that we would want to go back on it. There is not much credit I can give this phone, 3G's service inability to send mms to non-3G phones sums it up; its a phone that should have flashing redlights over it and a sign saying 'DO NOT TOUCH', I would advise you not to. The image capabilities are good as are the video though it lacks clarity. The audio is clear and smooth as ice. A small thing to make up for its other faults. Not Realy... Great Phone!
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Reviewed by steven from United Kingdom on 14th Mar 2004
i must be the only one on here not to have any problems apart from batt life.if you think back to when gsm was launched i thing that 3 have done a remarkable network role out.ive had a e606 since april 03 and have just got another one on vt100,ive had no reliabiltiy issues with my first phone so hears hoping for another good year.
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Reviewed by Karen from England on 11th Mar 2004
DO NOT DO NOT BUY THIS MOBILE PHONE 3g are the worse ever. My son's phone completely died 28th Nov 03 cusomer service speaks pigeon English. Paid for all the calls made have refused to pay services charges told them to stick it when they offered no help at all. This week mid March 04 G3 telephoned . Deep joy they telephoned our home land line 'Your son hasn't been replying to our text messages and voice mail', (Doh phone has been dead over 4 months)Sent phone handset back have sent emails faxes and special delivery letters failed to get a response. Perhaps everyone who has a complaint could write to Mr Harry Malik Customer Options Team 3 Customer services, Hutchison 3G UK LTD, PO BOX No333 Hemel Hempstead HP2 7YW. This gentlemen tells me that I am the only one who has a complaint about 3G and the NEC e606 mobile I DON'T THINK SO............... Perhaps all of you like me should contact him and put him right on that. DO NOT BUY THIS OR ENTER IN TO CONTRACT WITH 3G
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Reviewed by Andy from England on 2nd Mar 2004
for all the people who say this phone is worth 1 star dont know what they are talking about. al give u that the battery life is poor but all u need to do is put it on charge when u go to sleeep and its good for most the day. people need to realise that this is a 3g phone and not a 2g phone, stop comparing them! the mp3 players great the video recorder is great for when u down town and u mates are making prats of themselves. the amount of online vids of footy movies mv is unrivaled. and stopm saying its a brick yes its big compared to a 2g phone but your not getting that its a video phone. can u amaging making a video call on a phone with a screen the size of the nokia 8310. finally all the people who rubbish this phone are to stupid to get the best out of it!!!
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Reviewed by Tony from Wales on 2nd Mar 2004
Don't touch this phone or the '3' network with an extremly long barge pole. Every function you wish to use on this phone requires you to press a series of keys around 60 times just to enter that menu! It's quicker to pen a letter and post it than it is to compose a text message on this damn thing. As for the network itself, diabolical is the only word that can describe the level of service you can expect from 3. Unfortunately, I made the grave mistake of taking out two 12 month contracts, one phone for myself and one for my wife. After trying to persevere with my phone for about 6 weeks, I was forced to take a contract out with O2 because I need a phone for work. Seriously, I couldnt even phone my wife when she was in the same room. Just kept on going to answerphone! I have now refused to pay my wifes bill because they constantly get it wrong. For the past 3 months, 3 have charged her for every call she has made, not giving any of her 750mins allowance. They insist they will correct the next bill but the same thing happens again! Pathetic. I'll see them in court!
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Reviewed by Toxictuna101 from England (uk) on 29th Feb 2004
At first glance the NEC e606 looks massive in fact it is quite big, after opening the flip and seeing that huge screen which is so vibrant I new why it was so big, Lets get onto the looks since in today's life looks and fashion matter just as much as features and use ability.
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Reviewed by Kris from UK on 10th Feb 2004
What a load of rubbish! DO NOT BUY! Go get a phone from a real operator. It may be more expensive but then again, it will work!!!
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Reviewed by mason from england on 23rd Jan 2004
can not make calls battery life very poor received three bills at my adress three dif numbers getting no satisfaction from 3 have to get them to call me back on my home phone thats when i do get to speak to them last time i spoke to them i was promised that it would be passed over to security and managment
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Reviewed by Tim Hovell from United Kingdom on 20th Jan 2004
Oh well what can i say that hasn't already been said before. I am actually quite lucky as i did have this phone all for 10 days then thought enough is enough and sent it back to those nice people in Calcutta or Delhi. (3's customer services) and said please cancel my contract under the 14 day satisfaction guarantee. I guess the main problem with this phone is that :- 1 the battery is very poor, 2 The Network only covers 60ish % of the UK and 3 Three have a contract with NEC and Motorola that they are the exclusive makers of the handsets. You make a voice call on your 3 handset on a 3 signal whilst your on the bus as you move the signal is too weak and can't find another 3 cell to lock on to, therefore your call drops out and you have to retry. The e606 cannot lock onto a 2G (o2 uk) signal and will only go on that if a 3G signal is not there, so if you make a call on a 2G (o2) cell and the phone automatically finds a 3G signal guess what happens (Yep your call is dropped) 3 wi ll not tell you this when you sign up but this is why so many people keep dropping calls. The Motorola A920 does however have a signal lock on this phone so you will drop alot less calls on this handset, but the down side is that it is a very large handset. o2 & T-Mobile's 3G network is currently being tested in the Isle of man and they have said that they will not be launching a service until certain criteria are met, Handset size, baterry life, network coverage and cost to the consumer. I am sorry if i have waffled on and not put much about the handset but when Sony launched the worlds first portable CD player it was big and also the battery was #### but look at them now the are thin and a battery will last over 150+ hours on certain models, if you can wait, wait it will get better but not in the near future. You are the pioneers of this new technology and unfortuantely it will slip up on the way.
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Reviewed by Aamir Chaudhry from United Kingdom on 12th Jan 2004
i m using that phone it's really wicked
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Reviewed by Dave M T from England on 11th Jan 2004
Poor phone but more important a lousy service I spend more time on O2 than 3 or even worse you can not lock it to the O2 so you get a stable service even if you can not do video calls (who needs that in any case) or MMS (you have to be in 3g to MMS) If you want 3g then wait till propper mobile companies bring it out. The NEC 606 is just cheap and nasty. Match's the provider= cheap and nasty.
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Reviewed by betty swallocks from UK on 6th Jan 2004
I thought this phone was alright at first, but it really is a piece of ####. battery life is lamentable, every time you need to make a call you can be sure this thing will be dead all my friends call my girlfriend now to get through to me as they're so hacked off with not being able to call direct e606 ... don't even think about it
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Reviewed by Mattock from UK on 24th Dec 2003
Just to concur... THE WORST PHONE I'VE EVER HAD... Reasons: (1) Battery life? What battery life? No wonder the tarrifs are cheap, they know you're not going to use all those free minutes because your battery will run out after a 5 minute fone call! (2) Drops calls for no reason (3) Video calling, how pointless is that? (4) The SIZE OF A SMALL HOUSE - Seriously, people live in these up north
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Reviewed by louise from birmingham on 16th Dec 2003
i took out my 3 contract in august 2003. like most of you on here i`ve had nothing but problems. the first phone kept freezing, the second kept dropping calls, the third kept dropping calls and now im not wanting to, but have no choice to return to the store again and change this one cause it keeps dropping calls too!!! customer services are absolutley appauling!! they cant even get the bills right!! like overcharging me!! they don`t give a damn because they`ve got you by the short and curlies on the 12 month contract. and YOU can`t bloody cancel unless you pay up the remainder of your 12 months line rental!!! conning gits!!! absolutely sick to the bottom of my gut that ive got to keep paying them for a phone that is rubbish!! sick of the damn answer phone, but your not allowed to take it off. you get the maximum of 30 seconds to answer your phone IF YOUVE GOT A SIGNAL!!! or that damn answer phone kicks in! BATTERY LIFE? HALF HOUR unless you use the big ugly one! then it makes it two bricks!! my advice DO NOT GO TO 3!! USE A REPUTABLE PHONE COMPANY, OR STAY ON PAY AS YOU GO!! i`m so angry about the whole thing that my computer keyboard is suffering greatly whilst i write this! you get through to india everytime you call customer services and i`ll be damned if i can understand what they`re saying!!! cheap wages i spose! yes because 3 are really cheap skates!! the 3 shop told me that! SO AGAIN THINK VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU GO TO 3!! I`M SURE THERE WON`T BE MANY RESIGNING UP WITH 3!! IN THE NEW YEAR!!!!! roll on the end of my 12 months!! LOUISE..
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Reviewed by will from England on 16th Dec 2003
what is the point of showing the higher percentage of bad reviews when your company will go rapidly downhill. you would have to be uniquely mad to show such negative comments. I was thinking of buying this genuine amazing phone but the reviews have put me off of ever buying a made product from your company. I am disappointed with this pile of b*** your staff are coming out with. Because of the number of poor reviews, I am now going to buy a NOKIA without all those "great" working gagdets. A real disapointment from 3. p.s make a better phone next time!
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Reviewed by George from UK on 2nd Dec 2003
Slow and Ugly!!! Everything about this phone is just not attractive! Just don't be fooled into the media's hypes and ads that make this phone sound superb. Trust the user comments here and make your decision whether u want to risk it or not.
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Reviewed by from Manchester on 1st Dec 2003
What can i say.... I have a selection of phones, different makes and styles and never have i had such a piece of rubbish as the e606. I bought this phone for my son as he needed a phone so i new when to pick him up after school. The tarrifs looked good and what happened. First it took me over 2 weeks to get connected in the first place. Then after another week he was disconnected. I phoned "3" and they assured me nothing was wrong. Then my son lost his phone. For £40 excess we were sent a new e606 within 1 week ( the only good thing)But i got the new handset a month ago and 3 have still not connected me. I have phoned them up about 10 times and all they can say is "ill send an e-mail to customer services and get back to you ASAP"-The first time they said that was over 3 weeks ago and they have still not got back to me! To be honest the "e606" is not even worth 1*- Never choose 3
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Reviewed by A. Roland from England on 24th Nov 2003
What a dismal telephone, and even worse is three's so called customer service. I cannot believe some of the reviews on this page are over 1 star. They must have been written by some of threes own staff. The phone struggles to make even a a 2g call, never mind a 3g call. If you get one these pathetic handsets, tell all of your friends they will be speaking to your inbox most of the time, as I get about one voice call in 15. I live in central London, and I get 3g reception for on average no more than 10 minutes a week! What a con. When you do eventually get to make a call, you will find the battery life jumps from a full three bars to one bar in about half an hours call usage, and dies completely if you make more than 40 minutes of calls. I sent over 21 e-mails to threes so called customer service (no point calling them. They never answer and when they do did after 14 attempts the woman in India did not speak or understand English at all well)and they still have not resolved my problems. Please remember that a contract in this country means an obligation from both parties. Threes obligation is to provide a telephony service, ie 3g services and normal 2g services, which hardly ever happen, and it is the consumers responsibility to pay for it. So what happens when you do not get the telephony or service you are paying for? In threes case nothing. Lame excuses,poor service,dreadful equipment and patronising comments. Three's marketing campaign is one of the slickest on the market, it is also arguably the biggest con placed upon the British public since the Hoover scandal in the mid-eighties.They should have spent the money on getting their products and service right, rather than giving the illusion of doing so. If you have a regular vodaphone, orange, o2 etc contract stick with it until these companies bring out 3g. I am sure they will improve on Threes chaotic shambles, and I would recommend you steer clear of these jokers at all costs.
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Reviewed by Matt from UK on 19th Nov 2003
How can any of you say that the phone is worth 5 stars. Are you on three's payroll???? The phone is diabolical. extremely slow menus. poor battery life, i know you get two batterys and two chargers but you can only charge the battery when it is connected to the phone so most of the time you will find your phone is a landline as it has a cord connected between it and a wall.... Customer service is a joke. they do not do a thing. latest now is that they will not replace a faulty handset (fourth time mine has gone wrong) they will now collect it and repair it and hopefully get it back to you in 3-5 days. I don't want to be without a phone for 3-5 days. If i hear another customer service rep apologise and send and email to the relevent department then promise to call me back I will scream. ps out of the last 9 hours i have spent on the phone to 3 trying to get a handset that works i have been told that some one will ring me back 9 times. I have been cut off 12 times and still no one has rung me back. I am very reluctant to even give the one star rating but they would not let me have a negative rating.
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Reviewed by Cliff from UK on 16th Nov 2003
Having joined a 1 year contract with 3 in September the only saving grace for this network is the call tariff especially across networks.The NEC e606 is widely known to be flawed though they don't tell you that when you're signing up...and with the other handsets being the size of a wheelbarrow there's not much to choose from .I had a problem with mine locking up when sending TMs and the only way to close the phone down was to remove the battery as all key functions cease.Customer Service ?....well that's a joke in poor taste to start with .The current trend now UKwise is move call centres to India.Yeh fine if the reps are fluent english-speakers which they aren't. Have you tried to e-mail 3 and expected a response this side of your pension? The whole setup is extremely bad to say the least.I think they should've left the launch for at least another year till they solved handset problems and found technology small enough to fit in the boot of your car! The e616 is due for release in.......errrr well this depends on which 3 mobile outlet you visit as they are all equally misinformed....which is nice.I like the uniformity here.I wonder if that will be any better...maybe I'll upgrade when they get the information from 3. I'm afraid the old saying "you don't get something for nothing " applies well to 3. Cheap calls may be great and influence people into signing-up for a year's poor service but why go for cheap calls when depending on the service area you may be in you can find yourself unable to make a call at all ? 2G or not 3G that is the question!Well 3G no, 2G maybe on a nice day at the top of a hill. SO... when in doubt go to the nearest public phone box (that hasn't been vandalised) and put your 20p in knowing that good old fashioned non-mobile tried and tested BT will get you through to who you want and with a call centre (for now) that can understand what the hell you're saying should you have a problem. As BT's advertising once said "it's good to talk" are you listening 3? try taking this on board before you call yourself a "mobile operator"
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Reviewed by SteveG from UK on 16th Nov 2003
Originally changer to 3 from O2 simply because of the 500 minutes on the £25 contract. My first query was you are given 2 batteries and 2 chargers in the box, but you can only charge the battery on the phone, so whats the point in 2 chargers, I did buy a desktop charger later and an extended life battery as the standard would only last me a maximum of 7 hours,(no good if you travel alot for work like I do). I have experienced some calls being dropped which is no fault of the phone just the network operator 3 and at busy times cannot make any calls due to the network being busy. My main frustration with the phone is getting someone who knows whether the phone is bluetooth or not, its in the menu system and will allow you to search for devices etc. but the dealers are insistant that it hasn't got bluetooth. I only want to use a bluetooth earpiece when the new driving law is introduced on 1st Dec 03. Apparently 3 haven't activated the bluetooth and they don't know when they w ill. Again another problem with the company 3
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Reviewed by nick from scotland on 5th Nov 2003
You would be better of sending smoke signals to the person you want to contact than buy this phone!. On numerous occassions I have recieved text messages three hours after being sent when people have been asking what I was upto that night. Also its like a lottery trying to call someone, will i actually be able to call?, will i be cut off half way through?, will it make strange noises in the background?, or will it simply run out of batteries as it battery life is pathetic. In addittion to this I could draw better pictures than the camera can take and the video messaging is not much better. Im so sick of this phone and its customer service that ive put it in a drawer and am paying a lower tarriff until the contract runs out. On the plus side at least ive built up my muscles by carrying it about for the last few months as the thing is a bloody brick??? Dont be fooled THE WORST PHONE I HAVE EVER OWNED...ps im not even that into phone styles etc but id atleast like one that works .
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Reviewed by - from uk on 29th Oct 2003
cant wait for my contract to end
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Reviewed by Colin from UK on 24th Oct 2003
BEWARE… On the 28th Aug 03 I wrote a giving a “healthy” 4 star review. For me generally I still give the phone itself a fairly high review after almost three months using it within the UK (& abroad – see below). However 3’s “network” itself even with it's attactive tariffs is in need of great improvement as connections can be, & are, at times a lottery as various people have testified in their reviews on this page. But also be aware if you want to use your “3” phone abroad. In my case "3" advised me they have a policy that charged me an additional £250.00 above my main contract fee for the international roaming facility to be "turned on" to allow me to call BACK from Spain to the UK. This £250.00 is, as I was advised, a form of “retainer”, (why ??? - they’ve got my direct debit facility anyway). The good news for me is that £250.00 sum is fully redeemable at the end of my normal year’s contract. The actual international phone call costs are still billed to me as per my normal account. I was not aware of this bizarre policy upon my "sign up" otherwise I would NOT have entered the “3” network under any circumstances. Begrudgingly due to circumstances beyond my control I had little choice but to pay as another phone facility/operator was out of the question at that late point in time. I did register my disapproval by complaining to “3” of this additional cost but “they” appeared not to understand my disappointment & annoyance in anyway. My previous phone operator, “02”, NEVER charged me anything other than the international call costs themselves. “3” are doing themselves little favours by this additional “cost” considering their UK network connection problems & maybe I should have stayed with “02” after all. Incidentally the phone worked very well with the Spanish networks… another lesson “3” could learn from. Again the phone is not a problem with me. However “3” have to get more user friendly. I am to get in touch with “3” with a view to have my £250.00 returned before the end of my normal contract. However if this fails I feel at this moment in time I don’t think I will pursue another year’s contract with “3”.
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Reviewed by mark from uk on 14th Oct 2003
can't praise this technology enough.....!!!!!!!!!!! 1stly having been with orange & spending roughly £50-100 a month on my contract phone the 3 tariff of 750mins xnet anybody anytime is roughly 1/2 the cost of the orange tariff! - total no brainer really - even if i only used it for calls (which was the initial purchase reason) i'd have been on a winner.....however, the amount of stuff packed into this phone is incredible- i bought 1 for me & 1 for my partner, & after about 5 mins we were vidcalling!!! so far i've utilised all of the features in anger apart from the fax, which when u have email y bother? a great piece of kit if you travel a lot & need multiple forms of comms in one handset..... the only negatives so far is the battery life, so charge every night & buy a car charger!!!!!! u do get the occasional drop out on the signal in certain areas-though these areas correspond with the drop out in the orange network & others!!!! everyone should have one-do not listen to the negative reviews-buy one now!!!!!! Features GPS-fantastic-zooms to 6m & will search by location, postcode, street name.........also will find your nearest petrol station,railway station whatever! Online content - is improving - news bulletins & weather useful,& fun to get the sports updates. (games a bit duff but should improve) txt messaging-easy to use, never had a problem. audio player-yes u can download wma files from the pc!!!! voice messsages-limited voice messages - very handy!!! calendar-just enough to store important dates!!!! email - superb - if you recieve email u can access via 3mail(as per voicemail) & it will read out the email to you!!!! Videocalls - pic quality not bad, and adds a different feel to your call - u can see that smile rather than just hear it!!! this phone is more of a computer than a mobile phone.
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Reviewed by GaryB from England on 11th Oct 2003
The network operator 3 is terrible, A this ting uses O2 Network for 2G calls and Three for 3G Data/Calls..... This bloody thing drops your connection when switching cells..... v.annoying... The battery is shocking, no wonder they put x2 batteries and x2 chargers in the box... the most i have had is 8am - 8pm .... with no calls / data / text's The 3 service (Triangle Button) is getting better at connecting too but the content is well... crap... and Three have taken the decision of not allowing you to use a custom webpage / e-mail service on this brick. Apart from that, the video calling was a novelty first time round... second time, nothing special... i wont use this i thought.... thirdly i got this thing back in May so the cheapest line rental was £59.99 i today tried to cancel and they quoted 6x £59.99 = 359.94 to cancel... so i have just switched to a £15.00 line rental and selling the brick on E-Bay. Good Points: Play's MP3's / 3GP,MP4 Video Clips / Good weather downloads / Call Quality is excellent when in 3G Mode Poor Points: Service Shocking / Slow / Very Slow / Very Very Slow / Answerphone terrible / Did i mention Slow? / Battery is SHOCKING!!! / Very Very Very funny about what Midi files u want as ringtones... / Camera is poo / Cant have mp3 as ringtone / cant browse custom sites / heavy ....... I MEAN U CAN KNOCK OUT A ROBBER IF HE TRIES TO STEAL YOUR PHONE WITH THIS THING! / I am sure the call centres are indian and don't know what a tarrif is ??!??
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Reviewed by Method7 from Uk on 10th Oct 2003
Lets not beat about the bush. The NEC e606 is well built with a quality feel and balance, everything is in the right place and it's size and weight fall well within the acceptable category, when the two halves come together it has the most satisfying Clunk. Everything fits in the body to the most precise tolerances, the buttons are a good size with a positive feel, Just press the On button and watch in awe as the thing illuminates like the underside of Ali G's Renault 5 GT Turbo. Unfortunately for the NEC this is where the marvel ceases, the software is so slow, like booting Xp on 32M ram. The navigation is primitive to say the least and there are no quick menus, every action follows a lengthy linear process. For a phone that has everything you might want from video capture to email checking but the NEC is seriously let down by its software. Everything about the phone shouts Genius until you turn the thing on. Once it has booted, cashed files and decided its ready for you to use the brilliance is lost to a battle of surfing and backtracking. Every single process takes an eternity to complete and its all Software Software Software. Or rather the lack of it. The CD that comes in the box is nothing like Nokia's Software; its very basic and only allows you to transfer contacts, images, videos, and the ringtones you have saved or created. The bluetooth is only partially activated and I never got the "Broadband" Modem to work with my PC. If you live a 24-hour lifestyle and rely heavily on your phone you WILL need a rucksack to carry enough spare batteries and a spare phone to keep you going, this phone eats batteries and dies rapidly. I found myself carrying my old pay as you go as back up.
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Reviewed by Jack Hipperson from England on 10th Oct 2003
I have got a NEC e606 and I am not happy with it. I have a number of complaints and I am looking for a new phone, even though I have only had this one since June. . There is hardly ever a 3G signal, which means I can hardly ever get on the triangle services . I am meant to be on pay as u go, but I get a bill at the end of the month. This angers me a lot, because I always use my phone and tend to spend to much. If this was really pay as you go, I would be able to see what I was spending. I emailed 3G, asking if there was anyway of finding out. They said ring customer services. I have rang customer services to find out how much has been spent, and got a woman in India telling me she couldn't tell me. . The battery lasts about 12 hours, even when not being used. . I have missed calls, but when I check my missed calls I apparently have none. This means that the missed call sign is stuck in the corner. . I get at least a voicemail a day, as nobody can reach me cos theres no signal. . Whenever I ring out I can never get anybody, theres no signal. . Java games cost about £2 to download and only last 72 hours . When I make a voice recording, I can never listen to it, there is nowhere I can do this. . Video recording only lasts 12 seconds.
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Reviewed by wjones from england on 28th Sep 2003
absolute rip off
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Reviewed by Haider from UK on 26th Sep 2003
I would have given this phone minus scores if the system allows it. To be fair, the phone is about a 2 or 3 stars, but the customer service is just so diabloical, that I would need to use harsh language to get you to understand just how bad it is. These morons at 3 can't even collect payment by direct debit. The glasgow office assure you your details are correct, but but India, yes India is where customer service is also, dont have a clue. Phones get cut off, then they cant take payment by credit card, advising me to speak to the bank. The bank gives 3 a slap telling them to sort their systems out. But my phone cannot be re-activated for 5 days. Advisors are inconsistent with their info, talking to the company is like torture. Avoid this pile of crap of a company at all costs.
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Reviewed by Jo from England on 26th Sep 2003
I can't help but love my phone, I love the way it looks and the facilities it offers, and I did manage to work out how to use it mainly without the manual - although this has proved useful for a few 'shortcuts'. Generally found it very user friendly. Battery is dire though. Can sit on my desk unused for hours and by the end of the day, maybe after a few phonecalls, the battery's dead by end of night or morning. I have not tried the second battery as it is rather huge and would make the phone even bulkier. I have not had to ring '3' but only because I can't be bothered with the hassle. I have experienced calls cutting out, and the bleeping as it loses signal, then searches for 2g or 3g can drive you mad. Even when it's switched off I can hear a click click noise if the room's quiet. I now use one charger for during the night and keep the other charger at work. Not sure if I'm running the battery down even more by overcharging it. Phone was completely free on mobileshop.co.uk a nd included a free DVD player (which I didn't have at home). In fact, they are actually offering cashback as well as a DVD player - so they're actually paying you to have one! That probaly speaks volumes!! I took the £35 pm contract for 750 mins x-network, any time. I think the value for money is excellent and is worth the constant battery charging. Not tried downloading games, music, etc yet. Seem to be having probs with using the '3' button as keeps losing connection. In fact, I've only just managed to get the list of '3' functions today - have been trying over the last couple of weeks to no avail, no menu would show once I'd pressed the key. Am keeping my fingers crossed and trying not to lose faith! Hope things improve soon, but generally think it's pretty good value for money. Will let you know if I end up throwing it against a wall in a month's time! Bear with the texting - once you get to grips with it, it's quite good to use. Must admit to using my old Nokia sometimes for texting as I could do that in the dark... but am slowly getting used to the 3 way of texting and quite like the screen navigation abilities. The only thing I don't like is reaching the address book for texting. PS. I just this second got games working after about 2 patient weeks - it must have been listening!!
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Reviewed by John Miller from UK on 24th Sep 2003
I have had this phone for 2 months and have had 4 different handset, all of which constantly crash or stall. The slow booting up process is old technology. When I first booted up with one of the phones, it took 10 minutes to get into the mail section but stalled as soon as i selected inbox. On another phone, the software clearly had more bugs in than a Disney animation because it would stall anything up to 10 times before it allowed me to use it. I can't believe a phone with 32 MB of memory can't upload images bigger than 32 KB. The polyphonic ringtone, is incredibly lame, even my 13 month old Nokia 7650 sounds miles better. The phone isn't worth the hassle and would strictly advise folks to wait for the classy Z1010 by Sony Errickson but stay well clear of this lame excuse for a phone. It is funny that at the start of the 2G revolution NEC were amongst the leaders but soon disappeared when quality products hit the market, I have no doubt that for 3G the same process will hap pen hopefully
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Reviewed by Lee Colclough from U.K on 21st Sep 2003
To be fair, its not a bad phone. The memory capacity is excellent, the camera is kind of fun, and the sms & call facilities are perfectly adequate. Battery life is not fantastic, but if just used for calls and sms its adequate. Charges from flat to full in a couple of hours anyway. However, Three themselves are the biggest shambles in the history of mobile operators, and I am currently locked in a high level complaint battle to get them to stuff their contract. The service is appalling, their idea of customer service is making you wait for 2 hours in a queue at national rates before effectively telling you to get stuffed. They mislead me as to the terms of the contract before I took in, as well as a whole host of problems I've had in the past two months. I'm fully expecting to have to go to court just to get rid of the damn thing. Truly appalling. Therefore, the phone - three stars - if you consider its capabilities, its not a bad package. The operator - about minus 30 - easily the worst interaction with any company I've ever had, an I couldn't reccomend them if they were giving away free houses with every mobile. Avoid, for the sake of your sanity and blood pressure!
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Reviewed by Ian from UK on 20th Sep 2003
DO NOT GET THIS PHONE!!!! Well the phone itself isn't bad, the network operator however are the worst ever. When making calls I would be lucky if the call lasted 30 seconds! I eventually took the phone back to the dealer after 3 days of having the phone to get my money back and cancel my contract. That was in July 2003... Now in September 2003 I am still getting a bill through!!! even administration charges for not paying the bill. (remember I don't have the phone anymore!!) Anyway the dealer told me to just ignore the bills which I have done up till today... This is where the bit that really annoys me starts! Tried to get a phone on Orange today only to find out that I had been declined... thought this was a bit strange so thought I would go to equifax online to get a credit report done... I bet you can guess what I found! Yes you guessed it! A bad mark on there from Hutchinson 3G!!! Decided to go back to dealer yet again to get them to sort this out once and for all and now just waiting to see what happens. Anyway at the end of the day it will be your choice but you should trust me on this. Anyone else who is having this problem please email me as I wish to go to Watchdog if this isn't sorted soon. ian_armstrong1@hotmail.com Good luck ppl.
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Reviewed by Tim from UK on 18th Sep 2003
I wish the rating system went as low as f***ing diabolical. What can I say about 3 and the pile of utter rubbish that NEC has produced. combined they make a mockery of mobile phones, network provision and customer services. I feel like I have been sent back in time 10 years and am in the dark ages once again. I could carry on but I won't. What I want to know is: Has anybody managed to successfully terminate their 3 contract after 14 days, with out paying the penalty fee? I'm in the middle of some tense discussions with three and would like to swap notes with those who have tried. Please e-mail me on: bowestj@yahoo.co.uk may the force be with us....'cos by god we need it with this shambles of a company. and as for the call centre in India........
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Reviewed by Scot Lester from Bucks on 8th Sep 2003
I have had this phone for about 2 months now, and I have not had a problem with it, I always have reception, the battery life is not too bad, if you use it a heck of a lot then you would expect it to go down quicker, but for my usage it's not a problem, the only bad side is that the connectivity software is limited, unlike most other phones you cannot copy your text message across, which I found a bit of a pain, but overall it;s a good phone.
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Reviewed by Henry from UK on 4th Sep 2003
I can't believe people can use this phone properly. I connected to 3 for three weeks only and I have changed my phone 4 times. 1st time battery not charging, 2nd time not retaining the memory, 3rd time the phone is locked and 4th the ringer is not ringing properly. At the moment, I am waiting for another replacement phone which I am being told by the customer service it will take up to 14 days. Regarding to the 3 network, if the phone is working in 3G mode, I have never managed to stay on a call for longer then 12 minutes, a frequent drop-off is expected. The phone will also get confused and switch between 2G and 3G network frequenctly (like if you drive down to London) and you won't be able to receive and made call until you restart the phone. Video phone is fantastic and working quite OK but I don't think I will be paying 50p a minutes for it, half the price may be. To be fair, the phone itself is one of the best and very simple to use compare to a lot of other make like Nokia and Motorola. I would have 100% recommended the phone if not because of all the problems I have. If you want to call the customer services, especially the technical centre, leave yourself plenty of time. You are expecting at least 30 minutes wait and listen to some annoying music and a woman's voice "all our advisors are VERY busy at the moment, we will answer your call asap". If you want international roaming, make sure you do it at least 5 days before you leave. And they will also do lots of credit check on your account. (While all the other network can switch the international roaming ON while you still on the phone requesting it and no credit check.) My conclusion is: If you want to watch football, news, games only. This phone is perfect for you. If you want a reliable phone to make and receive call, forget about 3 and go for vodafone. For myself, I am switching back to vodafone.
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Reviewed by Colin from UK on 28th Aug 2003
Generally the phone & its facilities work fine for me. The main attraction to "3" for me was the network's monthly costs being more attractive than others were (for the time being any way). As for the phone & it's facilities. Well most facilities work pretty well although the novelty of downloading small video clips & new ringtunes, taking photos, etc., etc., has now passed after a month. Two batteries were supplied. A "small" type & "heavy duty" larger type. The small is not very good about a days useage but the larger gives me about 2-3 days with normal usesage (exc. video clips etc). However I do have two little annoyances in my case both with the operator not the phone itself. One is if you try to contact "3" customer services between 08.30 hrs & 20.00 hrs any day there's a good chance you’ll wait a considerable time for your call to be answered. Not much good when your in a hurry. Best time to try & call is before 07.30 hrs – (set the alarm on the phone to re mind you). Secondly, international text messaging. I'm advised by "3” that even though you may have the "International Roaming" facility "open" where you can (& have in my case) made & received international phone calls to different foreign networks however in some cases you can only receive text messages from these very same networks & not actually “send” to them. (This non delivery information is advised by the “delivery report” on the phone text messaging facility). I’m told the non delivery is due to certain foreign network agreements not being in place with "3" at the moment. Apparently this is an ongoing operation. One thought is do you still get charged for non delivered international text messages??? I would hope not.
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Reviewed by kevin from England on 21st Aug 2003
I was impressed by the phone, even though it was a bit big it was packed full of good things. The one thing that let this down was the service from 3G. There customer services take atleast 15 to 20 minutes to answer and when they do there not very helpful. In short the phone is great service is poor.
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Reviewed by Collins from London, England on 21st Aug 2003
I cannot understand those people that gave this pathetic phone good review. This phone and 3 network is a con and a reap off. I would like as many people as possible to contact Watchdog and Trading Standard to complain about this phone and 3 Network. The battery life is a disaster-you will be lucky if it gives you constant 45mins talk time.I do not use the text facility to avoid getting depress, I phoned customer services and got connected to a foreign country were I was kept on hold for ages while the staff find answer to my question. 3 Network promise to send me 2 new replacement battery but I do not need a replacement battery but a battery that actually works. They told me to buy a new longer life battery that is out in the market for £45. I cannot trust this phone and the 3 network. I appreciate that new technology has its problem but please give me a break, the pathetic, battery life, network condition of this 3 is 100 flawed. I have stopped giving people my 3 number and has switched back to my T-mobile. Please I do not want any useless postive review about this phone and 3network because your positive review is simply false. Please let every one demand a replacement handset to one that works and not this rubbish e606. Shame on 3network and shame on their ally NEC that has made the worst phone in living memory.
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Reviewed by brian douglas from england on 14th Aug 2003
Excelent features, excelent music player, good for uploading music videos to watch at work but no use at all as a phone! it takes several attempts to make a call and frequently drops out.
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Reviewed by Chris from England on 8th Aug 2003
I think firstly, most of the reviews already written are a little one sided. You all need to realise that Hutchinson's 3G network is new. I don't think the world has ever seen a new product without a few pot holes. These problems will be overcome within the next few years, I'm sure you remember orange when they first started, look at them now. I'm fairly happy about my phone, and everybody here complaining about the battery life, take a look at the Sony Ericsson T68i, the battery life is said to last 316 hours, yet its exactly the same battery type as that in the 3G phone, I think you need to understand this phone is more of a computer, than an actual phone, so for those who want a phone to call people, and write the occasional text message, get a T68i. For those who realise this phone is new, and is therfor bound to have a few problems which will be overcome, there isn't a better phone on the market.
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Reviewed by Aleem from UK on 8th Aug 2003
This phone is a joke, Not only is the battery life useless, the reception is sooo bad, i spend most of the time, searching for reception than actually using the phone! Forget being 3g enabled, have not found one place where i am constantly 3g enabled. One second i am, then it goes, how are you supposed to make use of the video conferencing, or even to access the download area. Text messages are a mission, some people don't even receive the messages i send, even though it says sent! Had i know any of this i would not have bought the phone. I wish i could give it back. The only good thing is the tariff!! I am certainly going to give the network loads of grief, i suggest everyone do the same!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by Daniel O'Connell from London on 7th Aug 2003
this phone is pants!!! i tried to send a text the other day it failed 9 times!! i live in an area where i get no reception. tryed to download something the other day after two hours i gave up. then i rang customer services only to be put on hold for just under an hour. Please dont buy thid phoner its a joke buy a nokia and everybody get back on T.Mobile!!!!!
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Reviewed by David from Essex, England on 4th Aug 2003
Got the phone on saturday, if the shop was open on sunday I would have taken it back!!! Trying to write a text message needs a degree. You have to go to so many screens, then it takes ages to find the number to send it to, then 9 times out of 10 it fails to send and you end up having to hunt for the message on the front screen to try again! My wife and I both bought one, so far either her phone wont receive or call or mine wont. Calling customer services is a Joke, no really, I can't beleive how long I have been waiting, maybe thats why they give you so many free minutes, or may be because the voice mail system takes three years to complete!!! Ring tones are pants, and can't be heard, when you try to use their download system it cost £2, and failed 4 times. On the brighter side....... it makes a good door stop!!!
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Reviewed by Bobby Dazler from England on 3rd Aug 2003
Don't even bother! Fair enough the free minutes you get are a big bonus but the phone is absolutely dreadfull! Took mine back within 24 hours as the battery died within the first 2hours of using it! Video messaging was a novelty for the first 5 minutes then I got bored. And don't even try to call the customer services in your lunch hour cos they take about 35mins just to answer your call. Gone for a Panasonic GD87 instead and love it!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by gaz from uk on 1st Aug 2003
I have read some reveiws on this page and this trully is a remarkable phone. But battery is total pants. Never mind thoe for a gaget freak like me its a notebook in my pocket. Got a great deal and phone for free. Word to all these phones break very easily and wil not take alot of punishment best to buy cover for it.
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Reviewed by Duane Bong from UK on 1st Aug 2003
Great phone packed with almost every feature. The only thing lacking is MP3 playback and radio receiver. Battery life is also a rather short. But it comes with 2 batteries and 2 chargers to compensate for that.
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Reviewed by zak from UK on 31st Jul 2003
I had got this phone only as a replacemnet for my old motorola. So far the battery don't last 6 hours, voicemail is hit and miss and so is phoning other networks and navigating to write txt messages and configuing the phone was a drag. I'm glad i paid only £100 for this junk.
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Reviewed by steve from england on 30th Jul 2003
well after getting used to the size of the phone...hey no probs when youre getting all those minutes except in the first 2 days calls were cut off and I had to use my house phone to make calls...after getting thru to 3 helpline a couple of times holding for 15 - 25 minutes I was already over it.Its got lots of good features I esp like being able to leave myself voice messages,however quality of fotos didnt look much good tho didnt check on PC.just to put in a fone no you have to bypass the video address hey I needed a phone first extras later ,by this stage I'm getting a bit cheesed off with it and then surprise surprise the battery goes dead ok so you get two ,well no dice how long before I lose the spare I just cant spend my life charging batteries .So if youre organised and live in the right area get one if not check your own network cus orange matched the deal on talktime with any network so I jacked these guys.Will check it out again when they get their act together
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Reviewed by Paul Walsh from England on 25th Jul 2003
Nice looking phone a bit on the big side but still smaller than what we were carrying around a few years ago. Battery life better than I was led to believe but still not great ( car charger £15 )calender function pretty useful, nice audio player would like to be able to use it with proper headphones though. We have 3 of these phones in our family and live in a 3G area but not been able to send a video message or make a video phone call yet but we will be patient. One very bad point is trying to get through to customer services but still not as bad as Orange was when they first started. Quality of video downloads is pretty good for such a small screen, amazing really. Overall a very nice phone with lots to play with, can't wait for the next lot of 3G phones to come out it will get better. "The futures bright, the futures 3G"
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Reviewed by Maggie from UK on 24th Jul 2003
Firstly dont believe what they tell you in the shop,they dont know what they are talking about! in every shop they told me conflicting information. 3G corverage in my area is quite poor so most of the time it roams to the O2 network, which is fine for normal voice calls and texting but i cant do video calls. picture quality is OK but not amazing video quality is OK but not as good as they would have you belive on the TV advert. every shop told me it doesnt have delevery reports, It does, for both MMS and text messages, it comes with two batteries and two charges but no car charger,(additional £15)you get a CD which is quite pants, a USB cable to connect to PC which has to run Win 2000 or XP. Battery life is not surpisingly quite poor compared to Nokia but that is to be expected with all the features this phone has. you can attatch pics to phone numbers so that when soneone calls it pops up there photo. txt msg are quit easy once you get out of Nokia mode and get used to new m enu. it doesnt come with any games and so far the ones ive downloaded are quite poor. if you want to phone 3G customer services expect at least to be on hold for 20mins. phone activation can take up to 72hours! phone taffif of £25 a month is exelent with 500mins of anytime any network free calls, on this tarif you are supposed to pay £50 for phone, but i offered to sign upto it there and then if they gave me it for free and they did(the Link) you can buy as go for £169 off net. all in all a great phone and great tarif, just need more of my friends to get one!
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Reviewed by Mauricio from UK on 23rd Jul 2003
Everything about this new generation of telephones is nice innovative. Only one detail, the people that used Macintosh computers can not take fullm advantage of the features of the phone. I hope any body could write a software for this machine and soon.
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Reviewed by kev from england on 17th Jul 2003
this phone is the business,packed with so many different options and the tariffs are superb it is the best phone ive ever owned, it is a bit bulky but who cares when you just about got perfection!
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Reviewed by Jon from UK on 17th Jul 2003
OK - so it can do video calling, but it's sort of a jack of all trades master of none. First off the battery life sucks: I don't know whether this is due to the screen or some other requirement for 3G connections. A PDA it aint: it's moderately good for appointments, etc. Picture quality isn't up to that of other picture phones, but it's OK. Bluetooth support is flakey - I tried to connect to the internet via a Bluetooth PDA and could only get the devices to see each other, nothing else. On the positives: sound is great, Java games are cool, and it seems fairly robust and is easy on the eye. So my advice: wait a while. As with all new technology the first one to own the new toy on the block is normally the first person to bin it and get a decent model once all the bugs/design faults have been ironed out. Remember the Nokia 7110.....
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Reviewed by joe from australia on 16th Jul 2003
i needed a new phone when my mum threw my siemens me45 in the wash. i went to the three shop and was amazed how cheap teh call rates and phone was. the phone itself is superb. great colour screen, good ringtones and good games. the only thing is that i had the phone for a month and i havnt made a video call yet
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Reviewed by Jonathon from UK on 13th Jul 2003
Ok, so after having my trust Sharp GX10 for a bit, I decided to upgrade to a 3G phone. First thing I noticed was the size. Quite large for a phone, but when you realise the things it has, it's amzing. Picture quality isn't brill, and quite small, video is so far fine for me. The fact that you can download via USB cable .wma files means you have there yourself a digital music player! Easy to download ringtones for free, logogs and everything! I currently live in a non-3G area, but can't wait for the area to become 3G!
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Reviewed by - from UK on 5th Jul 2003
THIS PHONE ROCKS! AT LAST the next generation has arrived. this is definitely the future - cool mobile phone meets PDA. Three have been bombarding us with impressive slick ads for months it seems and they promise a lot. Well if you get one of these uber cool multi function devices you wont be dissapointed. Initial reaction on opening the box was wow its a little on the large side compared to my old Sharp GX10 but what a stylish little number it is. Definitely one of the coolest looking phones out there in silver and black two tone effect. It certainly attracts attention with unending ooos and ahhs when i took it out and about round town. Within seconds and not reading any manual (of course - and the test of good user interface design) i had got to grips with taking photos (3 resolutions up to 352x288 (why not VGA???) ,video clips (12s) and audio voice clips (up to 1m)with the 2 yes 2 tiny cameras on board. Photo quality is reasonable but not as good as the VGA capable phones such as Sonys a300. Roll on Megapixel 3g... Video quality is again not brilliant and 12s is not long enough really but then this is the cutting edge for now and its a mobile phone! I live in an area partially covered by the 3g network and my first attempts to try out some video content such as ITN news , weather , film and comedy clips etc failed but 3rd time lucky and it works great. ITN clips are about 30s long and load in about half that time. other content is a bit thin at the moment but it is early days. there is massive potential for movie and TV programme trailers ,perhaps even streaming content in the future which could allow unlimited duration video. The phone has a whoppping 32mb memory (in a small flip phone!) not on a memory stick unfortunately but 32mb will hold a max no of 100 photos easily for starters. The bulk of memory will go on your music and video files. On to connectivity , well its many many features include not IR but bluetooth but ive not tried that yet, however i did connect USB to PC flawlessly moving content such as photos (JPG) videos (MP4) and audio (WMA) to AND FROM PC! so not only can you quickly, easily and cheaply email round last nights drunken activities / fit totty round for free you can also upload any JPEG / videos from the net onto your phone wallpaper. JPEGS downsized They look fantastic on the very vibrant 65k col screen which has a decent res of 162x132 pixels Another WOW feature is the ability to upload your own music ripped from CD or from MP3 converted into WMA format (look on the net for wav to wma convertor / rippers - so you can download a set of your current faves to play in the office to everyones amazement or on the tube with the supplied headphones. A stereo WMA 64k stream 3min track is about 1.5mb Max single length is 5mb. With a shedload of features A nifty side of the UI is that each (of many) menus is broken into numbered options you can simply key in a set of numbers number to jump to each funtion if you have a good memory - take a picture is MENU 5,2,1 Add to this an excellent user manual (req when i set up emailing from the phone - yes email is a doddle and you get yourname@3mail.com address or access a POP3 mail server of your choice Positives: Great stylish design Pay to go was £160 with £30 over 3 months FREE credit £25/month option with 500min to ANY network 2 batteries AND chargers Very good MIDI synthesiser and LOUD speaker Upload your own MIDI file ringtunes for nothing Upload your own pics for wallpaper / MMS for nothing UPload your own MP3s+WAVS converted to WMA for NOTHING and use as a digital walkman!! Upload your favourite home movies FOR NOTHING! and amaze gadget freaks Email easily to and from the phone. Decent alarm , calendar functionality Currency converter and calculator JAVA for games video call to PC based webcam Premiership goal highlights My main gripes then: Battery life!!! - pretty bad, with heavy use you would be lucky to get 12h A bit larger than ideal No outer LCD on front Video clips only 12s! Not everywhere has 3G coverage yet SLiighty slow operating system Not VGA res pictures Not too good in low lighting with no flash Slightly long winded route to taking a picture/video = UI could have been done better easily Convince your mates / girlfriend to get one or you will have noone to video call no game included on the phone games seem to be pay per play based but maybe 20 a play this is better than £5 a game GRIPES aside this is a truly amazing little piece of revolitionary technology with great potential ,all this functionality in smallish & trendy flip phone. Though its not perfect (what ever is) the more i use the phone the more impressed I am with it. Till the second generation of 3g arrives with megapixel camera , better video , smaller size, bigger screen 128mb memory etc etc it will do nicely. The futures bright , the future is 3g! GET ONE NOW!
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Reviewed by wyman100@yahoo.com from England on 18th Jun 2003
I have waited patiently now, for about 2 and a half years actually, for the 3g hutchinson network to come online. After so much anticipation i was fairly disappointed with the orginal tarrifs being offered, as the cheapest one started at £60 a month! For this reason alone i decided to dismiss the 3G phones entirely. However, three(c) have just released a new package for the e606 on the 3G nework which i am finding hard to refuse. £25 a month, 500 minutes of calls free a month to ANY nework. Additionally, for the first three months you receive £10 worth of video calls, and 25 free texts. There is also a Videotalk 750 option £35, 750mins, £20 video, 50 texts. This is currently the best contract i have found on any nework, and although it seems like a fairly desparate attempt by three(c) to win over customers, i'm certainly not complaining! Now moving on to the e606, it IS true that the battery life is fairly poor, due to the fact that it is very small, but you DO get two batterys with each phone you purchase. Admittedly it is also fairly heavy, but when you bring into account to 2 cameras, mp3 player, speaker phone, short digital video recorder, 32MB memory, near broadband ADSL speed modem, i'm sure you won't mind an extra 10grams in your pocket here and there (if you actually mange to put the thing down that is!). Another attractive up-and-coming feature is video conferencing, which will allow you have up to 6 of your friends live on screen and talk to them ALL at the same time! The phone itself, on either contract, costs £150. However, if you haggle a little and possibly get a couple of other friends to buy one at the same time i know you will all get a phone for £50 or less. The 2 NEC phones out on the market now, will be the ONLY 3G handsets available for the next 11 months due to a network agreement that has been made with hutchinson so you can rest assured that your best mate won't upstage you in a few months time with a newer model (though i can't see how you would want anything more frmo a phone) . Also, when the newer models DO arrive next year you get a free upgrade If you have any questions other than 'where do i sign?' please feel free to contact me at wyman100@yahoo.com
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