inexpensive dualSIM phone

[Motel75]

I got the S320 today and while my first impression was that it was cheap and plasticky, after I put it into use it seemed a lot more robust. The 4 SIMS do work, and the programming and response isn't bad at all, though the analog TV doesn't do me any good (though I can use it in Poland or Italy for a couple more years, I suppose). I'm still figuring out how to use it (there MUST be a keypad lock, but I can"t find it), but it doesn't seem bad at all for the 35 euro I paid. Now if only there were an 8-SIM phone, I think that would be really useful...

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by Motel75

Now if only there were an 8-SIM phone, I think that would be really useful...

oh my god, and i thought i carry a lot of SIM around

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by Motel75

The 4 SIMS do work, and the programming and response isn't bad at all

Are all four SIMs treated equallly? [Not 2 can do more and 2 less so.]

Originally Posted by Motel75

I'm still figuring out how to use it (there MUST be a keypad lock, but I can"t find it)

Well. Don't accidently lock it and then not know how to unlock it!

[Motel75]

After 10 days, I have to say I like my S320. The battery is a big 1500 mAh and lasts about 4-5 days, better than expected (but quite a bit less if you take it into the basement where all four SIMs are constantly searching for their networks - but that's no surprise) and the programming is pretty solid, with no rough edges or really poor translations. As mentioned above, the S320 seems robust enough, and having had a chance to explore its features, it's mostly self-explanatory. All four SIMs are treated equally. The browser works fine, though you have to feed it the settings. If only it had a better camera than the toy VGA one it has - they could have put in a 1.3 MP or higher for just a few cents more. And the memory card slot is for Mini SD, rather than the more common Micro SD (until I get an adapter I can't test the music player, image browser, etc.). It gets extra points for having a standard mini-USB port, PLUS a Nokia charging port PLUS a standard headphone jack. The FM radio works well, and with the loudspeaker; the built-in antenna means it can be used without plugging in a headphone cable, as on most other phones with radios. OTOH, the extendable antenna does not seem to improve the reception of the phone itself, but is only used with the mostly-useless analog TV receiver (I'm sure it's a fine receiver, but analog TV has been switched off in much of the world). I will have to test this more later on - my Siemens s4 had an extendable antenna many years ago, and that was useful when reception was marginal. There are some quirks, such as you can't use the plus key to enter a plus in numerical mode. Also, I can't find a manufacturer website for upgrades, drivers, etc. And I'll have to wait till August to test reception in 850/1900 MHz. But on the whole, the phone is a delight, and now I can have four SIMs in one phone. Since three of these numbers are listed on my business card (in the age of the Internet, I get customers from several places, but it's surprising how many people refuse to place an international call) this is very helpful, though I'm still relying on my Nokia for my main number.

[Motel75]

Edit to the above: The S320 does indeed use standard Micro SD cards. (The cage that holds it looks larger on first inspection.) My mistake.

[Motel75]

So far, the S320 has performed pretty well - the battery lasts about 4-5 days unless you take the phone somewhere where there's no reception, and then the network search drains it very quickly. The music player works well enough, but the sampling noises and GSM interference are annoyingly audible, so this would be for casual use only. The video player is finicky about playing files, and the picture viewer has a size limit, so you probably can't use it to look at the pictures straight from your digital camera without editing. However, no one buys the S320 for its media playback capability, and as a basic four-SIM phone, it's just fine.

FWIW, it's also useful as a tool to compare the coverage of different networks - I've had one SIM from each of the major networks in Germany in it, and it provides a real-time display of how crappy E-Plus is compared to O2, which is markedly worse than Telekom, which isn't quite as good as Vodafone; and it's dismaying to see how not a single German network bothers to have coverage for any except the highest-capacity railway mainlines, so I've traveled from Rügen in the northeast to Tübingen in the southwest with coverage less than half the time.

I've ordered an iPro FX3 pro as well, so I'll soon be able to compare the two four-SIM phones on the market. One suspicion is that its battery life will not be as good as that of the S320 - its battery appears to be 850 MAh compared to the 1500 of the S320. But we shall see.

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by Motel75

FWIW, it's also useful as a tool to compare the coverage of different networks - I've had one SIM from each of the major networks in Germany in it, and it provides a real-time display of how crappy E-Plus is compared to O2, which is markedly worse than Telekom, which isn't quite as good as Vodafone; and it's dismaying to see how not a single German network bothers to have coverage for any except the highest-capacity railway mainlines, so I've traveled from Rügen in the northeast to Tübingen in the southwest with coverage less than half the time.

to get a compareable result you should swap the cards around as well. These phones usually have different antennas (and of course antenna positions) inside the phone that can give you significantly different results. E.g. in my C5212 from Samsung one antenna is on the top and the other on the bottom of the casing. If you hold the phone you automatically shield the lower antenna with your hand...

Chris

[Motel75]

I did swap the SIMs around - it made no obvious difference, though I'll try this again a bit more scientifically later.

I now have an FX3 pro as well. The first impression is of a slightly larger and much heavier Nokia 2700 Classic or similar. It has a very loud speaker, and the first thing I did was figure out how to turn off all the annoying error tones and reduce the volume for everything else.

The menus are a little slow to respond and sometimes scrolling behavior is odd (not possible to scroll down, or items skipped). Like the S320, it has an analog TV (though with smaller picture, as the screen is in portrait mode), a workable FM radio, an extendable antenna, and a music/video player. However, it lacks a standard headphone jack, which makes these features pretty useless, except for the radio, which is OK through the speaker. It charges via a mini-USB port, which is good (and has a Nokia charger port as well, just like the S320), but the website (iprochina.com) does not offer any firmware updates or downloads. (I'm surprised Apple hasn't come after them yet for their name and Vodafone for their logo.)

The FX3 pro comes in a nice-looking box, but the only documentation is a two-sided piece of paper in English that does not contain any illustrations.

As to the function, it seems to be fine - I'll be testing this over the next few days. On startup the phone gives you the option to disable some SIMS (the S320 does not). However, when choosing "Network Settings" in the configuration menu it only lists SIM1 and SIM2. It also lists the contents of the SIMs' address books in a single list, one after the other - not as good as the S320, which lists them separately.

So far, I like both phones - they are pretty basic as far as phone functions go, but they seem to work OK. At the moment, I'm liking the S320's programming a little better, although I have to get used to the FX3 pro before I can really say anything about this.

More later!

[TH3ORY]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

ekit V4D active dual SIM quad-band
The above phone is light weight and simple. If you want a new, simple dualSIM phone, you might consider this. $39

Also, it takes very standard Nokia batteries: BL-5C

dude thats one ugly looking phone PERIOD!