Numerous rumors about the upcoming release Ericsson R380s began to appear somewhere in the middle of 1999. Release device was originally scheduled for late 1999 - early 2000, but life has made adjustments to the plans of Ericsson - R380s and saw the light only in the second half of 2000.
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So, to me welcome Ericsson R380s. Frankly, opening the box, I was greatly surprised by the abundance of accessories included in the package. The light of day were extracted: R380 to the battery, power supply with adapters for European and British outlets, cable for connection to a desktop PC, docking station (!), Set handsfree (!), Three extra stylus (!) And CD-ROM Software to synchronize with your desktop PC and backup. In my opinion, it's all done to a certain extent compensate for the extremely high cost of the device. I liked the approach taken in the charger: adapter for a particular type of outlet when connecting becomes like a part of the case the power supply. Very compact and elegant solution. However, it has long been used in Palm Travel Kit. But the situation with a pen is just the opposite - it is located in the rear battery case (!) And extract it from there sometimes is not so easy - notches on the stylus is not very deep. Need a good strong nails and fingers. Handsfree kit, they are a headset with a microphone and a pin for attaching to clothing. Such a system is useful, for example, in the car - no need to keep the phone in his hand. On the reverse side of the microphone is a button to answer incoming calls. Styluses be considered separately, I will not - here and so everything is clear:). Although it should be noted that Ericsson first included in the standard kit an extra stylus. Given the relatively small size, lose the stylus to vanity, not so difficult. R380 is equipped with a special cable for data exchange with PC. In essence it is no different from the cable, say, Psion Series 5, but it uses a standard accessory for most Ericsson "brand" connector, usability is somewhat questionable. Anyway, if you frequently connect to the R380 desktop PC user explicitly remember his "good" by the creators of such a connector. He has, however, has one advantage - accidentally, by itself, the cable is not exactly jump out. If it is not supposed to ever carry the posting with you - always rescue the dock. It connects to the cable sharing with a PC, then - power supply unit (yes, that's a "Christmas tree") - and now ready quite a convenient solution for connecting to a desktop PC. When you connect the R380 to the dock, it automatically connects with your desktop PC, and simultaneously starts recharging the battery. True, it is not possible to open the lid of the keyboard. Speaking of the battery. In the R380 uses a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, do not suffer from memory effect, such as nickel metal hydride (NiMH) or nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries used in previous generations of phones. Therefore, these batteries can be recharged at any time, without fear that it will affect their capacity.
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Appearance R380 pleases the eye. In general, the device looks very elegant, but not too small in size. "Corporate" design Ericsson: dark blue front panel, silver case back, "thick" antenna (very similar to the antenna T28) - this all looks very stylish and modern. It seems, Ericsson has finally paid attention to the angular design of their phones (here comes to mind an analogy with the old models of Volvo) and decided to change something. Great (a rarity for a phone, Ericsson) and a high-contrast screen, comfortable keyboard make working with your phone to be extremely comfortable. The numeric keys are large and comfortable. Finally realized the normal menu, for which there are special arrows.Side of the device is volume control, voice recorder button, which gives the opportunity to record a short audio message. Volume button is also used for voice dialing - for that it must move the upper hand, without pressing. Same side, just above the voice recorder is an infrared port that is used for data exchange between R380 and, say, PDAs or other mobile phones. Home "highlight" R380 is hinged "flip" with a keyboard. At the same time opening up the remaining 2 / 3 screen R380 and the machine enters a kind of "advanced mode". Pivoted cap becomes zamenta curious thing: the phone keypad is essentially virutalnaya - simply click on the button located beneath the touchscreen. It is curious how reliable such a system, because of the durability of the touch screen depends on how quickly the button natrut it "well." In fact, it's going to happen sooner or later, no doubt. While it may be the first to wear out the buttons? It will be much the better, because, apparently, to replace them easily not be. Controlled by R380 operating system EPOC32 Release 6 of the company Symbian, a shareholder of which is Ericsson. However, Ericsson has made significant adjustments to the standard functionality of the system. Undergone major changes in the user interface designed specifically for such a small screen and in the absence of the keyboard. Some features of the system altogether were "left out" unit. For example, on the R380 can not install additional applications. However, for a device with 1.5 MB of memory is hardly relevant.
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On the companion CD-ROM device contains special software to exchange data with your desktop PC - R380 Communications Suite. There is also a multimedia presentation depicting the main features of the device. In addition, the CD-ROM supplied Lotus Organizer 5.0 - apparently, this is for those who, for whatever reason has not got any "organizational" software. After installing the software in the system tray icon appears Ericsson R380 monitor (similar to the icon PsiWin, only prettier) and on the desktop - the icon R380 Synchronization. Access to the functions of backup / restore, and synchronization is provided either through a popup menu or via the menu Start (Start). When you first start the program offers basic settings synchronization, in particular, how the application should be synchronized (Lotus Organizer, Microsoft Outlook, etc.) and what data (contacts, diary, email, notepad), it should be shared. In this case, for example, contacts can be synchronized with one application, e-mail - with others, and daily - with the third. Little surprise fans of localization - complete already have a "crack." It is fair to say that it is somewhat crooked - it seems that Russia is not yet a priority or anything like an important area for Ericsson. It is evident that he created on the principle of "anything", so in abundance annoying "lyapami" and "ochepyatkami. Unfortunately, the data do not Russified. In fact the device has two modes of operation, significantly different from each other in terms of functionality: the lid is closed "and" the lid is open. " In this part of the functions is as if interchangeable - for example, you can start to perform some action (say, creating a new message SMS) mode with the lid closed, and continue by opening the lid. With the lid closed R380 allows you to enjoy the basic features available to the majority owners of cellular telephones of standard GSM - make and answer calls, view SMS-messages and e-mail, change the parameters of the machine. Pivoted cover standard "telephone" image disappears and the user's gaze appears "computerized" main menu. It consists of several sections (large icons are displayed on top screen): - "Phone". Allows you to make / receive calls, browse the list of incoming / outgoing calls and adjust settings.
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- "Contact Us". Standard features of the personal contacts database - adding / editing / deleting records on the exchange infrared port, search. - "Messages." Working with e-mail, faxes, SMS-messaging. As in "large" e-mail programs, there are the Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Sent. Ability to sort, search and filter messages by message type.
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- Calendar. Full-featured organizer. Appointments, tasks, events, watching for a month / week / year, sound alerts, alarm clocks - in short, nothing unusual. Compared with, say, in Agenda Psion Series 5mx, use this diary is not so convenient, and features a smaller one. - "WAP". WAP-browser for browsing the Internet. Ability to create bookmarks, log visited pages. - "More". Notepad for text notes, alarm clock, calculator, games such as "Reversi", and, for some reason, system settings - an analogue of the Control Panel. Entering information in R380 by a screen, and there are 2 options: a virtual keyboard and character recognition. My joy at having built-in "raspoznavalki" quickly faded, as it only recognizes the letters and prosecutors from her a bit. Virtual keyboard (or rather, its Russian part) do not shine perfection - for example, confused case letter "u". Language switching, too, carried a very non-obvious way - you must click on the icon at the side of the screen brings up a menu, and select out the language, this involves more and scroll through the menu, since there is no cascade, and items can be many. It's not very convenient, especially for frequent switching. In general, it appears that the interface is not well thought out. Appearance is very similar to PalmOS: the same simple icons and other graphical elements. Standard in most applications is the right kind of toolbar, which contains a set of keys: a return to the main screen menu, a list of application windows, the button "OK" button, cancel button, return to the previous screen, etc. (Of course, that for each application a set of buttons are different). In principle, the interface is pretty straightforward. Incidentally, another similarity with the PalmOS - at the moment can be active only one application, that is not multitasking as a class. Perhaps it's for the better, since it does not arise any confusion, the browser will not open anything extra in the background, etc. A little more ease of use. The device is not very good in the hand - an elongated form factor that do not contribute. Try to hold gorizonalno mobile phone - and you'll understand. In addition to housing does not have any special projections for the convenience of holding in his hand, and with the keyboard folded length of the device becomes even more so on the go they can easily get caught on something and dropping it with all the ensuing consequences. Yes, face an obvious lack of design. The strength of the flip also causes me some concern. With such flimsy construction may be at a certain characteristic to all of us inadvertently (well, not all!. - Ed.) And break off. However, this applies to most phones with hinged lid. Well, to summarize. Ericsson R380s - the device is certainly interesting, although I must confess, I personally was expecting more from him. Small amount of memory, inability to install additional applications, limited functionality, lack of "normal" Web-browser - all of this, no doubt, does this device meant to replace a bunch PDA + cell phone. However, this device is likely to appeal to those who need only a simple but powerful organizer and a good mobile phone. It allows you to successfully solve the most mundane tasks to keep abreast of the latest news, offers convenience while working with email and SMS "on the fly."But aggressive pricing policies pursued in recent Ericsson, lets hope that the price of the device will be available to a wide range of users. The authors, translation: