I'm going to buy another one. (Ericsson SH888)

Member Name: aadenny

Product:	Ericsson SH888
Date:	26/03/02 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: largish, heavyish! , easy to read screen, good sized keypad

Disadvantages: battery life not great, no wap or predictive texting

I am looking to replace my SH-888, as the microphone is now broken (not surprising, really - I left it out in the rain overnight). And I'm looking to buy another one, hopefully identical.

In the last year I've had four other phones, all more advanced or up-to-date in various ways, and taken each one back within the cool-off period. Hello/goodbye to a Nokia 3310, a Sony J5, a Motorola 280 and a Sendo 200. All have had severe drawbacks.

Here's why I still approve of my SH-888. It's not because I got used to it, but I liked it from the off. It feels right, it feels larger, it feels heavier, it's tougher, the keys are usable to my stubby fingers, the text is large, clear and legible.

It's got a 1st generation (9.6k) modem, which works ok, and infra-red (which I could never get to work), but it worked fine with the supplied cable. Everything was supplied to sync the address book with MS Outlook. And this alone was more than the Sony J5 and Motorola 280 ever did. With them, you had to buy the extra software -- which in the Sony's case was an eye-watering £120, for software alone, no hardware!

It's heavier. Why is this a good thing? Because it's less likely to get lost, it 'holds' more easily, and it balances easily on the shoulder when I'm using both hands. I also find these smaller, lighter phones get lost more easily in my pocket than the 888.

The 888 is no fatter than many more recent phones. The real problem with compactness is not the height or the width, but the thickness. It's like your wallet - you don't begrudge the size, but you want it to be as thin as possible. This one could be better, but there are many current phones that are worse.

The battery life is probably rather less than most modern phones, but I'm not absolutely sure.

It has a 'weight' which allows me to hold it more easily, and balance it on my
shoulder.

Reception and speech clarity has always been pretty good. I bought an external aerial, but have never had cause to use it. My one was on Vodafone, but it's not 'locked', and I was able recently to buy a Virgin SIM and have it work straight off.

The 888 has a large keypad. For my fingers (and I'm not the only one) it's easy to feel and hit the right buttons, something that very few other phones can offer now. Obviously many people will disagree with me, but the point is that I feel there are still many people like me, and this is one of the few phones that answers our needs.

The earpiece is interesting. It's much less fussy about the position against which you hold it to your ear, compared with the other phones I've used recently. This might be due to the 'recess' near the earpiece, spreading the sound. Most other phones which have just one 'sound hole' are very fussy in this respect.

The 888 doesn't have wap. It doesn't have GPRS. It doesn't have predictive text - texting is quite laborious. It doesn't have graphics. It doesn't have vibration alert. It doesn't have skins. It doesn't have downloadable ringing (although it does have programmable ringing tones, but my attempt at 'Land of Hope and Glory' sounds amusing!)

But the 888 does have a feel in the hands, and a 'balance' like no other phone I've used. I don't know why people call it a 'brick'. I think it's shaped like a phone!

Last year, at a very good discount, I also bought a spare battery, a desktop charger and an FM Radio-cum-handsfree kit - presumably all discounted because the phone was 'obsolete'.

After traipsing around the phone shops for a year, and still not finding a decent modern phone, I'm going to buy another Ericsson SH888 second hand if I can find one. Or pay up to £100 to get this one
repaired. That's how much I like it.

Summary: