Chunky, cheap and cheerful (Motorola M3788)

Member Name: jacaranda

Product:	Motorola M3788
Date:	01/06/01 (256 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, doesn't fall apart, easy to use, good battery life, good sound quality

Disadvantages: Heavy and big, antenna,, no games or extras, not something you'd want on you all the time.

When I got my Motorola M3788 (what a catchy name :), I honestly thought it was the mutt's nuts. I hadn't owned a mobile before this one, and the feeling of having a pay-as-you-go, which was exclusively mine, was great. The phone wasn't bad to look at either. My parents went quite in for mobiles around the mid-90's onwards so we still have some of those serious brick-efforts like old flip handset motorolas that make you tense your muscles when you hold them. Thankfully, M3788 isn't overly heavy for an oldish phone, but I primarily bought it for price as I'm sure many others will. Mine was £40 with £5 free calls from Orange.

Ah, how times have changed :). Since I bought the phone, ooh, about a year ago, I've been bitten by the bug of eensy weensy leetle phones like the Nokia 8210, which I've decided I'm going to consider for a contract deal when I'm at Uni, because it'll cost less with the amount of calls I'd be making and it's less than half the weight. Yes, I did get teased at school. Yes, it was called a 'brick' :). Actually, it's more like a bun shape but I won't split hairs :). I can now intelligently comment on the phone's problems.

It's on the heavy side, but most cheap pay as you go handsets are. The design, though easy to use, isn't attractive. The blacks and greys used to be my cup of tea but I've since been attracted by chromes and silvers on newer phones. A good thing is the backlit screen, which is quite big and easy to read - useful where this phone is probably used the most, pulled over on a motorway in the dark. The antenna is annoying because it means that the phone is more difficult to fit into inside pockets. The flat front of the phone is okay, and I haven't had it dial up anyone on its own yet inside my pocket. Call quality is good and loud when there is a signal, but that's the network, not the phone's fault. It recharges quite quick
ly, and is quite robust - I've dropped it a few times (by mistake, honest! :) and it hasn't been damaged at all. The back panel where the battery is seems sturdy and hasn't been dislodged or scratched.

The M3788 will probably go on for ages. I saw a new version recently with a silver cover which looked awful :) but for a cheap sturdy phone for emergency use it does the trick. Just don't expect your mates to compliment it, but then again you haven't just spent £100+ on a piece of plastic.

Summary: