| Mitsubishi M320 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 |
| Announced | 4q, 2002 |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 116 X 47 X 20 Mm |
| Weight | 95 G |
| Display |
| Type | Cstn, 4096 Colors |
| Size | 128 X 141 Pixels |
| | - Downloadable Wallpapers
- Customizable Softkeys |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (3 Channels) |
| Amount | 60 |
| Customization | Composer, Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 255 X 6 Fields |
| Call Records | |
| Card Slot | No |
| | - 20 Voice Dial Records
- 150 Sms Messages
- Sms Templates
- Detailed Call Logs |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 8 (4+1 Slots), 32 - 40 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | No |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms |
| Browser | Wap 1.2.1 Color Image Viewer (gif, Png, Jpg) |
| Clock | Yes |
| Alarm | Yes |
| Games | Yes |
| Colors | 3 - Quartz Gold ; Frozen Silver ;marine Blue |
| Camera | No |
| | - Business Card Exchange Via Irda
- Voice Dial
- Voice Memo
- T9
- Organizer
- Calculator
- Currency Converter
- Picture Album
- Customizable Front Panel
- Built-in Handsfree |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 900 Mah |
| Stand-by | Up To 350 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 4 H |
|
Mitsubishi - M320Mitsubishi M320
The Trium Eclipse from Mitsubishi Electric, reviewed by CNETAsia a year ago, was one of the best phones consumers in Singapore never saw. Back then, we praised the handset for its excellent implementation of color, strong feature set and intuitive interface. But given the depressed mobile market, some operators declined to stake their bets on a relatively unknown handphone brand. Now Mitsubishi is trying again. With the new M320, the Japanese company has dropped the awkward "Trium" moniker and gone back to the household name of "Mitsubishi". Will this signal a change in its fortunes?
Big Impression
At first glance, it certainly appears so. For a start, the 4,096-color M320 has made it to retail shelves here--a feat its predecessor could not accomplish.
At the same time, Mitsubishi is now reaping benefits through its new emphasis on handset design. Consumers will be pleased by the curvy silver frame of the M320. Although this 95g handset is on the chunky side, some of the bulk can be explained by the huge display which holds up to 10 lines of text.
The build quality of the phone is also good. As a bonus, most of the ports on the phone are protected from dust by rubber gaskets.
Man-Machine Interface
In general, the M320 retains the user-friendliness of previous Mitsubishi phones. The main menu interface is highly intuitive, complete with beautiful graphics, and can be navigated using the four-way directional pad alone.
However, the M320 contains one button more than the Eclipse. We feel that this additional key is largely redundant as the Eclipse did well enough on 20 buttons.
In the M320, there are many examples of Mitsubishi's customary attention to detail. For example, when you enter the messages menu, the display is divided into two vertical segments, just like your email client. Therefore you can preview the first line of your text messages while you scroll through the list.
Also, the selection of wallpapers on the M320 is quite brilliant. Unlike the backgrounds found on other phones, the ones on the M320 are active and intelligent. One of them shows a city skyline that reflects if it's day or night based on the phone's internal clock. So during the day, the skyscrapers are bathed in sunlight, which turn dark when it's night.
The M320's buttons, although lacking a little in key depth, are highly responsive. The phone also offers limited customization as the panel surrounding the keypad can be taken out and replaced, that is if Mitsubishi is bringing in changeable covers.
Features
Here, the M320 is quite similar to its predecessor. Its display color depth has been improved from the 8-bits (256 colors) of the Eclipse to a 12-bit version. However, it's still a passive display, so don't expect the colors to be as vibrant as the Samsung SGH-T100's.
The polyphonic ringtones, good a year ago, are now just average. Although the speakers are still loud and clear, the phone doesn't seem capable of playing percussive sounds.
There's also General Packet Radio Service, voice dial, a speakerphone as well as an infrared port. The Eclipse's two excellent games have kept their place here: Rayman Garden and Rayman Bowling. In the latter, which is one of our favorite mobile games, the user portrays the big-nose hero Rayman, and gets to hurl bowling balls through fire and falling stalactites.
In general, while the M320's feature set is nothing to crow about, it's adequate and comparable to other entry-level handsets such as the Panasonic GD68 and Motorola E360.
According to the manual enclosed in the standard package, the handset measures 0.868W/kg on Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) tests. Based on the recommendations of the Council of the European Union, this is well below the limit of 2.0W/kg.
Reception And Battery Life
Reception is average. We experienced no problems with this except in areas with poor network coverage. The voice quality, including the speakerphone mode, proved to be good in our real-world tests.
The M320's battery is rated at 4 hours of talktime and 350 hours on standby. The phone lasted us a credible four days on normal usage, but we found the cell life indicator erratic. The mobile has a tendency to suddenly drop by two bars from the full five for battery life. However, even at zero bars, it still managed to power on for a day more of normal usage.
Conclusion
Overall, the M320 is really a cosmetic upgrade of the Trium Eclipse. Not much has changed in terms of features. But the Eclipse was a good phone to begin with, and the M320 isn't that far off. And at S$199 with a two-year plan, this is simply one of the best budget color-screen phones on the market right now. |
| Common misspellings on this brand: mit6subishi , mitsubish8i , mitsiubishi , mitsuubishi , mirtsubishi , mitsubnishi , mitsubi9shi , mit5subishi , mitsujbishi |
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