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| Mitsubishi Trium Mars |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 |
| Announced | 2000 |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 120 X 50 X 28 Mm |
| Weight | 120 G |
| Display |
| Type | Monochrome Graphic |
| Size | 5 X 13 To 25 Chars |
| | - Picture Menu
- Softkey |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Monophonic |
| Amount | 20 |
| Customization | No |
| Vibration | Yes |
| | - Ascending Ring Tone |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 100 |
| Call Records | 10 Dialed, 10 Received, 10 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | No |
| | - Detailed Call Duration Reports |
| Data |
| Gprs | No |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | No |
| Infrared Port | No |
| Usb | |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms |
| Browser | Wap 1.1 |
| Clock | Yes |
| Alarm | Yes |
| Games | Yes |
| Colors | 3 |
| Languages | 8 |
| Camera | No |
| | - T9
- Scratchpad
- Currency Converter
- Built-in Handsfree |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Nimh 800 Mah |
| Stand-by | 130 H |
| Talk Time | 3 H |
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Mitsubishi - Trium MarsMitsubishi Trium Mars
We've ranted about phones with stellar looks but possessing little substance. With the Trium Mars, this provoked a mixed bag. Depending on how you view it, the Trium Mars, which marks Mitsubishi Electric's attempt to re-enter the Singapore GSM market since 1995, can either be refreshing with its egg-shaped silhouette. Or it can be a little too full figured for one's taste. Whatever its style, this is still a well-featured phone with excellent value.
At First Glance
Mitsubishi Electric's Trium phones have never looked conventional. But while the Neptune, Mondo and Sirius models will attract more than a passing glance, close up, the Trium Mars is a more drab-looking cousin. With its dull gray-blue exterior, chunky 115g frame and conventional greenish backlight, this handset isn't exactly a head-turner.
Looking Deeper
If you can get past the initial impression, the Trium Mars holds a decent set of features beneath that chassis--T9 predictive text input, vibration alert, customizable soft keys, dualband, even a WAP browser--which are sufficient to make the Trium Mars a competent phone for its price.
Mitsubishi tries to put in other neat touches as well. The built-in handsfree feature is a good try. Unfortunately, the loudspeaker was too weak and the microphone not sensitive enough when we tested out the speaker feature. In a car, it's unlikely that one will use the handsfree feature.
Other attempts do better. In addition to the usual vibrate and ring alerts, there is a "vibrate then ring" option. This setting is great to have during meetings or lectures, where the phone’s vibrator will jolt you into answering it before it launches into a full-fledged ringtone.
The Mars has a useful alarm function which works when the phone is off, even without a SIM card. So when the battery is running low, you can switch the handset off for the night; it'll turn on automatically and sound the alarm once it's time to. We found the alarm sufficient loud enough to alert, yet not too shrill on the ears.
Trium has wisely stuck to multilevel puzzle games for the Mars. A potential pitfall of such games for mobile phones is the lengthy period needed to clear all the levels, and being unable to save the last level. However, the Trium Mars circumvents this problem by applying an old console gaming trick--level codes. After every few levels, you are given a five-digit code that you can use to skip the completed levels the next time you play.
Other features include a 100-entry phonebook, an six-line LCD, and a simple sketchpad function to write text notes in place of an organizer.
Personalizing The Mars
The Trium Mars contains customizable soft keys, a useful feature normally found in pricier phones. With this, you can create shortcuts to oft-used functions such as SMS and games.
There are also three themes that you can employ to customize the graphics on the phone. The Trium Mars' animations are interesting enough. One example shows a cheery flower that occasionally waves a leaf at you.
If you are not content with just changing the display, you can also personalize the exterior of the phone by changing the faceplate. Optional color schemes include "Hot red", "Sugar pink" and "Sunny yellow".
As for ringtones, users have a choice of 20 preset tones but no ringtone composer.
A Couple Of Shortcomings
Unlike the hard-plastic buttons of most phones today, the Trium Mars' buttons feel rubbery and bouncy, and we ended up at times pressing in the wrong direction on the four-way navigation key. The pair of two-way navigation keys were even worse because of their small sizes.
The battery's a mixed bag since it's nickel-metal hydride and has a memory effect. The manufacturer claims a standby time of up to 130 hours and talktime of 3 hours, although we managed to get three days out of the phone on normal usage. Call quality was acceptable and we had no problems with reception.
The Verdict
Despite some shortcomings, the Mars Trium isn't a bad phone, particularly if you're looking for an affordable mobile (S$88 with a two-year plan). We just hope Mitsubishi improves the keypad in its future models. |
| Common misspellings on this brand: mitsubidshi , m9tsubishi , mitsunishi , mittsubishi , mitsibishi , mitsubshi , mitsuvishi , muitsubishi , miteubishi |
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