The NEC 338 is the smallest, lightest 3G handset currently available in Europe. Available in black and silver, this stylish new clamshell handset weighs just 113g and measures 93.8 x 47.1 x 23.3mm. The phone includes an MP3/AAC player with stereo headset support.
By taking a no-frills approach, NEC has created a 3G phone for the masses. At first glance, you’d have a hard time guessing that it was a 3G phone, which is itself an achievement. The only clue is the rotateable camera built into the hinge. The main body is split into two with a silver fascia with black plastic towards the top. The sections are separated by a small horizontal light set in a strip that flashes when there’s an incoming call, and glows when charging. There’s no external display, a feature that’s clearly a casualty of the cost-cutting approach. This means that you have to open the phone if you want to see who’s calling.
To create such a small phone, NEC has had to be ruthless with the feature set. There’s no Bluetooth, which means that you can’t enjoy the freedom of a wireless headset. There is a wired headset included in the box, however, which is rather retro. There’s no memory card expansion slots. Luckily, there’s a decent 17MB of memory built-in so you can get a fair amount of content on there. There’s also a USB cable so you can synchronise with Outlook, and transfer the clips that you’ve downloaded and paid for off the phone to keep. However, it’s only available as a £10 optional accessory.
The e338 improves on NEC’s previous 3G flip-phones in a number of ways: an integrated handsfree speaker makes video calling so much easier and battery life has been improved enormously. Yet at the same time, the e338 still has the same poor quality camera as the e616, there’s no Bluetooth™ support, and why no memory card?
The e338 may be the lightest 3G phone yet, but functionally it misses out in a number of ways.
Summary of features:
- Display: 65536 colours, 220 x 176 pixels
- Integrated rotating digital camera (CIF resolution) plus video camera
- Video calling, video and audio streaming, downloading and messaging
- MP3 / AAC music player
- 40-voice polyphonic ringtones
- Voice recorder
- Java games
- Speakerphone
- Predictive T9 text input
- 3G data & GPRS (supports data upload of 64kbps and download of 384 kbps)
- Memory: 18 Mbytes
- Connectivity: USB
- Stereo/Mono headset support
- Address book (500 contacts)
- Calculator, Currency converter, Scheduler, Notepad, To-Do, Clock and alarm
- Silent vibrate alert
- Size: 94 x 47 x 23 mm
- Weight: 113g
- Talktime: 200 minutes
- Battery standby: 116 hours
