Ericsson Reduces Size, Not Features
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday June 10, 1996
ERICSSON'S new GH388 digital cellular phone is even smaller and has more features than the GH337 it replaces.
Evolutionary rather than revolutionary, it is thinner and lighter and also runs for longer between battery recharges than the previous model. But it's still not up to the standard set by Nokia's low-end 1610.
One of the improvements in the GH388 is a revised display. The characters have been beefed up in size, and contrast has improved considerably. The display maintains the same dimensions but its readability has improved enormously. I still think the phone needs a fourth line of characters. Nortel's N911 demonstrates that a phone of this height can still have a superb four-line display.
"Phones are small and grey" - or so goes a quote attributed to Lars Ramqvist, Ericsson's CEO. The GH388 is no exception, but the grey flip can sport a picture.
The GH388 has one of the simplest keyboard layouts you're likely to see. There are the usual 12 keys, and only five additional keys - even fewer than the Telstra Touch Phone 200. The keys feel firm, with a slight positive action about halfway through the travel. There's one problem though: If you have long fingernails you tend to push a button on one edge. The design of the 388 allows the keys to go into their recess at an angle and fail to make contact.
When it comes to performance, the GH388 is one of the best there is. It's beaten by only a couple of phones with full-length antennas and there are plenty of others that won't ring where this little Ericsson does.
All the Australian digital networks (Optus, Telstra and Vodafone) have given the GH388 the green light for compatibility with their networks. This is becoming the global stamp of approval, with other countries looking to Australia for a lead. Other companies' product marketing managers are already saying that a rejection in Australia will cost them business in other markets.
The GH388 is also a calculator. Its accompanying brochure says the phone can perform addition, subtraction and division. I can report that it performs multiplication, too. It also includes a clock (date as well as time) and there's an alarm function.
The manual describes an advanced function called Area Information (AI). Area Information is transmitted by the network base stations. At the moment, only Vodafone uses the service to tell subscribers what network cell they are connected to. The Ericsson can display these messages as they are received by the phone.
The GH388 is data and fax ready - with the optional extra DC12 data card. It arrived packaged with two batteries and desktop charger. The batteries carry an identical part number to the earlier GH337.
I recently had a Nokia 1610 nicked by my four-year-old. I found it two days later in his bed - still going. And it still had a day's usage left in the battery.
The Ericsson GH388 is a full-function top-of-the-line phone. If it went for three or four days on the standard battery using a newer 3V technology like Nokia's, it would be in the race for phone of the year, but with this battery it won't even make 24 hours with light usage.
© 1996 Sydney Morning Herald
