Why I bought this phone: This was my very first mobile phone. At the time, I did not want to be tied into a contract and the pay as you go schemes available at the time did not tempt me. A company by the name of One2one (who then since became T-Mobile and now part of EE) offered “a phone in a box.” This offered the phone and a one year contract paid up front. This suited what I wanted at the time. Out of the handsets on offer, this was the only one that prevented accidental key presses by having a physical guard. Ericsson did capitalise on this in a subsequent handset family, the T10 & T20, which was fairly popular.

The screen was a one line display which was limiting. But, nevertheless, it did the job.

It did manage to send and receive e-mails which is quite surprising given how much e-mails have developed.

My first mistake with mobiles started with the handsfree kit. This was a few years before the development of Bluetooth so the handsfree kit was a single corded earphone with an in-line microphone. This was also before the development of standardised ports. There was an adaptor I had to put in place if I wanted use the handsfree kit. I thought it would save time if I left the adaptor in place and plug in the, relatively, long cord when necessary. What I didn’t realise though was that the phone only noticed the presence of the adaptor and not the earpiece. So when I tried to call someone I couldn’t hear them and they could not hear me as the internal microphone and speaker had been turned off. Luckily, I quickly learned what I did wrong and only had a couple of phone calls on my bill when no-one spoke to the other.

Usability: So-so. Having one line of text meant that you had to remember menu positions rather than see what’s next. The keys were small but well spaced. The one thing I am grateful for is that the aerial did not give me a permanent injury. The aerial itself is quite solid and therefore not likely to break but this phone was well suited to the front pocket of my trousers and if I sat down without making sure where the phone was then it was quite painful.

Negatives: This phone was one of the first of its generation. As such, it was quickly superseded with better technology.