First Impressions With My New JCB Though Phone

Posted on May 22, 2008
Filed Under Gadgets, Reviews, Uncategorized |

I’ve had my eye on the JCB Though Phone for a while now, when it first came out I liked the idea but never really saw the need for it myself, much happier with carrying a Sony Ericsson Cyber Shot phone with me, so I would always have something on hand to take pictures with.

But when my K800i was broken following an “encounter” with a wave while been held in a waterproof pouch that turned out to not be so water proof, my thoughts on what to replace it with started drifting back to JCB phone once more, this time much more seriously. Since it reviewed well, and fits nicely with my quest to make all my equipment as rugged as possible ahead of my travels at the end of the year, I decided to pick one up.

Since I’d been getting increasingly frustrated using the MDA Vario III as a phone (Great PDA/GPS - Rubbish to make calls or text on) when my new JCB Though Phone turned up in the post I was particularly happy. And pausing only to pick up my camera, I got to opening my new delivery as soon as I got home from work.

The first thing that leapt out at me was that the charger was a standard USB connection, which at once started to win my approval. Better yet, when I dropped in my T-Mobile sim, and the battery it switched on with a full charge - picked up the sim right away (As it should since it was an unlocked mobile) and started working.

So first impressions were Ace.

Now I’ve had a couple of days to use it, I am still loving it. Most importantly it feels very sturdy, though I haven’t dropped it on purpose or anything yet, much to the dismay of my friends. I’m sure I’ll drop it on my own at some point, but don’t want to tempt fate.

I am slightly miffed about the predictive text, as it doesn’t seem to be able to add new words to the dictionary, though it’s very easy to switch between predictive and T9, it is a little frustrating at times. But everything else is perfect in my eyes.

There isn’t much more to say, it’s a simple phone that makes calls and sends text messages, and is particularly well built to survive better then any other mobile out there I’ve seen. If you’re a heavy text user it might not be the best choice, but then this is a phone you by because you need something to stand up to your environment, not because it’s cool. So if you think you need it, I’d be very happy to get one.

There are a few photos of my JCB Though Phone over on my flickr page

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