What makes the NEC 343i a worthy contender is a difficult call, sure this latest NEC phone has a contemporary style comparable with phones from the big 2 and at a fraction of the price, but its the fact that the 343i is one of the first i-Mode phones that grabs the attention. Long after camera phones and walkman phones have been and gone 2005/06 will be remembers as the year that the internet finally went mobile.

Wait I hear you shouting that mobile web has been available for years and yes you are right. But now its finally available to all even those who prefer to pay their bills pre pay, iMode is a walled garden of internet available from O2, it uses cHTML and is not dissimilar to WAP. However iMode is specifically designed for mobile devices and enables sites to be displayed in the optimum resolution for the smaller screen sizes found on a smartphone.

The NEC 343i is one of the first i-Mode handsets to reach the UK and it allows full access to iMode through 2 keys immediately under the screen, these take you to iMode email of web access, at launch there are some 100 services available within the portal with many m ore scheduled to join. The commercial principle is a little backwards in that O2 expect you to pay for each service which can cost anywhere between x and £3, plus you'll have to pay for data at £3 for a Mb but this cost can be brought down if purchase as "bolt on's".

Then there's imail which is he second button, this allows you to receive and send email from an iMode email address which is normally in the format yourphonenumber@o2imal.co.uk, this works well and allows for email to behave like SMS with you getting an alert when you get a mail (push mail) a bit like a blackberry.

We managed to both surf inside iModes portal and outside without any major issues, the NEC's controls make navigation fairly simple for a phone without a Qwerty keypad. Email was a joy to use and is one of the few systems we've tried that even get close to the blackberry's push email.

The 343i does one thing amazingly well, its a cheap handset that oozes quality, the build quality is top notch and the design incorporates metallic feel parts just where they matter. The keypad feels very special a bit like a good quality keyboard for a PC, something you'll want to use again and again. The sides of the NEC are all kept clutter free, no ports, connectors, or other extras just a smooth sleek line which means it feels great to hold and looks cool too. The screen may only be a 640 x 480 resolution with 65k colours but it does look quite good and is more than ample for a bit of web browsing, the angle of acceptance is a bit tight and you do need to view head on.

The 343i measures 108 x 45 x 13mm and weighs 95 grams making it a very pocketable size, this combines with a fairly meaty battery that gives 1650 hours standby time, although this drops off fairly quickly with heavy use of iMode. There is no Bluetooth or other wifi connectivity to dent the battery which could be seen as a good thing, but perhaps forgetting Bluetooth could be a false economy as we can't remember the last time we got a phone minus Bluetooth for review. The onboard memory is also pretty skimpy with only 1.3mb free for the user to store files or emails downloaded via iMode.

The few days we spent with the NEC 343i proved to be trouble free and proved that the NEC makes for a good basic phone which would be easily forgotten if it were not for the iMode features. O2 have released this model as one of the first i-Mode units which means it seem a bit more special than it really is. We loved the style and feel of the 343 but we also liked the style and feel of the Motorola V600 which turned out to be a dog of a phone.

Perhaps the selling price of around £40, the reasonable standby time and iMode will mean that the rather attractive NEC 343i sells well in the short term but it seems unlikely that it will become a mobile phone classic.

Published - 28/12/2005

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