Panasonic D2101V

reviewed: March 22, 2002, last updated: March 24, 2002

Lunch Date: March 1, 2002 Price: 45,000 yen ($305) Weight: 160g Size: 150 x 55 x 28mm (H x W x D) Talk time: 60min (voice), 50min (video) Standby time: 55 hours

The D2101V is the second videophone to be release by Panasonic for DoCoMo's FOMA 3G service. This is a bizarre looking flip-top model, you'll either love or hate it.

On the first glance from a long distance, this brand new unconventional design 3G phone may look cute and futuristic, but once you get up close to it, you will notice the new phone is on the rather clumsy side than the other three 3G phones.

At a length of 150mm by 55mm width by 28mm thickness and weighing in at 160g, this is a heavy weight division phone and we are extremely disappointed by it. Almost half a year since the launch of the world's first 3G service, we still have not seen a suitable small size 3G phone on the market that can fix into our pockets with a decent grace.

The battery life is not that impressive at only 55 hours stand-by and 60 minutes talk-time and with the battery-draining video or high-speed data services, it only offers 50 minutes of use. This is the same as the P2101V released 6 months ago. Unless the battery life is extended to as long as current iMode handsets, we do not expect 3G to really take off.

The good news is that, this is a technologically superior phone. The D2101V is the first handset capable of offering both as a videophone and a video clip player.

It has two built-in mini cameras, one for the videophone mounted on the face of the unit and the other on top of the corner of the phone for taking video/photos with 3x optical zoom. You can also use the built-in cameras to record and forward your own short clips by email. The picture quality is 700,000 pixels - not that great and don't expect good quality stills. This should be seen as a bonus addition rather than a fully-fledged feature. It is fine for illustrative purposes and email to friends.

Two built-in cameras.	The front facer camera for videophone.	A second camera mounted on top of the phone for video/photoes

The phone take full advantage of the video clipping service known as iMotion, launched in December 2001 with the big bright LCD screen capable of displaying up to 262,144 colours at 132 by 162 pixels. Watching video clips is like watching it on a television. The organic EL 2.2 inch screen just looks sharper, crisper and brighter than the other three 3G handsets, it really is very impressive. We just cannot wait for DoCoMo to release the M-Stage Visual and M-Stage Music in late April that should take full advantages of these two services.

Another great feature is the ability to send and receive emails of up to 10,000 characters including with attached still pictures (GIF, JPEG), music (MIDI), etc. It has all the basic functions such as scheduler, personal ring tones and built-in games that are not very playable.

Thanks to the use of soft key buttons, the interface is easy to navigate and the menus are pleasing to look at. The quality of the voice call is equivalent to the previous three 3G phones which means once connected, voice quality varies from great to OK.

Rating:
The Good:	a technologically impressive phone
The Bad:	this is monster phone; cannot fix into pockets comfortably
Overall:	An improvement on technology features, just let down by its size.

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