Motorola E398

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Motorola E398
Screen 176×220 pixels
65,000 color TFT LCD
Ringtone Polyphonic
Memory 5 MB
Networks GSM900/1800/1900 (Tri-band)
Connectivity USB v1.0, Bluetooth v1.1
Weight 3.88 oz (110 g)

The Motorola E398 is a candybar style camera phone. The most innovative features of this phone are its sound capabilities, featuring stereo surround sound. Other notable features include haptics, active matrix TFT LCD with an ATI graphics accelerator, and "fun" features such as synchronized color themes, multi-color lights and vibration. The digital camera can record still images in VGA size, 640 x 480 pixel, and is assisted by an LED light.

Additionally it features Java MIDP 2 J2ME, instant messaging, MMS, EMS, SMS, WAP & GPRS and it has email support by POP3, SMTP and IMAP4.

For additional storage, the E398 makes use of a TransFlash / microSD removable memory card, with storage capacities up to 1024 MB. The E398 can play MPEG4 video clips (of limited bitrates and resolutions) but recording is not supported by the shipping firmware.

The iTunes-enabled Motorola ROKR E1 is derived from the E398.

Contents

[edit] Sound capabilities

The key feature of the E398 is its sound capability, with 22 kHz stereo speakers that produce an unprecedented level of sound quality, with real 3D surround sound (introduced in the mobile world first by the E398). For additional fidelity, the use of earphones elevates the sound quality to near-CD levels. The supported formats include MP3 and others.

[edit] Specifications

  • Bands: GSM 900/1800/1900 (Tri-band)
  • Weight: 3.88 oz (110 g)
  • Dimensions: 4.25" x 1.81" x 0.81" (108 x 46 x 21 mm)
  • Talk time: Up to 7 hours.
  • Stand-by time: Up to 210 hours.
  • Battery: 3.6v, 860mAh

[edit] Features

  • Sound: Dual 16 mm / 22 kHz stereo speakers with surround sound, MIDI, MP3
  • Screen: 176 x 220 x 65535 colors haptic active matrix TFT LCD + ATI Multimedia Chip
  • Camera: VGA 640x480 (still images only) + "Flash" LED
  • Video: MPEG4 and 3GP (play only)
  • Connectivity: GPRS (4+1/3+2), USB 1.0, Bluetooth v1.1
  • Messaging: SMS chat, IM, MMS, EMS, SMS
  • E-mail: POP3, SMTP, IMAP4
  • Java: Java MIDP 2 J2ME
  • Storage: 32 MB internal memory (4-9 MB available for user) + 64 MB TransFlash included
  • Misc: Rhythm Lights

[edit] Modding

Several enthusiasts found a way to install modified E1 firmware onto E398, making it functionally identical to the iTunes-enabled phone (the lack of special 'iTunes' key and 65K screen instead of 262K being the only differences), making it one of the most moddable phone in the market currently.

Modding the E398 is much easier than most people would expect it to be. However, modding the phone does void the manufacturer's warranty and should only be attempted once all the instructions have been read. Unlike most other phones, it is impossible to render the E398 into a totally bricked state if flashing fails. Even if the entire flash chip has been erased, and the bootloader is not accessible, the phone will still show up to the computer and a well skilled user can recover it using RAMLDR.

By swapping the original E398 (R372-based) firmware with the ROKR E1 (R373-based) firmware, several additional features are enabled, such as AAC file format support and video recording. This however disables the "add playlist" function on the phone.

[edit] Criticism

Issues encountered when attempting to use certain firmware upgrades may leave the phone in an unusable state. In the case of a failed firmware flash or when flashing incompatible firmware, the phone may fail to power-on or may display only a white screen. In many cases, this is caused by users attempting to violate the security model of the phone through unauthorized modification.

Working with Motorola, MTV produced a modified E398. Criticisms of this device include problems with glitch-prone Java programs, problems with certain Transflash cards or SIM cards, lack of video capabilities, poor camera quality, and poor sound quality issues.

[edit] External links