Why You Can Trust CNET Beyond E-Tech Duet D888 (Cellular Abroad) review: Beyond E-Tech Duet D888 (Cellular Abroad)
Beyond E-Tech Duet D888 (Cellular Abroad)
Beyond E-Tech Duet D888 (Cellular Abroad)
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The Duet D888 from Beyond E-Tech is appealing for just one reason. It's not a particularly handsome device, it feels a little cheap, and it doesn't offer any outstanding features. Call quality is decent, but even that doesn't make the D888 special. What makes the D888 notable is that it has two SIM card slots. That means you can make calls and send texts from two numbers on the same handset. For example, you could use Duet D888 as a work and personal phone while keeping your lives separate. Ever better, since the world phone is unlocked, you can use it with any carrier that you wish. It's a beautiful thing, really, and that alone makes an otherwise ordinary phone worth a look.
We know this is not the first dual-SIM phone ever, but it is the first one we've reviewed. And even better, it is the first-dual SIM card phone widely available in the United States. You can't get it with a U.S. carrier--they would never give up that kind of control--but you can get it from National Geographic and Cellular Abroad. The former merely provides branding and various content, while the latter hooks you up with cell phone service in other countries. The idea is you take the phone for international travel. For one of the slots, Cellular Abroad gives you a SIM card for a U.K. number, though you can buy a prepaid SIM card while abroad (like we did), while you can keep your U.S. SIM in the other slot for calls and texts from home.
Outside of a few usability quirks, the arrangement works well. We were glad to see National Geographic offer a compelling model (its last entry was anything but). As we mentioned, the Duet D888 does have its drawbacks, but if you're looking for this kind of capability in a cell phone it does the job. The Duet D888 is $199 with 30 minutes of talk time on the SIM card. You also get free incoming calls in 60 countries.
Design
The Duet D888 couldn't have a more classic cell phone design. A basic silver candy bar of average size (4.37 inches by 1.96 inches by 0.66 inch and weighs 3.95 ounces), the Duet D888 won't win any beauty contests. However, that's not a bad thing in itself, but we're more concerned about the phone's construction. The plastic skin feels flimsy and the buttons didn't have a comfortable feel. If you're going to be using this phone occasionally it's not a big deal, but full-time users may not be happy.
The 2.8-inch display (320x240 pixels) supports 65,000 colors. It's bright with sharp graphics and photos. The icon-based menu interface is easy to use on the surface, but some features involve unnecessary steps. For example, when opening a photo, you have to open the photo folder, select your desired shot and then click "open." Other features are similar--you eventually get what you want, but there are a few steps to get there. You can activate a "3D effect" for the menus, but we wouldn't recommend it. The effect is amateur and it slows down the menus by quite a bit.
Using two SIM cards takes just a bit of practice. When sending a text, you can choose whether to send it from SIM card 1 or SIM card 2. While that's great, you're also presented with the choice when replying to a message already in your in-box. That step just seems a bit unnecessary. Also, we'd prefer an option to have a unified messaging in-box. Two Call buttons let you make a call from either SIM in just one step. Incoming calls to either SIM will ring as normal, and you can switch between the two SIMs if you get simultaneous calls. If you wish, you can deactivate one of the SIM cards.
The navigation array is mostly well designed and includes a square toggle with a central OK button, two soft keys, and a shortcut for the FM radio. All the keys are tactile and relatively spacious even with a plastic feel. The toggle doubles as a shortcut to four features. The backlit keypad buttons give you enough room, as well, though they're a tad slippery. You'll also find the two Call buttons and a Talk/end control.
On the right spine are a camera control and the volume rocker. The rocker is smaller than we'd like, but you can find it when on a call. On the phone's bottom end are a USB port and the charger jack. Unfortunately, the former has a proprietary connection, but the latter uses the Nokia's small pin connection. The camera lens is on the phone's rear side protected by a sliding cover. On either side of the lens are small speakers.
The SIM card slots are located behind the battery. We noticed that the metal flaps that hold the SIM cards are rather loose. On a couple of occasions, the SIM cards jiggled free and we lost our connection. Next to the SIM cards slots is the microSD card slot, which really should be on the outside of the phone. On the upside, the D888 comes with an extra battery.
Features
The Duet D888 has a 300-contact phone book with room in each entry for three phone numbers, an e-mail address, a company name, and a birthday. You can store an additional 250 names on each SIM card and you can designate a dedicated emergency number for each card. The phone comes with 25 polyphonic ringtones or you can use your own music files. What's more, you can save callers to groups and pair them with a photo or video. For entering test the D888 supports English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese.
Essential features include a vibrate mode, a file manager, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, a to-do list, an alarm clock, a world clock, a calculator, and a currency converter. You'll also find Bluetooth, an e-book reader, video recoding, call recoding and a speakerphone. The Duet D888 has only 0.75MB of memory, but you get a 1GB microSD card in the box.
The Duet D888 offers a fair number of multimedia options. There's a 2-megapixel camera with video recording, an FM radio, a video player and a music player. Most offerings, particularly the music player, are very basic. You won't find many editing and user options, but there are a couple of unexpected finds. You can schedule a recording of the FM radio, and you even get a rudimentary form of mobile television. The quality was horrible, and we weren't sure what we were watching, but it is there if you want it. For both the radio and the mobile TV, the phone has an extendable antenna that has a surprisingly sturdy construction. We like that you don't have to use the included headset to get reception. You'll also find a USB cable in the box for easy transfer of music files.
National Geographic puts a bit of content on the phone, but not much. You'll find a selection of travel and animal-themed wallpaper and animal ringtones, but that's it. As we said with National Geographic's previous phones, we were hoping for a bit more. And while we're on the subject, a unit converter would be ideal on a phone for frequent travelers. Gaming options are limited, as well. You get just two titles: Mahjong and Magic Sushi.
As mentioned previously, the Duet D888 comes with a prepaid SIM card from Cellular Abroad. The card has a United Kingdom phone number, which is great if you're traveling in Western Europe, but not so great if you're anywhere else. Luckily, Cellular Abroad sells SIM card for other reasons--we used a prepaid Telstra card when testing the phone in Australia.
Calling rates will vary by country. To call the United States while abroad you'll pay a reasonable 90 cents per minute in most of Europe. Yet, in Canada and some Caribbean nations you'll pay $2.70 per minute to call home. How Canada is more expensive than Latvia is beyond us. On the other hand, you get free incoming calls in 60 counties and the rates will be generally less expensive than the international roaming rates for most U.S. carriers. And of course, you can always use a second SIM card beyond the one supplied to you.
Performance
We tested the Duet D888 in Australia using Telstra and Optus in Sydney, Brisbane, and the area around Cairns, Queensland. In the United States, we made calls in San Francisco using T-Mobile and AT&T. In both countries, call quality was relatively good--not perfect, but certainly suitable for occasional use. We had a strong signal in most environments, even is rural areas, though the signal sometimes faded in buildings depending on the carrier. Voices sounded natural and the volume was loud, yet we did notice a hint of background noise.
On the end, callers said we sounded fine overall. They could tell we were using a cell phone, but they could hear and understand us in most environments. Their only complaint was that they said the phone picked up wind noise easily. Speakerphone calls were just average--the volume loud but the audio was distorted at times.
The Duet D888 has a battery life of 4 hours talk time and 5.4 days standby time. The latter rating is rather short, but you do get that second battery. However, you must charge it in the phone. Our tests showed a talk time of 4 hours and 14 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the D888 has a digital SAR of 0.320 watts per kilogram.