So whats th everdict so far?

[Hayabusa]

I am seriously considering the lovely looking Sharp 902.
But what is the overall felling of Voda'a 3G service?
Can i use it in Japan, the guy in the shop wasnt at all sure.......

Cheers

[Adam]

I am pretty sure you can use it in Japan, i know Vodafone are wanting all their 2G users in Japan to switch to 3G, so i presume its the same frequency? I stand corrected though.

I have pay as you go vodafone 3G and i think its brilliant, i would recommend it. The coverage is shocking at the moment though :( but for some reason the networks don't think that Britain's 5th biggest city can manage without much 3G coverage :-( But when i do have coverage its brill.

Actually, slating its coverage isn't really fair. As the nesrest Vodafone mast from my house is like, miiiiles away, and my phone gets 3/4 bars signal (nearly full, but not completely, sometimes is a little unstable). But my nesrest 3 mast is at the bottom of my road, and i get 1/2 bars when i put the 3 SIM in my phone?!

I would go with Vodafone. I was on Vodafone a while back, switched to O2, then 3, as they were cheaper. But realised what was the point of my having a phone which doesn't work half of the time for me, with disconnected calls and poor clarity.

I called up to activate 3G on my pay as you go SIM, and the woman did seem a little confused, but then she realised and activated it. I got a call back about 5 minutes later from the woman, appologising for not saying it would take 48 hours! Wasn't that nice of her?

Wait for more reviews though! Don't just go on mine, Vodafone may not have been as efficient for others.

[Bobajobbob]

To be honest there are very few good reasons to paying any extra for 3G at the moment. If it is a no cost option then you probably won't be disapointed but anyone expecting the migration to be hugely exciting will be hugely disapointed. 3G really doesn't offer a hell of a lot over the video calling and given that it is unlikely that all your friends have 3g phones too the chances of using that often are very low.

Using the phone as a modem with a laptop is better than GPRS marginally but remember that you are limited to the bandwidth of the bluetooth connection so broadband it isn't.

What does that leave? Not a heck of a lot.

My experience with my v800 hasn't been a roaring success either. The first one went back because it couldn't connect to the GSM network at all which basically meant it hardly worked even in central London because the 3g coverage is pretty patchy. My new phone at least connects to GSM which is great but I find myself turning off 3g most of the time because in 3g mode it drops calls or doesn't make them at all.

The vodafone live content is pretty much worthless for the most part unless you are a teenager interested in ringtones. You also need to be very rich because pretty much everything costs extra. There is practically nothing of any interest that does not have an extra costs associated with it on top of the data charges. This model will never work in my opinion. You can of course access the real internet also after digging through the extensive VF branding but again there is very little of interest in the wap verse which cannot be accessed already with a 2.5g phone.

I'm sure things will improve but thus far I am hugely underwhelmed and this is from a techy early adopter.

[danknightuk]

I agree with bobajobbob. While it is great being a techy early adopter, playing with the 3g features takes up about a week and then you just use it for calls/text. I wouldn't pay extra for it. The only added feature I use is the premiership downloads when I am away for a weekend. And that is only because its free, I wouldn't pay for it.

[mrdalliard]

Hi there.

As someone who has used it in Japan, I can tell you it does work. You roam on Vodafone JP with no issues. (As long as you dial the wacky prefix before each number when making a call)

Ok, so on a day to day basis, it's a phone, but I really do like my V800. Sure, shame about the branding thing, but I do use the live stuff occasionally, normally when I'm trying to make a decision with my girlfriend about what films to go and see in the cinema. The 3g live bit has had free trailers, so it's can be quite nice to use it, really. They've also had some free music downloads, although to be honest, I'll stick with my iPod for music, thanks - it does a better job, and I don't want to hammer my poor mobile battery life that much.

Whilst I don't use the Live stuff lots, it's come in useful and I have to say that Vodafone's 3G offerings are way way above 3's. (And I speak from bitter experience there...). You have proper internet access, which is miles better and Yell's WAP portal has been a lifesaver at times.

Sure, they're not as cheap as 3, but you get what you pay for.

M.