Two-in-one phones

GIZMO GALLERY

Get the liberty to use two connections on one handset.

Dual subscriber identity module (SIM) card mobile phones (or two-in-one cellphones) have made it to the market of late. But before you rush out to buy one, read on to discover what a dual SIM phone may hold for you.

Tata Teleservices along with Samsung recently launched a dual phone called Samsung Duo that supports a CDMA and a GSM SIM connection. Spice, too, has introduced its own rendition with the Spice D88 model that supports both GSM & CDMA connections and Dual D80, which supports two GSM connections.

Dual SIM phones can be used if you want both a personal and business number (i.e. two connections) on a single handset, thus saving money by combining two different payment plans or network carriers, or maybe using regularly local pre-paid cards on your business trips. Major mobile phones manufacturers, however, look disinterested in this particular phone category.

Spice D88 has decent looks. Although not exactly a top-class feature-rich phone, it is adequately sized and reasonable to use. On the other hand, Samsung Duo, being a touch-screen phone, seems a tad difficult to master.

Samsung Duo comes with two SIM slots and facilitates use of both CDMA and GSM numbers simultaneously, but the switch between the two connections requires rebooting the phone. This is the most cumbersome part of using Samsung's dual phone.

In contrast, Spice has made the switch between the two connections a breeze. The connections, both GSM and CDMA, are active at any time and the calls and text messages can be received from any of the numbers. D88 can be run in different operation modes. One can set GSM connection as the primary number while the CDMA connection becomes secondary or vice-versa.

By default, the phone recognises GSM as the primary mode but if you want to make a call from the CDMA connection, then type the number and press select "CDMA dial" option to connect.

The signal strength of each connection can be clearly seen on the menu screen. The phone menu lists all options like CDMA SMS, GSM SMS clearly without confusing the user.

In an event where there is an incoming call from another network during a call, D88 sounds an alert and displays the information about the incoming call on the screen.

For instance, if there is an incoming call from the GSM network while the user has dialled a CDMA call, then one can answer it only after ending the call from the CDMA network.

The only drawback of running the phone with CDMA as the primary mode is that it drains the battery pretty fast. The battery life is reduced to around 2 hours when run on CDMA as the primary mode, and 3.5 hours when on the GSM mode.

A few advantages that Spice can lay its claim on include two phonebooks and SMS inboxes that can be accessed simultaneously on Spice D88, unlike Samsung Duo. Besides, Spice Dual can work on any CDMA and GSM operator network, a feature that is absent from Samsung Duo, which works only on Tata's CDMA connection.

On its part, Tata Teleservices is offering to retain the last five digits of the user's previous mobile number when he switches to a new Tata mobile number. Moreover, Samsung Duo customers on Tata network are being offered a discount of Rs 200 for two months.

Spice has compromised on multimedia features but, then again, it is the first generation of dual SIM phones. A 1.3 megapixel camera does nothing to enhance the phone's features, with picture quality that has not much to boast about.

An MP3 player is included too, but it's better use your headsets to hear a decent sound. Samsung Duo is priced at Rs 11,999 and Spice D88 is available for Rs 9,849.