The Lobster 320 is a basic phone which surprisingly has an integrated camera. It is said to be good for its price but could improve a lot especially on its basic features such as texting and calling. For people who are looking for low-priced phones, then this is what you need. The Lobster 320 is a clamshell mobile that was made especially for Virgin Mobile. It comes in black and its rubberized finish makes is easy to hold. Its dimensions are 82x41x15mm and it weigh around 70 grams, so it is small and light, it fits any pocket.
Despite its small size, the Lobster 320 has a well-spaced and large keypad which you can use when the phone is flicked open. Its directional pad also serve as shortcut functions so now, you no longer have to go through several menus to write your messages or access your messages and calendar. Its menu is user-friendly and is heavily influenced by Nokia.
Perhaps the most attractive (and some people say the only) feature that the Lobster 320 boasts of is its VGa camera. Some reviews on the internet claim that the camera is 3 MP but this is untrue as some people who have purchased the phone from Virgin mobile attest to the poor image quality. Of course for a phone worth £25 when it was first released a couple of years ago, its limited features are but expected. Some people claim that for a phone with a camera, the Lobster 320 is a great deal, but to more people who have used this phone, a lot of negative reviews have already been published.
The Lobster 320 has texting and calling capability, but several users complain of difficulty in sending SMS because the phone has no T9 capability. It also has MMS features and its polyphonic ringtones are customizable. Its main display can show 65K colors with a resolution of 128x128 pixels and the main screen’s dimensions are 26x28mm which is pretty small especially for people with poor eyesight. It has vibrating alert, a calendar and alarm clock for easy organizing. Its phonebook can store up to 500 names despite its 2MB limited internal memory. The good thing about the Lobster 320 is that it comes with a USB cable so transfer and synchronizing of data is easier. Unfortunately, the phone doesn’t have its own drivers so you will still need to look for a pc suite compatible with the phone.
Despite the cool and sleek design, the phone is lacking in everything. Its battery life is below the market’s average at 2.5 hours of talk time so you need to make sure that you need to have your charger handy at all times. This ultimately means that if you travel a lot or your business needs you to be outdoors for certain amount of times, then this is definitely not the phone you should bring. Lobster 320 doesn’t have GPRS or 3G. It also lacks speakerphone, voice dialing and voice recording. It has no music playback, nor does it have a radio which is common in low-end phones. The phone is also incompatible with java and it doesn’t have an email client. For a phone that has ian integrated camera, its memory just isn’t enough.
In general, the Lobster 320 is a basic phone, and with its affordable price tag, it is surely a great find. For people who are in need of a light, very functional phone and stylish phone without spending a few thousands, then this is definitely the phone you need. Unfortunately, this phone is not so great for travelling as it is only dual band so it will not work in the US. Also, the battery proves to be much of a hassle.
Aside from these disadvantages, some reviews also claim that the phone is flawed as a lot of the stocks actually crash and Virgin Mobile is forced to exchange it to a different unit. As luck would have it, some users of the phone are already on their 2nd to their 5th Lobster 320 handset as the others have managed to give up after 2 to 3 months of usage. Some also claim that despite its fairly spacious keypad, texting is really difficult as different letters appear at times. Some also claim that the manual is really difficult to understand.
There were Lobster 320 phone users who said that the phone’s speakers are excellent and that there is a profile customizable for headset use. Unfortunately, the phone wasn’t sold with accompanying headset and finding one is a Herculean task.
