The demise of Mitsubishi (Trium)?

[josephlloyd]

I have noticed a general trend in the past year with regards to the Mitsubishi (Trium) brand, which I believe is common throughout Europe. About a year ago, it seemed to me that Mitsubishi was right at the forefront of technology.

Having launched the Trium Eclipse at about the same time as the Ericsson T68, I would have said that Mitsubishi reached a peak at the end of 2001. I waited for around a month and a half on Ebay to get an Eclipse in the UK at the beginning of this year, simply because the only other way of getting one was to go onto an 02-UK contract, and even then there was no guarantee that your particular shop would have one. The specification at the time seemed amazing: polyphonic ringtones, GPRS, WAP, massive 256 colour screen, decent games and infra-red. Admittedly, it had an external aerial, and there was only ever one housing available for it, but it was what I wanted, and at £61, the price I finally paid for one in February, it was cheap.

It also worked fine, you can read more about it in Michael Oryl's excellent review of it. However, when I was due an upgrade on my Orange UK contract (I have one SIM-only contract, and one which comes with a phone), I remarked how things had moved on. The Motorola C350, Nokia 3510i and the Samsung T100 all seemed to have most, if not all of the features of the Eclipse, and were smaller and had better screens. I personally still think that the 256 colour screen on the Eclipse is still perfectly acceptable, and I never experienced the problems with blockiness that those who own Siemens S55s have. But, the end was nigh. I got a new Sagem MYX-6 (interestingly, called one of the best camera phones by some, but not yet reviewed by MobileBurn, I would imagine since everyone has other things to do), and I suddenly realised what was wrong with the Eclipse, and indeed a lot of other Mitsubishi phones.

There was no customisation readily available for the Eclipse to take it to the next stage. Although the subsequent Sony Ericsson T68i was marketed as a brand new phone by the newly-merged firm, it was perfectly possible to take your old Ericsson T68 down to the service centre, and get the software identical. You could even have your cover changed to the latest fashion. Then, you could start sending your photos, using it in America, and no one would know that underneath you had a phone that was launched at the same time as the Eclipse. Astoundingly, Mitsubishi has not yet launched a phone which can be used with a camera. I remember thinking that the next step after the Eclipse would be the new M320, but I have yet to see one anywhere.

The only thing that I have seen, since I moved to France for a few months, is the Alcatel OT531. This is IDENTICAL to the Mitsubishi M320. This did not surprise me in a way, since the old Trium Mars was definitely made in France, and there's no reason to build your own factory when you can use someone else's. But still, the only time I have seen one of the Alcatels is on the shelf in France Telecom's Orange section. No one, it appears, wants to have it. It has apparently been released in the UK in its M320 form in 02 and Vodafone, but every time I go onto the retailer sites, they say that it is coming soon, and the Mitsubishi UK site is hopeless/ Where are these phones? Since Carphone Warehouse are selling off hundreds of examples of the Eclipse at £70, I am sure that the newer phones must be somewhere. I still have hardly seen anyone with even an Eclipse in the street, but there are still masses of old Marses around, which begs the same question all over again.

The brand new M330 supports MMS, so there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, but the likelihood of it, or the I-mode compatible M21i ever making it to the UK is incredibly slim, in my opinion. Such a lack of presence on the market is a shame, since I loved my Eclipse, and would love to see a similar phone with camera facility. As it is, the latest model to be afforded to UK citizens is the 110. This, an upgrade of the Mars, of which I owned two in a row, has the polyphonic ringtones of the Eclipse, along with a decent design, a much smaller footprint, and all the good features that the old Mars had. I'm getting one for Christmas to replace my current Siemens MT50, again at a ridiculously low price. It would have been nice to see an M320 badge on it, but it is not to be. Will this be the last Mitsubishi phone I ever own, due to the company pulling out of the UK? I think I may have to switch to Alcatel then...

If anyone else has had similar experiences with Trium-Mitsubishi, please reply to this post, I would be most grateful to know.

[cdover]

whoa... i didnt actually read what u wrote but u sure wrote alot

[mundets]

Yeah, this must be the longest post ever

[AL9999]

Guys... have you ever heard of an article ??? That's what the above post is, and if you can't be bothered to read it, then at least don't post condescending posts about it. That's the least courteous thing you can do.

And you two post too much anyway. Get out of your houses and enjoy the sunshine a bit.

[AL9999]

I've separated these two posts so those morons would actually read the first one. Now on to the reply...

In regards to Mitsubishi, while I haven't quite had the same experience you've had with them (they tend to be a bit rare in Australia), I dare say Mitsubishi would have a fine time if they simply pulled one of their older Japanese market models, put in a GSM radio and sold it in Europe, or made some agreements with European operators to brand these models and sell them. In doing so they'd be following in Sharp's footsteps into the European market, and let's face it, Sharp have so far been one of the most successful handset makers this year in the GSM market thanks to their will to actually advance handset technology, unlike other makers who want to milk the market as much as they can.

A great opportunity coming up is Vodafone's soon to be running 3G networks. Considering that they're looking around the Asian market for handset maker partners, if Mitsubishi could come up with a good test handset to show to Vodafone, they could be onto a goldmine of a European market. If only some companies had some foresight...

If you want to see what Mitsubishi are capable of, take a look at the new D900i for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA (WCDMA) service in Japan. It IS to DoCoMo's specifications, but it does show what Mitsubishi are capable of.

Here's NTT DoCoMo's press release:
http://www.nttdocomo.com/presscenter...attachment.pdf

Edit: It looks like they haven't said who were the manufacturers of all five phones in that release, so here they are:

D900i: Mitsubishi (the D is for Diamond, Mitsubishi means "Three Diamonds")
F900i: Fujitsu
N900i: NEC
P900i: Panasonic
SH900i: Sharp

[jalu]

Hey, if "Mitsubishi" means "three diamonds" and the "d" stands for Diamond, does that make their new phone the Diamond Diamond Diamond Diamond 900i?

Teehee.

Diamond Diamond Diamond JALUi Diamond Diamond Diamond

[AL9999]

.........

*Sigh*

[cdover]

Originally posted by AL9999
Guys... have you ever heard of an article ??? That's what the above post is, and if you can't be bothered to read it, then at least don't post condescending posts about it. That's the least courteous thing you can do.

And you two post too much anyway. Get out of your houses and enjoy the sunshine a bit.

'article'?? i know not of any 'article'. eh, well sorry for saying something .... hmmm, i already go to school, i think thats enough of going out thanx

[mundets]

if you can't be bothered to read it, then at least don't post condescending posts about it

I was just kidding....
But it was actually quite long, and I DID read it. I just commented on its length.
And it isn't every day that you see posts that cover all of your browser window.

[josephlloyd]

I have just got back to having Internet access in the place where I live having spent the last few months in France where the only place I could get online was a Cybercafé, and discovered to my surprise that someone has actually replied to my post! Not only that, but there are other replies too. Thank you all for reading some of what I wrote at least.

As you may be able to see from the mobile phone history that I have put in my signature (confusing I know, but if I put down all the phones I have ever used it would be even worse), I am now in possession of a Mitsubishi M320. About ten days ago on Ebay I came across one which had been bought in France, but was unlocked to all UK networks. Naturally, I had to buy it, particularly as it came with a Continental charger, which is useful for when I travel. Considering the specification, the £41 I paid for it really is very reasonable. It is not the smallest phone in the world, but it does have a speakerphone, polyphonic ringtones, a 4096 colour screen, GPRS, infra-red, decent games and a good organiser. There are not many other phones about that which can do all that for the money, although it does not support MMS or EMS.

Having my MYX-6 means that I can receive MMS messages on that, however, so it was not really a requirement, and I would have had to get the new M330 if I had wanted that, which is similar, but even more difficult to find! As it is, this one is completely exclusive, and is really what I wanted, an upgrade of the Trium Eclipse with an even better screen and without the aerial. What more can I say?