It's already confirmed that the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Windows Mobile smartphone will be released on September 30. Unfortunately, this is just for 3 countries namely UK, Germany and Sweden. The rest would have to wait at a later date.
I love to have this phone due to its very useful and professional features. It could very well compete with previous personal digital assistant devices available.
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Sony Ericsson Announces Launch Dates for Xperia X1
Source: Brighthand.com
By: AWright Brighthand.com Contributor
September 9, 2008
The highly anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Windows Mobile smartphone and has been given an official launch date of September 30. However, this launch date only applies to the UK, Germany and Sweden. Other regions, including the rest of Europe, Asia and Latin America, will see the X1 launch in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Launch dates for North America, China, Australia and Russia will be announced by local markets at a later date.
More about the Xperia X1
This smartphone will include a 3-inch WVGA (800 by 480 pixel) touchscreen that can slide aside to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. Other navigation options will be a four-way key and an optical joystick.
The X1 will be a quad-band GSM phone with support for the 3G frequencies used around the world. It will also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
This Windows Mobile Professional device will include up to 400 MB of internal storage, and a Memory Stick Micro card slot for additional storage.
In addition, this model will include a GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and an FM receiver.
It will be 4.3 inches wide, 2.1 inches tall, and 0.66 inches thick (110 mm x 53 mm x 16.7 mm). It will weigh 5.1 oz. (145 g).
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 To Be Launched September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Sony Ericsson G705: A U.S. HSDPA/Wi-Fi Multimedia Slider
Would you like to take your internet browsing experience to another level?
Would you like to browse Youtube videos with your phone? How about read news and blogs through a built-in RSS reader? These are just two of the notable features present in Sony Ericsson G705. Read more and see what other stuff you can play around with this new gadget.
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Sony Ericsson G705 is a U.S. HSDPA/Wi-Fi multimedia slider
Source: InfoSync
By Sindre Lia
Boasting AT&T HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, the Sony Ericsson G705 multimedia slider will hit U.S. store shelves early next year.
Sony Ericsson today unveiled the Sony Ericsson G705 (specs), a multimedia slider with a 2.4-inch screen, AT&T HSDPA support, Wi-Fi connectivity and a full HTML browser. The Sony Ericsson G705 is aimed at the high-end market, and will additionally ship with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync capabilities. The phone simply aims to be a stylish organizer as well, offering advanced scheduling and e-mail possibilities.
Measuring 3.74 by 1.85 by 0.56 inches and weighing 3.46 ounces, the Sony Ericsson G705 is a petite multimedia phone with a slide-out numeric keypad. A built-in accelerometer allows users to switch to landscape view by tilting the phone.
The Sony Ericsson G705 comes with built-in aGPS combined with Google Maps for Mobile and Wayfinder navigation. The latter offers a 3-month free trial. Google has also sneaked in a software shortcut key, to enable quick access to Google search from the home screen.
Another Google service, YouTube, is also compatible with the Sony Ericsson G705. Videos can be uploaded and favorite clips can be downloaded and viewed directly. According to Sony Ericsson, this phone is the first of many models with YouTube support.
Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording (of the average kind), Stereo Bluetooth and a media player with Album Art functionality. A 1GB Memory Stick Micro card will be included in the sales package, for storage of music, pictures and video. The Sony Ericsson G705 is also DLNA certified, meaning that you for instance can connect to a DLNA certified Sony Bravia television and stream content wirelessly.
Web functionality is a returning aspect with the Sony Ericsson G705, and RSS feed capabilities that has been hidden within the menu structure of Sony Ericsson phones for a while, has now been incorporated into the home screen. The phone should also be capable of acting as a laptop sidekick, letting users connect their laptop to the Internet via the G705's HSDPA connection.
The Sony Ericsson G705 will be available in three versions. The Sony Ericsson G705 and G705u (UMA handset for Orange) will be available in Europe in Q4 2008. The American version of the Sony Ericsson G705 (Sony Ericsson has ditched the "a") will be available early in Q1 2009.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Sony Ericsson Z780 Offers AT and T HSDPA support, Google Maps
Cellphones now a days have stepped up in terms of injecting technology into its functionality.
Particularly notable are the additions of features that enables internet access. Read through and find out what Sony Ericsson Z780 has in store for you.
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Source: InfoSync
The new Z780 is something as rare as a Sony Ericsson clamshell phone boasting Google Maps, Exchange ActiveSync and AT and T HSDPA support in one package.
Sony Ericsson today introduced a new tri-band HSDPA phones into its line-up. The Z780, a sister product to the recently announced Z770, is set to broaden Sony Ericsson's range of web-enabled phones into more markets across the globe. It packs tri-band 3G and HSDPA into a clamshell frame, letting users receive e-mail or browse the web at high speed on AT and T's HSDPA network.
The Sony Ericsson Z780 comes with the latest version of Google Maps for Mobile, taking advantage of the phone's built-in aGPS functionality. Google Maps enables turn-by-turn directions and users can view listings of the restaurants and hotels nearby, complete with any reviews or ratings available.
Accessing e-mails on the Z780 is claimed to be a straightforward process. A "set-up wizard" will be available to add webmail accounts, or push e-mail courtesy of Exchange ActiveSync for those who need that.
Sony Ericsson claims a talk time of 4.5 hours for the Z780, which measures 3.7 by 1.9 by 0.7 inches and weighs in at 3.4 ounces. The Z780 also features a 2-megapixel camera, Access NetFront web browser (Opera Mini can be added via download), Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support as well as a 2.2-inch 262K display (320 x 240 pixels).
The Sony Ericsson Z780 will be available in Grand Onyx and Amethyst Silver in selected markets from Q2 2008.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Ten Mobile Phones You Will Want to Check Out in 2008
5. Nokia 3110 Evolve
2008 promises to be a wonderful year and excitement continues to build up as gadget savvy people awaits for the release of top mobile phones for this year.
Join us as we give you the countdown of what to expect next year...
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By Nick in Mobile Phone Handsets
This time last year, we took a look at what was in store for 2007, and made some pretty bold predictions: The Nokia N95 would get the new year off to a flyer, the 6300 would become the mid-range phone of 2007 and a little known entrant from Apple would eventually take the mobile world by storm. Well two out of three ain’t bad! This year, we’re sure we’ve got a few bankers, as we give you the ones to watch in 2008!
1. Google Android
The much rumoured G-Phone never materialised, but in its place we were given Google Android, not a physical phone, but an operating system to rival heavyweights like Symbian and Windows Mobile. While many were disappointed not to see a shiny new piece of hardware to go face to face with the iPhone, for true mobile lovers Android represents something just as exciting. Seamless integration with Google’s maps, email, search and countless other applications, and an open source platform for developers to create their own mobile software. There’s even a million dollars worth of prize money for the best creations, as Google look to raise the bar once again.
2. 3G iPhone
Despite its enormous hype, the iPhone has been underwhelming in its assault on the UK mobile scene. Perhaps people have been put off by the exorbitant price, maybe its the lack of true USPs, either way, it’s fully expected that a second generation iPhone will be with us sooner rather than later, and this one will be equipped with 3G connectivity. It was a big disappointment not to see 3G on the original model, severely undermining the product’s excellent safari browser and touchscreen interface, but a Mk II iPhone should be enough to appease some doubters. The rumoured price drop might swing a few floating voters as well.
3. Nokia 8800 Arte series
The Nokia 8800 series has been one of Nokia’s most successful ranges, comfortably outselling far better equipped phones. Until you get your hands on one its difficult to understand the attraction, but up close it’s a cut above, a fabulously designed and beautifully engineered mobile phone that feels as good to use as it does to look at. The next generation of the series brings us the Nokia 8800 Arte models, and this time there’s a bit of substance behind the style, with a 3 megapixel camera, 3G and 1G of internal memory among other improvements. The Sapphire Arte even boasts a whole sapphire within the d-pad!
4. Samsung Armani phone
Following the arrival of Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Levis and Tag Heuer onto the mobile scene it was surely only a matter of time before Armani followed suit. The Armani phone, designed in partnership with Samsung and also known as the Samsung P520 bears an unmistakable resemblence to the LG Prada phone with its black exterior, square frame and touchscreen interface, but its clearly a classy little number and we can’t wait to get our hands on it
Nokia have been keen to display their green credentials of late, and at the forefront of this comes the Nokia 3110 Evolve, a phone for the environmentally aware. It’s a smart looking phone in silver and black, lightweight and slender, with a 1.4 megapixel camera and EDGE connectivity, but its the materials that have gone into the production of the Evolve that stand it apart from other phones. The casing, dubbed the ‘Bio-cover’ is made from 50% renewable materials, the packaging from 60% recyclable material and Nokia’s most efficient ever charger will make its users glow green with pride!
6. Sony Ericsson W890i
What! Another walkman phone! Surely not. Ok, it might not sound like the most interesting development in the world, but read on, the W890i is sure o turn a few heads. It’s the replacement for the ultra-cool, ultra-thin W880i, and it builds on the success of that handset by adding some mouthwatering features. The W890i is an HSDPA phone and also has a 3 megapixel camera, and is still only 9.9mm thick. Not bad when the iPhone stripped of 3G to shave off a few millimetres!
7. Tag Heuer phone
The Tag phone has been on the cards for a long time now, but an announcement in November suggests a release is imminent. French design house Modelabs are working on the design and the word is that we’ll see a product in the second half of 2008. But is it a watch or it is a phone?!!
8. Samsung F250
The Samsung F250 should be with us in early 2008 and looks like being an impressive addition to Samsung’s already extensive list of stylish slider phones. The F250 has a mirror-finish fascia and a brushed-metal keypad that recalls the Ultra range. The features aren’t outstanding, but it looks like being competitively priced.
9. Sony Ericsson P5i
The Sony Ericsson P5i is at this stage just a rumour, but its a good rumour so deserving of its place in this list! If reports are true then we’re looking at a 5 megapixel camera phone with WiFi, GPS and HSUPA connectivity. Mid 2008 release? Watch this space…
10. Nokia WiMax phones
It has long been reported that Nokia have targeted 2008 as the year to market their first Wimax phones, handsets that would be able to connect to citywide WiFi networks, and potentially to massively bring down the cost of mobile internet surfing for the average user.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Sony Ericsson Walkman W910i Motion-controlled Phone
If you were not satisfied with the previous post review of Sony Ericsson Walkman W910i, here's another review.
It's more detailed and breaks the phone's features down even to the smallest details. After reading this outsourced review, I guess you will have a better idea if this is the phone for you.
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By Simon Lorne of Register Hardware
Product Sony Ericsson W910i
Verdict The shake of things to come...
Rating 85%
Suggested Price
Contract: from free to £100
Pre-pay £260
Handset only £260
Sony Ericsson takes moving to the music literally with its motion-sensor based “shake control” track-changing gadgetry. But there’s far more to the HSDPA 3G-enabled Walkman W910i phone than slick moves.
The W910i's slick sliderphone design also nods firmly in the direction of Sony Ericsson’s W880i slimline candybar - reviewed here. At 12mm thick, the W910i is a relatively skinny slider, although with a large face - 99 x 50mm - to accommodate a sizeable display. This 240 x 320, 262,144-colour LCD also employs motion-sensor technology: in media mode, the phone switches orientation automatically between portrait and landscape views as the phone’s tilted - just like Apple's iPhone, reviewed here. It’s interesting to see Sony Ericsson and Nokia adopting this technology in the wake of the Apple handset.
Aside from its motion-sensor slickness, the W910i’s spec follows a familiar formula of quality music player and a spread of decent multimedia features that’s made the Walkman phone brand such a hit. This particular one has HSDPA 3G - plus quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge - which ups download and surfing speeds. There’s no Wi-Fi here, however - you’ll have to check out the new 8GB-packing W960i if that’s what you’re after in your Walkman.
Despite beefing up the shooting capabilities of recent Cyber-shot phones, Sony Ericsson has been parsimonious with pixels on this Walkman model. The camera on the back is a basic two-megapixel shooter that does without a flash or photo light. It does do video recording at 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA) at 15 frames per second, and there’s a secondary, lower-quality camera perched above the display for video calling.
The W910i is a surprisingly lightweight 86g, and with its tactile rubber-feel casing, feels comfortable in the hand. It comes in several colour options – noble black, hearty red or Havana gold, depending on network – that thankfully go easy on the trademark Walkman phone orange.
The slider action is smooth and solid, while the keypad beneath is makes efficient use of large keys arranged in a no-nonsense grid. Some may prefer them raised a little higher, but we found them perfectly fine for texting.
The display dominates the front of the closed phone. Beneath this you get a silver navigation control that’s also marked up with music player keys. A familiar arrangement of soft-menu keys and call/end buttons flank this, while there’s the regular Sony Ericsson menu key and a Clear button.
Above the display are two unmarked keys. In standby mode, they whizz you straight to your latest photos or full camera album, broken down month by month according to when snaps were taken.
But as well as zapping you straight into Walkman mode, this key is essential for getting the shake control in motion too. When the Walkman player is lining up tunes, you hold this button and give it a tilt to the right to go forward a track or tilt to the left to go back a track. A quick shake in both directions sets the player to shuffle mode, playing tracks randomly.
While that might sound easy enough, the positioning of the button makes it a bit awkward to hold and shake comfortably. It’s as if Sony Ericsson has deliberately made it slightly tricky to prevent accidental shake’n’tracking. Frankly, it’s far simpler to just press the forward button on the control panel – and you’ll be sure you’ve got to the right track too, rather than accidentally shuffling or switching back a track after going forward. In short, at the moment shake control is a gimmick that you can file under 'seemed like a good idea at the time'.
Most of the Walkman player functionality is recognisable stuff, although the updated Walkman Player 3.0 software is very well presented and attractive. It supports a variety of file formats and album artwork. Music is organised by artist, album, tracks, genre and year, and you can create your own playlists. You can also add audio books and podcasts to your music line-up.
Additionally, Sony Ericsson has included a SensMe function, which can list tracks by mood. By using bundled Media Manager PC software, you can transfer music files with assigned moods to the phone. The SensMe software plots these on the display around axes marked happy/sad and fast/slow. You can move a circle on screen to a point on the chart where there’s a tune plotted - a bit sad and fast, for example - and click on these tunes to create a playlist that suits your mood.
Another gimmick? Of course, and not really our cup of char, but we can see that joggers or gym bunnies might make use of the fast/happy combo.
The music performance here really is top class. The supplied in-ear ‘phones are better than you’ll get on many MP3 players and are capable of producing a sturdy amount of bass as well as subtlety in higher frequencies. It’s a very pleasing all-round audio performance. You can tweak equaliser settings, or add MegaBass to the low end too. It'll play them through the phone's speaker too.
Strangely, Sony Ericsson has placed the headphone/charger socket on the side of the phone, which is not the best place if you’ve got the phone slipped in your pocket - particularly as it uses a chunky proprietary connector rather than a standard 3.5mm socket.
The supplied earphones are a two-piece set, with a 3.5mm-jack adaptor on the hands-free microphone halfway up, so you can plug in your own Sennheisers if you feel the need. We tried with our reference-quality headphones and the sound quality was excellent.
You could also use the phone’s stereo Bluetooth facility to try out wireless headphones or stream to a speaker system.
As well as getting tunes out, there are plenty of options for getting music onto the phone too. The HSDPA connectivity offers theoretical maximum speeds of up to 3.6Mb/s if you’re downloading tracks over the air from a network operator’s music store or other source. And you can transfer tunes or video from a PC by using a USB cable and Media Manager. Alternatively, you can drag and drop tracks on to the W910i by using it in Mass Storage mode, or Bluetooth tracks from other devices. Another free source of tuneage is the built-in FM radio with RDS.
Sony Ericsson’s neat TrackID song identification software is loaded onto the W910i, giving you the opportunity to find tune details easily by recording snatches of music heard around you or on the radio, and getting them ID’d over the air automatically via a short data enquiry.
The two-megapixel camera on the W910i can produce some pleasant snaps in print quality, but it’s not the most specced-up shooter that Sony Ericsson produces. Pre-shooting adjustments are confined to picture size - 2Mp, 1Mp or 0.3Mp/VGA - white balance settings, a night mode, and a few colouring effects. You can opt for multi-burst shots, panorama option or a fun frames mode, and there’s a timer too.
Image quality is fine generally and most users will be happy with the results, which are better than the average two-megapixel shooter, flash notwithstanding - night shots can be noisy. But there are limits to the quality of imaging that can be achieved with a fixed-focus lens, no macro and limited lighting controls. A shame that Sony Ericsson hasn’t transplanted some of its Cyber-shot expertise across to its Walkman range yet.
There are basic post-shot editing options in phone, with Sony Ericsson’s PhotoDJ and VideoDJ apps, and some slideshow transitions and presentation options. You can also upload images or video clips, with accompanying text, automatically to a Blogger account directly from the handset as one of the send options.
Video recording is reasonable at its maximum QVGA, 15f/s setting, but as limited in quality as most mobiles. Video playback of downloaded or sideloaded content is very watchable, however, and we liked the auto landscape flipping when video is played back.
On top of improving downloading speeds, 3G here notches up the browsing experience. The NetFront browser can be pleasingly quick, particularly with HSDPA cracking the whip. Usefully, you can line up RSS feeds too if you want to get updates without having to browse all your favourite websites or blogs. Email is supported, and Sony Ericsson supplies the W910i with the usual array of organiser functions – calendar, notes, to-do lists and so on – which can be synced with a PC. There's even a musical chord teaching application, Music Mate 4 featuring a tilt-to-play virtual drum kit.
On the gaming front, the W910i supports 3D gaming, and three games are supplied: Lumines Block Challenge, V-Rally 3-D and Marbles Madness. The latter is controlled by the phone’s motion-sensor – you tip the phone to control the marble rolling around the screen - which is strangely
addictive.
As well as all the multimedia goodies, you get a great phone thrown in too. Voice quality on the W910i was excellent in all calls we made, with no dodgy signal levels. Battery life quoted by Sony Ericsson is reasonable, though not the longest for one of its 3G phones: standard GSM delivers up to nine hours' talktime or 350 hours on standby, whereas in 3G coverage talktime slips to three hours 30 minutes.
In normal usage, listening to the music player and playing games a lot, or using other features that work the display, are going to impact on battery life. Playing the music player alone in flight mode could give you up to 20 hours of playback, Sony Ericsson claims, but will reduce significantly standby or talktime figures.
Verdict: It’s good to see that Sony Ericsson is evolving its Walkman phone range with the W910i. Shake control in its earliest implementation might be more gimmick than must-have gadgetry, but we can also see its potential. Other elements could be better – the camera and connector positioning for instance - but the W910i has got some great stuff going for it, including HSDPA. And at the beating heart of the phone is an excellent quality music player that really delivers.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Review: Sony Ericsson W910i
RRP: $999 It's official: the award for the most gimmicky mobile phone feature unveiled this year goes to Sony Ericsson. The latest instalment in its successful Walkman series introduces a "shake control" function. Holding down the W910i's Walkman button while tilting the handset left or right lets you cycle through songs when in music player mode. It's cool for the first five nanoseconds, before you realise it's easier to press one of the navigation buttons on the handset instead. Thankfully, the built-in motion sensor on the W910i has another, more useful application. As in the iPhone, the handset automatically switches between horizontal and vertical screen orientations depending on how you hold it. Horizontal mode is particularly useful for watching movies and playing the bundled games, both of which you'll want to get stuck into after experiencing the large, crisp 6cm screen. The W910i, however, is made for music. In Walkman mode, an elegant PlayStation 3-style menu interface lets you browse through media and create playlists, just as you would using a dedicated MP3 player. Further, the built-in FM radio tuner stands by to provide fresh tunes should you tire of your own collection. The general design of the phone is pleasing, save for two glaring oversights. Keys are well-spaced horizontally but too close together vertically, so it's easy to hit the wrong key when bashing out an SMS. And the headphone port, typically found on the top or bottom of most music players, is inconveniently located on the left side. With the headset plugged in, this makes the mobile phone much wider in your pocket. The sliding mechanism on the W910i is smooth and controlled but photos taken with the 2-megapixel camera are underwhelming: the lack of a flash and auto-focus feature mean images often turn out dark and blurry. Review from Asher Moses of Digital Life ------------------------------------------------------- New Features:
If I'm to buy a new phone, this will be one of my choices. I'm not a fan of having a camera in my phone but having one is a very nice addition. I still love using digicams instead of using my cellphone to take pictures.
I love this phone model because of its great music features. Take a look at the review below and see if we have the same insights.
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Sony Ericsson W910i
http://www.sonystyle.com.au/
Ratings: 4.5/5
In a nutshell:
1. Built-in motion sensor
2. Large, crisp 6cm screen
3. Elegant PlayStation 3-style menu interface
4. Sliding mechanism
This phone is built for music lovers. Camera features are not at-par with its K-series (camera series).
Monday, December 17, 2007
A Quick Look at Sony Ericsson T650
WHEN my six-year-old nephew finally owned up to taking my beloved Sony Ericsson T100 to school in his lunch box and losing it, I could barely control the red rage that reverberated through my body. His adorable, lopsided, gap-toothed smile and the apologetic tilt of his head were the only things that saved him from his mortal fate. Most people display an astonishing level of loyalty to cellphone brands. If they start with one, they usually continue with it. I am an Ericsson person because my first cellphone was a T10 and I loved it. Naturally, I salivated at the prospect of getting my hands on the T650. Would it be Glowing Green, Midnight Blue, or Eclipse Black, I wondered? Would it have the same fabulous ringtones as my now-lost phone? The geometric design of the T650 is extremely eye-catching and many people were drawn to its neat, square shape. It also has quite a unique way of lighting up in waves of light from the bottom of the keypad towards the screen when it rings or a message or appointment reminder goes off. Its 3.2 megapixel camera with a 3x digital zoom makes it a handy accessory for a shutter-bug like me who loves to whip out her phone and snap pictures of zany fashion, fabulous sunsets and cute babies. The 1.9 inch colour screen has a 240 x 320 pixel resolution which makes using your own snaps as screensavers a breeze, and the image is so clear people don’t have to scrunch the phone up to their noses to see it. The built-in media player was a bit lost on me, I’m afraid, as I have my entire song collection on one device and so didn’t really get the full benefit of it. But on the rare occasions I used it, the sound quality was impressive. The phone came with a corded headset, which I enjoyed the least of the whole package and I’d definitely swap it for a cordless Bluetooth option. My nephew, repentant but still plucky enough to ask if he could play games, had wild fun when he finally found them. The downside is that he had to get onto the browser and the Ericsson site to download them first. I’m not too wild about that. The phone also comes with a radio and video camera. My only serious criticism is that the keypad and button design make it difficult to operate with long nails, which can’t find purchase on the smooth, slightly raised metallic design. I found myself accidentally hitting the web-browser button every time I wanted to hit the return key. Sadly, phones for reviews are a bit like nephews – just when you are getting used to them and thinking “Mmm, I could have one of these”, it’s time to go home. I remain optimistic that a Grade 2 teacher somewhere in Alberton will find a lunch box marked “Smith” with a T100 covered in mould.
City Press provides a review of this slick gadget. The camera features are something I love due to its specifications.
One thing I don't like is its keyboard design with very small buttons.
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Going Gaga Over Gadgets
Review Source: City Press
Technobunny GAIL SMITH test-drives the new Sony Ericsson T650 which gets a thumbs-up from her - and her six-year-old nephew.
When I was asked if I wanted to review the new Sony Ericsson T650 a few days later, I took it as a celestial reward for the saintly restraint I exhibited.
Sony Ericsson P1i Review
Pros: Good keyboard, decent camera, Buying advice: This phone has a lot going for it, and more features than some Nokia devices we have tried, aimed at the same market. It's a clumsy package, though, but one that users could easily learn to love. It's got a touchscreen, but it doesn’t do the touchy-feely interface of the iPhone - this is an old-school PDA-style design, with a stylus, and a full, but quirky, qwerty keyboard. Launched earlier in 2007 in Europe, and currently costing £285 without a contract, it's the sequel to one of the longest running smartphone series - and has a lot to recommend it. It uses UIQ, the only real rival interface to Nokia's S60 on the Symbian operating system, owned by Sony Ericsson and more of a contender since Motorola bought a stake late this year. Sony Ericsson has a somewhat patchy history in smartphones. The P-series made a brilliant start in 2002 with the P800, a does-everything phone with a clever flipping keyboard that won lots of fans, but it stumbled in 2005, when the P990 was delayed a whole year, till the end of 2006. Nokia capitalised on this, with its E-series, which includes the E65 slider and the E61 qwerty phone. Sony Ericsson launched the M600, a UIQ smartphone, but that didn't gain much favour owing to its lack of a camera and Wi-Fi. The P1i is intended to redress this balance - it's a P-series phone built into the M600 style, but with camera, Wi-Fi and a built in radio. Design and usability If the P1i has a problem it will be convincing new users. People who have stuck with the interface will like it, but others may find it so quirky they won't pick it up. Also, post-iPhone, people are going to want really good web browsing, and a slimmed down user interface - and that's not what you have here. It's chunky, at 55x17x106mm and 124g, but not massively so, and goes happily in a pocket. The screen is decent, at 65mm large, and 240x320 pixels. I couild get used to this, but I like dedicated buttons, like the Nokia E65 does. The buttons here are all in the qwerty pad. For data entry, I'm prejudiced. I don't like qwerty phones, and I think stylus-driven phones are a mistake which will die out when the last user loses the last stylus down the back of the sofa. The P1i, therefore is asking for trouble with me, by combining stylus and keyboard, a class of device which needs three hands to use, and includes the Windows Mobile based Motorola MC35 which I loathed. To my surprise, the P1i is friendlier. I'm more familiar with Symbian, but also on the side, as well as that Back button, it also has a scroll wheel, which moves the cursor up and down and selects when pressed, which cuts down the number of times you need to pull out the stylus. The letter keys have a rocker action. For instance, the top left key gives Q or W, depending which side you touch. There's a shift key to get capitals, and an Alt key which gives a bunch of other characters like brackets, @ and the like, as well as numbers on the middle keys. This isn't unheard of on smartphones, but it's the first time I've met it, and I found it weird till I got used to it. The predictive text works well. Connections The P1i works fine as a phone (in phone mode, the number keys are just numbers), and shows an eagerness to help - suggesting after every phone call that the number could be added to the contacts list. Bluetooth works just as it should do, and the USB cable is fine for synching with a PC. There's also a cradle (a rare thing that harks back to PDAs) that combines Bluetooth and power, and the provided PC software synchs it easily with Outlook, Notes and other email clients. Setting up Wi-Fi is easy, but the web browser is not as good as the Nokia or iPhone browsers. Lacking the ability to preview a small version of the page, which is useful on a small gadget. Also, obviously, with Wi-Fi on, the battery drains more quickly, so it can run out in less than a day. With the qwerty keyboard, email is clearly a major likely use for the phone, and it is the first Sony Ericsson phone to support RIM's Blackberry Connect, software that puts Blackberry email on non-Blackberry devices. The BlackBerry Connect software, when installed, gives clear status alerts, and works well. I used it with GoogleMail, which works all right, though it's not all that well implemented, in terms of using the Entertainment The P1i has an FM radio (not enough phones do), and media player, as well as a fairly good camera. It handles 3.2 Mpixels, and has optional autofocus, and a flash. It also has a sound recorder, which is actually useful, and not stuck with the silly one minute limit in the Nokia E65. There's a Sony MemoryStick slot for extra storage, accessible from the side of the device without taking the back off, but well protected. Conclusion This has a lot going for it, and more features than some Nokia devices we have tried, aimed at the same market. It's a clumsy package, though, but one that users could easily learn to love.
This phone closely resembles the iphone with its smartphone features. Though quite bulky and clumsy, the features itself outweigh this problem.
It's interesting to note that its connectivity features like being able to connect to Wi-Fi is a great addition with a slight issue on the browser. The entertainment and camera features are also notable.
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Here's a clumsy but loveable phone with lots of features. A review by Peter Judge of TechWorld.
List price: £285
Cons: clumsy user interface
The Sony Ericsson P1i is a classic example of the slowly-evolved smartphone. The kind of thing that iPhone users will look down on, and its own devotees will cling to.
The phone doesn't do a great job of putting key functions like the contacts list or calendar up front, however. They're on the main screen, with icons big enough to use a finger on, but if you're off doing messaging or whatever, you have to get back to the main screen first (this is easier after you find the "back" button on the side.
I liked the qwerty keyboard too. It has two letters per key, so each key can be bigger than the micro-pimples of a Blackberry or Treo, and they're nicely contoured rubber and responsive.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Sony Ericsson W950i Review From Dial-a-Phone
Would you choose a cellphone without a camera but rich in other features? Well that depends actually if a person takes a camera as important to him/her.
Take a look at the different features offered by Sony Ericsson W950i before you start frowning...
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Source: Dial-a-Phone
So as to make this review as user-friendly as possible, we feel it's best to say this now than wait for later, so everyone who thinks that this feature is essential to living with a phone can just stop reading and go onto the next one. Here we go; the Sony Ericsson W950i does not have a digital camera built in. There, we said it and how strange it sounds. It's been sometime that any model aside from the cheapest of the cheap didn't come with a camera, so there's no denying that this is a brave move on Sony Ericsson's part and the rest of the W950i had better be good, otherwise 'no camera' will be written on its gravestone.
From the second you pick it up things look good, it's thin at just 15mm and at 112 grams it's pleasingly weighty in your hand. Neither of these stats stand out from its peers until you realise that this is a 3G Smartphone running Symbian software, a fact that usually means the phone will be a bit of a bloater. Then, once the phone has started up, you can play with the stylus controlled touch screen and excellent side-mounted jog dial. Or, if you prefer, it even has handwriting recognition for generating emails and messages.
Once you have got to grips with both the stylus and jog dial, using them in conjunction will have you shooting round the menus like a pro, well, as fast as the Symbian software let's you anyway. Major functions can be accessed by a selection of icons on the bottom of the screen, or via the regular 12-icon Sony Ericsson menu which can be altered to become a simple list if you prefer. If you have ever used a PDA, then you will pick this up quickly and also figure out that the more applications that you leave running in the background, the slower the phone goes.
Add in a file viewer, the Opera web browser and push email and you have what seems like a well-spec'd business phone. Then you get to the Walkman function. Sony Ericsson's Walkman branded music players are still the best on the mobile market and the W950i makes full use of it. You have the Mega-Bass enhancement, a graphic equalizer, a dedicated button controlling just the player, a flight mode and a huge 4GB of Flash memory. All of this, plus the fact is sounds great, makes it one of the only true iPod or similar replacements available. If you run out of music then there is an RDS enabled FM radio too.
At first, this mixture of business and pleasure seems a little mis-matched, but if you think about it, makes perfect sense. No-one wants to carry two or even three different devices around with them all day and a music player is arguably more useful on a regular basis than a camera, so why not incorporate that, a phone and a PDA into one competitively priced unit? Provided you can live without the camera and the ridiculous 60-second plus start-up from the temperamental Symbian software, this is one of the best practical solutions available today.
Sony Ericsson W950i specs and features
Tri-band
MP3 player & 4GB internal memory
Symbian OS v9.1, UIQ 3.0
3G
GPRS
Large TFT touchscreen, 256K colors
Stereo FM Radio
XHTML browser
Dimensions: 106 x 54 x 15 mm
Weight: 112 grams
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