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21.01.05

Sony Ericsson P910

After two weeks of using my new mobile phone I decided to write a brief summary of my experiences. This is not an exhaustive review but rather my first impressions after using the phone for some time. I originally opted for a T-Mobile MDA compact, but Vodafone Germany does not offer the MDA compact or any equivalent. Thus I chose the Sony Ericsson P910i …

Sony Ericsson P910(i)

The specs can be found here.

(1) Size

The exact sizes are given on Sony Ericsson’s web site. In my opinion the SE P910 is just big enough to be usable as a smartphone (calendar, contacts, web browser) and small enough to fit in most of your pockets. In fact it’s
form factor is perfect for an organizer (PDA) combined with a mobile phone.

(2) Handling

The handling of the SE P910 is very good. The tiny keyboard which seems to be of no use at first became my preferred input method. To be honest I’m very slow on the numeric pad even with T9 switched on. The jog dial is superb! I can’t think of any better device for navigation on a smartphone. It’s better than any other pad I’ve ever seen and used on a mobile phone/PDA.

(3) Display

The display quality is very good when used inside. Outside it’s much better than for instance the SE T610 which I owned before. The screen seems to be quite scratch resistant. I don’t use a screen protector.

(4) Camera

I’ve never used the camera, because it’s not important for me…

(5) Software & phone

That’s the most important part. I looked for a smartphone whose telephone features and agenda/contact features play well together. I found it. The best thing is that everything works as expected. When browsing the internet via GPRS you may receive any incoming call. After the connection is closed the phone switches right back to the browser and you may continue browsing. The same is true for the bluetooth features or any application. Although this may seem to be the least you should expect, other devices don’t manage to cope with these use cases.

(6) Performance

Well, …, I used a Dell Axim with a 400 MHz processor before. I have to admit that the Axim performs better, in some cases much better. But, the P910i’s performance is O.K. Sometimes it takes a (very) little while until the calendar application switches to the edit entry form for instance. But these latency times have never been really annoying, though.

(7) Memory, Standby time,…

The standby and talk times are very good. Although I’m not a power user, I use the PDA features a lot and I talk about 45 min/day. Power lasts for approx. three days. That’s according to my usage, you will have to check the specs for any (honest?) details.

The phone is well equipped concerning memory. If you want to listen to some mp3 songs or store some other huge fancy stuff, you can extend the memory up to 1GB by inserting a Memory Stick Pro Duo.

(8) Applications

I won’t mention the built-in applications nor the contents of the accompanying CD. But I will list the 3rd party software I’ve tested and bought so far:

“Tracker is a real and fully customizable desktop application. With the special skin system it looks and acts exactly like you want, offering you hundreds of unique functions and possibilities transforming your device from a simple organizer to a powerful and great looking handheld computer.” Fantastic today view! The only agenda/today application which shows the next X days in one view (without hiding the date - great Agendus feature :-( ).

Tracker users may use also use TaskMan (task manager) and FileMan (file manager) for free. Two thumbs up!

This tool makes up for the missing profiles in Symbian UIQ. Very, very good. A must!

This is a very good application for storing annual events. I can’t think of any reason for not allowing annual whole day events. Sony or Symbian can … Handy Dates is a good substitute.

(9) Vodafone branding

Vodafone seems to have learned after the SE T610 disaster. No Vodafone logo on the phone, no Vodafone skin, only one “Vodafone Services” applications. Maybe I’m blind or dumb, but there isn’t any annoying Vodafone branding …

There are some nice reviews which you should take a look at for further information:

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/sonyericsson-p910-en.shtml

http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Page=1&Id=1001

Posted by Hartmut Wilms at 21.01.05 15:21