allajunaki
Journeyman
Sony Ericsson P910i
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontclosed_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontopen_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offbackside_.jpg
Sony Ericsson P910 is the latest in the P-series Phones of SE. The P series is the only series in SonyEricsson that runs on Symbian OS. First Model was P800 which was an instant hit amongst the Pda users and Gizmo freaks alike.
P800 was groundbreaking and the design provided best of both worlds, PDA and conventional Phone coz of its unique Flip.
The P800 was replaced by much more professional looking P900 which ironed out most of the problems in the P800 series. P910 is basically a more refined P900 with a few more issues addressed.
Right, lets head to the review.
Initial Impression
Ok, Lets cut to the chase, This phone aint gonna win any beauty contest. There is nothing unconventional about this phone(when flip is closed, the mode in whih u will be working 80% of the time).
Yet phone is very elegant and refined, the metallic dual tone with matte finish gives it Understated and Polished feel. The Earpiece has SonyEricsson engraved on it, and its real metal (My guess is its aluminuim). Its always a few degrees cooler
.
But with the flip removed the phone is a whole new deal. It doesnt even look like a phone.. Showing off the full 208x320 262k color display to full glory.It certainly did attract a lot of attention with flip removed. Phone Looks a lot like Some cool gizmo u see in a bond movie (The metallic finish gives it nice 'executive gizmo' feel.)
The keypad is large, but lack of vertical spacing between the keys make it a bit hard to write sms's fast (Some people say that large keypad made it easier to type, but my personal opinion is that they should had lil more vertical spacing).
One thing no reviews has said is about its Keypad illumination system. Its brilliant. See the Key markings are below the keys, the keys themselves are clear plastic. The beauty of the whole setup is that, its clearly visible in all lighting condtions (almost all phones have a particular lighting condition where the keypad's illumnation makes it difficult to see the writings on th keys). Key Illumination is White.
Phone is heavy to hold (155 grams (Flip attached), 140 grams (Flip removed). And its not very comfortable putting it in you shirt pocket.
But overall its got certain flaunt value with flip off. otherwise it looks expensive, but wont guarentee a lot of second looks.
Design and Construction
This phone is unique. Phone has dual mode operation. Flip open and Flip closed.
With the Flip closed, P910 becomes a conventional phone. You get a 208x208 resolution screen. You have regular keypad.You can create SMS's, Make calls, Go throught contacts, edit them, also some Pda functions like calendar, jotter and tasks are accessible while flip is closed.
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontclosed_.jpg
With Flip open the whole phone comes to life! Opening the Phone reveals the full LCD screen(of 208x320 res) and A 33-key qwerty Thumbboard
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontopen_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_officons_.jpg
Yeah Thumboard looks tiny,but as wierd as it may sound, its actually quite comfortable to use.
The phone's Flip construction is Rock solid, And the phone is designed in such a way that one can hold the entire phone on the flip.(Flip is strong enough to hold the entire wieght of the phone).
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_qwertyuse2_.jpg
Also if you chose to u can remove the Flip in like 15 minutes (u need to unscrew the flip and remove it and replace with an alternate cover, scredriver, extra screws, and the flipless cover provided in the box)
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offtwo_.jpg
There is a jog Dial on the left edge of the phone and its a five way jog dial(Up , Down, press inside, pull up and push down) and one dedicated 'online' button and 'camera' button on the right.
*www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p910/p910_scrollwheel_narrow-IMG_0076.jpg*www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p910/p910_side_open_narrow-IMG_0071.jpg
The overall fit and finish of the phone is quite impressive, though i did find that my phone's battrey compartment squeaks a lil when pressure is applied on the bottom edge.
Usage and Usablity
Ok, The phone can be used one handed in flip closed mode.
But with flip open, u need to use 2 hands for text entry and using the stylus. But interstingly the remainin functions (90% atleast) in the flip open mode can be used using just the jog dial!! (the five way jog is very cleverly implemented, i must say).
The Flip closed Mode functionalty is limited. You cant change any settings of the phone. But you can do the comon tasks with flip closed, Like Browse through SMSes and contacts, start the music player, calendar etc etc.
Flip Open mode brings out the true power of the phone. The huge touch screen is a delight to work with. And UIQ Interface is Brilliant (UIQ is more powerful than S60, but i still feel S60 is a lot more easy to use). And as with all new generation SE phones, Themes are supported.
*www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p910/thumb_p910_screen_menu-IMG_0090.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_quickoffice_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_memory_.jpg
The phone can do almost anything. It can Open and edit Office files (word excel and powerpoint), Open pdf documnets, Play Video files (.3gp, mp4 by defualt, using 3rd party software smartmovie u can play avi file), Play almost all Audio formats , except WMA. and whole lot more.
Messaging system is quite good. SMS and EMS(Enhanced SMS) can be composed quite easily(especially in flip open mode). Also the phone supports SMS folders.(P800 and P900 didnt support this, but all S60 phones had this feature long back).
Text Input in flip closed is done using T9 or multitap.
In flip open you have 3 choices, The Thumbboard, Handwriting recongintion (called Jot pro, pretty good and accurate) and the onscreen keyboard. Of all these i find the thumbboard the best under normal lighting condition and 'Jot' system when dark (The thumbboard is not illuminated).
The Stylus is quite comfy to use, though a bit thin. The jog dial is implemented in such a way that u dont have to use stylus often.
Overall phone can be used using one handed operation most of the time in flip closed and 80% of the time in flip open.
Performance
The phone runs on 156Mhz Arm9 Processor with 32MB Ram and 64MB internal memory. Though 156Mhz is good, UIQ interface is a drain on the processor.see the thing with UIQ is that none of the applications (the default ones) have a 'close' option! so.. the processes continue to run in the background till phone runs out of memory. When phone runs out of memory, it starts closing apps one by one till enough memory is created for the new application.Since many people like me didnt like this concept most of the P910 owners have a task manager to close all unnecssary apps.
32MB ram is very good. Its actually more than any Symbian OS phone.
While 64MB Internal memory is 'Ok' upto 1 Gb Memory stick can be used in the phone.
Stereo Mp3 Playback is loud and clear.
Ringtones are loud and clear. but phone is not too loud in speakerphone mode.
Signal Reception is very good, and Voice clarity is outstanding.
Phones huge screen is a battrey drain, Under normal usage (where u swear that u wont open the flip and do nothing other than calls and SMS) phone will last u 2-3 days. In my usage (Flip opened a lot of times, a few apps opened, Bluetooth On for my Bluetooth headset and few pic transferred to the pc) the phone lasts me one and a half days.
Camera is Average. Pics during daytime is ok.. Night shots are pretty bad.
Phone features Unlimited video recording, Photos have rudementary white balancing options.Phone has a dedicated camera button. and the Camera and video recording functions are are integrated into one software.
On the Connectivity front Phone has Infrared, data connector, Bluetooth and GPRS. (No EDGE or WiFi). Bluetooth implementation is superb.One of the few phones that can Connect to a blutooth headset and Send data to another phone or PC simultaneouslty.
Overall Phone is a bit slow.But the phone makes up for the speed with sheer flexiblity and Number of available options.
Conclusion
While phone is expensive. There is really no competition for this phone. 7710 is in a differnt category, Communicator is also a differnet category.
P910 is as close as it can get to a Phone/PDA hybrid. Also the integration of the phone and PDA functions are are amazing. (Especially considering Phone has a 2 processors handling phone and multimedia functions).
Also small innovations like Fullscreen caller Photo, Caller Pic is shown in call list (in flip open mode), Caller pic is shown even in speed dial! and many other small nifty features makes the P910 truley outstanding.Also Problems that palgued SE phones like Signal reception is non existant in this phone.
But the phone is not without its own teething problems. First one is that the flip closed mode could have had more options (it has more options than 9300/9500 but still it could have been better). Phone could also be a lil more faster. battrey life is pretty bad.. Trust me.. if U PUSH the phone, it wont last more than 12hrs..!!. Phone shoul also feature a task manager builtin rather than forcing ppl to use some third party application.
but overall the phone is pretty good.. So if u got the moolah then go for it!.
(Last time i checked phone was 28k in grey)
Specifications of the Phone
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/en/products_p910.shtml
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontclosed_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontopen_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offbackside_.jpg
Sony Ericsson P910 is the latest in the P-series Phones of SE. The P series is the only series in SonyEricsson that runs on Symbian OS. First Model was P800 which was an instant hit amongst the Pda users and Gizmo freaks alike.
P800 was groundbreaking and the design provided best of both worlds, PDA and conventional Phone coz of its unique Flip.
The P800 was replaced by much more professional looking P900 which ironed out most of the problems in the P800 series. P910 is basically a more refined P900 with a few more issues addressed.
Right, lets head to the review.
Initial Impression
Ok, Lets cut to the chase, This phone aint gonna win any beauty contest. There is nothing unconventional about this phone(when flip is closed, the mode in whih u will be working 80% of the time).
Yet phone is very elegant and refined, the metallic dual tone with matte finish gives it Understated and Polished feel. The Earpiece has SonyEricsson engraved on it, and its real metal (My guess is its aluminuim). Its always a few degrees cooler
. But with the flip removed the phone is a whole new deal. It doesnt even look like a phone.. Showing off the full 208x320 262k color display to full glory.It certainly did attract a lot of attention with flip removed. Phone Looks a lot like Some cool gizmo u see in a bond movie (The metallic finish gives it nice 'executive gizmo' feel.)
The keypad is large, but lack of vertical spacing between the keys make it a bit hard to write sms's fast (Some people say that large keypad made it easier to type, but my personal opinion is that they should had lil more vertical spacing).
One thing no reviews has said is about its Keypad illumination system. Its brilliant. See the Key markings are below the keys, the keys themselves are clear plastic. The beauty of the whole setup is that, its clearly visible in all lighting condtions (almost all phones have a particular lighting condition where the keypad's illumnation makes it difficult to see the writings on th keys). Key Illumination is White.
Phone is heavy to hold (155 grams (Flip attached), 140 grams (Flip removed). And its not very comfortable putting it in you shirt pocket.
But overall its got certain flaunt value with flip off. otherwise it looks expensive, but wont guarentee a lot of second looks.
Design and Construction
This phone is unique. Phone has dual mode operation. Flip open and Flip closed.
With the Flip closed, P910 becomes a conventional phone. You get a 208x208 resolution screen. You have regular keypad.You can create SMS's, Make calls, Go throught contacts, edit them, also some Pda functions like calendar, jotter and tasks are accessible while flip is closed.
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontclosed_.jpg
With Flip open the whole phone comes to life! Opening the Phone reveals the full LCD screen(of 208x320 res) and A 33-key qwerty Thumbboard
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offfrontopen_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_officons_.jpg
Yeah Thumboard looks tiny,but as wierd as it may sound, its actually quite comfortable to use.
The phone's Flip construction is Rock solid, And the phone is designed in such a way that one can hold the entire phone on the flip.(Flip is strong enough to hold the entire wieght of the phone).
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_qwertyuse2_.jpg
Also if you chose to u can remove the Flip in like 15 minutes (u need to unscrew the flip and remove it and replace with an alternate cover, scredriver, extra screws, and the flipless cover provided in the box)
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_offtwo_.jpg
There is a jog Dial on the left edge of the phone and its a five way jog dial(Up , Down, press inside, pull up and push down) and one dedicated 'online' button and 'camera' button on the right.
*www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p910/p910_scrollwheel_narrow-IMG_0076.jpg*www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p910/p910_side_open_narrow-IMG_0071.jpg
The overall fit and finish of the phone is quite impressive, though i did find that my phone's battrey compartment squeaks a lil when pressure is applied on the bottom edge.
Usage and Usablity
Ok, The phone can be used one handed in flip closed mode.
But with flip open, u need to use 2 hands for text entry and using the stylus. But interstingly the remainin functions (90% atleast) in the flip open mode can be used using just the jog dial!! (the five way jog is very cleverly implemented, i must say).
The Flip closed Mode functionalty is limited. You cant change any settings of the phone. But you can do the comon tasks with flip closed, Like Browse through SMSes and contacts, start the music player, calendar etc etc.
Flip Open mode brings out the true power of the phone. The huge touch screen is a delight to work with. And UIQ Interface is Brilliant (UIQ is more powerful than S60, but i still feel S60 is a lot more easy to use). And as with all new generation SE phones, Themes are supported.
*www.mobileburn.com/media/sonyericsson/p910/thumb_p910_screen_menu-IMG_0090.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_quickoffice_.jpg*www.clubsonyericsson.com/products/p910/p910_memory_.jpg
The phone can do almost anything. It can Open and edit Office files (word excel and powerpoint), Open pdf documnets, Play Video files (.3gp, mp4 by defualt, using 3rd party software smartmovie u can play avi file), Play almost all Audio formats , except WMA. and whole lot more.
Messaging system is quite good. SMS and EMS(Enhanced SMS) can be composed quite easily(especially in flip open mode). Also the phone supports SMS folders.(P800 and P900 didnt support this, but all S60 phones had this feature long back).
Text Input in flip closed is done using T9 or multitap.
In flip open you have 3 choices, The Thumbboard, Handwriting recongintion (called Jot pro, pretty good and accurate) and the onscreen keyboard. Of all these i find the thumbboard the best under normal lighting condition and 'Jot' system when dark (The thumbboard is not illuminated).
The Stylus is quite comfy to use, though a bit thin. The jog dial is implemented in such a way that u dont have to use stylus often.
Overall phone can be used using one handed operation most of the time in flip closed and 80% of the time in flip open.
Performance
The phone runs on 156Mhz Arm9 Processor with 32MB Ram and 64MB internal memory. Though 156Mhz is good, UIQ interface is a drain on the processor.see the thing with UIQ is that none of the applications (the default ones) have a 'close' option! so.. the processes continue to run in the background till phone runs out of memory. When phone runs out of memory, it starts closing apps one by one till enough memory is created for the new application.Since many people like me didnt like this concept most of the P910 owners have a task manager to close all unnecssary apps.
32MB ram is very good. Its actually more than any Symbian OS phone.
While 64MB Internal memory is 'Ok' upto 1 Gb Memory stick can be used in the phone.
Stereo Mp3 Playback is loud and clear.
Ringtones are loud and clear. but phone is not too loud in speakerphone mode.
Signal Reception is very good, and Voice clarity is outstanding.
Phones huge screen is a battrey drain, Under normal usage (where u swear that u wont open the flip and do nothing other than calls and SMS) phone will last u 2-3 days. In my usage (Flip opened a lot of times, a few apps opened, Bluetooth On for my Bluetooth headset and few pic transferred to the pc) the phone lasts me one and a half days.
Camera is Average. Pics during daytime is ok.. Night shots are pretty bad.
Phone features Unlimited video recording, Photos have rudementary white balancing options.Phone has a dedicated camera button. and the Camera and video recording functions are are integrated into one software.
On the Connectivity front Phone has Infrared, data connector, Bluetooth and GPRS. (No EDGE or WiFi). Bluetooth implementation is superb.One of the few phones that can Connect to a blutooth headset and Send data to another phone or PC simultaneouslty.
Overall Phone is a bit slow.But the phone makes up for the speed with sheer flexiblity and Number of available options.
Conclusion
While phone is expensive. There is really no competition for this phone. 7710 is in a differnt category, Communicator is also a differnet category.
P910 is as close as it can get to a Phone/PDA hybrid. Also the integration of the phone and PDA functions are are amazing. (Especially considering Phone has a 2 processors handling phone and multimedia functions).
Also small innovations like Fullscreen caller Photo, Caller Pic is shown in call list (in flip open mode), Caller pic is shown even in speed dial! and many other small nifty features makes the P910 truley outstanding.Also Problems that palgued SE phones like Signal reception is non existant in this phone.
But the phone is not without its own teething problems. First one is that the flip closed mode could have had more options (it has more options than 9300/9500 but still it could have been better). Phone could also be a lil more faster. battrey life is pretty bad.. Trust me.. if U PUSH the phone, it wont last more than 12hrs..!!. Phone shoul also feature a task manager builtin rather than forcing ppl to use some third party application.
but overall the phone is pretty good.. So if u got the moolah then go for it!.
(Last time i checked phone was 28k in grey)
Specifications of the Phone
*www.clubsonyericsson.com/en/products_p910.shtml
