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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Symbian phones > For all P990i users now,what can you say about the phone? Bookmark topic

Ok, let me give you my input on the device after playing with it for 2 weeks.

1. The phone is not perfect in terrms of sofware but as everyone agrees this will be sorted out sooner or later with updates.

2. In terms of OS the UIQ 3.0 is very ingenious, complex enough to satisfy most enthusiasts but pleasant and thoughtfully designed to satisfy less demanding users (I agree with Jah that a K750 user can eventually make the transition..). The RAM is a problem and people that use / want the phone will have to get used to using the task manager at times..

3. Design of the phone is a very subjective issue...The phone is big but i love its looks and feel. Flagship phones are invariably big!!

4. Do not want to go too deep in what the phone offers in terms of capabilities etc but again this is subjective..Bluetooth, music, messaging, phone operation (call quality etc), browsing, camera, reception...all work perfect for me..Need more software to get the phone to give you more options and utilize its full potential, but this is coming..
All these functions should be more than enough for most users. The point is how they are implemented in a particular device / OS, and for me they are all implemented brilliantly in the P990.

5. Inevitably comparisons have been made with HTC TyTN (I own that device as i like wm5 for different reasons..). I have nothing against the TyTN (managed to get a good example at the second attempt and i enjoy using it..), but it is incredible that people talk about unravelling the whole serial numbering system of HTC in order to get a device that works 100%!! I would hate to think how people would have reacted if SE was in that situation with P990..

6. Bottom line . Play with the phone before you buy so you can have a quick verification of your expectations.. This is a special phone in many ways and one needs to be able to use all its functions to enjoy it. The phone has some software issues currently but in general i now have a stable device which i find difficult to put down or exchange with another phone..The P990 is a very special device..

[ This Message was edited by: Avantis on 2006-08-27 08:47 ]
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Posted: 2006-08-27 09:46:14
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Actually, I am just wondering will SE be able to help us (and also helping themselves), by perhaps giving us an option to add in more RAM memory for our phones? I maybe asking too much, but looking at the long delay in releasing the P990i, as well as with the current crop of issues and complaints coming from all over the world... SE's reputation is at stake here

I am being honest here, the P990i is a damn fine SE flag ship phone, if only we have more RAM memory to start off with... It's WiFi works almost perfect, its Internet account priority works beautifully, e.g., WiFi first priorty and if WiFi not available, it will switch over to 2nd priority automatically, i.e., 3G for my case. Its video player and of course music player is awesome. It can take good 2MP pics and decent 30 fps videos. It has powerful multilink BT profile that allows us to connect and perform various BT related tasks simultaneously, etc etc... but... without enough RAM memory to keep up and support its own hardwares and softwares, I mean, what is the use of all these features?

[ This Message was edited by: adnhk1 on 2006-08-27 08:58 ]
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Posted: 2006-08-27 09:56:50
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i've seen a lot of good.. well quite good comments about P990i.. im so anxious to get this phone but isnt launch yet in my country more comments about P990i please
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Posted: 2006-08-27 10:25:43
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The RAM issue is actually pretty interesting. Based on the fact that we know the P990i only started manufacturing in or around July 2006 from Sony Alsace's own press release, and the fact that the phone had been delayed so much from its original Q1 date, you have to wonder whether SE knows something we don't about the whole RAM issue - I mean, between the initial delay (or even the date when Symbian 9.1/UIQ3 went gold) and the start of manufacturing, there would have been plenty of opportunity to put another 64Mb into the phone at minimal cost. SE/UIQ would have known for some while that due to Symbian 9.1 running in RAM rather than XIP that the memory requirements would have been significantly higher than expected. Admitedly both SE and Nokia have been royally turned over by Symbian setting the v9.1 minimum memory requirements far too low, but they have had plenty of time to do something about it.
Either SE is:
1. Confident that they can resolve most of the RAM problems through software (and judging by the way the P990i leaks memory like sieve right now there is probably prenty of room for this).
2. Too tight to splash out for the extra RAM in the first place, knowing a replacement model is just around the corner, so intends to annoy everyone who has already bought a P990i.
3. There has been an almighty mess up and they had started producing the phones too early to change the amount of physical RAM after the problem really became apparent, and are now panicking over what to do - this could explain the constant delays.
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Posted: 2006-08-27 12:23:41
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Thank you all guys to all your respond. I hope more will give us a information about the p990i. I agree the RAM is the only problem on what i've read from our fellow SE users. Can SE really fixed the RAM problem through frimware update?? Or SE will fixed that through hardware?? I hope next month the phone will be in good condition that before...
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Posted: 2006-08-27 13:08:31
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Hi Sleepyhead,
i agree completely with your view of the current situation and have actually started a thread called
"Where has all the Ram gone?"

But to me all of what you have said makes perfect sense, it will be interesting to see if others agree or not.

Marc
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Posted: 2006-08-27 13:17:22
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Hi SL33PYH34D,

I sure hope option number 1 is the answer But having read that Symbian OS 9.3 being officially announced just last month, with "improved memory management" spells trouble for any form of optimisation on SE's front

C'mon SE, give P990i users an option to send in our devices for an upgrade to 128MB RAM memory... I don't mind paying for this service to be honest... cos I am truly desperate now...
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Posted: 2006-08-27 13:20:12
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Guys does anyone of you works with SE or have friends working there? And ask them why is that the RAM really go fast?? The RAM can be fixed by firmware upgrade or by hardware???
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Posted: 2006-08-27 13:21:40
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Like Jah i feel the same about my p990i although im not too impressed with the audio quality of the p990i, well to be exact its the overall volume of the media player that im not impressed with. But its not a big deal for me as i use my k800i as my media player along with my hbh ds970 bt headset and it works brilliantly well.

The RAM issue isnt much of a concern to me to be honest and i really cant understand why some people are making such a big fuss over it really. I mean who in their right/sane mind would run 10 or more apps???, frankly its laughable. I myself have no problems running the web browser, typing out an sms or email and then opening up the rss feed to check my rss feeds and ive yet to suffer a crash or hang. So personally i dont really see the RAM issue being such a problem as some here make it out to be. I think with the new firmware recently, multi tasking has become alot better in my opinion. Funny how people moan about the p990i but yet arent willing to get rid of it .

The p990i does have bugs, no doubt about it but so far ive had it for over a week and i have to say everytime i pick it up im constantly amazed by its capabilities...its an amazing unit for what it is. 3G web browsing is super fast as Jah earlier said...the only problem i seem to be having is trying to access secure pages, keeps coming up with an error saying network error...i dont know if its the built in browser or its my network thats causing the problem there. Will have to check on k800i to see if i get a network error.

Other than that i love it despite its little bugs and niggles...would i recommend this phone??..without a doubt yes. In fact ive recommended it to my boss whos quite impressed with the phone and is looking to get a few for the company.....just hoping that the blackberry connect will eb working soon as hes most interested in that.

Thats my views on the phone, until something better comes out i dont think ill be getting rid of this phone for a long time.
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Posted: 2006-08-27 14:19:23
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So Spawn, are you hinting that you bought a CAD$1000 phone just to use SMS, RSS and web browsing only? Then perhaps you are better off getting yourself a M600i For people spending so much $$$ on a flag ship phone only to realise it can only do this "little" before the OS starts killing off the rest of the apps in the background, is it worth the CAD$1000 of your hard earned $$$? This makes the P990i an "UNRELIABLE" device to depend on. For e.g., someone in my-symbian set a timer application only to realise later that it has been killed off by the OS when the phone "runs low on memory" which in the end, he misses the time... I was listening to Music via HBH-DS970 during CommunicaAsia 2006, and after I started the 5th application (empty calendar, empty contacts, empty notes, control panel, and lastly... Messaging), the OS runs too low on memory and it kills off everything, including my music player! Is this what we are expecting out of a CAD$1000 flag ship device from SE?

The P990i can do tons more than that but sadly the RAM memory can't take it and hence OS starts killing off everything soon after one uses a few applications, and note, these are only built in ones and what happens when powerful apps like Magic Profiles Pro and/or Magic Screen and/or Magic Launcher ships (take note all these HAVE TO BE SYSTEM APPS TOO cos they are all required to run all the time in order to perform their functions respectively)? Due to this lack of RAM memory, a very vast kind of negative scenarios can happened to anyone owning a P990i, where the OS spontaneously starts killing off everything running in the background. I've learnt this lesson since way back during P900's time. I think there is no need for me to elaborate, but SE so quickly released the P910i mainly TO SORT OUT THIS RAM MEMORY ISSUE cos even RIM (Blackberry) decided during then to drop off their support on the P900 due to lack of RAM memory on the P900!

As I had mentioned a few times already, the RAM memory issue is more serious than many had anticipated. These couple of days, I had installed Blackberry and since it is a system application, the OS cannot kill it. So after using the newly rebooted P990i for only a couple of hours, listening to some music, then watch a couple of video MTV, sending and receiving a few SMS plus a few emails. Then I started surfing the internet. The OS of course as usual, kills off everything running in the background, except BB client. So I started surfing to esato, then to my-symbian.. guess what happened? Opera suddenly went pop, and gone missing. A quick check on the task manager shows Opera is NO MORE RUNNING and the only app running is BB. Ok, so I re-start Opera again, and after reaching esato, I tried opening one of my local website, and again Opera suddenly gone missing again... Imagine, I was using 3G for crying out loud... and every bytes counts $$$! A reboot of the phone is the only "solution"... but after a few hours later of using the phone normally, this damn issue happened again! So, is SE trying to tell us that the P990i can only have 1 system app (BB connect) running PLUS ONE other app running and NO GUARANTEE that the other app can STAY RUNNING before the OS starts killing this only runnig app off due to lack of RAM memory? So what is the meaning of Symbian OS being a "MULTITASKING" OS then?


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Posted: 2006-08-27 15:00:08
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