Sony Ericsson / Sony : Symbian phones : P910 review.
>
New Topic
>
Reply<
Esato Forum Index
>
Sony Ericsson / Sony >
Symbian phones
> P910 review.
Bookmark topic
Ok, after holding out during the P900 days... I finally was able to jump a small generation gap between my P800 and the new P910.
A few of my friends had the P900 so I was able to compare the P800 and the P900.
I will be making comparisons the both the P800 and P900 just because there are certain things that I feel are relevant to both older siblings.
Now with my P910 I think I can make a pretty good comparison to the phone I've had the longest (almost 2 years)... my beloved P800.
First, the obvious... the screen... it's a whole lot better, even compared to the P900. Contrast is much better and colors are a lot more vivid.
The numeric keypad on the P900 feels a bit better though, more tactile feedback, and it's easier to feel the keys. The P910 keys are good and big, but relatively flat... so there is a greater chance of hitting the wrong key. But it's not that bad... the P900 keypad was just a bit better. I do like the white backlights however. I won't discuss the keypad on the P800 cuz that was just pathetic...whoever designed the P800 keypad should be shot!
It's still running UIQ 2.1 so no jump over the P900. Small things were added.. a dedicated PDF viewer (although even the P800 could view PDFs, it didn't have a cute icon for the app)
Other apps on the CD are mostly demo apps so those are useless.
The sync application is now unified for the P800/900/910 the latest version can be downloaded from SonyEricsson's site.
Now for famous thumb-board. It works really well. Feels weird at first. Specially since I got used to using the P800 without the keypad... I'm still faster with my stylus though. But the keypad is fun to use, entering long messages is a lot easier now. The flip is a lot stiffer than the one found on the P900, but you can still open it with one hand.
One thing that I did notice however is that the phone itself is a lot faster than the P800. I haven't been able to confirm the CPU used on the P910 yet, but I'm guessing it's that the P910 now uses faster memory... probably the same type found on the Duo Pro sticks.
On board memory is heaven... it's like moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a 2-storey mansion! Handy Day memory bars look empty even with most of my apps installed.
The biggest problem I had was transferring my SMS from my P800 to my P910 (ya, ya... I'm an SMS hoarder)
Ok... that's enough of the good news. There are a couple of glitches that I already found.
One being that the P910 has issues with the HBH-30. Since the P910 now supports the new Handsfree/Headset Bluetooth profile, older headsets seem to have a problem keeping paired. My headset works occasionally...but it loses it's connection often now so I can't initiate a voice call from it. According to the new and improved SonyEricsson call centers, the HBH-30 is not compatible with the P900 or P910...duh... whatever. (If I find out that those morons are working in Convergy's, I'm going over there and I'm gonna beat them with a stick!!! HAHAHAHA!)
The Bluetooth issue is the only serious bug I've found so far... the second bug I've found is fixable.
I had issues syncing with Outlook XP. Again, SE Call Center help...was of course... no help at all. I found the solution though, download the latest SP3 for Office XP and it fixes the sync problem. I can't speak for Office 2003 users, but I'm guessing if you have sync problems, get the latest Service Pack from Microsoft.
Over-all, the P910 is a great upgrade to P800 users. P900 users, well, I'd recommend just holding out for the next one... or sell your P900 and add more for the P910. But unless you plan to get the new Duo Pro sticks, the P900 is good enough for most people.
**Wishlist: WiFi, and cheaper memory sticks! (Oh, the P910 comes with a 32MB Duo PRO stick...by... Sandisk! hahaha! I guess Sony didn't meet their deadline)
--
Posted: 2004-10-08 14:39:46
Edit :
Quote
Good review. However, I have to state I have not had any BT headset issues with 'ANY' of the SE headsets including the new HBH-660. With that said, the bug might be present in some units but I tested a total of 9 SE BT headsets including the dinosaur HBH-10 and had no problems. So I'm not sure if your theory about the older headsets having the primary issue holds water. I also tried 2 Nokia BT headsets, 1 Motorola BT Headset, 1 Bluespoon Digital, and GPS receiver and I had no issues. You might want to do a master reset if the issue persists. Or better yet the problem may be with that HBH-30 since it's the only one of its kind you tested.
As far as memory sticks I don't know if you consider 39-42 GBP for a 512 MSD DUO Pro to be expensive, but I think that is way more then affordable. I'm at 3 already anticipating the release of the 1G MSD Pro to not come anytime this year. It really depends on what the supply and demand in your area is and, ofcourse, if you can get that sweet deal on it.
WiFi... hmmm dunno if that's a plus for me right now as I have it on my PPC and rarely use it because hotspot geographics are very limited at this point to specific hosts. I wouldn't say the technology has really globalized yet, therefore don't expect to get ready-to-go internet connection almost anywhere like its slower rival 'GPRS'.
--
Posted: 2004-10-08 18:50:31
Edit :
Quote
@jplacson
I would add that the other usefuk features of the P910i are:
- Quickoffice in ROM (i.e. free!)
- In-built browser now has Small Screen Rendering and jog dial control (you can surf without using the stylus!)
- Opera now given the headroom to work properly with the extra RAM
- Multilink BT means you can connect a BT GPS and BT headset at the same time (and I assume you should be able to link a BT keyboard and use a BT headset)
--
Posted: 2004-10-08 21:12:11
Edit :
Quote
Quote:
On 2004-10-08 21:12:11, Jah wrote:
- Multilink BT means you can connect a BT GPS and BT headset at the same time (and I assume you should be able to link a BT keyboard and use a BT headset)
Already possible on the P900 m8. I've done it.
--
Posted: 2004-10-08 22:11:14
Edit :
Quote
Quote:
On 2004-10-08 18:50:31, BigFeat wrote:
Good review. However, I have to state I have not had any BT headset issues with 'ANY' of the SE headsets including the new HBH-660. With that said, the bug might be present in some units but I tested a total of 9 SE BT headsets including the dinosaur HBH-10 and had no problems. So I'm not sure if your theory about the older headsets having the primary issue holds water. I also tried 2 Nokia BT headsets, 1 Motorola BT Headset, 1 Bluespoon Digital, and GPS receiver and I had no issues. You might want to do a master reset if the issue persists. Or better yet the problem may be with that HBH-30 since it's the only one of its kind you tested.
As far as memory sticks I don't know if you consider 39-42 GBP for a 512 MSD DUO Pro to be expensive, but I think that is way more then affordable. I'm at 3 already anticipating the release of the 1G MSD Pro to not come anytime this year. It really depends on what the supply and demand in your area is and, ofcourse, if you can get that sweet deal on it.
WiFi... hmmm dunno if that's a plus for me right now as I have it on my PPC and rarely use it because hotspot geographics are very limited at this point to specific hosts. I wouldn't say the technology has really globalized yet, therefore don't expect to get ready-to-go internet connection almost anywhere like its slower rival 'GPRS'.
I'll try it on my older HBH-10... the annoying part is that SE CS sent me an email saying that the HBH-30 is not compatible with the P910i... grrrrrr....
Regarding memory... well, SD sticks are cheaper... Duo Pro sticks are still expensive here compared to the other formats... a 256 Duo Pro stick costs about 65 GBP over here.
And although Wifi isn't that big a deal to me either, it would be nice to have the option... no big deal really.
--
Posted: 2004-10-09 03:10:55
Edit :
Quote
I can tell you why SE sais the HBH-30 is not compatible with the P910i. Any item manufactured and not tested with another item can not be assessed as 'technically compatible'. The jargon these companies usually use when they want to be honest is that the part 'may' not work with the other item as they can not guarantee it because there is no data that can support it. But inherently it should.
I think SE has told me everything that I have purchased a while back to as not being compatible with any of their present items. They're just a whole bunch of comquats that use safe answers inorder to relieve responsibility on themselves instead of truely supporting the customer needs. Tech support really is in a world of their own. If you can believe it I was once told a phone was not released yet when it was available on their site. I was also told by 2 reps just recently that they didn't know what the HBH-660 when it's listed on their online shop. Their answers have always been that they have an entirely different database that isn't kept up-to-date with the sales department's inventory. So take all that as you wish.
--
Posted: 2004-10-09 03:20:11
Edit :
Quote
Quote:
On 2004-10-08 21:12:11, Jah wrote:
@jplacson
I would add that the other usefuk features of the P910i are:
- Quickoffice in ROM (i.e. free!)
- In-built browser now has Small Screen Rendering and jog dial control (you can surf without using the stylus!)
- Opera now given the headroom to work properly with the extra RAM
- Multilink BT means you can connect a BT GPS and BT headset at the same time (and I assume you should be able to link a BT keyboard and use a BT headset)
I lost my Quickoffice when I did a master reset!!!!! Now I don't know how to get it back... grrrr...
--
Posted: 2004-10-09 03:46:44
Edit :
Quote
@Bigfeat - the multilink BT capability is a new feature of the P910; with my P900 I never managed to have two devices linked while I was using my Emtac BT GPS (I tried my HBH-20, HBH-200, HBH-35, HS810, etc). But with the P910 I've managed to link the Emtac and my HBH-35. as I said I looking forward to trying a BT keyboard and my HBH-200/HBH-35.
@jplacson - you can't lose Quickoffice as it is in ROM! Are you sure you did a Master Reset? Please check and try a reset again (you might have problems with the application listing)
--
Posted: 2004-10-09 09:30:52
Edit :
Quote
I know it's in the ROM... I found it on drive Z... but I did a master reset, and that's actually when it disappeared from the installed apps. I've emailed Quickoffice already, and they'll look into it. I think there's a special version for P910 users, since Quickpoint is signed by SonyEricsson, and not Quickoffice.
--
Posted: 2004-10-09 12:01:18
Edit :
Quote
@jplacson
If you have any Quickword or Quicjsheet files on your P910 (user memory or Duo) you should be able to launch Quickword/sheet by clicking on the icon of the file type (I use Qfilemanager).
--
Posted: 2004-10-09 12:11:52
Edit :
Quote
New Topic
Reply
