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> SE V800 UI confusion!
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Howdy esatoers
I (along with quite a few other people I would imagine) have been looking at the V800, which is out now in the UK. I have been using SE phones for several years now (mostly unlocked) and have always been a fan of the user interface. The current version, on the (unlocked) K700, is particularly easy on the eye. However, the only pics of the V800 interface (main functions menu etc) I have so far been able to find on the net show cheap-looking, low res icons which bear almost no resemblence to the usual, elegant-looking SE interface. These low rent icons, I imagine, are courtesy of the Vodafone branding....grrrr....but does this mean there is no Sony Ericsson UI on the V800 at all? Or are the low res icons some alternative interface allowing access to Vodafone services? Surely they haven't hijacked the entire interface?
Excuse my ignorance, I've never used Vodafone....
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Posted: 2004-11-13 22:02:02
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i havent played with a v8 yet so i cant be sure, but i would think that voda just changed the icons like they did on the t610 and left everything else just about the same.
i still cant understand why they would change the icons though. ok, if they were better than the original ones but my 2yo neice could do better than the ones on the t610.
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[ This Message was edited by: nature on 2004-11-13 21:30 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-13 22:25:00
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The basis of the UI is exactly the same as any other
firmware, it's the looks that are different, and, just like we know vodafone, there's a massive big Live! button where normally the 'more' softkey is
The build of the menus and the way you navigate them is not much different though.
Go to a store and ask to try one to see for yourself.
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Posted: 2004-11-13 22:26:53
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the SE V800 is a vodafone only phone, so yes, the UI is a vodafone loaded UI, there is no SE UI unfortunately
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Posted: 2004-11-13 22:26:54
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I expect the ui to be the same. May be it will just be the icons and that is all. And it cannot be unbranded for a long time!
This message was posted from a K500
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Posted: 2004-11-13 22:28:37
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the UI is actually
and the firmware is
and voda together. But by changing the firmware into anything else (which is NOT currently available anyway) the UI would not change massively would it?
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Posted: 2004-11-13 22:28:44
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The question about Vodafone UI has been discussed before, as of the very first release of Vodafone live! in the U.K. the intention was to spend millions on a Vodafone Brand to take the dominance away from Nokia. Previously it had been noted that in surveys, customers associated Nokia as the answer to "which mobile network are you using" because their marketing was so strong.
Vodafone wanted to change this (much like it is in Japan) so that they could gain more control over offerings and services, to be network driven rather than phone manufacturer driven (remember the old Nokia standard picture messages via SMS, they didn't want to use EMS but to create their own standard).
Anyway, Vodafone spent sheds loads on avertising on brand (people like KPMG even told Vodafone that it was a waste of money and resources and it would never work). Well, Vodafone worked with the likes of Sharp who were very eager to break into the European GSM market and produced a device similiar to the Japanese market's - The GX10. This had a Vodafone specified user interface that manufacturers had to adhere to for colours and icons etc., the firmware even had some enhancements and extra Java libraries so that the pages would load faster and from memory rather than GPRS.
The device so scared Nokia thanks to a gentle nudge when the then MD of Vodafone UK showed a pre-production Sharp GX10 to the European Chief Exec of Nokia, Nokia immediately agreed to join the bandwagon with their 7650 (that is why early Vodafone 7650 phones were not branded Vodafone). They did not want to be left in the cold.
This is the future of mobiles. Most will be branded, unbranded will be the exception. Branding will not just mean locking to the network and a logo printed on the body (much like Orange has done for over a decade). It will actually mean different firmware and functional subtlties to accomodate the operator's network and the services they wish to offer. This will be more necessary as 3g and beyond comes into play if the devices are to make full use of the services such as security, billing and encrypted location services etc.
Brand loyalty will move from the phone manufacturers to the network operators. The Japanese are used to it, and it's coming to the rest of the world. It's no longer the Sony Ericsson V800 phone, it's the Vodafone V800 by Sony Ericsson.
Get used to it. or you will end up with a generic phone that will not work fully to it's potential on ANY network.
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Posted: 2004-11-13 23:33:08
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Woah, thanks for the very informative (if slightly defensive!) reply, Cophia. (Do you work for a network?) I can understand the principle of tailoring a phone's software to one network and its particular services (even though this obviously restricts consumer choice). But why replace such an elegent, well-designed UI with an obviously inferior, cheap-looking, low res one? It makes no sense! (Hey, I'm a Mac user - these things are important to us...)
Ah well, no V800 for me right now. I know there some rumours floating round about the possiblity of an unlocked V800 appearing some time early next year? Is there any real evidence for these? Any precedents for them - ie phones (whether SE or not) which initially appeared as network exclusives and then later became available unlocked?
Am I overly harsh on the Vodafone user interface? Maybe someone can post a decent pic or two (or links to ones)?
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Posted: 2004-11-14 19:22:13
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Any thoughts on my last pos then?
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Posted: 2004-11-15 10:21:06
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@Cophia
Well, although I understand that there is a market move for branded phones, I keep convinced that consumer drives demand and not the operators. There is still an enormous market for non branded phones. Therefore, you can bet that mobile phone producers will reply to this demand for two reasons : #1 in EMEA and in USA, consumers, are not used to branded phones and, actually, they don't like branded phones. Japan is a different market: DoCoMo have been sticking consumers to branded phones through iMode very early - but in Europe/USA, you cannot change consumer habits to quickly. #2 Mobile phone industry (Sony Ericsson, Nokia) don't want to be dependant of their customers (operators). They will produce more and more branded phones, but they will not give up producing unbranded phones, because they want to meet consumer demand, avoid being stuck to one operator (customer) and amortize the huge investement they made to build their corporate brands.
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Posted: 2004-11-15 11:40:54
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