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Sony Ericsson P800 Reviewed
Ch_Omega writes "For all those who have been waiting, there is now an in-depth and detailed review of one of the most anticipated connected handhelds of 2003, the Sony Ericsson P800, over at Infosync. Does it live up to the hype? According to the story, the answer is yes." I've been lusting after the t68i for awhile, but maybe I'll wait for this one. It just looks so cool!
I was planning on getting a P800 until I discovered that the screen is smaller than a Palm.
I figured if I was going to put up with a device with a screen the size of a postage stamp, I'd go with a t68i, which will at least fit easily in my pocket, and have a separate handheld computer linked via Bluetooth.
I'm still looking for the computer part of the setup; the new Sony CLIE is looking promising.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
it looks just like my ice box! kewl.
moo
It's a bit bigger than my last two cellphones, but it packs a lot of functionality. I've always had a handheld computer since I work in the embedded/telecom/handheld-industry, but I've never carried it with me. With the P800 I finally do - it's the perfect replacement for the cellphone/palm-combination.
Oh, and Symbian OS is the meanest, cleanest, leanest wonderful little operating system to run - and code for. Really.
it's in my head
According to my own experience with the T68i, the build quality and usability of that phone is significantly worse than that of the T68. Sure, you can bring them to the same level firmware-wise, but the T68 is just more sturdy than the 'i' model. I had one T68 and two T68i's, and the T68 works nicely still (it's the oldest and has had the roughest treatment), while the i's have both broken down, and been repaired four times altogether.
But I don't like any of them; they are just too damn slow. I mean come on - 2-3 seconds wait to open the address book? And what about typing SMS'es, by the time you wrote half the message you have to wait for the phone to catch up with you..
I really hope this new one is faster, sturdier and more usable. Then I'll perhaps check it out.
Love over Gold.
That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the design team!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Taco - If you've been lusting over the T68i, you are going to be sadly disappointed. The reception sucks unless you are withing about 6 inches of a tower. The only plus it has is bluetooth. Do yourself a favor. Get the Samsung S105 if you can't wait.
To make sure you're one of the first to reserve one?
I've used this and it was okay - I don't really have any need for making constant phone calls so the dual purpose of the device isn't really of interest to me. What is troubling and why I wouldn't buy this is that the only memory expansion you can use is the Sony Memory Stick - a proprietary memory device. What this says to me is that Sony wants to control the price of any future add-ons for the phone and that, in all likelihood, they're going to consistently steal my money! In some instances, you're forced to deal with proprietary formats due to lack of other choices, but in this case, I'm sure I'll be able to find a PDA/phone that uses SD or MMC.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
Looks good but is it the killer app that the industry is looking for to drive sales for new devices?
With the economy still in the crapper it's gonna take a real killer "gotta have" device to make people shell out some dough right now
All the best,
--Bob
I was originally going to be posting about how that's an insane price to pay for a cellphone, but after reading the review...
damn, that thing looks cool, not just in appearance, but feature-wise as well.
It still seems to be something of a steep price to pay for an integrated cellphone / pda (after not having a cell phone since getting rid of my TracFone last year, any price seems too steep for me), but it's still very interesting, and I wouldn't complain if one found it's way into my pocket.
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
Can I connect it with my Linux box?
Check to see if you have GSM service It is pretty spotty in the US right now
Free cell phone tracking
That would be like a nerd's dream. Run a web server on your PDA..
Oh wait.
You CAN!
According to The Register you will be able to download Opera for the P800 on Monday. Sounds cool, but I wonder about how the web will look on such a small screen?
Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think. --Niels Bohr
Remeber the P800 is a completely different architecture and OS to the T68m/i
That - or you're just a no-fun person. :\
Each to his own, so try not to judge people...
To make the connection would involve only a small amount of code so why not? While they are at it, an FM radio is a nice (but largely ignored) touch. Also something that I have yet to see in a phone is universal remote control features for your television and stereo systems etc.
All in all the 3 very useful features (IMO) would probably cost less than $30 to include in a $650 phone.
-------
Interior design making Australia look flashy.
It's so cool that Opera is about to realease a P-800 version of their webbrowser...
1 /
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2003/02/1
...there was a contest about what kind of application should be written for this phone. I think the prize was $500 and a P800. However, the development kit for this phone is $1500 (if I am not mistaken).
One of my colleagues (an UPX developer), suggested to use UPX to compess the applications. According to him, the executable header looks quite similar to the format used by Windows. Unfortunately, because of lack of support he was unable to complete his idea.
Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer. - Ludwig von Mises
Quote from the description:
Just in case the camera isn't entertainment enough, the P800 comes fully equipped with games, a video clip viewer and enough customizable features to keep you happy for weeks
Wow, I can be entertained for weeks! And for only $650 US. What a bargain.
Yeah, why not just carry a plastic replica if you want something that looks cool. Too small for a PDA, too large for a phone.
I've been using a wireless bluetooth headset for the last month or two, and this is a much better indicator of the future of mobile phones.
Split the headset from the phone, and you get something more practical: a larger box that can do more and that you do not have to lift to your ear like a small well-designed brick.
And... which you can actually write on with your stylus while you are making a call.
Sig for sale or rent. One previous user. Inquire within.
I think Sony/Ericsson are offering pretty good mobile phones.
But, sadly, my t29w need to be replaced and I need to geet a new one.
I loved the t29 for it's size. That's what I need....a phone that can fit in my poker and I forget about it.
The T39 is already out of the market and not easy to find.
An ericsson employee told me the T39 was a brain cooker....still, I want it.
The T68i is simply too expensive and the T800 is too big.
I want : small, fast, simple, long battery and cheap. + bluetooth.
Any other good alternative?
I know exactly where Taco is coming from, but I got the T68i anyway, because it was only $25 after rebate from Amazon. Now, you can get it for free(after rebates).
I don't know where the other complaints about the phone here are coming from. Mine gets great reception, doesn't take 2 seconds to pull up the address book (it is slow, but not 2 seconds slow), and the way it syncs with my PowerBook over Bluetooth and iSync is a dream come true. I see other people carrying Palms and Handsprings and feel sorry for them having to carry bricks around in their pocket. Anyway, enough advertising. Just trying to balance out the reviews I've seen posted so far....
Boom Shanka
Microsoft is also trying to catch by releasing the Pocket PC Phone Edition:c /learnmore /phoneedition/default.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketp
After using the Qtek 1010 for a couple of weeks my impression is that they stressed out this product on the market. The UI and functionality of the phone and GPRS part is just crap compared to a traditional mobile phone. Though its cool with IRC and ICQ on my phone using GPRS (pay per kb), but its too unstable and buggy to be used as your primary phone.
If that kind of money for a phone/gadget seems reasonable to you, your priorities are seriously out of whack.
Oh, and by not buying crap like that, I'll be retiring far, far before you do.
I can't wait to read MSN in Swedish chef on my P800!
This page has a bunch of Sony Ericsson forums and review links. Pretty good info about this.
Can't these geniuses come out with something that isn't geared towards traveling sales people with top level salaries/commissions?
-- Knuckle Blood : Official Lube of Team Rusty Nuts.
To get back on subject the P800 is a really cool phone, a bit large perhaps but the best smartphone I've tried so far. The camera has really good quality and the phone has fast enough CPU to give smooth frames per secons - not at all like other cameras in phones if you've tried them.
If only the P800 could sync with iSync I'd get one today.
Ciryon
Oh... I thought you said "TI 86"...
I'm using a T68m (Classic ?) which over here in the UK actually has the updated T68i (buggy organiser) software on it.
... for the price of a T68m. The shop wanted £149 upgrade for the T68i and they didn't have any it stock, so the T68m was £49 and they did have it in stock.
:-)
So I actually have a T68i
Apparently the only difference between the T68i and the T68m is the colour of the bit of plastic around the keys. (Didn't want bloody gold anyway
Anyhow, its a pretty good phone, no reception problems here.. bluetooth works well (linux cnx too), IrDA works. The only thing I want now is the polyphonic ringtones... But i have a few of those in the office (Nokia 7210, Siemens S55, Nokia 7650) for testing, T68 screen is better.
Cpt Kirk
--- Did I say that ?
The official gsm site and maps is at: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtm l
--
This sig is inoffensive.
I agree that the T68 takes 2-3 seconds just to open the address book. However, this is not the case on the T68i model. The 'i' model is considerably faster for all the menu operations, typing, and just about everything else. I don't know whether they improved the software or the hardware, but I like it much more than the old T68.
I have owned a T68i for 5 months, and I must say it is the worst purchase I have ever made. I cannot believe Sony is ruining their brand name with such an awful product. The reception is terrible, the UI is awful, the speed at which it responds to anything is horrendous. Unfortunately due to my contract I have to wait another 7 months before I can get a replacement.
The reviews for the T68i are obviously done by people who do not actually use phones. Superficially it is very light, has fairly good battery life and a good feature set. Trying to make a call from it is awful. For some reason the sequence to lock the phones keypad is different from the sequence to unlock it. In fact, the sequence to lock it regularly deletes numbers from my phone book, because it is the same sequence (clear and then yes). Even when locked the phone can be turned off by accident.
The only thing I have ever seen with a worse UI, is the communicam I mistakenly bought to test a friends website (http://www.phlog.net). This camera is unusable. Its no good for anything. I tried wedging a door open with it and it wasn't even any good for that. Sometimes things are so bad they're funny... unfortunately this phone even surpasses that level of "badness".
I know various people with this phone and they all hate it. They all have the same problems.
I can only think that any other phone in there product line is going to be just as bad, as they have zero idea on how to program an interface. The 68i was supposed to be an improvement over the T68. It wasn't.
I really could go on for a long time, but there's probably better things you could all be doing that reading my post.
Just make sure you don't buy a T68i, and please talk to a serious phone user who already has the P800 before purchasing it.
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Unable to connect!
I'll also add that I don't have a small address book either. Mine contains 150 something addresses. I transferred all of them from my palm. It's pretty much "instant" when I browse the addresses...
Does it run Java? That's the question
So far, I've been most impressed with the Danger Hiptop. It's not color but has a real crisp greyscale display. It's Java based and a SDK should be available soon. True desktop syncing with your PIM should be here shortly too, but the export to the T-Mobile website isn't too bad. It's been available for as little as $50 with rebates recently. It has it's own mail and can check other POP accounts (and IMAP in a limited/unsupported fashion), you can browse regular websites, it does AIM and overall can be considered a consumer version of the Blackberry.
Another device to consider if you're a CDMA fan (Sprint & Verizon) is the Kyocera QCP-7135. I don't have an eval unit yet as Verizon hasn't certified it yet, but it looks to be one of the best Palm/phone combos.
It'll be nice to finally see a P800 after all this hype, but there are other good options now.
Once you lick the lollipop of mediocrity, you'll suck forever!
I know someone who works at Symbian, and he gets all the phones to test before they are released. In November I think, he had a P800 with him, and I had a play... and I thought generally, it was a very nice piece of kit.
The thing that I think I was most impressed with was the handwriting recognition. I have really bad writing, and I've never liked any of the funny "Graffiti" methods or anything. All this had was some different strokes for "i" and punctuation really. But it works, quickly and reliably on my writing. That is very cool...
ALso, if you do lose the stylus, at a pinch, your finger works. And you can ditch the flip keyboard and leave it off, since all it does is press the touch screen. I thought it was a good idea doing this.
Still, I would never get one. I'm happy with my Trium 110, which does all I want it to, has two games which are better than other phones (useful for boredom on tube), and the battery lasts ages. It's taken a good hammering now as well, and works fine.
mobiledia also has a good review of the P800, among other phones at: http://www.mobiledia.com/reviews/sonyericsson/p800 /page1.html
after reading both of these, i am seriously considering getting this phone. saving money itching to replace my current POS.
With ANY new tech gizmo article, there's stuff like "I'm going out to buy it", "I already have it" or "I've been lusting over this". It's never "I hate this shit, I'll never buy it". Maybe the bad ones never make it to the front page then. I don't know.
See screenshots here:
http://www.esato.com/reviews/opera.php
It's got a killer color screen, an excellent keyboard that works really well, it runs every Palm 3.5 app I've tried on it, and it fits comfortably in my pocket.
SMS, e-mail, browsing the real web, excellent calendar and contact management. The only things it lacks are:
Expansion slot.
Bluetooth.
Better sound support (for music playback).
But if you really need a wireless productivity tool in your pocket, this is the only option. Palm Pilot, Blackberry, and cell phone, all in one.
And no, I don't work for Handspring :-)!
Alright, is this just the coolest phone accessory? A phone with a friggin' laserbeam?
OK, yeah, maybe not...
All I really want is a goddamn phone. I like my Palm just the way it is. And my camera.
... none of you, because then when the next-big-thing comes along, you couldn't change just that one piece. When surround sound came out, I bought a new receiver, and then slowly added more speakers. I just bought a new DTS receiver, and guess what ... my speakers, DVD player, VCR, CD player, and TV all work just fine with it. I looked at some of the all-in-one units and they stunk. They were all missing features that I could only get my buying the individual components.
.. I'll admit the cheap TV/DVD over the hot tub is kinda cool, but you only use it a couple of times a week and can live without all the neat features. You wouldn't watch The Matrix on it, would you??
.. phone company...sell me a phone to make phone calls. I'll take care of finding the best for the rest.
Did you ever notice that most cell phone commercials now don't even talk about the PHONE!!!! All I really need from my cell phone I got in the cheapest one out there. Then I bought a serial cable so I can upload/download phone numbers a couple of times a month. Sure, USB or Bluetooth would be nice, but data really doesn't change that much.
What is with all this "Let's put everything into one device" anyway. How many of you geeks buy all-in-one entertainment systems? Or TVs w/VCRs and DVDs in them?
Answer
OK
So
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
I've only had my P800 for a week. It is the Swedish release model with the most currunt stable rom. Overall I find the phone to be everything expected and a bit more.
... whoa that was longer than I expected and now the Good:
.mod files to announce calls or alerts. ...!
First the bad:
* It is heavier than many of the current cellphones out and has larger dimensions. While it still fits in a pocket it feels like you are carrying a phone from '99.
* Because you can install any number of random apps from the world the stability can be suspect thanks to installing some garbage (there is a signing feature but I have yet to see any signed apps).
* The flip keypad actually just presses the screen. There are reports in the wild of people slapping the buttons hard and ruining their LCD screens.
* The preferences are in silly locations, go ahead try finding where you change the tone for message alerts.
* Doesn't seem to be a bluetooth networking protocol stack built in despite what some people have claimed.
* The vibration isn't impressive for a phone of this size. My pager can outshake it any day of the week.
* Reception is much better than the t68i but still seems prone to signal fade (then again maybe this is just something that happens extremely often with GPRS in tall cities).
* All of the buttons are very small.
* There doesn't seem to be a built in way to disable or reprogram the hard buttons on the right side of the unit (camera, internet).
* You can use the jog dial to select and go into things but there isn't a hard button to back out, you must use the LCD.
* Navigation of the phone without looking at it is nearly impossible.
* Limited size and proprietary nature of Sony memory expansion.
* Requires Outlook/Notes for address book sync.
* Expensive dev kit for creating native Symbian apps.
* Oh Jesus, it is damn sexy.
* Very powerful, one of the included games is a rather bland race car game that you can play networked. What is impressive about it is that it is all shaded polygons similiar to what one would see on the 1st gen of Atari Jaguar games. Nothing too special really but when it is in the palm of your hand, awesome.
* The camera is much better than any one inclued in any cellphone so far. The max resolution is 640x480, there is no flash, but the camera seems to take pretty decent pictures. Comparable to any of the $75-$100 digital cams one can currently purchase.
* You can use practically anything for a ringtone. In some strange conspiracy it seems to only not support using
* Syncing (if you have msoft products) works well. Just hook up the phone and go. Combine with an external sync program like trusync and syncing through outlook to your favourite web service is a breeze.
* Practically every midlet I have tried on it works.
* Ports of games like DOOM and the emulator MAME if you are into that sort of thing. While they work I've found MAME to be more of a showoff than usable to play games. The stylus just doesn't lend itself to old arcade games.
* The screen is bright and the clarity kicks ass.
* Phone comes with 12meg Internal and one 16Meg stick, that holds a lot of stuff if you aren't trying to fill it full of mp3s.
* Included headset (headphone/microphone) have suprisingly good sound.
* Handwriting recognition is fast, accurate and easy to get used to.
* Support for POP/IMAP. This is probably my favourite feature of the phone, there is something just damn cool about having the phone pulling your email for you every hour or so and replying wherever you are.
* SMS becomes insanely more easy when you can just write out your responses.
* Played with a beta of the Opera browser which comes out on Monday. It is a *real* browser in your hand.
* Bluetooth file transfers with laptops seem to work well as does moving files from phone to phone. I can not get bluetooth syncing to work.
* Did I mention it was sexy?
* Speakerphone quality is amazing (and very loud).
* In fact the phone is *very* loud. You can play an MP3 loud enough for an entire room to hear.
* Easy to assign pictures to any contact info.
* Quickdial screen features icons of pictures for your friends/family. Nothing like just touching someone's face to call them.
* IRDA works.
* Flight mode.
* Better than expected battery life for such a complex device.
* Great sound quality in calls.
*
Okay I am tired. Suffice to say even with the downsides this is by *far* the best integrated solution to come along.
--- I do not moderate.
You're a phone? Good. Be a phone. Provide access to the (telephone) network (voice and data; WAP, GPRS, 3G, WiFi, etc.). Speak Bluetooth.
You're a PDA? Good. Be a PDA. Provide me with a calendar, appointments, contacts, etc. Speak Bluetooth. Speak to the phone, when I want to call one of my contacts, write SMS messages, or browse the web (WAP, GPRS, 3G, WiFi, what do you care, that's the PHONE's decision!)
You're a hands-free/headset? Good. Be a headset. (Be stereo, please!) Be very lightweight, use in-ear microphones. Speak Bluetooth. Speak Bluetooth to the PDA who'll be streaming you MP3s. Speak Bluetooth to the phone who'll interrupt the MP3s when I get an incoming call - or when I make an outgoing one.
Go further - think big. PA (Tannoy) systems should speak Bluetooth. My PDA knows which train I'm taking home - if the PA system is about to make an announcement regarding my train, mute my MP3s. If I'm on the phone, record the announcement and play it back when I hang up. (TiVo in your pocket, woo!)
We've only scratched the surface - Bluetooth is the enabler - but we should be thinking WAY beoynd "Oh yeah, Bluetooth headsets, that's neat." I for one DEMAND that whole "personal network" of gadgets I've been promised for so long!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't AU the ancient Sun audio format? I find it odd that they advertise support for that, but don't mention Ogg support at all.
And, as for cameras, even with the small image sensors of digital cameras you need quite a large zoom lens for good pictures. To me it makes sense for someone to produce a good quality camera for which you can use your PDA as the monitor screen, something better than the optically poor add-ons we have seen so far.
It seems sensible to optimise the gadget for its function and enable the gadgets to talk.
If they also had a common battery charger and interchangeable battery, I guess that would be functionality heaven. Your PDA would be able to use expensive mobile phone connectivity only when necessary, otherwise using the local wireless network: I can't see a phone manufacturer wanting to allow that any time soon. So, although this thing looks like a v. cool gadget, I remain unconvinced.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
and it's painfull watching him use it.
He's left handed, so I don't know if that's the main cause of the problems.
1: there's no way to setup the UI for left handed people e.g. scroll bar on the left so you don't cover everything up with your hand.
2: It takes him ages to input text, with lots of errors
on the good side, the developer kit he got looks quite good, and the interface isn't that bad (apart from 1 and 2).
I'm going to stick to a keypad for now, my handwritings so bad even I can't read it.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I have a Palm Tungsten T with Bluetooth. There are several small Bluetooth-based headsets (or, if I'm in a less tech-minded mood, plugin headphones into the T|T and use the builtin mic).
The phone I want is stripped down to very little... A small black box that has Bluetooth and perhaps a numeric keypad for quick dialing if the Palm is not at hand (where it should always be). I don't really want to know I'm carrying it.
Or even an SD card that I shove into the Palm T|T. Then the "phone" doesn't need to provide its own power or Bluetooth; it leeches from and funnels through the Palm.
Gimme gimme gimme...
The P800 is already old. Why post an article about an old phone? This one will be WAY cooler:
Neonode N1.
Hey, nice link, brainiac.
We need the phone manufacturers to stop seducing us geeks with all the sexy little features (camera, games, MMS) and focus on making phones that do what phones should - make calls, quickly and reliably. Maybe then the service providers could work on their quality of service, rather than wasting all their techs on fancy new features we don't need.
BTW, I have a T68i and I'll never buy another Sony Ericsson until they fix the stupid interface lag.
AND IT'S GREAT! There is no need for anything else, throw those other phones away and do same to any other PDA-device.
It is the ultimate machine for everyone!
Just get one and You will be pleased.
I'm about to get a 12" Powerbook (please, no flames, just bear with me) and it BT enabled. I'm also going to probably get a Tungsten T for my wife. I'm in the US and I'm currently using a Nokia 3300 on the Cingular vanilla network. What is the *cheapest* option to get a bluetooth enabled phone working on either the Cingular vanilla US network, or another network? I'd like to use this phone as a wireless modem for my laptop/palm, I don't care about color, camera, etc. on the phone.
I ask this because it's seems that current BT phones are prohibitavely expensive due to all the extra features. Is this just a pipe dream?
TIA
If I were to purchase one for use with one network provider, what information do I need to get in hand to ensure that they don't lock it to their service? It's my understanding that many of the newer units work on multiple networks, so long as you retain one of the codes used when they configure the phone.
At this price, I'd want to ensure that the phone's sale was contingent on my getting that code. I don't think many cellular resellers would hold back on that if it makes the difference of their getting a commission or not.
Where you located? I had Sprint PCS for 5 years and when I moved to So Cal, I had *no* reception in my apartment, but the GSM phones seemed to work, so I went with TMobile and life is good again. Oddly enough, AT&T works the best at my apartment, then my T68i/Tmobile, then Cingular, even though its all same protocol, and I thought Cingular and Tmobile piggy back on each others towers (AT&T might be in on that too, not for sure though).
It gets less reception then my Sprint phone at work, but never dropped a call yet.
So point is, its probably just a problem in your location, the sad fact is the reception varies per provider in the same areas, so if your used to something else thats better and you switch and the new one sucks, well, return it, almost all providers have 14 day full refund return policies.
I just spent a week in Europe playing (well, working, really) with the t68i, P800, SPV and GX10, and I like the GX10 best, hands down.
The screen on the T68 series sucks, badly. The joystick moves when I want to click, and clicks when I want to move.
The SPV (Orange only, AFAIK) runs some form of windows, and it sucked... It *crashed* constantly, and the menu layout and function navigation was terrible. F'rinstance, from reading an SMS, it took no fewer than for navigation steps to change from one folder (eg. inbox) to another.
The GX-10 has a great screen, intuitive navigation interface, easy camera functionality, great form factor, great controls, and was the easiest to configure and use. My only carp is that it's not great on memory - it refused to download MMS messages that the t68 had no problem with (but that may be due to greater color depth - 68k colors vs. 4096)
* Requires Outlook/Notes for address book sync
Whaa?
You mean it doesn't support syncml, ala iSync and the T68 series?
That'd be mighty stupid if they didn't.. Is there even a bluetooth/syncml plugin for any of the main linux PIMs?
Is it just me, or do these groups currently making web clients, still slogging at it in spite of the apparent revenue conundrum, seem to have serious balls of steel?
...
"Small-screen rendering"? For some reason, that just seems brilliant in every possible way.
Man, I suddenly have a lot more respect for these guys and what they're going up against. Opera, Gecko, Microsoft, etc. What are there now, probably *15* different 'browser' projects? Whoa!
And when I see shit like this on a P800, it re-affirms that respect. There's still a *lot* of sway left in this browser market it appears!
It does have to be said that there seems to be *some* sort of mis-direction occurring in the browser arena, though.
These cool features, and the kind of spirited thinking behind it, seems to me to be seriously lagging. Why am I so surprised? Because I'm down on the whole browser thing.
I feel like we've gone off into chase-the-pretty-media land in rendering terms, instead of addressing the issues which make the 'manage-our-collective-knowledge' a daily grind.
(Who do we thank for that this week, Apple or Microsoft?)
Browsers, feature-wise, are still incredibly crap to use frequently.
+Google happens because of -Bookmarks.
For heavens sake, we've still got a 'menu' for our bookmarks as standard in most browsers - oh, wait, we can put them in 'folders', thanks for that metaphor
That no single web vendor has bothered to fix this massive oversight, or that I am too browser-bound to give a shit to find out if other browsers -have- solved this problem, just seems to indicate that, in fact, The Browser War is not over.
Cool!
(I remember when 'http' was something you only saw on a gopher server.)
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Damn:
..."
"... single web browser vendor has bothered to fix
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
My first cell phone was a digital PCS phone in good 'ole Washington DC. Sprint Spectrum was the first commercial PCS based services in USA, using GSM equipment. I believe they got a jump on other PCS based services because the technology was well proven in Europe at that point. Within 2 years I could use it anywhere I traveled on business. Generally good reception everywhere I went.
About two years after that Sprint "upgraded" me to CDMA based equipment as part of the Sprint PCS service. I was told that CDMA was superior to GSM and that everyone was going this way except Europe. Sprint actually sold the GSM network to Voice Stream (or something that eventually became Voice Stream) where I assume it still exists.
And I was moved to the overcrowded CDMA network that was built on leased network towers and equipment, not the owned equipment of Sprint Spectrum. My experience was many more dropped calls between cells, poorer customer service, and "signal lost" messages on my phone.
If coverage is "spotty", it probably represents a reduction of the GSM networks as opposed to a "not build yet" of the networks.
Sleep is for the Weak
According to another Infosync article, someone has allready ported Doom to the P800. I would love to provide a link, but Infosync appears slashdotted. :) Wait until the dust settles, and search for P800 Doom on infosync, and I'm pretty sure you'll find it.
In the UK, and in most other European countries, in order to get their licenses from the local equivelents of the FCC, it was mandatory for the cellular carriers to offer coverage for the entire country.
And YES that DOES include the non-urban areas!
Our own FCC just doesn't have the balls to stand up to, and regulate, US telecomms corperations. So from a European (And others, Japan for instance.) point of view, the US's real (Sorry, AMPS and other obsolete garbage don't count, G2 and G3 GSM are where it's at.) cellular network IS tiny, and pretty damn ass-backwards.
The standard-issue America-bashing does grate on ME a bit too. But really... our cellular system really *IS* backwards compared to Europe. And it's positively neolithic compared to Japan's.
cya,
john
Imagine all the people...
Oh... I thought you said "TI 994A"
I have been searching over the net for the past three months trying to find what the "Memory Stick Duo" format is.
I know it's a Memory stick, and it's smaller than the "common" memory stick, but.. the question is: Are they compatible?
I mean, can I just slide my (expensive for me) 128Mb Memory Stick inside the MSDuo slot (and getting it out a bit, like inserting Gameboy carts inside a Gameboy Advande), and will it work???
I just want to share my "stock" MS I use for my Clie and my Cybershot with the phone.
Does anyone know something about this matter?
Yes this is a decently cool phone, but I have been quite disappointed with it's reception as well as it's bugginess. Seems to turn off quite often. Not something to lust after imo. I'd wait for the p800 if I was you.
True there are some issues with it and T-Mobile US's network but as they release it in the US I imagine they will clear up. I was previously using a Treo 270. The only thing I really miss is the ease and speed of the keyboard entry on the Treo. The handwriting recognition on the P800 is good, but I can "thumb-type" much faster. That and missing a few apps like vindigo. The applications should start appearing now though...finally an ICQ clone client came out and with the publishing of the Opera browser (it is actually out now on Sony Ericsson's download site for the P800) it is getting there. The speaker phone is much much better than on the Treo and it nicely plays MP3, WAV, MIDI, etc on the P800 (as well as for ringtones!).
The GPRS speed (when used as a modem for a laptop via bluetooth) is pretty close to a PC card GPRS modem. Not quite there, but close. I got 36kb/s with the P800 as a modem, but could get 39kb/s with my Sierra AirCard (and they use compression as well on the aircard).
The size is larger than most phones (a bit smaller than an old Nokia 6190 and a bit wider), but the phone itself has an excellent "feel" to it and fits well. It has a good phone weight if that is a description. Feels confortable like a regular land line phone, but is still light and portable.
The price is high for a SIM free version ($650 preorder from SE US), but I would imagine subsidized versions will come out soon from T-Mobile and AT&T.
Overall it is a much nicer phone than the treo and has better integration, but the treo is a bit nicer PDA (due to a huge application base and keyboard). If you have the cash definately pick one up, if you just want a mobile phone that makes calls and no more then this isn't the phone for you.
-xen
-Xen
Haven't heard any mention about how the screen will survive the inevitable rough and tumble of your average night out. I currently have a Siemens SL45i which has a scratch resistant coating on the screen which helps against the odd drop. Nights out are expensive enough as it is without having to buy yourself a new one of these the next morning as well.
There is more differences between the "m" and the "i".
1) The "i" has got more user memory
2) The T9 and menus is faster on "i" compared to an upgraded "m".
+ the other things mentioned
I recently sold my old T68i and bought this P800. I think it is the best PDA+phone combo available now. The others are too big, clumsy and will make people around stare at you with funny look. OK, maybe the new Kyocera is OK too, but it is not GSM.
:(
Now the sad parts. There are a few things that I miss a lot from the old phone:
- decent battery life. the old t68i can run for more than 2 days with a single charge with both irda and bluetooth always on! this thing can't survive half a day with those on. (but maybe this is because I only have it for 2 days, the battery is not at full potential yet, according to the manual. I hope so)
- SMS delivery status report. P800 doesn't have this yet
Its quite possible that TMO and Cingular colocate on a tower.. they are really into cooperating these days.. but seriously doubt taht ATT and Cingular will have anythign to do with each other, they are bitter rivals... just 2 cents from someone in the biz.
Anyone knows if it supports secure pop3/imap? I couldn't find anything about those and I don't feel confortable with them passwords flying around :) I saw the browser can do ssl/tls but there was no mention of secure mail.
Thanks in advance.
> * You can use the jog dial to select and go into things but there isn't a hard button to back out, you must use the LCD.
We have a P800 for development here at the office.
The jog dial goes in *five* directions 8|...
You can back out of any menu by pushing the jog dial backwards (to the back of the case). It's not readily apparent, but really handy once you figure it out...
As an aside, pushing the jog dial forward can pop up context sensitive menus... pretty cool, i only hope the jog dial is sturdy enough for prolonged usage considering the number of directions it goes in.
So this thing exists as a mobile media center, ready for us to pop up the jpgs of our kids on the the screen rather than pull a wallet photo out. I admit it makes sense, and I do it all the time on my Pocket PC, but not on a 4096 color screen! What was Sony thinking? This reminds of all of the Handspring and Palm handhelds that had limited color screens that were condidered insufficient - and that was 2-3 years ago. Today people's standard of comparison is an Ipaq color screen, transflective, well lit, with 65k colors. To produce an expensive competitor with "media" pretensions but a much more limited screen doesn't make sense to me at all
Either the article grabs a fresh Slashdot page periodically, or they JUST put it up.
Guess somethimes there is fresh info on Slashdot ;-P
The article says that the P800 uses SyncML, so I can't see any reason why iSync wouldn't support it at some point.
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