Sony-Ericsson P900 Released

Good... time to upgrade by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-21 02:39 · Score: 3, Funny

Good... now I finally can replace my old antique P800.

Re:Good... time to upgrade by Basehart · 2003-10-21 04:02 · Score: 2, Funny

All of a sudden my T68i looks like one of those rotary telephones with a crank handle and two big bells on top!

Thanks by tmark · 2003-10-21 02:43 · Score: 4, Funny

Also, to make linux oriented, here is a pice on how it Syncs with Linux

Thank you for that, I had absolutely no interest in reading an article if there isn't some sort of tie-in to Linux.

Re:Thanks by Linuxthess · 2003-10-21 04:54 · Score: 2, Informative

Only Linux?
As a cultured /.'er, the words ogg vorbis probably sends shivers down your spineless back.
Yes, there is ogg vorbis support thru a skinnable app boringly called "Ogg Player". The only downside is that you can't use them as ringtones.
It should also interest you to know that there is a SCUMM emulator port for SymbianOS called escummvm.
The P900 is signifigantly better than the P800. You might even want to say that the P800 was an expensive beta test. The improvements include, but are not limited to:
1- Higher screen resolution
2- Landscape mode
3- Downloadable firmware updates
4- A full length, real stylus
5- A faster processor
6- More internal memory, plus support for Memory Stick Duo Pro
7- Real buttons on the non-removable keypad
8- More glorified business style; it doesnt look like a child's cheesy toy like the P800
9- Has video camera software with sound-in support
10- Includes the latest rev of the UIQ interface
11- Camera now has mirror so you can take self-potraits
All in all, it was an upgrade to the P800, and they were originally going to name it the P810, but marketing thought that this would raise the ire of thousands of P800 who would demand the free upgrades.

--

I sig, therefore I was.

'Death of the PDA?' question revisited. by rastakid · 2003-10-21 02:43 · Score: 3, Interesting

Geez, with this many features one starts to wonder if it's still possible to call with this thing ;-)

Seriously though, this brings back the same question as posed on last Monday, in this article: Death of the PDA?

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In need of reliable and affordable server monitoring?

Re:'Death of the PDA?' question revisited. by macrom · 2003-10-21 03:41 · Score: 2, Interesting

It does make me wonder if a lot of these new phones are designed without American transportation habits in mind (not that the world should cater to our habits, mind you). It seems to me that all of the features on these new "smart" phones cater more to a population that relies on public transporation, ie, someone else is doing the driving.

Personally, I'd rather see phones with more emphasis on less expensive wireless headsets, better voice dialing (the ones I've used all suck) and bigger buttons so you can dial by touch while watching the road. The Nokia 3650 is a good example of a phone not really catered to people who shouldn't look at the phone while dialing.
Re:'Death of the PDA?' question revisited. by Christopher+Bibbs · 2003-10-21 05:05 · Score: 2, Insightful

This isn't the death of the phone, simply a new way of defining it. There was a time when a phone was simply the device to spoke into heard the response. Then they added the ability to dial your party directly. Eventually, we came to accept that this was a standard feature of telephones and part of the definition. Same with touch-tone and memory dial technologies. Now we're expanding the definition to include text messaging, date book functionality, and network access.

The phone won't die, just evolve.

What I like about it by robslimo · 2003-10-21 02:44 · Score: 4, Funny

is that it should easy enough to program to it.

Borland has announced a version of C++ Builder for the Symbian OS, so I should feel right at home. Now, anyone have ideas for a killer app?

Oh, wait. I don't have time for that kind of crap.

Re:What I like about it by MoonFog · 2003-10-21 02:53 · Score: 4, Funny

Now, anyone have ideas for a killer app?

How about creating a Clippy to help people write their SMS.
"It appears u r trying to send an sms, do u w4nt me to check it for mistypings ?"

MP3 support by Dreadlord · 2003-10-21 02:45 · Score: 2, Interesting

What I've found the most interesting after reading the article is MP3 support, both of Nokia's Symbian OS based phones (3650, 7650) don't have it, and it's even more cool to be able to use MP3's as ringtones.

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The IT section color scheme sucks.

Re:MP3 support by n0wak · 2003-10-21 02:56 · Score: 2, Interesting

I assume there'd be a size/length limit to the ringtones, but even then... I can imagine many, many people using Simpsons quotes as their ring tones. As if their constant verbal references aren't enough, we'll have phones saying things like "I bent my wookie!" or "We're sorry, the fingers you are using are too fat." oi.
Re:MP3 support by nahojd · 2003-10-21 03:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

You know, it comes with stereo headphones that also functions as handsfree. And if it works similar to the P800 you can listen to music on it for hours without draining the battery. Bottom line, it replaces your mp3 player as well as your PDA.

Nice URL by DrEldarion · 2003-10-21 02:45 · Score: 3, Funny

I misread the URL as my-sybian.com, which made me think this phone must have a really nice feature that makes you WANT to carry it around in your pocket constantly...

-- Dr. Eldarion --

it's as pretty as a bitch, but by Tibor+the+Hun · 2003-10-21 02:45 · Score: 2, Interesting

how long can the battery last? i have my cell phone running pretty dark and quiet, and it still drains power like mad.

if one was to use this as advertised, what could we expect in terms of battery life before having to recharge it?

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If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.

Palm is dead in the water by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-21 02:46 · Score: 2, Interesting

with devices that look this good with that amount of functionality to boot, iam sure there are some worried faces in Palm computing

services in the u.s. by simpl3x · 2003-10-21 02:47 · Score: 2, Interesting

does anybody use the p800 with services in the us? i assume these would be t-mobile and att&t. the p900 is supposed to be available here in january, but i have never seen anybody with a p800.

i imagine that the linux version would be a requirement for the chinese market, since thay have a chinese specific version--p908. apple needs to get itunes (lite where required) everwhere, including linux and devices. beat sony to the punch with their mobile initiatives.

more memory would have been nice!

Re:services in the u.s. by 4iedBandit · 2003-10-21 03:02 · Score: 5, Informative

I have a P800 with T-mobile in the US. They don't officially support the phone, but then again I don't care. I just want the service. The phone is GSM/GPRS, so all T-Mobile does is activate the service. I took the SIM card out of the free phone they gave me, plopped it into the P800 and it works like a charm.

I've been impressed with T-Mobile's coverage, compared to Nextel which was my previous provider.

It sync's to my work laptop and lotus notes, and also to my home Mac's without a problem. Bluetooth is fantastic too. I have a wireless headset that alone is worth the price of the phone. I love doing conference calls with both hands free.

Battery life is phenominal. Sony rates it as 13 hour of TALK time. I've used it heavily and only gotten it down to half a charge with a full day's use. My Nextel phone would give up the ghost after just one, two hour conference call.

The P900 looks nice and some nifty features, but I'm not going to buy it for mostly cosmetic features like theme support. Although if anything happens to my P800, I'd buy a P900 without a second thought.

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"The avalanch has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote." -Kosh

4 days by RMH101 · 2003-10-21 02:53 · Score: 4, Funny

if it's anything like the P800. and it *is* like the P800.
when you first get it, you'll get a day's life, then when the novelty of all the toys wear off and you're just using it for the odd call, reading slashdot whilst on the motorway, and then taking pictures of the ensuing pileup and mailing them to "America's Dumbest Road Users" you'll get more like 4-5 days worth.

Best hybrid device yet? by Dynamoo · 2003-10-21 03:10 · Score: 3, Informative

Is this the best hybrid device yet? To quote from elsewhere..

The large screen and powerful processor on the Sony Ericsson P900 make it a great games platform too. The screen has 80% more pixels than the Nokia N-Gage offering better gameplay.

It's quite a large phone overall, but the Sony Ericsson P900 does have excellent battery life, with a maximum of 16 hours talk time and 20 days standby. The large screen on the P900 makes it ideal for organising data, appointments and contacts. The Sony Ericsson P900's PDA functions run on the Symbian OS, to give maximum performance from a mobile device.

Plus it plays MP3s, and with 128Mb memory sticks that should squeeze two full CDs into the P900.

I guess it's pretty good for a Symbian PDA/phone. However, the real competition might come from devices like the Voq Professional which has the backing of Micro$oft (and a clever keypad to boot).

All we need now is a decent megapixel digital camera rather than the rather lame 640x480 one in the P900.

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Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com

Pricepoint by W33dz · 2003-10-21 03:10 · Score: 3, Interesting

Ok...it is way cool.
But how much is the damn thing going to cost me?

--
We are Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.

Yikes.. by thatguywhoiam · 2003-10-21 03:13 · Score: 4, Insightful

Anyone else starting to get nervous about carting around all this expensive stuff?

On the subway the other day I did a little monetary tally of what I carry around usually.. it adds up quick! Just between my iPod and my phone its almost $1k. I find I have to be extra-careful whenever putting my phone in my pocket, as just dropping the bloody thing would require a 2nd mortgage...

If I add anymore expensive devices, I'm not gonna need a fancy case for the phone, I'm gonna need a fancy case for me.

--
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.

Re:Yikes.. by Jarnis · 2003-10-21 04:03 · Score: 2, Insightful

You americans are slow - in Finland operators are already offering special insurance policies that cover your mega-expensive cellphones against just about everything (including theft, accidental fall off a great height to a concrete surface.. ya name it), with special service to ensure that you get a new phone quickly. Sure, it costs money, but what doesn't?

Anyway, people have also figured out that any good home insurance should cover these things already - check the small print on your policy...

SSH? by sleeeper · 2003-10-21 03:48 · Score: 2, Interesting

I am guessing you can pull up a virtual keyboard, and use an SSH client on this phone. Am I right? Details (i.e., SSH v.2, open source?).

it's time for me to upgrade from p800 to p900 by john_uy · 2003-10-21 04:06 · Score: 4, Informative

can't wait to get on the new phone.

basically, it improves much of the miscomings from the p800 (as a p800 user myself and basing this on reviews.) one drawback would still be the memory stick duo (not sure if it is compatible with the pro.)

but it is a great phone. it is a phone with pda functionalities and not the other way so it is easy to call with it (and it doesn't seem to be very awkward to call like a big pda.) with apps, there are now lots of apps available (both free and commercial) so it levels off with the regular pda.

for those camera freaks, a 640x480 is fine. what do you expect, a 4 megapixel camera fit in a phone with full flash and removable lens? i just want to take a picture anytime and send it to someone like mms or bluetooth. having a very high resolution camera will eat up lots of storage space and will be very difficult to send it to other people (so the camera will no longer work well with mobility) (gprs is already slow in our country, so i don't expect sending someone 400kb image file to be very convenient.)

one thing i like is the ability to play mp3 as alerts over the existing midi and wav combo (and the old formats.)

i don't also need to carry a pda with me (though i did not own one ever because it is pointless to carry too much gadgets in your pocket!)

the keypad also helps to allow you to do things on the go. unlike a pda, it will allow you to type if every you are in a car or something that is moving. as for me, i can send a text message without looking at the screen while crossing the street. time saving.

my last note, it is very helpful to me. i heavily use the calendar, task list and jotter. so i almost never forget anything and keep my schedule organized and allows me to do whatever i still need to do at work (or at home.) bonus is the synchronization with outlook (where the secretary just creates the schedule and i synch the phone to get the updated schedule.) other people will also be able to check my availability. so it increases my productivity.

recommendation, it is a good phone to invest to (unless maybe you already have a pda.) the money i invested in p800 already paid off for me in less than a year (through increased productivity.) i'll just give it to my sister.

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Live your life each day as if it was your last.

sexist image by akb · 2003-10-21 04:07 · Score: 4, Insightful

I was amazed that they included this image in the review. I realize that in technical circles it helps to pander to immature males but that seems to go quite a bit past the usual T and A.

Am I so out of touch that with how sexist the mainstream media has become that that image is acceptable?

Are Java Apps usable ? by OMG · 2003-10-21 04:21 · Score: 2, Interesting

It does support Java, great!
But what does "support mean?

Can I run a Java application (J2ME/MIDP ?) after one or two buttons pressed ? A lot of phones I saw with Java support force you to navigate through dozens of menus until you are able to start a Java application.

Can the application run in the background? What happens if the application runs and the phone rings? If I use it for ICQ or such stuff, do I need to stop the application before beeing able to look at my address book?

Thanks for any insights on these questions.

Re:Best hybrid device yet? Just one deficiency by CowBovNeal · 2003-10-21 04:39 · Score: 2, Interesting

Its camera is not still 640x480.
Sony Ericsson can do better in this dept.

When most people get camera phones, their picture taking interest drops exponentially after the first 1-2 weeks. If the camera resolution is higher(1 megapixel), like the 505i, FOMA terminals that NTTDocomo offers (nttdocomo.com), then it might make the camera offering worthwhile.

Other than that, I'd say its a decent phone.

--
Bush is on fire and its not good for my lungs.

Alloy, hallo by G3ckoG33k · 2003-10-21 04:59 · Score: 2, Informative

The article states: "Although its casing is still made of plastic, it looks like if it was made of aluminium or similiar alloy."

Duh? Since when did aluminum (or aluminium) become an alloy? Bronze, steel, or brass are alloys, but aluminum never was. Yes, aluminum is mostly used in aluminum alloys, but, still...

Hey, this is /., isn't it? ;)

Re:Battery Time by Tony+Hoyle · 2003-10-21 05:12 · Score: 4, Informative

The claimed battery life is a bunch of dingos kidneys.

If you don't use it, and kill every app you don't use (with switcher) you can get 5-7 days of standby time.

If you use it for the occasional phone call that'll drop quite rapidly. A regular user (I call about 10-15 minutes a day) can expect to get up to 72 hours battery life.

If you forget to terminate the apps (or you haven't downloaded switcher) the standby time will rapidly degrade - my wifes hit 3 hours at one point (you could actually watch the battery indicator falling!). Basically the P800 sucks power for every app you've ever run (there's no 'close' in most apps)... I really hope they've fixed that bug!

I've never heard of anyone claiming to get 400 hours out of the thing... I'm surprised they get away with claiming that.

Re:Bleh, too big. by TonkaTown · 2003-10-21 08:02 · Score: 2, Interesting

If you're concerned about phone size then the new generation of Symbian phones are a fair bit smaller than the Nokia 3650.

I wrote about smartphone sizes on Mobitopia the other day with a table of sizes here.

The P900 is slightly smaller than the "elderly" P800, the real surprise is the new Sendo X which is only marginally bigger than a Sony Ericsson T610 and packs far more capabilities.

YES! by RMH101 · 2003-10-21 08:07 · Score: 2, Insightful

i was responding to the previous comment who claimed it ran Windows CE. I *HAVE* a P800, and YES, Symbian is great. WinCE, however, blows goats.

Re:Amazing. Just Amazing. by mabinogi · 2003-10-21 10:52 · Score: 2, Insightful

you know what's truly amazing?

the number of people on the planet with such one dimensional thinking.....

it's truly disturbing.

You do realize, that apart from black and white, there are also an infinite number of shades of grey, and even colours!

In the real world "A" does not imply "!B"
you CAN have both.

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Advanced users are users too!

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