I’m sad to say I won’t be able to comment on the email functions of the phone. I’m not a BB user so push email and things I know nothing about. Maybe one day when my job starts paying for my data I’ll dabble into it so for now I’ll review this mainly as a phone and discuss the things I find interesting or worth commenting on.
Build quality/design
The phone is pretty thin, solid and has pretty much no creaking or squeaking. I’m sure over time though the battery cover will require a little wedge of business card to hold it firm. (Seriously, will they ever solve this mystery) Everyone keeps telling me it looks like a calculator but I think it’s pretty slick looking especially in white.
On the left you have the scroll wheel. It’s 3-way jog dial. My first complaint, they should have stuck with a 5-way jog dial ala p8/9 series because it gives you more options for usage. The 3-way requires you to move around the phone a lot more. Touch the screen or the keypad for certain functions. They have also incorporated the famous back button on the side. You know the one that 90% of new SE users complain about re: there’s no send end buttons just some weird back arrow. I can say it’s incorporated nicely and works quite well. Hold back to go to the main screen or press once to go back one menu screen like back on your browser. The scroll wheel is also a little too recessed and not exposed enough and sometimes gives the feeling of unresponsiveness.
The keypad is a unique design, the keys are made with a hard plastic, it’s a full qwerty keypad and you just lean your thumb left or right to pick the letter you want. Now, I’m not a huge qwerty fan. But I’ve tried my fair share of qwerty phones. There’s a bit of a learning curve I’d say (or comfort zone). I first I hated the keypad but now I find it a breeze to use. It’s very responsive and all the keys have a satisfying click.
Might be too small for some users, I’ve been using the e61 lately and I think people will like the conventional qwerty much more.
Voice quality and reception
Well SE decided to leave out the 850 and edge so it obviously will not appeal to the north America 850 freaks. It’s triband with 3g. So far I’d have to say the rf is solid on this phone. The bars fluctuate like crazy (typical SE style) but it seems to have solid rf on the 1900 channel. I’ve noticed that triband with 3g generally have pretty strong antennas. (The v3x, the k608i, w900i and sharp 903sh all rock solid in rf. I don’t go through any intense testing but so far where I’ve been it’s been fine.
Voice quality is excellent, has a better balance in tones compared to my w810i. Earpiece is fairly loud. Paired perfectly with my jx-10 and seems to give the general performance as most of my SE phones.
UI/screen/performance
I guess this is where the main focus will be since it’s a new UIQ version.
Just a quick comment on the screen, my first impression was a positive one. (after I ripped off that damn screen protector.. they just violate the beauty of a phone.) The screen is nice and vibrant. I don’t know what it is about SE but the way these use icons and stuff really appeal to me. Even though they’re not using the best screens compared to others they certainly pack a nice wow factor. People have complained about the screen in daylight and in general I would have to agree it’s not the best, with a good contrasting theme its ok at best. Not nearly as good as the k790/e61/n73/n80 I’ve used.
Right way the shortcut bar on the bottom sticks out. It’s a SE version of apple’s dock I guess. Nice bubbly icons. They are preset but you can change to based on your preferences and customize to your liking to the apps of your choice.
There is also the today screen that can be expanded to sure you calendar notes etc..etc..
I got everything to sync..contacts, notes, tasks and calendar via the PC suite against outlook 2003.
The menu layout seems decent but it did take some time to find a few things. I’m using the latest firmware and have tried previous versions and it’s still a bit rocky. Phone is generally a bit slow and seems to lack the processing power. Random lags and stutters seem to be quite common… with a new UI I expect problems but a little disappointing nevertheless.
The multitasking seems pretty solid in the device though, the task manager is handy and gives good control. My biggest complaint is none of the apps really close until you go to the task manager to close the app. I understand the reasoning but I think every app should have an EXIT/CLOSE option instead of making me go to the task manager to close the app.
You can change the layout from grid to list and create new folders to store things. Some icons cannot be moved though but the layout is pretty logical
I think most people will complain about having to do too many things in too many different places to get the job done. It seems the UI requires you to scroll the wheel, touch the screen and touch the keypad to get everything done. There’s just not enough commitment to operating the device only using the scroll wheel and I think that’s the biggest flaw. Come to think of it maybe they should just scrap the scroll wheel and use a dpad/joystick. I’ve gotten quite use to the joystick and dpad of the e61 and treo 650 and find that you can do things faster and better that way. The treo’s combination of dpad and touchscreen in by far the best and I think SE’s UIQ should take a look at why it’s so great to use.
From a 3rd application standpoint UIQ support seems to be lacking the only apps I’ve found to be of interest have been autocam (screen shot) and swiss manager (a better task manager)
Hopefully with the launch of more UIQ phones 3rd party support will increase and we’ll get some useful and fun apps.
Multimedia
The music player seems to be a toned down version of what we’ll be seeing in the w950i
The sound quality is on par with the current SE phones and supports a2dp.
The music list has to be refreshed now to find tracks but you can also apply a filter to sort out ringtones.
I paired it up with my Logitech stereo bt headphones and all the functions worked on the headset. Stop, start, pause, volume up/down change tracks etc..etc…
The video playback seems to be poor so far though. It can’t play the HQ quality MP4 videos that the w900, k800, e61, n73 can with the same quality. There’s occasional stutter in video and audio disconnect. I would hope that SE’s fixes this cause the screen makes the video’s look great.. just they’re not playing smooth. If anything I was hoping with the bigger you would be able to increase the video quality and get an even better experience
Overall
I would say the device is decent. I haven’t played with the p990 yet and I’m very curious to see if the UI is a lot more polished (bugs aside) The UIQ platform has a lot of potential and I hope SE launches more UIQ phones and take a path similar to nokia and s60. I would love to see hardkey style UIQ phones but I don’t know if we will. I think now that the P990 has launched and they got the wifi working we’ll see some nice UIQ phones that are fully loaded in the highend segment.
Either way the new UIQ is a refreshing change that may frustrate some but should lead to a lot more powerful smartphones from the SE line in the future. In other words SE GIVE ME THAT P300 THAT WE’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT FOR OVER 2 YEARS!!! Throw in wifi and 1.3/2.0 af camera and we're good to go!
Random pics
Connected to mps-60
Stylus, m2 card and adaptor
Size comparison
Originally Posted by Wrk_InProgress
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