Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid phone, but not perfect, 7 Nov 2007
My previous phone was from the windows mobile stable (an Imate Jam) which ran Windows mobile 5. The SE P1i runs a Symbian platform. This is a lot more stable, but slower in terms of starting and manouvering about applications. Given my familiarity with a Windows interface I miss the ease with which I used to navigate mobile apps such a SMS messages, volume control, etc. The file manager in the Symbian environment is also a lot more restrictive compared to the windows explorer of a windows mobile phone.
The size and feel of the P1i is comfortable with the QWERTY keyboard performing well after I got used to the layout and side key pressing to input a specific letter. The scroll button on the side is also a handy way of navigating around the phone. The on screen keyboard you can tap with the stylus consumes too much of the screen when in use which is not ideal, but useable. Incidentally, the phone comes with a spare stylus, but they are not very robust. My first one lasted less than a day and I am now very careful of the second.
Battery life is acceptable, but far from exceptional. It lasts me just over 2 days without heavy usage and bluetooth/wifi turned off. I play the odd game (lemmings, etc), have several conversations, surf the web with 3G, send a few files over bluetooth and thats about it before having to charge again.
There is a built in 3.2MP camera (with flash) which, customary to Sony Ericsson, provides good quality pictures. The zoom feature is particularly well thought out and adds an extra dimension to picture taking if thats your thing.
Although having wi-fi built in, the downside to this phone is a lack of 3G HSDPA which might be a factor for some people. Although the standard 3G flavour is fine for casual surfing, HSDPA is nice when using the phone to hook a laptop up to the net or such like.
Overall, I would recommend this phone to most people. The build quality is very good and there are a lot of features typical of a Sony Ericsson phone.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly Great, Minor flaws, 8 May 2008
feedback after 5 months of use
Good battery, needs charging twice a week (moderate use)
fantastic wifi, gprs and pop3 email, all easy setup
great keyboard, takes few days to adjust but then no problem whatsoever
good build quality, aesthetically sound
good screen
most problems mentioned in other reviews are manageable from settings e.g automatic lock
buttons are customizable, especially useful the one on right, by default for internet, I use for 'show home screen', so whereevr u are, can dial quickly without pressing many buttons or touching the screen
hardly ever need to use stylus (though I use pretty much everything, text, wifi, bluettoth, email) as U can navigate and return using touch screen with thumb or side buttons
would have been great if there was a red and green call hangup/hard dial keys as in most phones. Otherwise great product very stable
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite a great smartphone, especially if you use Macs, 27 Dec 2007
First impressions of the phone were highly disappointing. Within a couple of days I was pretty much wishing I could ditch the thing. Firstly there was this `combination' of screen and keypad usage that is just not intuitive. But what is intuition other than that based on some element of previous expectation? For example, to answer, mute or end a call, you do not use the hard keys, you press 'sensor' buttons on the touchscreen. Then there was the Mac iSync debacle. Oh yes, a half-hearted attempt at allowing Apples to sync with the phone results in no Task syncing or Notes syncing. So evidently this is a WINDOWS phone. Another initial niggle was the way the calendar does not show a nice `week view' that you can get a quick glance at with vertical days. Its more like a grid view of a week, which isn't ideal to see free slots.
Anyway, as time went on, I began to explore the phone more and here is the result from Luxemborg...
Jog Dial : this has made a welcome return to the P-range, and its almost back to its best. Fabulous. Very useful to quickly navigate the various menus.
Keyboard : this continues to be the WORST part of the phone, its just not quick to use. Sure some people will be able to hit the right side of the rocker switch. But I find that I am hitting neighbouring keys which slows down typing.
SMS : pretty much the same as it was on other UIQ3 phones. The only snag is no t9! Yep, you have to use the QWERTY rocker-switches for everything. urgh.
EMAIL : Ok, so this is getting better. Download from any POP server, download just headers, or download emails smaller than a configurable size. Additionally, the scheduled download of emails is back, so you can grab mails at set `intervals' alas not at specific times. Its easy to read and compose, but I do wish it 'saves' emails frequently - just get a call and sometimes it all vanishes :(
WEB : This is getting better. Based on Opera it has configurable cache, and screen behaviour. The bookmarking is OK, allowing for folders, but you cannot delete the silly pre-set bookmarks. Options to not download images is there, to save on GPRS tariffs.
CALENDAR : The key to a smartphone, and the P1i's weakest feature. Firstly, as the earlier gripe suggests, no easy week-vertical view, as pre in outlook. Secondly, get yourself some meetings and you better remember to silence your phone. Unlike windows smartphones, it does not automatically adjust your profile based on appointments. So you could have your embarrassing ringtone go off in the middle of a key meeting. So its not THAT smart.
TASKS : Oh my, what a disaster. If you want to use your phone to help you Get Things Done, forget it. Go get a Palm or a Treo, this device does not let you manage tasks flexibly. Firstly you have no chance of doing this on a non Windows platform, and secondly you might as well drive from Outlook and not the P1i when you are on Windows. A real disappointment. Priorities, due by, overdue, are all there but in a very odd and unusable manner.
EASY VIEW : there is a easy view of the key events on the home screen of the phone. But it doesnt really shrink its font small enough to see the right things on the screen at once. So, its about 70% usable, but a nice touch. Not as good as the new Windows VARIO smartphones though.
UIQ3 : the key to the phone is its OS - based on Symbian UIQ3. Not the fastest OS on the planet, menu launches and application launches take some time. Does this affect usability? Well in a tight business day, not a great thing.
Conclusion: its not great, but it is an improvement on the P900i. The iPhone remains the device of choice for now.
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