Sony Ericsson P900 - SIM Free

Previous models I have tried have either been great phones with limited PDA functionality or fully featured PDA's that suffered from software 'lock-ups' when you tried to do something simple like make a call or send a text.

I heard great reviews of the Sony Ericsson P800 but couldn't bring myself myself to love that cheap blue plastic exterior and flimsy looking keypad, so I never gave it a try.

The P900 is a different proposition all together. Finally a smartphone that deserves the use of the word 'smart'.The exterior is an extremely attractive silver and grey combination that feels solid to the touch. The flimsy keypad on the P800 has been replaced with a proper sprung flip with electronic keys. The keypad can be removed all together to be replaced with a supplied blanking plate and 'virtual' on screen keypad. The stylus is now stored in a sprung hole in the top of the phone.

With the keypad closed this is like any other camera phone. The menu system is intuitive and simple to follow. Making calls, sending texts, and taking high quality still or video photos is usually a single button press away. There is an excellent voice dialling system where you can make a call by saying a 'magic word' and then the name of the contact without even touching the phone, and of course bluetooth connectivity opens up a world of possibilities.

Open the flip down keypad, pop out the stylus, and you have a fully functional touch screen PDA which is a fair match for my old Ipaq or I dare say any other PDA on the market. It comes with very little pre-loaded, but with a CD containing a whole host of additional applications, so you just download what you want and don't have memory taken up with applications you never use. If games are your thing, you can download loads, including a version of playstation favourite 'V-Rally'. There is also a great full chess computer stored on the phone and the old pc favourite, solitaire.

Input can be via the keypad, touch screen, or five way jog dial - making it so easy to navigate around the PDA functions in lightening speed. Text input can be done via T9, on screen qwerty keyboard, or handwriting recognition.

Of course the supplied docking station plugs into your pc for easy back-up, sync with your PIM software, and downloads. It also charges the phone. The phone can play MP3s and video clips, you can even choose any MP3 track as your ringtone - 'Polyphonic' eat your heart out!!!!

A Memory Stick duo slot allows you to add more memory. A 32mb stick is supplied but I picked up a 128mb stick for less than £50.

Although this phone is very new, there is already a wide range of additional software available for download direct from Sony Ericsson or Handango. There are also a wide range of accessories in the way of headsets, handsfrees and cases, including a bluetooth remote controlled car - how cool is that ?!!!

In case you hadn't guessed I love this phone. If you are a busy professional like me trying to combine your phone and PDA, the solution is here at last - HOORAY!!!!!

As I'd not used a Sony Ericsson phone before, I took a bit of a gamble,and forked out for a sim free model. I didn't want to upgrade on my existing contract and be tied down for another 12 months, plus the network didn't , and still don't offer this phone.

The gamble more than paid off. It wasn't a gamble at all, as i spoke to cople of P800 users before hand, who were extremely hardcore P800 fans, and this P900 really is a fantastic piece of kit, and the longer I have it ( had it for four months now ) the more impressed I am with it. I'm about to buy a bigger Memory Stick ( upgrade to 128mb) but even with the 32mb stick thats supplied with it, you can still store a shed load of pictures and sounds.

What I'm really impressed with, is the additional software thats out there for it, which you can buy and download from the official SonyEricsson website. THe costs vary from a few quid up to the the top end which is around £15-16 gbp. I'm currently using a trial version of a golf scoring system, which looks very neat, though I've not tried it our fully yet. Large range of games as well, again varying in price. I bought Strategic Assualt for around £4, and its still entertaining me now four months later, plus the kids love playing on it.

THe MP3 player is wicked, as is the camera, the contacts phonebook is very similar to Outlook, and I found it really easy to connect with my Jabra Bluetooth headset, which I'd kept after selling my Nokia on, and the Jabra works fine, great connection and clarity.

The ability to sync with outlook is so easy, I bought a second sync station ( £12 from Ebay ) and now have one at work and one at home so I can sync where ever I am.

There really is NOTHING out there that can rival this piece of kit, most phones are toys for kids to play on, or if you have a PDA, it won't have the FULL functionality of a phone. THe only thing that puzzles me, is how on earth have SOny Ericsson squeezed all that into such a phone? Amazing.

The phone comes with a charger, sync stand, belt mounted case and stereo headphones/hands free kit - you would normally have to buy some or all of these separately.

The synchronisation software is quite superb and very robust - my iPaq used to sync quite badly - I have no problems using the P900 sync to keep my home and work machines in sync with my P900 - it just works as you would expect it too with no real effort!

There seems to be a fair amount of software available to add to the phone as well - and not that badly priced. The phone can play most sorts of media including MP3's, MIDI files etc.

My partner and I both bought P900's - to replace a T610 with iPaq in my case, and a Nokia Communicator in his case - both very happy with the new phones.