Sony Ericsson P990i

The Sony Ericsson P910i is the latest in Sony Ericsson's P-series of phones that combine PDA-style functionality with advanced mobile phone technology. The front keypad can be removed to reveal the huge internal display, offering a touchscreen facility and handwriting recognition using a specially designed pen, as well as a full QWERTY keyboard. The P900i doesn't just look like a PDA, it has many PDA-style functions. For example, its email manager can be synchronised with Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes, and can handle attachments including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. At the same time, it includes an integrated video camera, MP3 player and downloadable Java™ applications. With a range of connectivity options including Bluetooth™, the P910i provides an excellent platform for working (and playing) on the move.

The P990i comes with great access to the Internet which allows the user to be anywhere & still be in contact with business contacts & friends. The push email feature allows the user to get their email straight from the office to their P990i & all this happens with one press of the button. The phone comes complete with Bluetooth™ technology so therefore the user can have the pleasure of connected wirelessly to other Bluetooth™ devices. The P990i can work as a high speed modem to connect the users personal computer to the Internet, which can all be carried out wireless with the help of Bluetooth™. The speed of the P990i will never let the user down as the P990i comes with the fastest wireless networks & the phone has the Symbian OS version 9.1 ready to go which provides the user with the best of business tool they can get.

The P910i uses the same Symbian operating system as its predecessor and shares many of the features of the P900. However there are quite a few new features that make this phone more than just a minor upgrade. First thing to mention is the new QWERTY keyboard. The numerical keypad flips down to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard on the reverse side. The user now has a choice of text entry methods: QWERTY keyboard, predictive text using the normal keypad and handwriting recognition using the screen and stylus. The user interface can be driven by touching menu icons on the screen or with the jog dial on the side of the phone.

On flipping down the keypad, the full size of the LCD screen becomes apparent. The screen has been upgraded from 65,000 colours on the P900 to 262,000 colours. When you consider the enormous resolution of this screen (208 x 320 pixels), you have virtually the best display on any mobile currently available. Only the Sharp GX30 can match this screen, and that phone has a fraction of the features available on the P910i.

The Sony Ericsson P990i is not all work & no play. The phone comes with a beautiful quality 2 megapixel integrated camera which can be user for fun & pleasure as well as business requirements. The camera comes with a photo light & an automatic focus which will ensure that the user gets the perfect photo. The P990i has a high quality video record feature which allows the user to record a video clip or even take part in a video call.

The phone comes complete with Java™ embedded games or the user has the option to download many more. The built in media player allows the user to play their favourite music. The user can copy music from a CD on to their personal computer then on to the P990i very smoothly using the music transfer software. The P990i comes with a MusicDJ™ feature which allows the user to be very creative & turn into a DJ overnight. The FM radio can be tuned into the users favourite station very easily & the radio can be used as an alarm clock. The sound quality is fantastic on the P990i & the user will truly amazed by the quality.

The Sony Ericsson P990i comes with all the messaging tools that a user could possibly require including email, push email, text messaging (SMS), long text messaging & multimedia messaging (MMS) which allows the user to send video, photos, images, sound & text all in one very easy to create message.

Another new feature is push email. Emails get sent automatically to your phone - there's no need to download from a mailserver. You can synchronise email with your PC via the Bluetooth connection.

The final change of note is the increase in the internal memory from 16 Mbytes to 64 Mbytes, which is very welcome, given the functionality of this phone.

The battery life of the P910i is slightly worse than the P900, but should still give a decent number of days use between charges, depending on how much use is made of the PDA-style functions.

All things considered, the P910i is a substantial improvement over the P900 and pushes the capabilities of the P-series forward significantly.

Features of the Sony Ericsson P910i include:
• Colour display (262,000 colours; 208 x 320 pixels)
• WAP 1.2.1 (GPRS), built-in web browser
• High Speed Data (HSCSD - up to 28.8 kbps)
• E-mail (compatible with MS Outlook and Lotus Notes)
• Integrated VGA digital camera (640 x 480 resolution)
• Integrated camcorder
• Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) & Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) - send pictures, sound and video like text messages
• MP3 audio & video (MPEG4) player
• 24-voice polyphonic ringtones and MP3 ringtones
• Pen-based user interface & handwriting recognition
• Symbian operating system
• Picture phonebook
• Speakerphone
• 64 Mbytes memory plus external Memory Stick Duo™
• Downloadable polyphonic & mono ringtones
• Bluetooth™, infrared, USB & RS232 cable connectivity
• Stereo headphones
• "Flight mode" option for use on aircraft
• 3D games & downloadable Java™ applications
• Wallpaper & screensaver
• Calendar, contacts, voice memo, synchronisation with PC
• Size: 115 x 57 x 26 mm
• Weight: 155g
• Battery standby: 400 hours
• Battery talktime: 13 hours
• Tri band

Sony Ericsson W850i

The Sony Ericsson W850i is a Walkman-branded phone in a slide design. Sony Ericsson are new to sliders, but they have produced a very nice design that slides nicely, has a very easy-to-use keypad, a 5-way scroll key that's much easier to use than the joystick design of the K800i, and makes excellent use of the slide format to include a large screen. It's available in a choice of black or white. The white version has a real 24 carat gold Walkman logo for added bling! The keypad features a funky lighting effect that pulses to the beat of the music. On the outside, it's a beautiful phone.

Inside it's great too! This is a Walkman-branded phone, so we'll review the music features first. The Walkman series of phones have established a first-class reputation for music, and the W850i fully lives up to expectations. You can enjoy stereo sound from the music player or the FM radio with excellent audio quality and user-friendliness. The Mega Bass™ feature enhances bass frequencies and a good stereo headset is supplied in the sales package. There's plenty of room for storing music with a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo supplied as standard - this is enough for around 1,000 tracks.

Managing music is very easy with the CD of PC software supplied. The W850i supports USB mass storage, which means that files can be easily and quickly transferred with a drag and drop operation (USB cable supplied). You can also download music directly to your phone with the Walkman software, and the 3G connection makes this very fast. The W850i also introduces a novel feature called TrackID™. If you hear a song on the radio that you don't know, you can use TrackID to find the name, artist and album for you - impressive!

The W850i is also a camera phone of course, and is equipped with a good quality 2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and flash. There's also a video camera that you can use to record or to make 3G video calls. The W850i's camera isn't in the same league as the Sony Ericsson K800i however, as there's no autofocus. The quality of the TFT display is very high - it's large (2 inches across) and as good as any of its competitors..

Features of the Sony Ericsson W850i include:
• 3G video calling
• 2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and flash
• Video camera with photo light
• VideoDJ™ software for video editing
• Display: TFT, 262,144-colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.0 inches)
• Music player
• FM radio
• Mega Bass™ for enhanced bass frequencies
• MP3 / AAC ringtones (64-voice polyphonic ringtones)
• Melody composer / MusicDJ™
• Speakerphone
• Lighting effects
• Sound recorder
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, email
• Wallpaper and animations
• 3D Java games
• Personal organiser functions
• File manager
• Flight mode
• WAP, GPRS, Web browser
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Fast Port, Infrared, USB mass storage
• Memory: 16 Mbytes plus Memory Stick PRO Duo™ support
• Vibration alert
• Triband plus 3G (UMTS)
• Size: 98 x 47 x 21 mm
• Weight: 116g

Sony Ericsson V630i

The Sony Ericsson V630i is sold exclusively through Vodafone & is a slim 3G mobile video & music phone. The handset is a bar style design & comes in a vibrant black coloured casing with orange sections to highlight the feature buttons. The handset is neat, small & slim which measures 102 x 45.7 x 16.9mm. The handset weighs 91 grams in total & comes with an expandable memory slot option. The phone comes with 10 Mbytes of memory plus included within the phones kit is a 256 Mbytes Memory Stick Micro™ card. The phone provides the user with 7 hours worth of talk time & the standby time is 350 hours.

The V630i comes with a 1.9 inch TFT type coloured screen. The screen provides the user with a 256k colour display which also works as a viewfinder for the digital camera feature. The camera feature is located on the back of the handset & has a small mirror so therefore the user can take self portraits of themselves easily. The camera is a 2 megapixel camera complete with digital zoom to ensure the user can capture clear close up shots. The Sony Ericsson V630i comes with a highly useable video features which bring the phone alive. The user can record video & stream video easily on the V630i. The phone comes with image blogging, which allows the user to use their own blog site which is ready to use within 3 simple steps. The user can transfer their photos to their blog site & see their photo's online within seconds, it is that quick. The user can view their photos online or may choose to use Bluetooth™ or a USB connection to move their photo's to their personal computer. The user can enjoy taking part in a video call which allows the user to have a face to face conversation with any video call compatible mobile phone user.

The built in media player allows the user to play full music videos complete with great sound & the user can enjoy the music on the stereo headset that is provided with the Sony Ericsson V630i or out loud for all to hear & enjoy. The V630i provides the user with MP3 & AAC music tones & polyphonic sound with 72 voices. The music features are easily accessible as the phone comes with dedicated music buttons for quick access to the user's favourite music. Sony Ericsson have added some very useful music features to the V630i, which include MusicDJ™, MegaBass™ & PlayNow™ music feature which are simple & fun to use. The user can transfer music by using the Disc2phone feature. The Sony Ericsson V630i also comes with the RadioDJ™ feature which allows the user to either listen to their favourite radio station or to make their own music channel by interactively rating each music track when it is played.

The user can send & receive text messages & multimedia messages on the Sony Ericsson V630i. The multimedia message service allows the user to send & receive photo messages which is a good way for the user to share all their photos which they have been taking using the built in 2 megapixel camera. The multimedia message can be enhanced by adding text & sound to the photo which can be created using a few simple steps. The user can add their voice to a multimedia message using the built in sound recorder. The user can send & receive emails on their phone & the phone supports push email which allows the user to have emails directly to their phone.

The phone comes with an outstanding 3D gaming experience with embedded Java™ games. The V630i has an easy to create & manage phone book that allows the user to add, amend & delete contacts details quickly. The alarm clock, timer & stopwatch are useful features & easy to locate from the phones clear & colourful menu system. The Sony Ericsson V630i has a integrated calendar & calculator feature which are both very useful.

The user can use their phone in restricted areas such as on flights & in hospitals by using the flight mode feature which allows the user to operate certain features & gain access to information on their phone whilst in restricted mobile phone usage areas. The V630i has a handsfree speaker phone feature which allows the user to have a conversation over the speakers without holding the handset itself. The vibration alert feature can be set to on or off & the user can have a ringtone alert with the vibration alert or choose to have them separately, depending on the users surroundings & destination. The user can take part in a group conference call by using the conference call feature on the Sony Ericsson V630i & have a group conversation which is a good way to make arrangements & set dates as a group rather than making separate calls.

The Sony Ericsson V630i comes with tri band technology which works over GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900 with UMTS. The phone will automatically switch between the three bands to provide the best network coverage. The V630i comes with 3G technology which provides the user with a high speed Internet mobile phone & is equipped to multitask features. The user can connect to devices using either a Bluetooth™ wireless connection or by using the USB cable which is supplied with the Sony Ericsson V630i. The Bluetooth™ connectivity provides a totally wirefree connection to any compatible devices. The phone supports fast port & synchronisation to a personal computer. The user can use Access NetFront™ web browser to view web sites in HTML format & the RSS feeds will provide the user with news highlights & updates whilst the user is viewing their desired web sites.