5 posts tagged “sony ericcson”

Got my new phone - yay!  It's not perfect - I sometimes start to close the slider by accident which disconnects the phone call.  And the camera lens on the back is right where I put my index finger when I hold the phone so it'll be fingerprints galore.

Also, there are problems with LG phones - the alarm won't work if the phone is off, the center button is set for AT&T MediaNet and you can't chaneg it, and the left/right soft keys are preset and cannot be changed.  At least they are generic (menu and options) and for options, you can assign your own shortcuts.  Except for the #1 shortcut - it's preset to My account (some internet thing) - arg!!

And the keys are interesting - it's like a unibody keyset, which means pushing the wrong button is very easy to do.

Otherwise, it seems like a winner.

I didn't realize them before, but the store had a Sony Ericsson phone (the w760a) - looks so cool!  It is a slider phone.  I thought there wasn't a camera until I slide the phone open and there's the lens.  3.2MP!  Arg - I wish I had asked about it :(  But I'm going to say that it was more expensive and that the fact the phone needs to be slide open to take a picture is a negative.  

Yeah, that's what I'm telling myself.  :)

Another complaint about the LG Neon (it's the GT365 version, if you're keeping track).  It doesn't appear that you can customize the look much on display much.  You can change the wallpaper, but I can't tell if there are themes.  Your options for the time/date are: small, large and none.  The funky thing is that if you choose small or large, the time will display twice on the main screen - once at the very top (which is there for all screens) and then in the top-center. 

A little redundant, don't you think?

The problem with choosing "none" (as in no time/date) is that then there is no date displayed anywhere.  Great.

The Sony w810i is highly customizable - you can download themes (some for free on Sony's own site), you can create your own themes with free software that you can download from Sony, the phone even comes with a free usb cable!

(Can you tell I'm having major buyer's remorse?)

Pineapple Knot

Yay, the picture messaging (MMS) on my phone works now.  See, on the w810i, there's a dedicated button for MediaNet.  Well, I'm *never* going to use MediaNet and I don't want my phone to accidentally connect to it (and pay through the nose, since I don't have a MediaNet bundle).  Anyway, I looked online and decided to delete the settings for MediaNet and set up a dummy account so if it attempted to connect, it couldn't.

Well, you need to have MediaNet set up in order to use picture messaging.  And though I knew that, I thought "eh, I can live without picture messaging."  Except that I'm so used to my unlimited messaging from T-Mobile (ah, how I miss thee) that I really wanted it back.

But no matter how much I tried re-entering the settings - manually or sent from the SonyEricsson website, it would not work.  I even did a Reset Settings (which resets only the settings, but keeps everything else) to no avail.  I did manage to get my sis's phone working, though.  Not sure why mine wouldn't work.

So we stopped by the phone store today to get my parents new phones.  They ended up getting LGs - works pretty well, camera seems nice, has bluetooth (big plus, like I mentioned before).  I don't think you can change the soft keys, but at least one of them is not dedicated to IMing (seriously, what was Samsung thinking?!).  The lady only had 1 phone though so she's going to mail us the other one.

Anyway, we passed by an AT&T wireless store so I went in and had them fix my picture messaging problem.  The gal (Stacy?) asked my phone number and the name on the account and then type,type,type - turned the phone off and back on and asked me to try.  Voila!

The picture above was the first picture message I have sent on the Cingular/AT&T network (I don't know why the multimedia stuff is still on the Cingular network - they need to decide whether to be Cingular or AT&T... I think they should stick with "Cingular" since it's a more widely known name for cellphones, but whatevs).  Back to the picture - it's a picture of chinese knot thing in the shape of a pineapple.  It was hanging on a plant in my eye doctor's office.  The word "pineapple" in Taiwanese (ong lai) sounds similar to "fortune come".  So it's supposed to be good luck.

And I returned the Canon Powershot A570 camera to Costco.  They asked why we were returning it and I told them that I was thinking of getting a (digital) SLR rather than a point and shoot.  Which is the truth.

So I've had my new cellphone (Sony Ericsson w810i) for a couple of days now and I'm still liking/loving it.  I'm comparing it to my Motorola v300, to which all phones in the future will be compared to.

PROs
Customizable themes, wallpaper, ringtones
I know - back in the "olden" days, the only themes available were the default ones on the phone.  But in this day and age, you can customize most of this and once you've been spoiled with this - you can't go back.

Bluetooth connectivity (big plus!)
To be honest, I didn't really know what Bluetooth was all about.  Oh sure, you can connect BT-enabled devices together, but what does that mean?  Well, let me tell you - it makes transferring files (wallpaper, photos, ringtones) between cellphone and computer so incredibly easy.  On my Moto v300, I had to install Mobile Phone Tools onto the Windows computer, then plug in the usb cable and hope/pray that the computer would recognize the phone.  Sometimes it would, sometimes it wouldn't.

With BT - no such problems.  I turned the cell's BT on and turned my computer's (Apple Powerbook laptop) BT on.  Then I searched for nearby devices, the phone found the Apple, typed in the security code (default is 0000 - per the manual) and voila!  The devices were connected and all I had to do was choose "send file" and that was it... on the downside, I don't remember if it's possible to send more than one file at a time, but that's a minor disadvantage.  It only took me maybe 30 seconds to figure out how to enable BT and transfer files... certainly a lot faster than plugging in the usb cable (btw, the phone does come with software and usb cable for those of you who don't have BT.  My sister used the usb cable and was able to transfer files - no problems in setting it up).  It can also connect via infrared, but I've never used IR so I don't know how it works. 

Easy to use interface
This is a major factor - if the interface is so difficult that it's a hassle accessing what you need to access, then what's the point?  One big part of this is the ability to customize the arrow key shortcuts. I also love that the center button (which is also used for play/pause in music mode) accesses the menu.  I don't remember if this is something I had to set up, or if it came this way.  That's how I set it up for my v300 so I am very used to this.  I dislike phones that don't allow you to change this button (and instead, take you to the WAP browser - Samsung c417, I'm looking at you).

Stylish look (even if orange isn't really my color)
This phone is the perfect size - not too small and not too big, not too thick, not too slim.  My phone will be ready for Halloween (black and orange).

Camera quality
Nice quality.  Colors turn out well and the photos are automatically saved (on the v300 - you had to manually choose to save the pic - if you didn't, it was lost forever).  This kind of threw me a bit at the beginning - how do I save the pic?  Then I realized that it already saves!

CONs
Glossy finish = fingerprints
Especially since I don't have a cover for the phone, particularly one that would allow me to still use the phone without taking it out of the cover/bag.  I had something like this for my Moto v300 and it was the best because the screen wouldn't get all greasy.

No lens cap/cover on camera
The camera is located in the center of the back side.  Unfortunately, when I hold my phone, my index finger usually covers part of the area and the lens already has smudges.  Arg.  On the Moto v300, the camera is on the top left - which means my fingers usually don't reach that far.

Unable (?) to turn phone on from alarm clock
On the Moto v300, when the phone turns on for the alarm, you can choose to turn on the phone, or turn it off.  This was handy for me because I usually turn my phone off at night, and then turn it on in the morning (after the alarm).  On the w810i - it asks if you want to snooze or disable(I think) - and if you choose snooze, it'll ring again in 9 minutes.  If you choose disable, the phone turns off.  I would like to disable the alarm but turn the phone on... I don't think it's possible to do, though.

Inability to change Walkman and Cingular MediaNet keys
The Walkman one is okay.  The MediaNet one - not so much.  There is no way to disable it on the phone, though I hear you can contact AT&T Customer Service and ask them to block the internet feature.  That, however, also disables your ability to send picture messages.  *Sigh*.  So what I did was change the login request on the MediaNet - at least now, if you push the button (accidentally or on purpose), it will ask you to confirm the login.  I also set up a dummy account so that when MediaNet tries to connect, it can't.  This problem is livable... especially if you lock the keypad so that you don't accidentally misdial.

Typing
I'm still getting used to typing messages/words on this phone.  We all know that to type the letter "a", you push the 1 button once.  To type the letter "b", you push it twice.  However, on the v300, you could push the 1 button once and then use the right arrow to select the 2nd letter (in this case "b").  On the w810i, though, you can't.  If you push the arrow button, it will move the cursor over.  Which is not what I want it to do... but it's something that I will just have to remember.  Also, I wish there was a "symbols" mode - in addition to the alpha and numeric modes.  And I am having difficulty finding some symbols (for some more obscure but still common symbols, you have to access another menu and "add" the symbol - similar to the character map on Windows).

Shutter sound on camera
You can't turn it off.  Though this is good to prevent people from taking covert pictures (in a malicious sense), it also prevents or restricts people from taking pictures in settings where you don't want a loud "click!".  A lot of the time when I'm taking pictures, I don't really want other people to know - not because I'm doing anything suspicious but because I don't want to draw attention to myself. 

NOT SURE
The screen goes black after maybe 20 seconds (unless you push a button).  Which means that you can't see the time unless you push a button, thereby lighting up the screen.  I guess this isn't such a big problem, but sometimes, especially if the ambient light is bright enough, you just want to look at the time without pushing any buttons.  An upside to this is that you can push the up volumen button and the time will appear on the screen (white background, large black numbers).  This is good because the time on the actual standard screen is small and hard to read at quick glance.

More to come later, as I'll probably be learning new stuff as I use my phone.  The Samsung c417 (which my parents got and I'm trying to get them to return) does not allow for much customization (though the arrow buttons can be changed).  Connectivity is a problem - though it does have Bluetooth, it has been disabled (by Cingular or Samsung - not sure which one) so that it can only be used to connect to Bluetooth headsets.  Stupid.  Samsung does not currently have a data cable for this phone (though Cingular CS apparently thinks it does, based on what I've read on the web) though it might be possible to use a different cable.  At any rate, data transfer is a hassle, esp. since my parents don't have the messaging bundle on their lines.  Which means we'd either have to pay per message (20 cents?) or switch SIM cards (hassle).

One of the soft keys on the Samsung is dedicated to IM (unchangeable).  That's another harebrained move - not everyone uses IM - I certainly don't, even though I used to have unlimited messaging (it took too long typing out conversations).  One of my biggest problems with the phone is the interface - it is so clunky that I don't want to learn how to use it.  Just need to know how to make calls and receive calls.  That's all