Eric's phone (Sony Ericsson T610)

Member Name: superguinness

Product:	Sony Ericsson T610
Date:	10/01/04 (1163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks good, Bluetooth, Message ticks

Disadvantages: Camera poor, Small memory

I changed to the Sony Eriksson T610 in early September 2003 - about the same time that the TUC Conference was being held in Brighton, Clive Woodward had announced a 30-man squad for the Rugby World Cup, and Britain suffered its biggest blackout for 25 years, when a failure at a sub station plunged large parts of London into darkness.

So why a Sony Eriksson and not a Nokia? Well, at that time Nokia hadn't really come up with a compact integrated camera mobile phone, although they have of course done so now. Also everyone had a Nokia, so I wanted to have something a bit different for a change. Now of course everyone seems to have the T610, so perhaps this was an ill judged reason for purchase.

The phone itself is nice to look at. It has a nice brushed metal and black plastic facia which seems to hint at quality. It is thin and reasonably light, so easily fits into the pocket of my jeans, the preferred location for my mobile. Mine is on the Orange network, so it came supplied with a default T610 theme and also a slightly bland Orange theme. The screen display is good, although perhaps a little dim when viewed in sunlight. The main menu is accessed via a clear graphical interface and consists of orange, orange services, my shortcuts, entertainment, messages, camera, pictures and sounds, phonebook, calls, settings, organiser, and connectivity. However you can access new message, certain phone settings (turn on silent, bluetooth, infra red, phone status (own number) directly from the front screen by using the joystick or buttons. However navigation to some other features on the phone is rather convaluted. You can directly access the camera using a the camera button on the left side edge of the phone.

The camera itself is poor, especially when compared to more recent mobile phones such as the Motorola E365. Picture quality is grainy (when viewed on the phone - slightly better when sent to a pc), there is a delay during taking the picture and

the phone processing the image, which can blur the photo and also there is no zoom function. You can store up to about 50 images on the phone. One nice feature however is the ability to add images to your phonebook information, so that the faces of friends pop up on screen when they call or text you.

Ringtones supplied have quality (32 channel polyphonic) but there were only five to choose from. However I have hunted down a few free tones on the internet and then sent them via infra red to my phone. Also nice is the ability to freely exchange tones with other T610 users via bluetooth. Ringtone volume is never loud and the vibrate option subdued, so it is possible to miss calls sometimes.

Messaging functionality is both good and bad. Good is the ability to have your messages sent confirmed that they have been received via the addition of a tick to your exisiting sent message, rather than receiving a seperate delivery confirmed message. The predictive text is good and becomes very easy to use over time. The keypad and keys are small, but have a good feel to them. Bad is the inability to set up messages folders and the overall message memory space is low.

Battery life is extremely good and the charger is light. Overall I have been pleased with the phone - it does look classy, which of course, is important - isn't it?

Summary: