Sony Ericsson T610 - Excellent Value (Sony Ericsson T610)

Member Name: garyfinny

Product:	Sony Ericsson T610
Date:	05/03/04 (1926 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Design, Lots of Software Support, Easy to Use

Disadvantages: LCD hard to use in the sun, Small Memory

Hi, thanks for taking the time to read this review. Feel free to rate it or leave your comments, I?ll reply to them as best I can.

INTRODUCT& #73;ONS

So, let?s first introduce our product, the Sony Ericsson T610. Released in April, 2003, the T610 was the long awaited successor to the Sony Ericsson T68i. The T68 was one of the first phones which really started the trend; it was way ahead of it?s competition, a market dominated by Nokia at the time, with it?s colour screen, Bluetooth and optional camera functions.

All those features have been incorporated into the T610; although the camera has now been integrated into the back of the phone and other new features have been added which we?ll cover later. This really is a mass-market phone; there?s something here to appeal to almost everyone.

FIRST IMPRESSION S

The T610 is quite similar to the T68, except slightly less rounded, a bit longer and more narrow. It?s probably more or less the same weight and size, which isn?t really a bad thing. The material has changed to a nice aluminium composite for the housing, although the screen picks up fingerprints easily. Although a chamois mini-cloth is provided for cleaning the screen; you can?t help feeling that this was a problem discovered late on in the development.

The phone?s screen features over 65,000 colours, and is nice and bright. Around the phone, there are volume keys to adjust the callers sound, also shortcut keys for the camera and to connect to WAP. The infra-red port is situated at the top of the phone. The camera is mounted on the back of the phone and features a 288x352 resolution, although there is no mirror or option for self-portrait.

AFT
;ER USAGE:

The phone itself is very easy to use and has remained pretty much the same as the T68, although the larger screens allows more icons to displayed on the menus. Navigation is Icon-driven, via the central joystick. It?s intuitive and easy to access all of the phones features. In addition you?re able to create shortcuts so you can get where you want faster without navigating the main menu.

The phone uses an improved phonebook system, which allows you to store multliple phone numbers, contacts and email addresses. You can assign a photo-id to a caller, and also voice dialling is supported (impressively, voice-control is also possible for certain functions of the phone, although I did not set it up).

Call quality is good on UK networks, and is clear in both directions. The phone?s volume can go to quite a loud setting, with vibrate and polyphonic ringtones supported in the MIDI format. Ringtone quality is good, although the first two seconds or so of every ring is a standard pre-fix ring, and I could not find a way to disable it.

The camera is easy to operate. It?s somewhat dated by 2004 standards, but it?s forgiveable considering the phone?s release. There?s no zoom, flash or timer functions; and photos are only good in daylight. Extra effects include sepia, negative and black and white modes; which can improve the quality of the photo. Colours are ok; but there are phones with better colour definition on the photos.

Part of the problem behind this is the LCD screen. Although on-the-box resolution is good, the photos look pretty basic on the phone, and rather cramped; upload the photos to a PC and it all looks better. The on-board MMS editor is quite decent but tricky to use. You can edit photos, add sound, to even make a slide-show to send
to others.

The LCD screen also has further limitations in that it?s difficult to use in bright daylight. I would think in bright sunlight the phone would be barely useable. On an overcast day it would be ok, indoors fine. This is a result of using a reflective screen as opposed to a backlit one. Bear this in mind, if you use your phone outside a lot.
A further downside is the tiny memory capacity of 2MB for storage of all photos, games and ringtones. Although the average picture size is 20KB, with all the other applications on the phone, it quickly adds up. There is no support for external memory or even Sony?s Memory Stick Duo. If you?re a real photo-monster, a PC is essential for extra storage.

Battery life is excellent; and you should get three days usage out of this before it needs another charge, or maybe four if you?re a light user.

CONNECTIV& #73;TY

The T610, like it?s predecessor, features Bluetooth, which allows the phone to wirelessly interact with other Bluetooth-enabled devices. The Bluetooth works well and is definitely a positive inclusion. The Bluetooth is reliable, strong signal without detrimental effect to battery life.

Infrared is supported as well; this is really a phone that can talk to almost any other phone out there. What?s really nice is that sending files is easy; just get the file and you?ve got options to send via MMS, Email, Bluetooth or Infrared; simple, yet effective,

Internet is supported, and you?ll be able to quickly set up your POP3 email accounts to send messages on the go. A connection to the Internet via Bluetooth is also possible but I would get that would be incredibly slow.

The phone also features WAP 2.0 via
GPRS, but the lack of decent applications on WAP means you?ll probably not use this frequently. A shame; as the shortcut key for WAP on the outside of the phone is not customisable and could have been used for something better.

EXTRAS

A main plus on the phone is the customisability. You can get different coloured faces for it (although you need a screwdriver to open the phone) and there?s countless themes, ringtones, pictures and games to download. The software support is excellent, and there?s many decent apps out there, ranging from Sony Ericsson?s Bluetooth Controlled Car, to a very useful app allowing you to control your PC with your T610 over Bluetooth.

The phone also features a fully-fledged organiser system; it offers tasks, appointments, and is can be synchronised with the PC. You can even set it to manually switch profiles. Once you get the hang of this, this is one powerful system to use. Other functions include, Countdown, Calculator, Timer and a Password-protected memo function.

There is one bundled game with the phone; Mini-Golf, however more games are available from Sony Ericsson. Mini Golf is well suited to the phone and will keep you occupied for a while! The phone uses both Java and Mophun platforms for games, with literally hundreds of Java games available.

AVAILABIL& #73;TY

Currently the T610 is available on all four main networks. Price now should be FREE for a contract or upgrade.

It?s available on Pay as You Go as well, for around £150. Second-hand, these handsets may be lower than £100, which is a real bargain. It?s very possible that it may appear on special offer from one of the netw
orks soon as newer phones are launched. For the latest price alerts, join our Yahoo Group at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/lowestpricedpayg

CONCLUSIO& #78;:

The Sony Ericsson T610 gets FOUR STARS. This phone could have been truly outstanding, but it?s let down by a poor LCD display and small memory capacity. However, it is still an excellent phone, with many good features, nice design, and a lot of software support. It?s easy to use, and easy to send and share files so there will be always something new to do.

The phone is excellent value for money; and if you?re not after a very latest phone, or for a first camera phone, this would be an ideal choice.

Summary: