A phone good enough for Sven? (Sony Ericsson T610)

Member Name: srtom

Product:	Sony Ericsson T610
Date:	03/07/04 (494 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact, Built-in Camera, High-res screen

Disadvantages: Fiddly text messaging, Difficulty of use in sunlight, Not great camera quality

I thought long and hard before getting this phone on contract and pondered ?Do I really want a phone that sounds like our hit and miss England manager?? And maybe if he used the WAP to read the sports news and statistics he would?ve played Defoe instead of donkey Heskey on that fateful night against France in Portugal.

Anyway, enough moaning about England, the Sony Ericsson T610 is actually a smart little phone with a full range of features and all of the trimmings you would expect of a mobile phone nowadays. I previously had a Nokia 8310 and had been a mark for Nokia all of my mobile life so it took a big decision to switch over, even with the indomitable Sony brand a big factor in the decision-making. Even the questionable pronunciation by the O2 sales lady (heighten the ?ic? in ?Eric? and pronounce the ?sson? as ?sion? and you will see what I?m getting at) was little to put me off what is overall a majestic phone.

When mobile phone shopping you need to have a checklist and be able to tick off each box in the showroom.

SMS - tick
Polyphonic ringtones ? tick
High quality screen ? tick
Games - tick
Small phone ? tick (especially needed after the small Nokia)
Camera ? tick
Non-flippy crap ? tick (excuse the French but those things drive me to distraction)
Bluetooth ? tick

Pretty good so far? Now for the analysis?


SMS
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Unfortunately one of the big let downs of the phone. If you added a new Sim Card or used an old one then you will have to spend ages adding in all of the numbers before you get to this point anyway. I think there are some places you can pay to get your address books transferred over but I haven?t used that service yet.

If I were aware it would take
30 minutes (slight exaggeration but you get the point) to write a text and then go through several pointless screens to send it I probably would?ve had a look at other phones in the shop while I was there. Only after about 3 months have I finally started to get used to it, the trick is don?t bother waiting for the letters to form and pray that you did it right, either that or hope that the other person understands what you?re trying to say. A potential benefit for any students out there on limited cash that are text-a-holics as you will probably end up sending much fewer! Also the space button is to the right (#) of the one on Nokia phones and that took a lot of learning at the beginning not to press the wrong button.


Polyphonic Ringtones
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A huge plus of the T610. Using Sony technology, the ring tones sound amazing compared to other phones, not just the old ones (mono) and are very recognisable of the tunes they represent. I currently have Usher ? Yeah which is great for using as an alarm wakeup in the morning. The phone also comes with a good built in microphone and I have many potential hit singles of my flatmates kicking out their renditions of famous songs at full pelt (they wish!). Added to this, a music DJ that is pretty easy to use and has good samples and loops to use to create your own tracks. I managed to make a pretty good techno one with crashing drums at the end in about 3 minutes. It is quite hit and miss to make good songs but you get an idea of form and the samples after a while and can make tunes better than the provided ones. The only drawback I can think of relating to the sound is; why can you not turn off the increasing ringer? Very annoying when you?re in somewhere noisy and I have ended up missing a few calls from hearing the ringtone too late. Admittedly the vibration helps a bit
if it?s on you but the tone would be supportive as well.


High quality screen
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Another plus of the T610, it has a large screen with a high resolution of 65K pixels. Looking back at my old phone I really don?t know how I coped with the tiny, colourless screen as this one is pure eye candy. The pre-loaded wallpapers are high quality, I still use one of them as my background for the phone and new ones can be bought or made from a picture from the camera. However, it?s not all good as the screen can be smudged very easily and I?m constantly cleaning it after taking it out of my pocket so a case of some description would be put to good use here. Also the screen is very hard to see outside and in the sunshine as the background is too light but excels in dark places such as nightclubs as the backlight pumps out a decent amount of light.


Games
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A poor effort by Sony, even with the Java technology displayed here. The choices consist of just Colour bug, Qbert and MiniGolf. Firstly I?d like to get the pointlessness of Colour bug off my chest, what IS the point?! All you do is move to a different square using the keypad and the bugs follow. You need to have a really low threshold of fun for this to be classed as ?entertainment?. The second one; Qbert, is an interesting little platform game that I couldn?t be bothered with after the second level but some might find it enjoyable. Minigolf however, manages to redeem some of the reputation lost by producing a fairly agreeable golf game that seemed to keep me amused the one time I played it drunk. As you can see, I?m not a real fan of mobile phone based games and prefer something more involving.


Small phone
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May not be a definitive category for some, but essential
for myself after the tiny Nokia phone that I used to forget was in my pocket. Whether clubbing or at the gym, the T610 is not a hindrance and is also very light which surprised me when I first used it. The little joystick is fairly difficult to get used to after using buttons to traverse though the menu, but soon becomes a lazy mans dream as the simple push in any direction saves a lot of time. From the o2 operator screen, press up for Internet services, right for the menu, down for address book and calling contacts and left for a black pad for writing a message. Pretty simple stuff really. One thing I will say though is the java technology is sometimes very slow. Like a well-loved old computer, leave the screen to load properly before attempting to use it. As I found out after an alcohol themed night out last week, it will play tricks on you if you don?t use it properly and I had to wait a while before being able to ring someone.


Camera
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These are the ?new cool? in mobile phone technology. Like a good digital camera, point the phone somewhere looking (or not if you?re feeling flash) at the screen to gage the contents of the picture you want to take. Unfortunately, this is really hit and miss on this phone as the quality of the end product is not so good. However keep plugging away regardless as I have taken a few very good pictures over the last few months so don?t be too disheartened by it. You could always get your friends to take some pictures and send them to you via Bluetooth/Infrared/Picture messaging etc. Also remember to keep the camera very still while taking pictures as you get the wind effect pretty easily, not an easy thing to do again while drunk. Reading this review you?re probably thinking I?m a bit of an alcoholic, so I tell them; ?I?m not an alcoholic, I?m a Student? which usually does
the job and this really is a decent phone for students. Another good feature is the ability to add pictures you take on the camera to additions in the address book, so you see a picture of the ringer or something else when they phone. To take advantage of this feature, I suggest taking the worst, most embarrassing picture of them possible to provide some entertainment when they ring.


Non-flippy crap
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I loathe the ?flippy? phones on the market and to this day am pretty sure I will never purchase one. Combining this with sheer lazyness means that I will always rate the non-flip phones as better purchases. Even the Neo: Matrix-esque ones which flip down to reveal the keyboard aren?t as bad as they don?t feel so lightweight.


Bluetooth
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Like I said in one of my other reviews, here comes the science part! Bluetooth is a fantastic new wireless technology that has several features which have been very useful for myself thus far. Providing you are less the 10 metres away from another person (with another Bluetooth phone of course) then you can send ringtones and pictures etc for free, a dream for any people that can?t see the justification of shelling out a few quid for a tune on your phone that sounds like a B-side of a rejected Pop Idol wannabe. The infrared feature can also be used in a similar fashion, but there?s no need when your phone has Bluetooth. Another smart feature is the ability to use a hands free kit without having to plug it into the phone, if in a car for example, you can have the actual phone on the backseat while continuing your conversation with Edna the local hippy, about the positives of free love or whatever floats your boat.

If you?re wondering why I haven?t spoken about WAP as yet, it?s because I don?t use it. What?s the point when
you have the Internet? It just seems like an added expense that I can do without. If you want it enabled, I think you have to ring o2 and ask to have it enabled, along with media messaging as well. A good enough deterrent for myself (and probably many others) not to use it.


Battery
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This needs a mention by itself as I recently found out, if you forget the charger and go away for a weekend, using the phone a lot, then the battery power disappears VERY QUICKLY. It takes approximately 16 hours to charge up when you first get the phone and woe-betide anyone who forgets to re-charge it as you will find the Java powered Operating System becoming very slow and eventually the phone running out of power.


Other features
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These include:
Calendar ? useful for remembering key dates.
Alarm ? I wouldn?t be able to wake up in the mornings without this.
Timer ? good for when you are running out of time as it has the ability to count down to a particular deadline.
Calculator ? handy if you?re out and about without a calculator.
Notes ? again useful for remembering things.
Stopwatch - I personally don?t use this but probably useful for track and field times and the like.

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So as you can see, the Sony Ericsson already has a lot going for it and all for free after previously being on contract with o2 for at least 12 months. Result? Well to be honest I would?ve preferred the upgraded version (T630) but it was not released when I made the switch. In conclusion, the T610 is a quality little phone but has already been overshadowed by a new version. If you are unwilling to pay the bit extra for the T630 though, then you could do worse in the phone market than this.

Summary: