Sony Ericsson P1i

I was looking for a QWERTY keyboarded phone, preferably with a touchscreen to boot. What I found, which I could afford, and was available on the package which suited me was the P1i.

Initially I was sceptical as to whether I'd made the right choice, as I hadn't seen any reviews on the phone, and also hadn't seen it in use in the circles I move in.

I'm grateful to say that the phone changed my perceptions - really coming to it's full potential as I used it more and more. (Actually, I don't think I've reached it's full potential as yet - but am looking forward to more discoveries.)

There are only 3 things which have bugged me about the phone, and these are:-

1) The battery life is much lower than I initially expected.

After some consideration as to my use of the phone's numerous functions, I have to admit that the battery life is still fairly decent.

I don't have the luxury of charging it, then putting it to one side to sit quietly to allow the battery to prove out its standby time.

Whilst using Quickoffice, camera, contacts, Bible reader and other functions daily, I still have the battery lasting me 4 days with fair ease.

This is therefore a point which would require anyone interested in the phone, to evaluate for themselves based on their actual usage.

2) The phone does not come with "wallet" / security type software pre-installed.

As my previous phone was a Nokia, I came to accept this software as a necessity for storing passwords and such in a secure environment.

Such software is available on the net - some freeware, but most for purchase. I have yet to find a really decent freeware program. Those which I've tried thus far are fairly 'crappy' in their functionality and ease of use.

I had a look at the trial version of "Safe Store Gold Edition" - and can recommend it.

3) The phone comes with QuickOffice, and not with an upgraded program such as "Documents to Go".

QuickOffice works very well on the phone, yet lacks the ability to allow the viewing of items such as charts on Excel.

This is merely a matter of personal preferences, and again, as with the security issue described above, software is fairly easily avalable of the internet.

The phone's good points far outweigh it's unpleasant ones.

1) Looks and Appearance

A very neat, almost handsome phone. The contrasts caused between its brushed aluminium and shiny black front; and on the rear the aluminium and soft-touch black, make it not only pleasing to the eye, but I've found that it attracts more than its fair share of attention.

2) Keypad / keyboard

A "different" layout for sure - and one which I wondered whether I'd be able to get used to - especially with 2-way rocker keys!

Despite my concerns, I found that it was amazingly easy to learn to use, and despite my fingers & thumbs, I found that I could hammer out sms's, notes and QuickOffice documents at quite a pace. I thought initially that I might end up using the onscreen keyboard more to compensate for the size of the keys; but I have been proven wrong.

The keys have a good positive feel to them, and their action is easy.

The onscreen keyboard functions very well too, lacking only in its ease of getting me to some of my favourite special characters (which will improve as I continue to practice!).

3) Screen

I've been amazed at the clarity of the screen even in direct sunlight - where I use the phone often.

The screens sensitivity to touch input has impressed me, as I found it to better that of my Palm Zire. Using the phone with or without its stylus was a cinch. I only really need to take the stylus out for the 'finer' work.

4) Size and mass

As I am constantly on the move, and working in SA, I mostly wear short sleeved shirts (Golf type). The phone fits neatly in its pouch into my shirt pocket, and does not weigh me down, nor stretch my pockets. On the odd occassion I will carry it in my pants pocket, where it fits equally comfortably.

5) Additional function keys

The phone has 4 additional function keys located 2 on each side. One of these is the scroll wheel - a device which I found very easy to get used to, and which in my opinion adequately replaces the usual 5-way key found on most other phones.

6) Standard accessories

The accessories in the box included the desk stand, USB cable, charger, headset, 512MB card and a Wayfinder Bluetooth GPS unit.

I found the desk stand very handy as well as a wonderful productivity booster. One can connect charger, USb cable as well as headset to the stand simultaneously. This enables you to have the phone sturdily facing you, ready for any action you may want to perform while at your desktop.

I've found the Bluetooth GPS unit somewhat cumbersome thus far, as I already have a dedicated Garmin GPS unit - albeit without touchscreen! Again, someting to get used to over time with practice.

The pouch which came with the phone is a velvety, letherette type of covering for the phone - more for protecting it than carrying it in. It unfortunately does not have a closing flap or belt clip, BUT it does a good job of keeing the phone from getting scratched or dinged. Added to this, I've found that it works amazingly well to keep the phone from sliding around on a car's dashboard. If inadvertantly placed there before driving off, you don't have to worry that your phone is going to visit all the corners of the dashboard when driving around town - it simply stays put - to my wife's amazement!

In a nutshell, I found this phone to be a bit of an "Uhm-ahh" when I first got it. This quickly developed into a "Woww!", and is quite happily remaining there.

Definitely more than I was expecting from it - and am looking forward to using it for some time to come.

After 3 weeks of use the Sony Ericsson P1i phone is unbelievable easy to use and it's connectivity it's amazing. Great phone. I bought it from www.digitalmalluk.com, some new guys but with good services. Wish them luck and would love to buy one more with them.

Sony Ericsson P1i has good Sound; Excellent Wi-Fi connectivity; Clear Screen, Push E mail compatibility with G mail, Overall excellent value for money but needs to get synchronization sorted out immediately.

Having owned the P800 and P910 I could not wait for the P990. Oh dear. What a huge disappointment that was. However I was willing to give the P1i a go. I was not going to be an early adopter as I had with the others. I was the coward in the corner waiting to feed of everyone else misfortune and then make up my mind. The reviews were mixed but in the absence of anything else I took the plunge. I must say I am glad I did.

I had looked at the other smartphones/PDA phones on the market (HTC,Nokia etc) and whilst all were good and did what I wanted, the aim was to get the same functionality, in a smaller phone, that was reliable and quick. I think I have achieved my aim in the Sony Ericsson P1i.

Sony Ericsson seemed to have sorted things out with this phone and a good thing too. One more failure like the P990 and there would have been trouble.

Functionally it is a huge step up from the P910 but not much more than the P990. The main difference against the later is that it works. Hooorah!!!

The main problem with the P990 was the lack of functional memory. It only had 64mb and therefore crank up a couple of apps or the internet and the whole machine coughed and gave up. In the P1i Sony Ericsson have installed 128mb memory. So opening multiple apps is now possible. Not only can you open multiple apps but they open much much more quickly than the P990.

Aside from that Sony Ericsson seemed to have ironed out any wrinkles in the software and all apps seem to do as they are asked and are stable.

In the 6 weeks I have owned this phone I do not think it has locked or crashed on me once.

Size:

It is slimmer than the P990 and fits into a suit jacket without making you walk lop sided. It will fit into your jeans pocket with causing you any damage to anything important.

Looks and build:

It is a pretty smart machine. Nicely laid out with a brushed metal/shiny black plastic and rubberised casing. It looks good and clean and feels solid. Buttons are responsive and reliable.

Battery life:

As usual with Sony Ericsson phones charge time is short and the battery lasts for ages (depending on how you use the phone obviously).

Keyboard:

I was concerned about the ease of use of the rocker buttons on the keyboard but have found them to be accurate and reliable. Basically each button rocks left and right to perform 2 different functions. A pretty good idea that works.

Screen:

Very very nice. It works well in direct sunlight. Amazing. Really clear images. Nice and crisp with vivid colour. The best screen I have had on a phone. IT is touch screen also and the phone comes with a pen. I tend to use my fingers for most stuff though. My advice, get a screen protector. A few quid but with save your screen from scratches.

Connectivity:

WiFi

Bluetooth

GPRS

WAP

Internet

Oh yes and something called 3G which I have turned off to save battery power.

Camera:

3.2mp. Pretty good. Not a world beater but does the job. Takes good photos in daylight with digi Zoom and autofocus. Has a xenon type light but is only ok in low light. There is a cool editing function for the pictures and the user can do quite a lot to their photos.

Office:

The phone can read and write Word and Excel documents. It is a good function with basic tools for editing.

Business Card scanner:

A tool that allows you to take a picture of a business card and put the information directly into you phone book. (for those that know it does and OCR on the card once it has been captured by the camera). I would say it is a good 90-95% accurate and those in the business dealing with OCR will know that is pretty good.

Some other features:

512mb M2 card (have just bought a 4gb card for £25)

MP3 player

Video player

Easy sync with Outlook on the PC

Easy to back up

Cool golf game

Great web browser (but I would recommend downloading Opera Mini. Its great).

POP3 mail (I have it set up for my Yahoo account)

Mine came with Wayfinder Sat Nav and a GPS receiver. It is pretty good and has served me well so far.

Radio (will also get track info from a snippet of recorded music)

PDF reader

Conclusion:

It is not earth shattering. It is not the future. It does what the P990 should have done and a little more. It does it better, quicker and more reliably in a smaller, better built and more attractive package. Functionally pretty similar to the Nokia N95 (without GPS built in) just better looking and smaller. I would recommend this as it will be at least another 12-18 months before something better is going to come along and this does everything that you will want at the moment.

It makes the functionality of the iPhone look like a piece of pre-historic rock but then so does my 13 year old Maxon brick.

The Sony Ericsson P1i is a cult phone. It has "shocked" P series users by its form factor, nevertheless is collecting its own fans.