So the postman finally brought my phone yesterday and I have been putting it through it’s paces since then. I have to say so far I am pleased with my purchase although there is still plenty for me to play around with I feel confident this was good choice.
I have had 2 Sony Ericsson phones prior to this model and have been very satisfied with them. While they were both media orientated phones, this is my first jump to an enterprise model of the same brand. The first thing I noticed was how light it was considering its size (just a little longer than the N95 but slimmer) and that’s with the battery in! The build quality feels solid despite its weight though with the silver trim giving a stately look.
The box included the phone, extra stylus, velvet slip case, hands-free kit, plug charger, usb cable, docking cradle and software cd with documentation. I was quite impressed with the inclusion of the docking cradle and just made me appreciate the phone even more as it looks great sitting there. The cradle allows for the charger and usb cable to be connected simultaneously so you charge and connect to a PC at the same time, well thought out. I ordered some lcd screen protectors and a 4GB M2 stick separately so the phone is all kitted out for just under £20 which I think is an excellent bargain.
I have never used the UIQ interface and I must say it has taken me a little while to get used to. I found myself getting lost navigating for the first half an hour but gradually finding everything is a lot more natural. One problem that I noticed was that I was using the stylus, jog dial and keyboard to get around which felt awkward. I wish a more efficient method of navigating was implemented as sometimes I feel as if I need a 3rd hand.
The full qwerty keypad took some getting used to as it features 2 letters on a single key but I fear persons with larger fingers would find this a nightmare to use. The keys are slightly raised at each end to allow for better precision and this really helps although I still miss the correct key sometimes. I have had lots of practice using the AgileMessenger application which I downloaded separately.
A concern I have though is the battery life. It seems to take a very long time to charge this phone and the battery seems to run out way too quickly under heavy use. I used the radio and music player while browsing the web and chatting and I got about 3 hours use before I needed to recharge the battery again. I need to perform some more testing to see what really drains most of the power but I suspect the music player and radio are the culprits.
I have made/received several calls already and have not had any drop any so far unlike my previous Sony Ericsson phone which seemed to drop 1 out of every 3 calls. I’m very pleased with this although I know it’s down to my service provider than the phone itself but that fact that it seems to stay connected is great. Calls are crystal clear with or without the hands-free kit which is expected so everything is ok in that department.
As I mentioned there are still plenty of other features for me to test but so far I’m pleased with this phone and looking forward to spending some more time with it to explore all of its features.
