Sony Ericsson P1 review

 

                Sony Ericsson P1 is the latest phone from Sony Ericsson’s P series smartphones. A phone designed for business users, but can be used as a great multimedia device too. It has decent features, good camera, advanced connectivity options and most important, is running a great operating system which makes the multitasking performance excellent.

                                           

            Hardware, performance and design:

-          When it comes to performance, this phone has a good hardware to offer. It is running on 208MhZ processor which is pretty good for running the UIQ3 fast enough and give good performance in applications and multitasking. The phone has also 128MB RAM memory which makes it a lot faster and more reliable compared to it predecessor, the P990 which only had 64MB. At startup, it have at least 70MB free RAM for the user which was not the same with the P990 (it only had around 16MB around for the user and it resulted in poor performance and frequent crashes of the phone). So P1 makes a good phone you can rely on and it won’t let you down when it comes to stability.

 

-          Sony Ericsson P1’s design may not be something the phone can be proud off, but to be honest it doesn’t look that bad after all. It’s equipped with qwerty keyboard (2 letters per button), fastport connector, infrared port, WLAN (802.11b) and a jogdial key with up, down and press functions. Also it looks more like a M series phone, not a P series one. The difference between P1 and it’s predecessors is the flip that was common piece of hardware for the Sony Ericsson’s P series. The P1 seems to be some sort of upgraded version of the M600.

 

                

 

-          The main, and the best thing of the phone is it’s screen which is touch sensitive. It shows up to 265k colors (also use vivid colors) which make it’s picture clear and easy to watch and read text even if the phone is under direct sunlight. The screen is a bit smaller compared to the P990 one, but that’s not a big deal…

 

Some more characteristics of the P1:

-          Display 265k Touchscreen (240 x 320 resolution) 2.6*

-          3.2 mega pixel camera with autofocus, 2 LED flash and video recording

-          Front VGA video call camera (which means the phone has 3g networks support)

-          QWERTY keyboard (2 letters per button)

-          Handwriting recognition

-          160MB internal memory, 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM

-          Memory Stick Micro M2 card slot

-          GPRS Class 10, 3G, WLAN (802.11b), HSCSD, Bluetooth, Infrared and USB support

-          SMS, MMS, instant messaging and email client are included

-          Internet Browser (Opera) and RSS reader

-          FM Radio with RDS

-          Organizer (calendar, time, alarm apps and more)

-          Media Player

-          Java MIDP 2.0

-          Office applications…

That would be most of the characteristics of the phone. So it should suit the needs of many users looking for a decent smartphone.

 

            Operating system and user interface:

-          As I mentioned above, the phone runs on Symbian UIQ3.0 operating system. It is a bit different compared to the classic S60 symbian we are addicted to see in Nokia phones. It is compatible only with UIQ3 apps (not S60 or even older UIQ apps are compatible with UIQ3)… But there are still plenty of good UIQ3 apps around. Compared to it predecessor P990, the P1’s interface has been slightly changed and improved. It uses the M600 style interface (the softkeys which lack in P990) and also the standby application which is improved a lot. In P1 it allows you to put up to 15 shortcuts on the main standby screen (in P990 you got only 4) and also gives quick access to organizer (calendar, alarms, tasks) and inbox. The menu is fully customizable. You can move your applications, create folders and etc…

 

      

 

-          When it comes to messaging, this phone is one of the best devices for that purpose. Once you get used to it’s keyboard you have great speed typing messages and even chatting online.

 

-          The phone is also equipped with good picture viewer, media player and video player applications (which are separated in P1 compared to P990 where they are put in a special submenu)… The picture viewer and video player will enable you good management of the pictures and videos taken with the camera, and also for your other graphics in the phone. Media player is the same one from P990 which makes a pretty good replacement for a standard MP3 player. Also there is the FM radio when you are bored from your own tracks… It also supports RDS.

 

-          Camera interface is also the same as P990, but the difference is the picture quality which is improved (as the mega pixels are gone above compared to P990). The P1’s camera takes pretty good and sharp pictures…

 

              

 

-          Web browser is the 8th version of the Opera UIQ browser… It is not one of the toughest features of the P1 as it can easily get stuck or crash the phone so having some other browser would be very handy (Opera Mini 4 java version works excellent on P1)... The RSS reader supports standard RSS management options like, adding new feeds, updating existing ones and sorting the in separate folders of your choice.

 

      

Connectivity:

-          Connectivity is one of the main P1’s features… It gives you wide range of connections available… You can choose between: WLAN, Bluetooth, Infrared, USB, GPRS and 3G connections to connect to the internet or to other devices.

 

-          WLAN makes pretty good deal when you have a free hotspot in your surrounding environment. It’s speed is decent for a Wifi 802.11b phone and gives you excellent browsing experience used together with Opera Mini for e.g.

 

-          Bluetooth can be used for many, many purposes… You can connect to other devices for file transfer, synchronization, listen to music on stereo Bluetooth headsets, make call with wireless Bluetooth headsets or simply connect to the internet using Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network)… It has slightly greater speed compared to Sony Ericsson non smartphones for e.g. (K800, W880 and etc…)

 

-          Infrared and USB connectivity can be used to connect the phone to PC for file transfer or use the phone as a modem for your PC or lap top.

 

-          The phone GPRS and 3G connection stability is great. It gives excellent pleasure and experience browsing at 3G speeds. Also great for making video calls or using navigating maps applications (Google Maps for e.g.).

 

Battery life and other info:

-          The phones battery life is awesome… The battery lasts good enough to use the phone 2-3 days for calls, messages, some music and surfing. It’s lithium polymer battery can be charged with the supplied charger or on USB cable too…

 

-          Supplies in the box: Depending on the country you are buying the phone, this info may vary… But in most cases the box should contain: phone (Sony Ericsson P1), HPM62 headset, USB cable (DCU60), spare stylus, deskstand, software CD and documentation… It shipped with 512MB M2 card in the beginning of it’s sales, but you may get it with 1GB card in some countries…

 

 

Conclusion:

-          After reading about the phone around and having some hands on experience with it, you can see that it is a great phone you are dealing with. Decent connectivity options, good and stable OS (when running on latest firmware) and also multimedia options are awesome. So if you don’t mind having a smartphone with touchscreen while having everything else you need to entertain and get your work done, you can go for the Sony Ericsson P1. And excellent phone in deed.

 

-          If you have further questions about this phone (or any other Sony Ericsson) feel free to ask on the forum.

by strizlow800 a.k.a. ma_junior

Pictures taken from www.gsmarena.com