Posted by JAGUY85
I just went to M-R and Eldar has everything but good to say about the leaks and future releases in the
portfolio. His word (I would hope) is not gospel, but he does bring to light many of the ills in that we are as "brand loyalists" too blind to see at times.
This too on the heels of being pushed to 5th place by LG, phone cancellations and very horrible Q2 results. I can't help but almost feel a crack in the armour I have built up over the years in defense of Sony Ericsson. Only just a little bit.
Has
learned from 2007? What is going on here? Is there any glimmer of hope left? Will SE suffer a Motorola fate?
Guys really what do you think? Cause I don't know what to. What is going on with our brand in 2008?
_________________
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History: T310.K700>K750>W810>K800>W850>K800>K810>P1>?
S. B. R. Jr.
[ This Message was edited by: JAGUY85 on 2008-07-20 01:03 ]
[ This Message was edited by: JAGUY85 on 2008-07-20 01:06 ]
Posted by NightBlade
Nah, SE isn't doomed. They're just having a... rainy day? Week? Year. Make that 2.
Posted by JAGUY85
On 2008-07-20 02:03:51, NightBlade wrote:
Nah, SE isn't doomed. They're just having a... rainy day? Week? Year. Make that 2.
Hmm and so much talk of the quiet before the storm. But it seems this storm turned into a Hurricane that is raining on
's parade. As all I see so far is flooding.
I am tired of Nokia being the innovators now and giving people what they really want.
must stop skimping and deliver more. Exceed expectations, don't just meet them. That doesn't work anymore.
People complain a lot of
recycling these days, and dare I say, copying. Yet, with all the copying they claim, is not copying the right things.
Man it's tight right now so it's just up in the air.
Posted by Rookwise
I agree. More and more people who I know that would stay with
handsets are now starting to look at others (myself included) as they now seem to be rehashed over and over (similar to the old Nokia's) in different casing's for a period of 12 months and then release 3-5 new models with so so updates.
There seems to be compatibility problems with
handsets and accessories which is causing problems as well (particularly the A200 platform). Build quality is starting to get worse with noisy housings and paintwork/finish coming off easily.
Posted by PeterKay
forever.
Posted by X-Ter
I will never buy a non-SE phone because they just look beautiful and the interface is brilliant.
I don't think SE is doomed just yet but if they don't release another K700/W800 (I've had both and they were amazing) then they will be.
Posted by strizlow800
Yeah,
need to release 2 perfect phones at this moment... One java based phone (which is announced but still not released C905 imo) and one allrounder smartphone 
.
Posted by TeenInvader
They are doomed indeed. My highlights of thier doomness is w880, walkman with no fm? And w890 camera with no flash and auto focus.
I currently have t650 i thinks thats a good phone.
If it wasn't for this phone i was definately going for different brand.
[ This Message was edited by: TeenInvader on 2008-07-20 08:21 ]
Posted by jcwhite_uk
are doomed as they dont make a phone with everything that I want! I want 8mp camera with af and xenon flash, vga screen, 80gb hard drive, gps, tv tuner, satellite dish and tea maker in a phone smaller than a W880i.
Not too much to expect is it?!
Posted by Spinz
SE is going down in my opinion. The local dealer himself admits that the sale is going down and less and less people now ask for SE phones.
I am too thinking of buying Nokia E71, just waiting for prices to fall a bit which in Nokia case happens within the 1st month of launching new phone
Posted by john1330
if seem so,with their so called cybershot phone which do not fit the bill.SE dragging Sony image to the ground.How a non consumer electronics linked company like Nokia can release better camera phones with Carl-Zeiss lens,16Mill colour screens,all in one smartphone and so on completely amazes me.Even LG has an impressive 5MP camera phone with 120FS video recording.What's going on?
Posted by QVGA
SE is doomed, we're all doomed. Judgment day is near. Brace thy self
Posted by jhayms
On 2008-07-20 09:25:35, jcwhite_uk wrote:
are doomed as they dont make a phone with everything that I want! I want 8mp camera with af and xenon flash, vga screen, 80gb hard drive, gps, tv tuner, satellite dish and tea maker in a phone smaller than a W880i.
Not too much to expect is it?!
lolz... i need that phone but with coffee maker.... ...
why do you think
does not build a phone with very, very, very good cam, video and sound? Take one sony home theater audio, one sony video/digital cam, sony bravia and smart phone then wrap them together... lolz jz kidding..... peace...
Posted by gola
Worse of all, what will happen to Esato when SE's flame totally burns out?
Posted by plankgatan
Eldar yeh...hhhhmmmmm. seems he should wake up a bit...he talking about different sensors, etc... who even not excist.
i take his words quite easy now days
_________________
I
C902, 
W810 & 
T29
------------------------------------
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(t610, t630, k700, k750, k800, k810, k850)
[ This Message was edited by: plankgatan on 2008-07-20 10:09 ]
Posted by mode
Imo the reason SE got themselves in a knot is because they failed to listen to those who put them up there, us the consumers. The word 'arrogant' would best describe this problem. They've detached on the ground consumers like us from their sales and marketing plan and attached paid 3rd party agents for assessment and feedback. Of course, there are some details in the specs race that are questionable like 120 fps 16m colours which seem unnecessary, But ignoring a lot of other reasonable specs in premium devices like 30fps VGA recording, 3.5mm jack etc are just blatant disregard of their competition
Posted by >500
i think its their outlook on the market which has caused them problems.
Not so long ago i read something from Eldar. it went something like....
has the most innovative technologies. but they dont use it because they think the market will reject it.
thats the problem right there.....
running a business involves taking risks. you NEED to take risks, even if they dont pay off. but not all will fail.
_________________
May the
be with you![ This Message was edited by: >500 on 2008-07-20 11:39 ]
Posted by ros-mari
On 2008-07-20 02:23:49, Rookwise wrote:
I agree. More and more people who I know that would stay with
handsets are now starting to look at others (myself included).
There seems to be compatibility problems with
handsets and accessories which is causing problems as well (particularly the A200 platform). Build quality is starting to get worse with noisy housings and paintwork/finish coming off easily.
+1
In local shops, when I ask about SE models, they tell me they will get less and less as they have become aware they are not sold as before.Some models like w890, neve reached some of the most important "mobile" shops here in Bcn.And believe me, the w910 and w580 returns did not help. The w760 has not been seen except online. Real shops have all newest Nokias and even Samsungs, cheaper and cheaper offers every moths of super brand new ones. Not SE, expensive and never offers.T-650 never seen either in real shops here
Posted by SilveR.
They good news is, hope Dicky the new SE Ceo can help up SE after Flints big miss.. It will take month or maybe 1 year.. give it time.. 2009 will be good year for SE.. SE is very little i the world but SE is still no1 in Sweden, after all.. and that won't be change in future..
If you don't like these phones, then don't buy them no one makes you do to it..
Posted by Sony α
Well, I see PG speaking some Sense - nice one Plank.
Posted by Dups!
@mode
Spot on there! The question is are they now listening?
@>500
I've always said and felt that SE is on par with Nokia in terms of technology but it's how they decided to apply it that is ruining a good thing. Amazing that they gave us products that were well ahead of their time and then stopped. From the P800i to the K750i- after this point onwards innovation started to be scaled down until it reached standstill- they were ahead by quite a wide margin. A few people still have the mighty W900i and we know what the recording capabilities of that phone was back then. What stopped them from being the first ones to improve on that since they had an advantage already?
Then there's the S700i with its CCD sensor, where has everything gone to? It's time some top guys over at SE got fired to make way for bold and pro-active action.
This notion that people don't use video recording to justify SE's poor video recording capabilities is silly. People will always compare and when LG does VGA 120 fps then it leaves SE behind in the minds of the consumer. Like it's always said, some things are good to have even though you may not use them, it tells the consumer that the product is technologically adept and money was not wasted.
I think the next 6 month will tell if SE has been shaken hard enough to really wake up.
Posted by janke1
ithink about Eldar he knows about lineup for the 2009. But he didint know anything about 8 megapixelcamera and nothing about xperia..Sonyericsson have things going on that nobody know anything about thats what i thinnk anyway
Posted by Dogmann
@janke1
What he knows and what he is allowed to tell us are two very different things. He has an X1 and told us about the C905 and the fact that both Samsung and Nokia will release there versions either before or around the same time.
If the latest things he has said about the X1 are true which is it will launch about December and internally SE are saying it will not have stable firmware till a couple of months after launch that is a total disaster yet again for SE.
No one will buy a premium product that is still a work in progress when they can but a HTC Touch Pro early September. Plus there will be next gen devices out before SE even get the X1 right, pathetic springs to mind a great product when dead before released in a working state what a waste of time and money that is.
What SE need to do IMO is make less devices in each range maybe just 3 one low end one mid end and one high end. But make them all the best than can be for each price range and make them as close to perfect and with the most up to date spec. Oh yes and release them with finished and stable firmware, they really shouldn't need more than 2-3 firmwares to finalise them over the next 6 months not a year and still with problems.
Marc
_________________
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Honoured to have won BEST DEBATER
[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2008-07-20 12:49 ]
Posted by ros-mari
well, they will release same models with AF or a slightly better "something" in one month time?
nbow, as soon as you buy one ,model, obviously lacking some "key feature", a new one is released months later with that feature.Do they expect us to buy a mobile every few months? Some of us do, but normal people will not.W880 is a good example--w890
w580--w910
too many similar models in a brief perios of time instead of a complete one with Good quality build and Good features (w880 again, one of my favourites, but NO RADIO??????in walkman????)
Posted by makbil
I don't think SE can afford to release the X1 with an unfinished fw like they did with the P990. If they do, it means they have learned nothing form the past 2 years and their doom is almost certain. They must be trying to catch the Christmas shopping season but it will backfire on them, WM users are generally not as patient as us UIQ users.
Posted by jhayms
@Ros
you are right!! absolutely right... even if they build a thousand models but if customer are not satisfied, they will go to other brand, and there goes another customer walking away from them.
in the country where i stay, Imo the ratio is 1 out of 100 persons uses SE. In the company where i work with more than 200 employees, me and my boss are the only one who uses SE. In the Store, 1 of 10 store have SE's phone & accessories headphone & memory card only. I went to a sony shop, they have only 1 set of earphone
hpm-70
k810i phone price plunged down to almost 30% after 3 months.
IMHO, SE products are slowly vanishing in the market....
why i bought SE phone 4 months ago? well its my first one, ^_^.
sorry for my english.. ahhehehe.. peace
Posted by BBS
If Sony Ericsson is doomed then probably XXX Sony Ericsson will take over.
Posted by @ftyk
@mode,
you are wrong there. everytime i mail se to complain/suggest/thank i immediately get an automated response email acknowledging my feedback. after that in the next 2-3 days i get a reply from a human addressing my queries.
try doing this with nokia.
nokia has it's own discussion forum but even there you will never get any support from an authorised personnel.
nokia is arrogance personified.
Posted by BBS
On 2008-07-20 18:24:11, @ftyk wrote:
@mode,
you are wrong there. everytime i mail se to complain/suggest/thank i immediately get an automated response email acknowledging my feedback. after that in the next 2-3 days i get a reply from a human addressing my queries.
try doing this with nokia.
nokia has it's own discussion forum but even there you will never get any support from an authorised personnel.
nokia is arrogance personified.
But, was the reply relevant? informative? useful?
My experience with SE is that I got the responses as you have described but though somewhat relevant they were not useful, and not enough informative.
For example, I asked about how to use the phone as a modem - I got the reply but not the solution. Finally I have to solve the problem myself. Another inquiry was about availability of the P990 in Hong Kong. Reply was something like "P990 simplified Chinese version is already introduced and Hong Kong version will be introduced very soon." That is P990 simplified version was available in electronic shops but not with service providers.
Posted by c96sthl
I just hope one day SE can turn around and i like to see what Eldar will write
he seem like praising w580 one year ago and didn't really correct much when the keypad crack issue pop up but now i wonder he crack the linda keypad or he making assumption
not tht i just feel sad on SE but I too feel sad on those review which makes me wonder does people who review phone get special treatment in making cover up report.
at the end i will trust forum poster since we all post remark after using a product!.
Posted by JAGUY85
On 2008-07-20 13:49:06, Dogmann wrote:
@janke1
What he knows and what he is allowed to tell us are two very different things. He has an X1 and told us about the C905 and the fact that both Samsung and Nokia will release there versions either before or around the same time.
If the latest things he has said about the X1 are true which is it will launch about December and internally SE are saying it will not have stable firmware till a couple of months after launch that is a total disaster yet again for SE.
No one will buy a premium product that is still a work in progress when they can but a HTC Touch Pro early September. Plus there will be next gen devices out before SE even get the X1 right, pathetic springs to mind a great product when dead before released in a working state what a waste of time and money that is.
What SE need to do IMO is make less devices in each range maybe just 3 one low end one mid end and one high end. But make them all the best than can be for each price range and make them as close to perfect and with the most up to date spec. Oh yes and release them with finished and stable firmware, they really shouldn't need more than 2-3 firmwares to finalise them over the next 6 months not a year and still with problems.
Marc
_________________
Nokia E90,8GB SDHC, Fring, Seven, Tom Tom 6
Honoured to have won BEST DEBATER
[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2008-07-20 12:49 ]
I agree with you here. SE needs to work on making more quality products with a little hiccups as possible and of course, release them much sooner. I don't know the full logistics of
's situation, but it looks bad coming from a fan of the brand.
Xperia when announced looked so hopeful, now we don't know anymore. If Nokia/Samsung gets to release their offerings well before C905, I would be very afraid for SE. They already have a "winning" point in the fact that, they are both "smartphones".
Posted by cleary
Why dooming a company? Give them a chance to turn it around. I would never consider bying a Sony E mobile, but I sure hope, that they survive this difficult time. We need manufactures like Sony E to kick the others in the *beep* so that, especially Nokia, doesn't rest.
Sony E made mistakes about the market. Two key failures was their respons to the N95 in Danish "Mobil", that N95 would never be popular because costumers didn't wan't an all-in-one phone, so thay wouldn't even consider designing a competitor. Antoher key failure is the lack of build in GPS. Sony E stated again, that costumers didn't wan't that, but they were wrong.
IMO Sony E kicked Nokia in the *beep* in 2004, when Nokia hit an all time low with 34% marketshare. Sony E delivered high tech and what costumers wanted. Nokia learned to listen to the market, and also tried to create a market for fx. smartphones, GPS, DVB-H etc.
I hope Sony E will grow strong again, so that they can kick the big three (LG, Samsung and Nokia), to be proactive.
[ This Message was edited by: cleary on 2008-07-21 09:06 ]
Posted by anonymuser
Where to start. Complete lack of innovation, dramatic decrease in quality control, irritating segmentation and adherence to pointless brandnames that mean a Cybershot only gets a so-so music player, a Walkman gets a camera from two years ago, and high-end smartphones have to compromise on both...
Mobile companies build their names on innovative flagships. Back when SE was new, and the P800 was released, they immediately shot to the top of the geek list and had people like me singing their praises for years, because they were the technology leaders and every other phone in the range had some reflected glory from that brilliant flagship. But what did SE do then? They sat on their hands for three years, releasing only minor upgrades to that same platform in the form of the P900 and P910, before realising that they'd frittered away their lead and been left behind. Along comes the godawful mess that was the P990 in reaction to that, the first genuine update to the P800 and one of the most botched releases in the history of mobiles, and that's the end of SE as any kind of force in the geeksphere, lets face it. UIQ3 was stillborn in 2005, but they're still trying to flog that rubbish to us even now, when even SE and Symbian themselves have officially given up on it.
So what do we have now, the promise of the Xperia X1 at some point, a phone built by HTC which is already out of date and designed to be over-expensive, compared to the huge competition in the Windows Mobile market. That's their big idea, the only iron in the fire, as they embarrassingly cancel the next P series and proceed with no other smartphone OS.
It would be bearable if their other phones were any good, but they're terrible too. My wife bought a W910, within a couple of months she lost her entire text message inbox (due to a bug which I know also plagued the K850, the Cybershot flagship of the time), within six months most of the crappy silver paint had cracked off the central button leaving her trendy walkman phone looking like some cheap knock-off, and she's sworn off SE for her next phone and probably the one after that. Embarrasing.
SE have taken the immense brand loyalty they once had, some of which is still mistakenly displayed here, and frittered it all away in lazy development and contempt for their consumers, cutting corners in every possible way. It's now biting them on the arse, and while I wish no ill to any of their employees, I'm glad they're no longer profitting from such terrible mismanagement. They deserve to lose money, and the custom of everyone here, until they learn their lessons and come back with something worthy of the Sony or Ericsson names.
Posted by Sony α
@Boinng
You've made a bloody good point - but so have many other users, as they point out that this recent slump within SEMC has been due, in large part to the now departed Miles Flint.
It's a point to be reiterated again, and again - Sony Ericsson, now with Hideki Komiyama at the helm, should see things picking up in the next year - after all, what Flint left behind was an oversized elephant of a company, which moved very very slowly.
Therefore, giving Komiyama a chance is fair - I believe.
Posted by makbil
@Boinng and @Sony α, I agree with both of you.
My first GSM phone was an Ericsson back in the 1993s and apart from a brief 8210 love affair I've always liked Ericsson/SE devices. There have been minor problems at times, such as a BT profile design problem on a T39m, which SE eventually swapped with a T68i but nothing compared to the situation of the P990. The design of the P990 is actually very good, I'm guessing the designers may have reported an increase of RAM is required but was rejected by the management. This is the point where SE's problems began and they did nothing to correct it. This mentality showed itself in the devices SE announced for the past 2 years and is largely responsible for the situation SE has gotten themselves into.
I wish the new SE CEO "Dick" the best of luck, I hope he can bring back the SE that brought us the K750/P800/P900.
Posted by laffen
Maybe we will see some cool new devices at the announcement tomorrow? Let us hope the Walkman brand will renew it's reputation
Posted by Sony α
I'm hoping to see an 'XPERIA' style shocker - something we didn't expect maybe - after all - nobody saw the 'X1' coming - so roll on tomorrow morning at 10am London Time!!!
Posted by goldenface
Sony Ericsson has been booming for years now, its had quarter after quarter of huge growth and profits so to think they would throw in the towel after only two or three poor quarters is nonsense.
I think part of their problem is that they need to be able to react quicker to what the market is asking for. There are so many different products that are coming on stream its easy to be left behind if you don't cater for peoples needs quickly enough. Plus with devices taking years rather than months to develop, falling behind is proving costly.
I mean its not as if SE isn't capable of coming up with the goods but I think their marketing department is looking mixed up atm and they have led the company somewhat down the wrong path.
Posted by Sony α
Well said GoldenFace!
The Product they deliver, is not far off from being 'what the customer' wants - its the time they take to market, that does the damage!
Posted by Fanofmodi
i read a lot se moaning here on esato. m a long time se user but u guys changed my mind towards nokia. so for my wife today i went to a reputed mobile shop to buy a nokia or samsung for her. there were display 4 counters. each one nokia se samsung and moto. there were 22 se phones in 1 counter, 12 nokias in 2nd , 8 samsung in 3rd, and about 13 motos in 4th counter. as i really went to buy a nokia or samsung but after taking a look as se counter all nokias and samsung look so ugly and boring that i didnt even wanted to take one in my hand. all se phones looked so sexy like w350 w380 w760 c902 c702 k660 g900 g700. i ended up buying w350 and she loves it. my point is even though se phones lack good features they look extremly good. an average consumer like me first wants looks and then functionality. i had already prepared my mind for nokia or samsung but at the end they didnt appeal me.
Posted by sapibobo
Just want to say that from very beginning i always think that separation between music phone (walkman) and imaging phone (cybershot) is bad idea.....
How much i miss K750....
They (ericsson) used to have the first of cutting edge tech inventions in mobile communications : EMS, bluetooth, mms.... Now they just got spoiled with Sony design team and expensive marketing contract with Saatchi without any significant improvement in engineering....
Posted by JAGUY85
Let's hope the new CEO can turn things around.
deserves to be back up there. The likes of LG should never have surpassed to begin with.
Posted by makbil
On 2008-07-21 19:03:44, Sony α wrote:
The Product they deliver, is not far off from being 'what the customer' wants - its the time they take to market, that does the damage!
Speaking only with regards to SE's smartphone lineup, I don't agree. SE has been significantly falling behind its competitors for the past 2 years. Add to this their incomprehensible decision to stop support for even their newer devices whereas the competitors kept improving and adding more functionality to their older devices, was sure to catch up with SE - and it did.
The short term future doesn't look to good either, what SE is planning to release in a few months, its competitors already have in the market. SE has to stop concentrating on the paint job and work on a new advanced platform, maybe UIQ 3.3, to fill the gap until SF is ready.
I really don't envy being in Dick's shoes, he's got some rough times ahead.
Posted by Sony α
On 2008-07-22 00:31:52, sapibobo wrote:
They (ericsson) used to have the first of cutting edge tech inventions in mobile communications : EMS, bluetooth, mms.... Now they just got spoiled with Sony design team and expensive marketing contract with Saatchi without any significant improvement in engineering....
What you guys get outside of Japan, is 99.9% the doing of Ericsson AB - Ericsson deal solely with 'Sony Ericsson' outside of Japan - and Sony deal with Sony Ericsson solely in Japan.
So your comment about 'Sony design team' is pretty much invalid as far as Sony Ericsson goes....
Ericsson AB are still making mobile phones, they're well into the mkt - they are Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (Outside of Japan).
Posted by Sony α
This analyst, surely has not seen the new C905 - and as the SEMC Manager says, the K660i and X1...
http://www.pcworld.com/busine[....]ony_ericsson_says_analyst.html
With the C905's new integration of WiFi and GPS, I believe she needs to rethink her outlook.
Posted by reggiele
Saaad that SE is not doing well - i think they need to beef up their product line and after service with softwares which have been rather shitty with recent units...
Posted by islandprd
I tend to agree with Eldar. I think he means well. He just fed up with the SE people, quoted
P.S. If some of you think that I’m being harsh in this write-up – you are spot on. I just can’t stand what they have done to one of the market’s finest line-up in no time after 5 years of development and hard work. They had a wake-up call back in 2007. Apparently, they didn’t hear it.
The reason of SE is in this sorry state is exactly, because people like this:
Sony Ericsson thinks the criticism is unfair and says that, in fact, it already has a wide portfolio that isn't too reliant on the Walkman and Cyber-shot line, according to Nordic public-relations manager Gustaf Brusewitz.
They are on denial, thinking too highly of themselves and not listening to their very own customers.
Sony are playing along till Ericsson becomes weak by its own stupidness and later gobles it up 100%.
[ This Message was edited by: islandprd on 2008-07-23 11:43 ]
Posted by Sony α
@island
You make a good point - at this point, Sony will see the damage being done to their brands, and Sir Howard will 'acquire' Sony Ericsson - deserved if you ask me.
Perfectly put dude, 'till Ericsson becomes weak by its own stupidness'.
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[ This Message was edited by: Sony α on 2008-07-23 12:12 ]
Posted by carkitter
I don't think
are far away from market success at all, thier designs lately have been outstanding both in terms of styling & advanced packaging. Use of quality materials is good but could improve as the compitition are using alot of metals, glass and generally larger screens than
Where
let themselves down IMO is in the area of connectivity, they need more feature-phones with Wifi, wider compatibility of media (ie: Micro SD card + M2 card + MSDP compatibility) and less proprietary features. This IMO is where they need to change policy, not in recreating past favourites like w810.
Mobile Internet browsing is an important feature moving forward and
have acknowledged this with models like Z770/Z780 and the G-series and yet Wifi has been left out of almost all these models. Even Apple recognises the importance of Wifi in a internet focused handset. Blackberry - Wifi. N95 - Wifi. Laptop computers - Wifi. By leaving out Wifi, SE is handcapping it's future marketability and losing credibility among the 'geekisphere' (as someone else called it) those early adopters and customers who act as 'go to guys' for thier friends and family. Wifi is common at universities and is missing out on a big market who will eventually form a large part of the future corporate world.
tie us in to the Sony range of memory cards and these cards seem to perform well, but in the current market needs to recognise that they can't expect owners of other brands to just dump thier old cards and 'see the light'. People also want the card from thier PSP to work in thier phone, laptop, camera, printer etc without file format issues or physical restrictions. If can overcome this then it'll remove a significant barrier to sales in the very tight Western markets that are entering a recession as we speak.
This is also the reason for reducing proprietary features such as fastport, lack of 3.5mm headphone jack, platform compatibility, file types etc.
Again I'll use Apple as an example; they learned from the mistake of the recessed headphone jack, and using Intel chips in thier Mac computers has given them more compatibility with the established market leader and is resulting in increased sales. Macs are still different but importantly, it's less painful to move to the Mac platform and it should also be painless for long time Nokia users to move to a
model. I hope gets up to its neck in this new Symbian Foundation and learns a thing or two about open-source concepts as it's former 'we know better' policy is rapidly turning from obselete to down right carcinogenic!
Yeah, it'd be nice to have A/F on all
phones and Walkman 3.0 in all C and G-series, but at the end of the day these guys know how to make phones and I'm sure they have stuff on the drawing board that'll blow our minds. The best manufacturer is one that creates markets where none existed before ie: 5110, T68i, V3, K750, W800, P800, W900, N95, iPhone are all examples of devices that weren't nagged into existance by geeks but where manufaturers took customers to new niches. Today's niche is tomorrows mass market and I'm willing to leave it up to to show us the way forward, once they work it out themselves.
The A200 platform is excellent IMO in terms of being easy to look at, intuitive, well structured and extremely functional. Yes, stability issues still need to be worked out but they will be and that leaves
in a good position to move forward from here.
Posted by makbil
@carkitter, where SE is really loosing big time is in the stability and functionality of their phones. Remember that until R5 on P990 there was always the possibility that the phone could restart when receiving a call. This is just not acceptable and eventually word got around. Firmware issues have plagued most SE phones in the past 2 years. Now, if people pay premium amounts for a device - remember SE phones are not cheap at all - they expect it to work with all functions as advertised.
Unlike you, I don't think SE can turn things around soon. They need some time to reorganize properly and start most things from scratch - G900 still has P990 closed flip mode files lurking among its files. If they fail, when SF becomes available they stand no chance against their competitors.