Posted by laffen
This thread is for P990 reviews only. Feel free to post your P990 experience here. The intention is to start one single review thread for each new model. Feel free to start other threads in the Review forum.
Comments about the reviews should be posted in other threads.
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
Thank you Laffen, musch appreciated.
I think I will start this off by listing some good and bad points about the p990
pros:
Great build quality
decent camera
easy to use wi-fi
The flip can easily be removed
I think a new model battery will be out soon for exta long run time
incredibly quick charging
decent package contents, (cool desk stand)
very nice large display
Scroll wheel is very smooth and feels great to use
Stylus fees nice
Lighting up keyboard is nice to use in the dark
Cons:
stylus is on the left, which is a bit odd to me?
software is still buggy and the internet brwser crashes alot
Ram is small, I find im running on about 5% free most of the time
camera lense seems to rotate the wrong way
booring box
no in ear headphones
Cannot use the front cam for pics
mirror on rear is very blury, cannot be used for desnt pics
could do with a larger free meory card
missing a few smart functions like the light button on k750i
the back and play/pause button seem to be the wrong way round?
I know this is breif, and a bit sort, but I am planning to add to it after I have used it for a bit longer, One thing I will say is with the upgraded firmware is that its definetly worth the buy now
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
OOOO and heres some pics I just took:
higher res photos here:
http://web.mac.com/businessmaestro/iWeb/Site/P990i.html
and now some screen shots:
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I am a mac fanboy
and prowd owner of a p990i
[ This Message was edited by: Luke-the-magic-man on 2006-09-10 13:32 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Luke-the-magic-man on 2006-09-10 14:06 ]
Posted by haynesycop
*drool*
They are lovely pictures, what camera did you use? It is so sexy without the flip lol. Thanks for those.
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
No probs, I will get a load of better ones out later (working on screen shots etc)
I used a olympus e500, for the pics, gave up using my compact camera...
Posted by jplacson
I'm still not fond of the thumboard on the body... I still prefer the P910i's thumboard layout. On the P990, I would've preferred a widescreen LCD instead.
But hey, I'm nitpicking. I still think it's the best hybrid out on the market today. Let's hope SE keeps it up.
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
I kind of agree with that actually, the layout was allot easier to use wasnt it?
Although this one encorporates lots of extra bits that the p910i never had
Posted by QuickShare
nice review mate.. appreciate it much
oh btw.. i've got to give a huge credit on your picture you took of your P990.. 2nd pic was my favourite 
one word to describe the picture.. Superb!
Posted by spine6
guys did you try the new firmware?? Does it improve the phone??What battery is included with the new phones released this month??
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
im planning on seeing what firmware i have later and then i will update if needed. the original one was buggy, but when it was updated last week worked allot better. the battery i have is a bst-33 950mah. it looks as if there could be a bigger one though as it doesnt take up all the room in the battery compartment.
@ quick thanks mate
Posted by laffen
Please try to keep this thread free for general P900 comments. Use the more appropriate Sony Ericsson P990 discussion thread for that.
thanks
Posted by chriswg85
Here is a semi-review / first impressions post I made in the P990 Discussion thread some time ago. I am reposting it in here because it belongs better.
I love all the things you can do in FC mode -- much more useful than P910. One of the best parts is being able to browse the internet with Opera Mini while the flip is closed. And with WIFI, it is unbelievably fast!
Yes, build quality is great -- no squeaks, rattles -- it is very solid.
The screen is amazing! I didn't think the resolution would be that impressive compared to the P910, but it is outstanding. I compared them side by side and the difference is incredible. It is also much brighter on 90% than the P910 is on 100% brightness.
I don't have 3G here in the US, but I've been able to be in WIFI coverage the whole time so far (in a college town), and browsing if very enjoyable. I even turned off WIFI to test GPRS, and the browser is much quicker than the P910.
I've been using the phone for about 24 hours straight with WIFI, bluetooth, web browsing, and music playing. I charged it initially and it lasted very long. It only got down to 30%, but I decided to charge it again anyway. I'll have to see how long the BST-33 battery lasts in the coming days.
I have taken many photos, and the quality is superb. Haven't done much with videos, but they look pretty good so far.
And yes, the media player sound in incredible. Even with the included headphones, it is pretty good. And the organization of the media player is nice too with the album art and playlists.
I've gotten low on RAM a few times too, but overall I haven't had much trouble. I still haven't had a single lock-up, shut-down, or error message. I did notice that when I was down to only about 2 MB of RAM and I went to open the web browser that the task manager automatically shuts down other programs to make room. I don't know if it is supposed to do this, but it does for me.
And now I'll add a few of my own thoughts and impressions since a few of you wanted a review. I've never done a review before, so I'll do my best. I'll also post some pictures, even though I think there are enough pictures of the phone on the web already. Here goes:
HARDWARE:
First of all, it feels really good in your hand -- nice and curved. I like the feel of the new scroll wheel, but I hate this stupid back button! It is just poorly placed or something because my thumb never makes it there without reconfiguring my hand. But I do like the "mushy" feel of the select (inward press) of the scroll wheel.
The rear of the phone looks much better in person than in pictures. I didn't think I would like it from the pictures, but it is very nice. The camera slider has a good feel to it.
I also like this external keylock. It has a nice slide to it and is easy to use.
The QWERTY keyboard takes a little getting used to, but it is very usable for me. And it is great to type in the dark with the backlight that the P910 didn't have.
The flip keypad is good too. I didn't have a P900, so this is different than the P910, but I like it. The backlight is nice and bright.
The media play button and the internet button are useful, but I find you have to press and hold them for a second for it to register. And sometimes you have to press it twice. It would be good if you could just press it and know it will work. The camera button takes some getting used to because you have to depress it pretty far to take a picture, which can make it difficult to hold steady.
SOFTWARE:
The UIQ 3 interface is beautiful. I got so bored of the P910, but I don't see that happening with the P990.
The Opera browser is great and very speedy. There does seem to be an issue with the homepage/bookmarks. The first bookmark becomes your homepage, but there doesn't seem to be a way to organize the bookmarks. The other issue with the browser that I ran into was when I tried to download a file from the Member Area of the SE Fun & Downloads page, I got a message the the URL was too long. So I think that will need to be fixed. The only other thing is that I would prefer to browse in "Select Text Mode" so that I can highlight and copy information, but when I tried this, it was hard to click on small links. One nice feature is the built in "Web Guide," which is basically the entire user manual online.
E-mail and messaging work great. Everything is highly functional in FC mode. And the predictive text is amazing! I was typing a message and it guessed the right words before I even typed anything! Much nicer than P910.
The Today screen sort of doesn't seem to work for me. When I have missed calls or unread messages, they don't show up. I dont' know what the problem is there.
I'm not too fond of the Notes application (the drawing part). There is a slight lag between the pen and what shows up on the screen. It was much smoother with the P910.
WIFI works flawlessly. I set up the connection and whenever the phone needs it for e-mail or web browsing, it automatically connects.
The media player and radio are excellent and have very nice features. I read that some people had problems with their network reception after turning on the radio. I haven't had this problem. When connected to the radio, I still keep the same number of bars. It might be a 3G problem. The music player is great. Sound quality is excellent. It plays perfectly smoothly even when switching and moving around in applications. I have also read that the volume seems low for some people, but it is more than adequate for me on about 70% volume.
The camera application is really great, with tons of options for the pictures. I just wish there was a way to toggle the flash using a keypad button or something. If there is, please tell me (I couldn't read the manual because it was in Swedish or something I think ... lol ... and it's a hassle to read it online). And the camera takes amazing 2MP pictures, both macro and normal.
Call quality is the best I've heard yet on a phone. Crystal clear and very smooth. I tried both a P910 and a RAZR in one location with very little coverage, and they both had breaks in sound, but the P990 did not. The speakerphone is okay too.
The Contacts application has a good setup. One problem was that when synching with Outlook 2003, all the mobile numbers I have show up as Mobile (w) work numbers on the phone. Also, when adding a number, I prefer to have the number with area code in this format: (555) 555-5555, but the phone automatically removes all formatting, so it shows up like 5555555555. I wish this could be changed. Adding pictures for contacts is good, and I like that you can zoom to a certain place in a picture to make the contact fit (although the zoom increments are a little too big).
Okay, I'm exhausted and can't think of anything else to write about. For those who don't have the phone yet and have any questions, just ask. I'll be happy to check things out and give you an answer!
In conclusion, I couldn't be happier with my decision to get this phone. I was worried for a little while there before ordering it at such a price, but it was well worth it.
And now for some pictures (the screen came out kind of strange looking in some of the pictures ... sorry):
Posted by dineshrai42
The camera doesn't take any decent pictures. They all appear as though they have been taken under cloudy conditions. And forget about taking pictures when in zoom mode as autofocus will not lock on to give any crisp pictures. Very poor.
Posted by tele_xpert
http://www.exoticphone.com/
offer this set cheapest rate..
its true noboby beats their price !!!
more about : click the following links :
http://www.exoticphone.com/website/displayprod.php?itemid=10619
_________________
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..Think Better..Think Bigger..
[ This Message was edited by: tele_xpert on 2006-11-01 16:00 ]
Posted by Ollsbols
I have used Ericsson and Sony Ericsson phones for a number of years now (5 or 6). I have had the P800 and P910, both of which were great phones. So I was very excited when the P990 was announced. It seemed to deal with most of the small things the previous phones lacked. It had a very clear screen and a usable keyboard amongst other new features. The only issue I could see was with the scroll wheel. It was 5d on the predecessors but now seemed to being only 3d. No matter I can learn to live with that.
However that all paled into insignificance when measured against what is actually wrong with the phone. I am a Vodafone customer. They have been fine. They have replaced my P990 3 time now. Every phone has had the same issues and each one I get seems to find a few new ones.
The phone is better looking than it for-runners. It feels very solid. The screen is crystal clear and only slightly shorter and slightly wider than the P910 (in order to fit on the keyboard.) The phone loses nothing from this decrease in screen size. The picture quality and the fact that some application (like the internet) can be used landscape are an absolutely acceptable trade-off. The keyboard is great. I have pretty chubby fingers and have no issue typing at a reasonable rate with my 2 index fingers. The keys feel firm (not rubbery) and the feedback is very positive.
The camera is also very good. Yes there are better out there but 2mp will be good enough for a 6x10 photo print. You have to work the settings a little to get good results and don’t even think about low light if you want to print your picture. However for a phone it is just the job. It has digital zoom, flash, exposure settings and a decent quality video recorder.
The interface is a little tricky to get to grips with. Especially if you have used the P800/910 before. However as with thee things you get used to it.
The video playback is fantastic. I have a piece of software for converting DVD to MP4. The quality is amazing on playback. I can say no more.
The MP3 player is also fine. Reasonable functionality, just the job.
That is the end of the good stuff. Here are some of my issues so far. I will try to keep details to a minimum.
When I am performing a task with the flip closed and I decide I want to open it half way through (texting, e-mailing, taking a photo) the phone just locks up. Only taking out the battery will sort it. (my friend get the same problem but when he is closing the flip mid task).
The phone has random memory errors and closes applications midway through a task.
There are plenty of other random errors (E32USER-CBase etc). Phone locks, removing the battery is the only way out.
Some applications just do not open sometimes. They are selected, the icon blinks and nothing happens. Sometime needs a reboot.
Basically the software is not very good. I have the latest version. A few of my friends have the same phone and the same issues. If Sony Ericsson cannot sort it then I am going to swap this one. I am very disappointed. I think this phone could have been good. It was 6 months late and not working properly. Sony Ericsson are having a laugh.
Posted by mobilemodman
you probably have the older firmware version as vodafone branded fones take a few more weeks to be accepted for a newer FW via SEUS compared to unbranded fones, the latest FW verision adds about 2mb more RAM, so that should sort your memory issues. Nice review guys, from the looks of it, Im gonna buy myself a P990 in the next few months, i dont like Nokia, and personally dont like how apple are resticting their iphone as far as software is concerned, you cant run 3rd party apps on it. But from the reviews, some people have really bad expereinces with their p990, and some think its an excellent phone, so i'm stuck half way in between making up my mind.
Posted by paradoxor
I have this phone for about a week and here`s my review:
Before update:
-very slow menus
-very slow start
-speed decreases with bigger memory cards
-older alarms often ring (very bad bug)
-ringer settings sometimes are forgoten
After update:
-menus are working better
-the start is still very slow
-didn`t tried the alarm bug
-sound volume is a little higher
-many opened applications don`t slow the phone down so much
General opinion:
-Very good aspect
-very good display
-battery kind of small for a phone this big
-not many applications available yet for the uiq v3
-os kind of unstable. maybe it wasn`t such a good idea for sony ericsson to put this os on theyr most expensive phone
-great sms/email managing
-rss feed and wlan are great ideas for a business phone
-the organiser si not too flexible
-hand writing recognition is very good. still, i recomend using the keyboard, it`s much better and faster.
-business card scanner is not like in the presentation... it`s kind of useless
Things that I haven`t tried yet are video calls, office applications and of much bigger memory cards.
I hope this review helps you in deciding if this phone is suitable for you or not.
If you have the chance, try it for a day or two before buying it.
Posted by BrianCool
I found this phone unlocked at www.exoticphone.com for $489 with a one year warranty. I guess thats it. The price is unbeatable. I should buy it?
Posted by mobilemodman
Well for me:
After thinking about buying one and reading reviews for over 3 months, i finally bought one.
First Impressions: The qwerty keypad is much much smaller than it appears in the pictures u see online, the screen is amazing, people wonder why you ever would want to watch a movie on your fone, well, after i watched half a movie once on my K750 out of bordem, and then was temporarily short sighted for the rest of the day, once you actually play around with the P990, you can actually feel the difference, watching movies on it is awesome!! the video quality is most seductive.
However when i had recieved my phone it was with one of the oldest Firmware versions scince the pre-pre release of the P990, with a Hong Kong generic CDA, after one week of many many restarts and no multitasking capabilities at all, i finally found a way to make my fone usable, I changed my CDA to World generic using this guide ( http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=141900 ) and then updated via SEUS, and voila!!!, my fone is like a completely new device, now i can actually understand the frustration that some users who purchased the P990 last year were experiencing, i mean to get something that is almost useless after waiting for it to realease for over a year, and to top it up spending a huge ammount of hard earned money on it can only be described in one word: @#$%ed. But SE have gone a long way in imporving the phone, and i have felt that first hand after the update, and now the fone is a completely different device to what it was.
Differences between old an new Firmwares: phenominal change is web browsing capabilities, Phone funcionality is around 4x ~5x faster, the icons and display is more clear < seems to me atleast, multitasking has vastly improved, infact i dont even think the phone was capable of multitasking with the old firmware, and last of all usability: improved by 90%!!< no jokes!
And dont make fun of my elite photographic skills!
>>
[ This Message was edited by: mobilemodman on 2007-03-19 16:40 ]
Posted by >500
@mobilemodman
and thanks to me for getting you the phone
Posted by MindStorm
I've just switched to a Nokia N95, and I'm really satisfied with it - read my N95 review here: http://mobilegathering.wordpress.com/reviews/nokia-n95-review/
When I was writing my N95 review it struck me - if you want to buy a smartphone with WiFi and 3G/UMTS support and a decent camera today you'll most probably ending up in choosing betweeen either the N95 (or a Nokia E-series device) or the P990i! Even if the P990i is almost a year old at the market nowadays, it's still in the top fighting with Nokias newest smartphones. So, I found it interesting to make a quick review for all of those who are thinking about actually purchasing a P990i today.
So here it is - my P990i review. Almost a year late, but still. Click here to read it!:
http://mobilegathering.wordpress.com/reviews/p990i-review/
_________________
It's all in your mind - MindStorm
Owner of a Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson P990i
[ This Message was edited by: MindStorm on 2007-04-30 09:45 ]
Posted by jesal
i got this phone 2 months back and more than happy about the same. nothing seems to be wrong only without the flip its a lil tricky to get used to since i was and still into nokias as well.
Posted by kimot01
i'm planning to buy this as my secondary phone...
Posted by rockerZ
On 2007-09-10 08:47:22, kimot01 wrote:
i'm planning to buy this as my secondary phone...
What is your main phone
?
Posted by lhaizza
I'd also love this phone, Im just not comfortable with the qwerty pad. But still it's one of my choice on SE phones.
Posted by Hek7or
I love my P990... But I would like more resolution screen for internet navigation... QVGA is just too little to be comfortable in web surfing... :S
Posted by rkalloo
i miss my p990 sooooooooo much!!