Posted by Bonovox
Today I have bought a Sony Ericsson Elm for £100 from the O2 store. Here is my verdict so far. First impressions of the Elm are positive upon taking out of it's small tiny little box.
The Elm also has Wi Fi & a-GPS. Overall the Sony Ericsson Elm I would recommend to anyone wanting a decent quality mobile with fantastic amount of features for such a fantastic price. Sony Ericsson in my view have done very well with this phone. So far I have experienced no crashes or restarts & the phone is very smooth & fast in use. Go buy it now. See also for yourself the image quality though I will take some better ones soon. The one indoors came out quite well of my nephew in his Aston Villa shirt on his 7th birthday today. Judge for yourself.[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-08-18 22:25 ]
Posted by hihihans
you can't go wrong for £100
How's the curved back? I like that part.
Posted by Bonovox
Feels good like a curvy woman
Posted by masada1971
all good for me from price to pic quality,but i dislike the small screen size..is it as small as it seems?one more question.. can you shoot a pic with center menu button except camera button,like all
phones?[ This Message was edited by: masada1971 on 2010-04-01 20:16 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Yes you can use centre button to shoot. The screen is not so bad not as bad as c902 small size. The screen has a light sensor & it does become nice & bright in good lighting. In dimmer light it does go quite dim though not badly. I love the phone. The image quality of the camera has been a nice surprise although I said colours seemed a little cold I guess I have have had no sunlight since I got it. Will post more pics soon. I was also happy that the guy in the O2 store let me have the O2 website price of £100 without top up saving £30
It was cos i told him i ordered one online only to be told it was out of stock. I cancelled & went in store. The O2 website price of £100 is for easter only but back in stock Tuesday the 6th they said & they have been selling well.[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-04-01 20:37 ]
Posted by hihihans
Can you adjust camera settings? Like white balance. Or only scene's as Aino has?
Do I see a fastport, I thought it would be mini usb.
Posted by Lollylost100
I can see a little arrow over the Menu button on the home screen. Is there some menu hidden there? Could you take a photo of what it looks like?
Posted by Bonovox
Believe it or not it's Sony Ericsson doing Widgets thats the shortcut
Posted by HxH
Interesting Bono & Thanks for great real hands-on experienced
This looking worthy one 
Different price tag very much here, 180 pounds after converted I can't believe my eyes
low-end touchscreen dominant market (£150-£80) here along with housebrand that received TV analog Boooo!!
..........
added later
How about Noise Shield performance, I see this new featured and really interesting please let me know about it?
As usually SE microphone quite sensitive and pick up environment sound while call on going, is this new featured help?
[ This Message was edited by: HxH on 2010-04-01 21:27 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Yes the Elm is in showing at Carphonewarehouse here for £199 yet in O2 store's it's £119 & online O2 it's £100 crazy
Posted by daydotz
looks a decent phone sounds like a worthy k750i replacement finally
how are you finding
battery life
web browser
gameing
music playback
can it view iplayer content
branding
thanks
[ This Message was edited by: daydotz on 2010-04-01 21:33 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Battery life I cannot say yet guess will say later on as I got it today. Gaming have not tried as yet cos i hardly play games but will report tomorrow on it. Web browsing is smooth though I use Opera & audio is great it does have mega Bass which is nice. have yet to try Wi fi. The noise sheild well not used it on a busy street as yet but call clarity is very good & loud although when you turn on the noise filter whilst in a call the earpiece does go a touch too loud. I leave it off but I will test it tomorrow in the real world. O2 branding as normal is minimal & thankfully this time they have not disabled the flash menus which they did in some previous phones.
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-04-01 21:40 ]
Posted by masada1971
On 2010-04-01 22:07:44, Bonovox wrote:
Believe it or not it's Sony Ericsson doing Widgets thats the shortcut
widgets on active stby screen?
even my satio doesnt support widgets...
Posted by Bonovox
Yes camera settings can be adjusted plenty of them like Face detection & photo fix exp.settings everything it's not limited like the Aino.
Posted by daydotz
thanks really does sound like what im after get the old iplayer checked is it listed under tv
what themes does it have ?
can the o2 key function be changed ?
[ This Message was edited by: daydotz on 2010-04-01 21:54 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Yeah it's a good phone for the price. I will try Wi Fi as soon as I can.
Posted by daydotz
On 2010-04-01 22:50:40, Bonovox wrote:
Yeah it's a good phone for the price. I will try Wi Fi as soon as I can.
what themes does it have ?
can the o2 key function be changed ?
as you can tell im really excited by this phone
[ This Message was edited by: daydotz on 2010-04-01 21:59 ]
Posted by hihihans
@ Daydots. For £100 you'll forget your K750 in a wink.
just do it
Posted by daydotz
On 2010-04-01 23:00:38, hihihans wrote:
@ Daydots. For £100 you'll forget your K750 in a wink.
just do it
il never forget my faithful k750i
just need a case to keep the elm snug
Posted by Bonovox
Yes Hans is right. It has 5 themes two of which are flash based. They are nothing special. The O2 key short cuts cannot be changed no.
Ok I am using my old w995 headphones and it makes a massive difference in bass and clarity. The headphones that come in the box are poor. Music player goes loud with better headphones using the adaptor. The clear voice technology when turned on makes the earpiece louder in busy streets. Only problem is it adapts to your environment so in a quiet room it becomes too quiet and muddled so I turn it off. Best to just turn on the voice clarity feature instead and its loud all the time. Also right now I am using Opera mini whilst playing music and I am not getting any lag like some previous phones by SE.
The Widgets you can see how it looks on the first few pictures on the front of the box. I will post and report more soon as possible.
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-04-02 14:26 ]
Posted by geza079
Bono, can you post some more pictures and maybe any videos ?
Do you know if it's possible to use Garmin or iGO, or any other form of navigation that doesn't need a GPRS connection ?
Thanks
Posted by Bonovox
Will post more pics later on today some better ones. I have no idea about Garmin or anything I do not use them functions as I do not drive. I will try & post a video although as yet I have not posted a video on Esato so I do not know the size limit. Will get back later this afternoon. OK?
Posted by geza079
OK
You can post videos on Tinypic.com or some imagehosting site that has a video option too.
Posted by Bonovox
Ok now i have taken some more photos on a dull rainy day & they still come out very good with great sharpness. I am impressed by this camera.
Posted by hihihans
Looks good mate
Did I see them before?
Posted by Bonovox
Yes some places I have taken before on other phones thats why I said it. They are definatley the Elm
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-04-02 14:44 ]
Posted by daydotz
i the camera is really good
Posted by masada1971
great sharpness and colours in elm's camera...i cannot beleive it...
Posted by Bonovox
I am surprised too. The picture of the bull captured the rain drops clearly from a distance on its head. Viewed full screen on my pc monitor they look even sharper. Just need a sunny day now. The only poor thing is the led flash in low light is rubbish. Although low light photos have not too much noise.
_________________
Best Debater & King of Garbage Esato Awards 2009
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-04-02 17:09 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Ok I have taken more pictures as the sun came out for a short time. Some of a colourful flower bed and around a park and a squirrel running around me. I shall post these as soon as I am home in an hour or so.
Posted by titus1
OMG! Elm has a great camera. Compact phone with wi-fi and a great snapping cam...it's a WINNER!
Posted by geza079
Thanks for posting Bono, the pictures are really good and without noise. Looks like my
K810 is about to be replaced in the next few months.
Posted by HxH
pic quality and sharpness remind me of c901 but without xenon
thanks for answer about noise shield
anyway good job
Posted by Bonovox
Here are more. I have yet to do macro but will tomorrow. See the squirrel pics it kept following me they normally run off
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-04-02 19:12 ]
Posted by mriley
Wow, nice pics Bono!
Love the colors and I laughed out loud at the squirrel chasing you!
Posted by Bonovox
I know everytime I turned around it kept going around me. Normally they are scared & run off. Then a massive dog came upto me & would not leave me alone but the dog pic was blurred as he kept jumping 
I forgot to say in the review(not that good at reviews)that the D pad & soft keys are also very easy to use & very tactile
Posted by HxH
Bono mind you to upload full size as zip
thanks in advance
Posted by Bonovox
I have no idea how to
There are one or two in the photos section so you can see them full size there by clicking on them.
Still no software issues as yet no restarts or crashes. I am using Opera right now whilst playing music on the Elm. There is no lag at all for multi tasking.
Posted by tranced
@Bonovox: I must say that I underestimated you and your new Elm. That's why we can't spit up and stay in the same place.
Can you confirm the firmware version and other stuffs?
I think you will be requesting an avatar soon.
Well done buddy
Posted by c_vignesh
So
has a winner in its hands (price & feature wise)
It makes me wanna switch camp again (from my nokia 5530)
Posted by Bonovox
Thanks guys. Tranced I will post firmware version later on as I am using the phone at the minute can't write it down. And as I said I knew what I was going for and that it is fantastic value for money this phone. The only thing I am missing is a bigger higher res screen. Thanks guys. There are a few things I still need to report on and show in photos on the phone will do that later on. Always something you miss or forget in reviews.
Reporting on battery life now. After nearly 3 days its just about to die. Its gone very well with extensive usage. Using the screen and camera in sunlight is nice and bright thanks to the light sensor. Although it does dim quite a a bit in low light. Still zero software issues as yet which is a nice welcome.
Posted by Bonovox
Tranced firmware version is R7BA076 I presume that must be very early firmware. It is the second time I have taken the gamble on a new phone to market with early firmware. The first time was the c510 & that like the Elm had very few problems. So far the Elm has none at all
here are a few more photos. I think I may need to start a photo thread. The two guys on the bikes are my neighbours More pics on another cloudy day with the sun peeking through sometimes.[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-04-03 16:38 ]
Posted by mriley
On 2010-04-03 18:15:16, Bonovox wrote:
[ This Message was edited by: mriley on 2010-04-03 17:22 ]
Posted by hihihans
Great new tapedeck you got there.
did you notice that at the end of the song the right real is full.
Posted by Bonovox
Yes same with the record it goes to the end. I like them little UI touches it looks better than the old player
Posted by daydotz
have you tired the wifi yet ?
im sure i spotted a newer fw version listed somewhere
Posted by Bonovox
What firmware check it out? Mine may be the latest O2 one. I may debrand soon.No the Wi Fi everytime I tried to connect something was not letting me in. I have yet to figure out how to use Wi Fi properly on any phone
Posted by daydotz
On 2010-04-03 19:13:01, Bonovox wrote:
What firmware check it out? Mine may be the latest O2 one. I may debrand soon.No the Wi Fi everytime I tried to connect something was not letting me in. I have yet to figure out how to use Wi Fi properly on any phone
i would certainly like to debrand mine not sure how easy that would be to do though
the version i saw was 80somthing
is iplayer not listed under tv ?
Posted by Bonovox
I have not noticed iplayer. Perhaps O2 removed it. I do know how to debrand I have done it before. I just checked on Davinci but it's not listed yet cos it's new
Posted by daydotz
On 2010-04-03 19:28:46, Bonovox wrote:
I have not noticed iplayer. Perhaps O2 removed it. I do know how to debrand I have done it before. I just checked on Davinci but it's not listed yet cos it's new
hopefully it can be done soon
i think i maybe hoping for to much with iplayer im sure se would have said if it did
[ This Message was edited by: daydotz on 2010-04-03 18:40 ]