| Author |
K700i - Updated Firmware in UK? |
Jus
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 22
PM |
I have serious issues with my R2A 041 Firmwared K700i with regards to battery life. I phoned Sony Ericsson and they say that it is a problem and there is new firmware around called R2L that fixes battery life but it is not out in the UK and they have no idea when it will be.
I got my phone through O2 Online, I was wondering if anyone knew how I could get my firmware upgraded if/when it is out, and where I could get this done.
I don't have any Sony Ericsson centre within 100 miles of me so obviously I can't visit one of those - any ideas? Reason being I need to know quickley so if I can't I can just send phone back to O2
I have had it about a fortnight, battery life has been nothing totally awful, but had been a bit below my expectations but I put that down to it needing a few charges to get going.
However the last few days the battery peformance has been abysmal. It was run down Saturday morning so I charged it for a couple of hours till it was full.
Went out with it and sent a couple of texts, no animated backgrounds, radio, bluetooth, IR, etc in half an hour and it went down by about two pixels.
Then made a 20 min call, sent a couple more texts and then the battery was half way down, which was awful considering how little I had done with it.
Turned phone off, then back on about 45 mins later and the battery was down to being 3/4 empty. Sent a few texts, kept it off thinking that I need to save some power here, turned it on again another half hour later and it was down to a really small bit remaining.
This, as you can guess is unacceptable, when I got home charged it for two hours, had an hours call on it after it was fully charged, after it again there was just a quarter of the battery remaining.
Seems to be holding up pretty well today so far however when compaired to previous days, but nowhere near as good as the T610. | |
|
daveyj
Joined: Jun 05, 2003
Posts: 28
PM |
R2L is available in the UK and can be flashed by SE service centres, Carphone Warehouse service centres and a few (very few) O2 shops.
However, if the battery life remains as you desrcibe then you have either a faulty phone or battery and you should return it all to O2 for replacement or repair.
I find that with R2L I get around 3-4 days of standby with around an hour of talking, 10(ish) texts and other minimal-moderate feature usage. This is about a day more than under R2A. (On the O2 network - with 80 miles of travelling each day which makes it work to hold a signal - it's longer if I stay at home !)
The meter isn't linear - mine stays in the green for around 3 days, the orange for around 4 hours and the red for about a day - 36 hours.
Edited to correct a couple of typos.
[ This Message was edited by: daveyj on 2004-08-22 13:16 ] |
Cheeezy
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 47
PM |
I have a new CPW near me, might go in there and see what can be done. Because they're new they might be less rude (as i've see in other posts). |
Jus
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 22
PM |
Quote:
|
On 2004-08-22 14:14:27, daveyj wrote:
R2L is available in the UK and can be flashed by SE service centres, Carphone Warehouse service centres and a few (very few) O2 shops.
However, if the battery life remains as you desrcibe then you have either a faulty phone or battery and you should return it all to O2 for replacement or repair. |
|
Hi,
I live in the Ipswich area and I believe that the Carphone Warehouse shop in Town is not a service centre so cannot get it flashed there, also rang the O2 Shop and they said that they do not do it either.
I know previously you could send it to Celistica to be flashed but now they no longer have a contract with SE. Any ideas?
Phone's holding it's own today, battery power not satisfactory still and nowhere near that quoted by SE but much better than yesterday.
Cheers
Justin |
daveyj
Joined: Jun 05, 2003
Posts: 28
PM |
Quote:
"I live in the Ipswich area and I believe that the Carphone Warehouse shop in Town is not a service centre so cannot get it flashed there, also rang the O2 Shop and they said that they do not do it either.
I know previously you could send it to Celistica to be flashed but now they no longer have a contract with SE. Any ideas?"
Ah, I used to live in Ipswich; you're right in that none of the CPW stores there are service centres. Your nearest Carphone Warehouse service centre is in Romford, your nearest SE service centres are Southend or Tottenham.
R's Electrics in Tottenham are good and should be able to flash or fix it while you wait if they have the parts - they are a couple of minutes walk from White Heart Lane station. As you're in Ipswich you could get a train down to Liverpool Street, then out again to White Heart Lane (turn right out of the station, walk to the end of the road, turn left and they are 100 yards on the left).
The one in Southend is on an industrial estate - you'll have to find that yourself, but it's not a trip for public transport.
It would be less hassle to send it back to O2 
Based on my experience 100 hours standby with an hour of talking and 20ish texts seems normal for the K700 (with R2L). My T610 achieved about the same as well. If that's what you're getting there is probably nothing wrong with the phone - the display draws a lot of current so battery llife isn't the best.
|
o44wen
Joined: Dec 11, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Coleraine (NI) and Dundee
PM, WWW
|
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=65813
list off all the carphonewarehouses and o2 shops with cervice centers.
|
Jus
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 22
PM |
Quote:
| It would be less hassle to send it back to O2
Based on my experience 100 hours standby with an hour of talking and 20ish texts seems normal for the K700 (with R2L). My T610 achieved about the same as well. If that's what you're getting there is probably nothing wrong with the phone - the display draws a lot of current so battery llife isn't the best. |
|
Doubt I'll be able to get to any of the places you've suggested for a good few weeks at least I'm afraid, I was looking for more something I could send it away to - my T610 is unlocked so whilst the phone is away I can use my sim in that.
What do you mean send it back to O2? Could I request that they upgrade the firmware to something newer to fix the problem, or would they not do this? Or should I simply just cancel it and wait till I can
I'm glad you get 100 hours of standby with an hour of talking on your K700i, Unfortunatley I get nothing near that, it switched off due to lack of power at 8PM after it finished charging at 1:30PM, I've talked for about 40 minutes with about 3 texts sent and 8 recieved, done nothing else with it, hardly touched the phone apart from doing the above.
With my T610 I can get in about say 3-4 hours of talking, about 50 texts, a few pics and only need to charge it once every 48 hours or so, a far cry from the abysmal peformance I'm getting from my K700.
Makes me laugh, my T610 was about 2/6th's full of power when I made a half hour call on it just before I posted this, after the call the battery indcator was in exactly the same place that it was before I made a call, on the K700i the phone would have been at best on the last bit of red, and at worst powered itself off.
To tell the truth I'm sick to death of it having to be charged, how anyone can use such a phone for heavy usage is beyond me, it would be out of power after about 2 hours worth of calls. |
Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
PM, WWW
|
I've just ordered a battery and desktop charger off Ebay for my K700 - and you're right, the battery life is rather pathetic! It was charged barely 12 hours ago and now is down to the 3/4 mark - and I've only made a couple of small calls, a few texts, and a couple of brief sessions on wap
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
|
Jus
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 22
PM |
I have ordered one as well as a stopgap solution until I can get firmware upgraded, it's hardly ideal having to carry two batteries around with you for when one of them dies rather quickley but it's better than the situation is with one of them as even with little use they struggle to get through a day. |
Sammy_boy
Joined: Mar 31, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Staffordshire, United Kingdom
PM, WWW
|
It's the lesser of two evils I guess - I'd also rather at least have another battery with me, even if a bit inconvenient, rather than have no backup at all.
btw, as my k700 was bought off ebay and i have no receipt, can i still get the firmware updated for free?
"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
|
o44wen
Joined: Dec 11, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Coleraine (NI) and Dundee
PM, WWW
|
Not sure if you will get it free. But because the phone hasnt been out for a year yet, if you sweet talk the person in the shop they would hopefully be able to do it free for you.
This message was posted from a T610 |
mojo_jojo
Joined: Aug 11, 2004
Posts: 86
PM |
Jus, when you first got the phone did you do a full charge? By that I mean over night for around 14 hrs? Although most manuals say charge for 4 hrs you really should leave it charging overnight the first time. If you haven't done it yet, let the battery run flat (the phone switches itself off), then charge it continuously over night for at least 14 hrs. Use the phone and repeat this procedure a couple of times.
I've found that by doing it this way the battery life improves. The first time I got my K700 the battery lasted 2 days with minimal use, now it's up to 5 days. Hopefully the upcoming firmware upgrade will extend it further.
What really gets up my nose was the fact that they say the battery should last over 12 days in optimal conditions. Don't know how they ended up with that figure!
Rgds,
Edwin |
Jus
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 22
PM |
Quote:
|
On 2004-08-23 09:15:56, mojo_jojo wrote:
Jus, when you first got the phone did you do a full charge? By that I mean over night for around 14 hrs? Although most manuals say charge for 4 hrs you really should leave it charging overnight the first time. If you haven't done it yet, let the battery run flat (the phone switches itself off), then charge it continuously over night for at least 14 hrs. Use the phone and repeat this procedure a couple of times.
|
|
I've done that, not hardly any difference, it made a little bit, but nothing to shout about, I'm struggling to get it through half a day, and I'm a light user, I'm going to be calling SE and O2 Today, so wish me luck and we'll see if I can find a solution. |
Jus
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 22
PM |
Well i've just phoned SE and they've refered me to Hays Technology in Banbury to send the phone away for a firmware upgrade, I insisted that there was a problem with battery life and an upgrade would fix it, however the person working at SE denied there was any problem with the K700i with regards to battery life and that no new firmware was out.
Anyway, When I get a few spare minutes later on I'll let you know how it goes and what they say, if they say there is no new firmware I think I'm going to SCREAM!
Address for anyone thats interested:
Unit 2A Appletree Road, Chipping Warden, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX17 1LL
Tel:
01295662101 |
Jus
Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 22
PM |
Well I got through to Hays and they have told me to send the phone boxed with proof of purcahse to them and they will either repair it if it's a free service or send me an estimate if it's paid work.
They won't charge me for it will they? Any idea of how long they take? | |
|
Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
|
Posted: 2004-08-22 13:53
