Sony Ericsson T280i

Author's product rating:   

Look & Feel	Good
Durability & Robustness	Strong
Battery standby time	Good
Value for money	Poor
Range of features	Few

Advantages:	Very Cheap and comes in Pink !
Disadvantages:	Practically everything

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Sony Ericsson T280i

Hello…Hello…Hello?

The best things always seem to break just when you really don’t need it don’t they? I had another phone before and loved it. Ive never been one for any high tech phones though I grew to love my old mp3 player phone, though soon it met an untimely end with my daughters juice bottle and at that point, what with birthdays looming, I just couldn’t afford to buy anything expensive. I figured that as long as I could make and receive calls and texts and have a decent ringtone then it would be fine.

So off I went to the carphone warehouse to look for a new phone which would be staying away from tiny hands this time. Here I saw the Sony Ericsson T280i and it was in pink! It wasn’t expensive so I knew it wouldn’t have many features though as said before all I really wanted was a phone that worked…

PACKAGING

The phone comes in either black or pink (both with silver) and comes in a small cardboard box with the black phone image on the front and back. A pretty average packaging – nothing flash. Inside the phone comes in two halves to make it easier to insert the sim card (which is a good thing as once it is in – its anyones guess how to get it out again!). There are also three small booklets of information and a hands free set of headphones that come with it.

The phone itself (in this case the pink one)is quite small in both length, width and height with the top half being the screen and the buttons quite small underneath. It is pink around the screen and silver around the keys. On the back there is a tiny camera lens and speaker.

THE PHONE

The phone boasts a whole array of features, nothing spectacular by any means though more than I was expecting. I guess this is minimalist for phones these days.

When turning on the phone you can access the menu from the left hand button, or your contacts from the right hand one. When opening the menu button you are met with six small icons each telling you what it is.

Messaging
You are able to do the usual sms text messaging and picture messaging (supposedly!) and can choose to accept delivery reports from sent messages. You can store up to 450 messages on your phone before it asks you to delete some so that is a fair few.

Camera
The phone does come with a small camera to either save or send and photos are taken in the usual Jpeg format. Simply go into the menu option and select take picture and point and click. Photos can be viewed as a slide slow on your phone (though please do see below at my comments on the camera facility!).

Alarm
The alarm can be set as a one off or a recurring alarm and will also go off even if the phone is on silent which is great. The alarm is easy to set though if you choose radio alarm you will need to have the handfree set plugged in.

Contacts
I am not sure whether all sim cards hold the same amount though my sim holds 250 contacts and the phone itself has space for another 300 so a good amount there I feel. You can also configure a speed dial on the phone for nine contacts.

Settings
There are a few different settings to play with and all average in the world of phones.
The first is the ringtone and volume though there is a limited in phone choice of tones and none spectacular. Of course you can upload your own mp3 tones though again please read my comments below on this aspect. The volume has a few different levels though even on the highest it is very quiet.
You are able to change the wallpaper to a preselected one or a photo of your own and have a choice of four themes for the phone which are not really that great or pleasant to look at.

Bluetooth
There is a Bluetooth option available on the phone and according to the instructions in the manual are very easy to turn on and off and send and receive. All can be found within the settings tab.

Internet
You have the option to go online on your phone on a text base internet only. You also have the internet features of bookmarking, homepage, view, go to URL and fiddle with options such as cookies and cache.

FM Radio
Simply connect the hands free set to listen to the radio (can also be used for alarm). You are also able to minimize radio screen if you wish to make calls or texts etc.

Divert Calls and Multiple Calls
This phone does have a simple divert calls option as well as a multiple calls option with call waiting.

Calender and other Extras
There is a fully functional calendar though a very basic style showing one day at a time, a timer which works as it should, a basic calculator and games option (see below)

Games
Under the games option you have three choices, to go online and download games, or play one of the other two games on the phone; Quadrapop or JC does Texas. Both slightly addicting games though neither special.

TESTING

So much for the features. I didn’t expect much when buying the phone this cheap though really it should give what it specifies.

Firstly the messages, texting is absolutely fine, no complaints there, though picture messaging just doesn’t seem to allow you to do anything. Perhaps I am trying to send too large a picture file though to be honest I would have thought that you could send a simple photo you have taken on the phone – and the photos themselves are terrible. One slight movement and the photos blurs into nothingness, the wrong light and you cant see a thing, and even after you finally manage to get a photo that resembles what it is meant to – the phone automatically makes it smaller so you cant really see it unless it is your background picture!

The alarm has a lack of different alarm alert sounds, literally one beeping or the radio when handsfree set is plugged in. With the radio option, the alarm is very quiet and the radio itself is often difficult to get a decent reception. The one good thing is that it will still go off even if your phone is on silent.

The internal memory on this phone is very very limited and it will only allow you two songs mp3 style (unless the tunes are long then only one) so as far as it being a good mp3 player – its not. Volume wise, the phone falls short too as even on the highest setting, you have to struggle to hear the ringtone and if you do manage to answer the call, you have to struggle to hear the person on the other end.

Memory is only 10mb shared memory so not enough room to swing a cat! It also has absolutely no expansion slot.

Now we are at the Bluetooth. What can I really say about this except it doesn’t work! You can change your phone name, hide or reveal your phone and even go so far as to turn the Bluetooth on and off though when it comes down to trying to send or receive – phones don’t pick it up at all and you cant pick other phones up – even if you are standing side by side. I have known a few others having this problem as I went online to search for help and every place I went I found people with the same problem. Such a let down!

It is not worth going online on this phone at all as it is always very slow and completely text based (which isn’t so much of a problem with me) that is of course if it lets you connect. I have been able to get as far as the log in page of internet sites before though not really any further.

I have not as of yet tested the call divert or call waiting so unfortunately can not comment on this.

There is another good thing in that the phone is quite durable - not wanting to do a juice test though this time! It has been thrown across the room by my daughter though and has no damage whatsoever.

Its battery life is substantial and lasts a couple of days after a full charge with average useage.

PRICE AND AVALIABILITY

This phone can be brought from many phone shops and also online though the best deal can be found in Carphone Warehouse where I was able to buy my phone for £25 without a sim (I kept my old sim as luckily it wasn’t destroyed by the avalanche of juice!) and with sim card an extra £10 on top. It also came with a free £15 top up credit (as this is pay as you go) so really the phone cost only £10! A great price so maybe I shouldn’t complain!

FINAL WORD

I think you already know that there is no way I would recommend this phone. Yes, it is cheap and lets not forget it does come in pink! Though all I wanted is a simple phone to make phone calls so maybe I shouldn’t be complaining – which would be ok if I could hear the people on the other end of the call!

The phone boasts many average features these days though can not even supply good service with the average and by looking online, this is a popular complaint with this phone.

The only plus really with this phone other than its colour is that the price is very good, though it’s a classic case of you get what you pay for here

It does come in pink though!!

Sony Ericsson what have you done?!?