CHOOSING THE PHONE & IN THE BOX

FUNCTIONS

• Messaging: From here you can send your messages whether email messages, picture messages or the usual text messages. I basically use this phone mostly for texting and it's really, really easy to text with. The keys are nice and soft - they aren't touch sensitive, but they require no effort to be pushed. And a great function is (which I haven't had on my old sony ericsson phones) that if you use Predictive Text, it will remember phrases/words that you used and when it thinks you're about to write it, it will come up and you can use it if you want to (or just press the space key as usual and abandon what it said). It's not complicated at all when you get using it.
• Entertainment: broken into "My Games", "Mobile TV", "Track ID", "Radio", "Video DJ", "Music DJ," "Photo DJ". I should bring up something here that there are NO FREE GAMES on this phone. It's bad, I know, but on my Vodafone phone there are no free games and all have to be bought. Track ID is really clever - if you're listening to a song and don't know the name of it, Track ID should be able to find out the song name and artist(s) who sing it. It's extremely clever. The radio allows you to use the handsfree kit (which came in the box) to connect to the radio. Video DJ allows you to edit your videos, music DJ allows you to create ringtone style music and photo DJ edits your photos by changing the colour or putting a border around it etc.
• My Applications: Contains Audible, eBay, Google Maps, Messenger, Music Mate 4, My Communities, Vodafone Music, and YouTube. This require to use the Internet so you will be charged for these services.
• Camera: A 2.0megapixel camera with fantastic quality. The photos are clear and sharp, however move your hand too quickly and the photo will be blurred. I also find that finding the right lighting setting to use can be hard. There is no flash. But the quality of this camera shouldn't be overlooked by those minor issues - it's really clear and has a great zoom on it too. The video's are also very high quality.
• Media (including WALKMAN): Click this button to go to all your photo and music and video files. I have 152 photos so far in my album and it's used little space. I don't use this phone for it's music function HOWEVER I do have a few songs on it and they sound clear and good quality. The best thing about this phone is that you can flick between the songs by flicking your wrist and holding down a button to change tracks. Also shows the album artwork so it's a bit like my iPod in that sense. And the volume can get very loud and still sound clear. You view the photos like you would a digital camera - just flick through them using the menu button and turn your phone to the side if you want to see the landscape view.
• Organiser and Tools: Here includes things like Notes, Tasks, Video call, calendar, record sound, timer, stopwatch, synchronization. It also has "My Files" in here, so you can arrange your photos into albums such as "Holiday photos", "Mum's Birthday" etc (you can't do this in 'media'. In 'media', you just view all the photos). You can also rename the files under "My Files".
• Contacts: Self explanitory, really, but here you can add people's photos to go with their names, personalise their ringtone (e.g. create a ringtone so when your partner rings you know to answer it - or not answer it, if the case may be!).
• Alarms: Set up to five alarms. This is useful when some phones only have one alarm and you need more throughout the day (e.g. a reminder to take your prescription tablets).
• Calls: A log of the calls you've dialled/received/missed. You can delete calls from these lists.
• Settings: Broken into...
  1. General. Here you can change your "profile", in other words change it from loud to silent if you're in a meeting. Here you can also edit the language,time and date, security, flight mode, master reset.
  2. Sounds and Alerts. Change the ringing volume, the ringtone, whether you want an increasing ring, vibrating alert, what message alert you'd like, and also the key sound. The phone doesn't have brilliant ringtones, so you're probably best to download one or connect one from your computer (more of that soon).
  3. Display: Change the theme of your phone, the wallpaper, startup screen, screen saver, clock size and brightness.
  4. Calls: Speed dial, smart search, divert calls, manage calls, time and cost, show/hide my number, handsfree, open to answer, close to end call. Smart search means you can search for contacts and phone numbers by pressing the number keys from standby. If someone rings you and you don't want to speak to them, you can press "send busy tone", so they'll think you're on the phone. Time and cost is useful for contract users and pay as you go - I use this to see how many minutes I've used up, but you can use it to see how many texts you've sent, too.

USB

PRICE

ANY BAD POINTS?

• Battery issue: The battery doesn't last ages. I have to charge it up more than I used to with my old phones, but I suppose it's because I use the camera a lot! It does drain quite quickly, though.
• Keys sticking: A few times I've noticed the keys will "stick" and it's hard to text.
• Won't turn on?!?: I keep my phone on 99% of the time, but when I've needed to turn it off (I went on an aeroplane) it wouldn't turn back on for ages. I had to take the back off, remove the battery and eventually it came back on.
• Lock: When you slide the phone down, it locks the phone. But you only have to press the menu centre key and another key on the outer of the phone and it is usable, even though it's slid down. I have called a few people by accident because of this.
• Charging port is on the side of the phone: On previous Sony Ericsson phones (or on the ones I've used), the charging port has been on the bottom of the phone. It's at the side on this one and makes it hard to use the phone (especially text) when it's on charge.

GOOD POINTS TO MENTION

• The screen quality: Very clear and sharp images. Looks really modern and stylish - the wallpaper on the screen looks really bright and clear, I love it.
• The buttons: Ok, I know I said they stuck earlier (!), but they are really easy to use and a light up a lovely white colour. You might think that's a small thing to mention, but it's better than a horrible tacky and cheap looking orange colour. The white makes it look much more stylish and expensive.
• The usability: It's very diverse and you can use it for everything. Once you know your way around, you will notice shortcuts and to get from one place to another is simple.
• Clear Sound: When someone calls you, you can hear them perfectly through the phone. Also, the loudspeaker works very well.
• The appearance: Everyone says it looks stunning, and it does. It's fashionable, cool, and looks really smart. You won't be embarrassed to get it out of your handbag/pocket in the street.
• Camera button on the side: On an old sony ericsson I used to have, people were complaining because the camera button on the side was too sensitive and would snap away in your pocket and take useless photos. This has been rectified with this phone. When you slide the phone up, and press the side button, the camera will come on but you have to really press it so it's not too sensitive.
• Use the phone whilst it's slid down: You can unlock the phone when it's slid down and use it without using the keypad. You won't be able to text, but you can browse through photos, and it's especially useful for taking photos as it's like a digital camera when used like this.

OVERALL