Hi-Mobile.net sent us in the Sony Ericsson P990i for our monthly phone review. This popular smartphone was released last summer, but a new firmware of Symbian's UIQ 3.0 was released just 15 days ago and this is with what we mainly tested. The P990i sells for just $340 these days, fully unlocked, and it has a barrage of high-end features.
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Member since:
2006-06-18
Member since:2005-06-28
Sorry, but "great" phones cost money to be built. Even the cheapest phone in the world is been calculated to cost about $35 to be built. You are thinking too much of subsidized locked phones by carriers. Personally, I hate such phones. If it's not unlocked, then it's not for me. I prefer to pay the premium (the "real" price that is) for some freedom, rather than pay homage to a carrier.
When the P990i came out last year, it could be found for $899. So yeah, at $340 is cheap.
Member since:2005-08-26
The problem with that, is that weather you're getting a subsidized phone or not, the carrier charges you the same rate.
So -- what you're doing is buying a phone, then paying for rate plans that expect you to get subsidies on a phone. You're basically giving money away, unless you get the subsidized phone.
And this, is why I won't buy an iPhone. If I'm getting locked into a contract, I expect a subsidy. If I'm paying the same rate as someone with a subsidized phone, then I'll be damned if I'm not getting -some- of the price of the phone knocked off by the carrier, who is already expecting me to get a subsidized phone.
It makes no sense to me to pay the crazy rates without getting the free phone.
Granted, I might get the free phone and then ebay the damn thing... but you get the idea.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Everyone has had a chance to use the iPhone now. I have 2 smart phones, an E61 and a 8700 Blackberry. Neither of them feels very smart once I played with the iPhone. What is missing is that touch. The p990i was a dream phone for me, the all-in-one. Gone are those days 
Member since:2007-03-26
"
I appreciate you like the interface on the iPhone, but the lock in is too crippling to make it a practical for everyday use for me.
Hopefully other manufacturers will take some of Apples innovation as inspiration to build their own new devices and improve on current ones
Member since:2005-07-06
i too have an e61 and an iphone. i looked at the sony ericsson p990i when i was looking to buy the e61, but the p990i was wicked expensive then. close to $1000, and i didn't really like the ui. in my opinion the e61 owns the iphone. the p990i could too, if the ui didn't suck. i wish my dad didn't take my e61. he bought the iphone for himself but didn't like it. i thought i would give it a try.
Member since:
2007-03-30
Member since:2005-06-28
Member since:2005-09-10
I agree. Eugenia, I'd love to see you review of their new P1i model which most importantly come with more RAM to actually deal with all that functionality and which also has a camera and a nicer keyboard (like the M600).
Having used a Palm TX for a calendar etc while now, I am looking for a new phone with a good stylus interface that could replace it. The P1i looks very promising.
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&templa...
Member since:2007-05-07
I have to agree except from ut UIQ this phone rocks i have a P910i myself and it just kicks ass
the only thing thats sucks is the camera but i guess thats more b/c when it came out all mobiles had sucky cam's
for the rest i have to reboot the phone 1 or 2 times a year try that with a windows mobile phone!
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-12-30
still the midi wavetable sound on t610 would beat that phone, i like playing javagames but when they remove wavetable synthesizer sounds and add mp3 functions the games sound like the old dos games back in the day even ringtones that sound nice on pc sound nice on t610 but not on Sonyericssons successors which makes me convert some videogamemusic tunes from my favourite games to mp3.
Despite that they simply charge too much , that's why i wait until i get a good cell phone with good sound.
On the other hand they seem to invest more in better cameras and make crappier sound because they assume nobody plays java games with sound on or uses mp3.
I tested Castlevania (javagame) on t610 it ran smooth with sound on then i tried the version for k750i with sound on as well , it was like running quake on a 486 pc 
Edited 2007-07-05 16:58
Member since:
2006-02-01
Come come Eugenia, it's time for us to say what we think about the phone.
It looks horrible to begin with, absolutely terrible, where'd they get that Flip down cover from? Looks like one of the first mobile phones ever made.
To me, I'd rather have a wider phone, and have it thinner , than have the old style brick being nice and think too.
The cameras in these things are just dreadful too, always hated them, people who would even think about taking photos would just carry around a little point and shoot camera as well.
Everyone says the iPhone won't sell, but when you look at 1.) The design of these phones, 2.) The interface of these phones, you can see exactly why Apple are trying to make a dent in the market, and with those 2 things alone, I recon they have a pretty good chance as well.
"Just" $340US.
Anywhere between $500AU and $650AU, now that's an expensive phone, for what looks to be one butt ugly phone.
Member since:
2007-02-28
Say what you will, but when a business needs to choose a phone, they are not going to choose the iPhone.
Businesses require phones which provide redundancy (a phone will be used by directors when new, and then pushed down through the ranks as it becomes older), including many SIM and battery changes.
Phones need to be capable of handling which ever crazy email/calendering/contacts solution they have running at the office, which means you need a phone with plenty of third party software available.
Comparing this to the iPhone is totally wrong, the iPhone is a consumer device, it cannot be taken seriously by businesses. What you have here (and in a BlackBerry/Nokia Communicator), is a device which caters to what businesses need. Yes, the UI could be much better (something to learn from the iPhone), but you'll excuse them if they don't have a 3D UI, as they have concentrated on more useful features for the market that they are going for.
Member since:
2006-02-27
Member since:2005-06-28
Member since:
2006-01-12
is the Bluetooth capable of file transfer, syncing between computer(pc AND mac) and phone, DUN, remote control, etc? (I hate this about reviews...they usually just gloss over Bluetooth by stating that it has it). A2DP is relatively useless and the fact that it is v2.0 is irrelevant if it doesn't support the features that even v1.1 supported.
I'm looking to replace my Sony/Ericcson s710a and must have the above Bluetooth features to even come close to what my existing phone can do.
WIFI is great, but it does seem odd that it doesn't have EDGE support...
Edited 2007-07-05 16:19
Member since:2007-06-22
I own one of these, and the answer to most of these is yes. It has both OBEX profiles, DUN, it can use bluetooth PAN, etc. Come to think of it, the only thing it might have a problem with is maybe a bluetooth keyboard? Anyone ever tried? I only say it might as I've not seen any way in which to pair it...doesn't mean it can't, though.
Say what you will about SE phones, but their bluetooth stacks are hard to beat. Makes it difficult to switch to another phone that is lacking these features, that's for sure.
Member since:
2007-07-05
I own this phone.
Cons:
-Bad bad UI, example to enable speak phone, you need click transfer and then click speaker phone. Who came up with that.
-Restart and remove batter atleast twice a day. Even after using third party apps like swiss army knife to manage memory there is no enough memory. My kyocra palm phone (5years old) did memory management better than this.
-Clunky .. and I guess UI designers were not told about the with flip and with out flip usage.
-Simple phone application to make calls itself is bad, you know you need go to the contact, click the contact, click the phone number, and right click select call or browse to a button and select call. Hello .. my worst phone razor has better phone application.
I have to register for OSnews just to write how bad this phone is.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Member since:2005-06-28
Member since:
2005-07-10
The reviewer commented the Sony Ericsson P990i supports 3G at 2100 MHz but that it's not supported in USA. I was under the impression the USA carriers T-Mobile and AT&T offered 2100 MHz 3G (HSDPA).
Anyway, for the readers I suggest a better alternative which is the HTC TYTN sold by carriers such as Rogers here in Canada. The device supports GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and HSDPA 850/1900/2100 MHz. It also offers a full slide out keyboard, WIFI and dual cameras for video conferencing or mobile chat.