Sony Ericsson P1i – part 2: software

AAS are continuing their look at the P1i with Sony Ericsson P1i – part 2: software- “The shortcuts are flexible in what they can do; you can assign a shortcut to an application, a common task (e.g. new SMS, Bluetooth toggle, new appointment etc.), a contact, a document, a radio preset, a video, a web page or to a setting. Each of these types has differing set up, adding another layer of flexibility, for example contact shortcuts can specify the type of action (call, SMS, MMS, email). You can also customise the icon used for each of the shortcuts.Although the shortcuts can be used to duplicate the application launcher, this is rather wasteful. I think they are best used for shortcuts to common activities. For example if there is someone you SMS regularly you could use a shortcut to allow one tap access to this rather than the multiple taps that would normally be needed. Alternatively, if have a regularly visited web page (e.g. for a weather forecast) set this up as a shortcut. Since phone usage patterns often revolve around the same regular activities (e.g. sending an SMS as you leave work) these shortcuts can save a lot of time if you take the time to set things up optimally.

One item of particular interest is that one of the default shortcuts on the idle screen is for ‘More applications’. This is a mini application which opens up a web page offering links to third party software and services. Giving this sort of space and prominence to the ability to add third party software to the device is a step that should be applauded. It is exactly this kind of measure which is needed to educate new users about the abilities of smartphones and the potential for extra functions to be added.  The web page is question offers four links: one to free applications – currently a VPN Manager and iSkoot (which offers Skype calling), one to Try and Buy applications – a broad range of some of the best third party software for UIQ 3, one for fun and downloads – free downloads of wallpapers, themes and ringtones, and one for the Sony Ericsson Application Shop (a mobile version of Motricity)…”

AAS P1i Review

AAS has posted part one of their P1i review, great writing as ever- “Although the P1i is the latest in the venerable P series of phones, a family ancestry which stretches back to 2002, it represents something of a departure from its predecessors. Whereas its earlier incarnations all featured optional flips (featuring numeric keypads) and a flip closed software mode which offered a subset of the phone’s software functionality, the P1i presents a form factor more closely related to Sony Ericsson’s M600 communicator. The P1i takes the form factor and styling of the M600 and combines it with the hardware features of the P990i and adds a number of significant improvements of its own.

The obvious result of the form factor change is a significant size reduction, previous P series devices have tended to be on the chunky side. At 106 x 55 x 17 mm the P1i is a comfortable, pocketable size, and compared to the P990 (114 x 57 x 25 mm) is nearly 33% thinner. Managing to squeeze the form to this extent is a considerable achievement and, while the P1i remains relatively heavy at 125g, this is 25g less than the P990i and it retains the pleasing sense of solidity which is sometimes missing in competing devices…”

£20 off a new P1i

Clove (www.clove.co.uk) have kindly offered a £20 discount on any Sony Ericsson P1i purchased from them. Just enter discount code SNY0807P120 at checkout in the notes and the discount will be yours.

The Clove P1i page is here.

P1i- truly sh*t reception

Excuse the launguage in the title but this is a sentence from an email just received- “I’m going off the P1 already….truly sh*t reception…even with 3G turned off. Back to the Vox for me unless things improve.”

I have had a few dropped call this week as well and indoors it is not impressive. Are we the only ones or are you struggling as well? Let us know via the email address printed here.

More P1i Thoughts

Murray over at Palm Mac has been testing out a P1i this week and is now on part three of his test here. Part 1 is here and 2 is here. ”Well, the Sony P1i is an interesting phone that grows on you. Initially, I thought I’d have problems liking it as I found the navigation difficult but having got more used it, I can now see the many plus points of the device. Specs-wise it is good with 3g, wifi, bluetooth, FM Radio and a nice form factor. There’s a lot on board in terms of apps and most of them are more than up to the job, particularly the multimedia stuff. Videos and pics are a delight to watch and the phone abounds with lots of nice, small touches from Sony within apps that make using it a delight. Rather pleasingly, it also comes with a cradle and 512mb micro card in the box.

On the downside I would list…mediocre battery life (unless you turn off 3g in which case it is okay) lack of 3rd party software, poor indoor signal strength and a rather unintuitive method of making calls. I also miss not having a front dpad of some sort but that’s probably more a personal thing. Let’s face it, the way forward is less buttons and more on screen touching a la iphone and HTC Touch, like it or not. Moi, I don’t like it but there you go…”

Sony Ericsson P1i Review (conclusion)

It has been a very interesting few days with the Sony Ericsson P1i and after only 96 hours I have found myself to be more than comfortable with the phone and its various quirks. For someone who had supposedly found his perfect operating system, Windows Mobile Smartphone, the P1i has been a pleasant surprise.It will struggle long term for me unless more third party software is released but when I consider this my mobile usage has become simplified over the past few months this particular set up is more complete than most others out of the box I have tried. It would be nice if more third party software could be added free of charge in the same way Nokia do but alas in the meantime money will have to be spent to give me all of the functionality I need.

My main concern was the battery life which on my first full day of usage dropped to under 50% by lunchtime. Turning 3G off has produced a result of 88% by midday under the exact same usage conditions. This is ample for my needs and thus that is one concern that I can put out of my mind for the time being. It is annoying that so many smartphones are unable to cope with 3G from a power point of view but if it is easily turned off I would rather have it than not.

I have not had time to look into GPS solutions but must admit to not expecting a range that is comparable with Windows Mobile and Palm offerings. It does look as though a standalone TomTom unit will be the way forward for me anyway- I change devices a lot, need a full range because of the sites;), and it is painful dealing with TomTom when changing devices.

On the whole, and I am trying to ignore the novelty factor, I have been more than impressed with this phone and when I pick up the HTC S620 it feels like a toy. That is a glib comment bit it is true- the silver casing and general build quality married with the UIQ interface creates an environment that oozes class. The most shocking discovery is that this will now be my main device for the foreseeable future- not for one minute did I believe that the P1i would come close to the S620 but it has won the battle.

Sony Ericsson P1i Review (part three)

I have had some time to start getting to know the Sony Ericsson P1i in further detail and the following is an overview of further highlights and lowlights of using this phone-

 

Voice

 

As you would expect from a Sony Ericsson phone the call quality (in and out) is very good. I have long criticised Windows Mobile phones for their processed sound during voice operations and this phone is one to compare to highlight the issue. The speaker phone is exceptional and one of the clearest I have heard- it also appears to create a bearable experience for the person on the other end of the call, even when driving.

 

UPDATE: On one occasion the phone dropped a call and I could only then redial after switching to flight mode and back. I have seen this on some Windows Mobile devices before but never on a Palm or WM Smartphone device. Hopefully it was a one off so time will tell.

 

Email

 

Exchange Activesync is available on the phone to install and Blackberry software is already present. I use Activesync so chose this option- the overall experience has been positive but I still need to find some of the options for scheduling etc. On the whole the messaging application is more than capable but the displayed text is maybe too small for some, even at the large setting.

 

Navigation

 

My thoughts on the navigation are mixed- it should be fantastic with a touch screen, jog dial and QWERTY keyboard present but at times it can get confusing as to what to use next. UIQ is quite layer heavy but once again the P1i surprised me because I unintentionally started using my own way of navigation within a day or two and now find it to be as quick as most other platforms I have used. The shortcut buttons on the front help a lot in this regard and the speed of the device also ensures a smooth navigation experience.

 

Battery life

 

Not the best but I have learnt to hold off on battery judgements until it is fully conditioned. On my first day at work with 3G enabled, push email and after 5 voice calls I was down to 48% by midday- this is a concern for my usage but I will test it for two more days to see if that performance improves.

 

At the point of reaching 25% by 2pm I decided to employ the now standard practice of turning 3G off- so far this has been required in every 3G enabled device I have used apart from the Nokia E61 devices. One advantage with the P1i is that switching between 3G and GSM is effortless and thus means I can easily use 3G only when I need to.

 

Multi-tasking

 

This is a true multi-tasking phone and so far I have seen no speed drops at all but at times the navigation is almost clumsy. For example when in a call the only way I could see a text message was to choose task manager and hope that messages was open or in the recent list. There may be an easier way to do it but there was nothing obvious on screen.  I do like the ‘create a task’ function following a call though which should be on all smartphones. The only way I could find to close applications was via the task manager and this is a good and bad thing- on the one hand I would like a third party application to offer this facility but on the other the RAM is more than enough to cope with multiple running processes.

 

Mobile internet

 

With 3G enabled this is obviously a quick device and the built in web browser (Opera) is pretty good. I would class the mobile surfing experience as good rather than great but it is certainly a step up from my experiences with Palm and Windows Mobile devices.

 

Screen

 

A screen protector is definitely needed for this phone due to face grease when using it for calls. It is perfectly viewable in direct sunlight but less glare is always useful for when driving (if I find a suitable GPS software set up for it).

 

Tomorrow I will sum up my thoughts on the P1i- it is a hugely different device from a Treo or Windows Mobile smartphone but it has distinct advantages that make it hard for me to give it back. We will see if I do end up keeping it or not. The fact that I am considering making a UIQ phone my permanent device still surprises me even after a few days..

Sony Ericsson P1i Review (part two)

Yesterday I waxed lyrical about the hardware features of the Sony Ericsson P1i and as you would expect from me a three part review cannot continue to be positive all the way through… or can it?

Let’s take a look at how the P1i performs for the most important tasks, how adequate is the built in software and how does the operating system and processor cope with multi-tasking. I will break down the various features to give you an idea of how well each part works rather than write huge sentences describing each feature in minute detail-

PIM

Historically with devices running Symbian the stock PIM applications (contacts, calendar and tasks) have been poor and it would be fair to say that once again the PIM functions could be better. Contacts works well and searching through a database of 1500 entries was super quick- there are not many options to display the contacts in various ways but it all works quite well. The calendar application is less impressive with the views barely customisable at all. I for one would like to see a whole calendar entry and not a cut off line but alas I could find no option to do this. It works better than the S60 3rd edition calendar which is very poor indeed and for a phone to be called ’smart’ it requires a decent set of PIM applications. Tasks is a fairly standard affair and strangely I ended up liking the set up and look  of the PIM apps but third party replacements would be installed before almost anything else in my case.

Today screen

The main (today) screen is surprisingly one of the highlights of the system with simple one-liners to display emails and appointments along with a line of shortcuts at the bottom of the screen. Tap the small arrow above this line and much larger set of shortcuts appears- these are easily customised and the whole set up process took under a minute to create all of the shortcuts I need. When you tap above the expended shortcut pane the standard today layout re-appears.

Extra applications

The bundled set of applications is superb. The list of included applications includes notes, alarm clock, stopwatch, timer, RSS feeds, Opera Web Browser, QuickOffice (needs updating), calculator, Java, FM Radio blah blah blah. I have barely scratched the surface of most of the built in applications but it has been fun trying- so far I have not found an application that does not work well, even QuickOffice is fairly quick- honest!

Entertainment

There’s no shortage of entertainment on offer with the P1i either. Video playback is, genuinely, the best I have seen on a smartphone. Music playback quality is at least iPod standard and the range of music related features includes MegaBass, PlayNow, TrackID, A2DP (Bluetooth stereo) and a decent media player. The biggest shock was the quality of the built in FM radio which surprised me somewhat- it only found 2 stations on the first pass but the sound quality was way above what I expected. Two games are included of which the 3D gold title stood out well- it does tend to concentrate on graphics heavily but I found myself getting quickly involved in it and have not been able to leave it alone since. There are some decent third party gaming titles on the market such as HomeRun and K-Rally which are essential titles in my book and although the range is limited there is enough out there to satisfy most tastes.

Stability / Speed

This is the big topic when trying out a new smartphone and for someone who uses an HTC S620 for this reason alone it is right at the top of my wish list. After playing around with most of the in-built applications I checked the task manager and almost fell off my chair when I saw that almost two screen pages of applications were open. At no point has the phone crashed or slowed down and even complex web pages have not caused any problems at all. On the whole the P1i is very quick although not quite up to the speedy level of the S620, but then again nothing else is. When I realised how much this phone could handle my mind jumped to thoughts of upgrading but there is still some way to go for my S620 to be knocked off its perch.

What else do I need?

So, I am happy with the speed, stability and hardware functionality so what else does a person like me need? eReading has been taken care of with MobiPocket (would prefer eReader but there you go), the included video player is excellent and I may not require TCPMP for the first time ever. I will hunt around for a decent finance application but most importantly a GPS solution would top off the phone nicely. I will see what I can come up with and how well the whole package works when it is really pushed and report back some more tomorrow.

I have been a confirmed Palm and Windows Mobile user for many years and should not like UIQ this much but after three days I am feeling almost unnerved at how quickly I feel at home with the hardware and software combination that is the P1i.

Sony Ericsson P1i Review (part one)

The Sony Ericsson P1i has hit the market with a moderate splash and in the few days since release has received good press but nothing that will make the majority of potential purchasers running down the street to buy one. Part of this may be because the operating system implemented is UIQ and that is not the most popular of mobile systems on the market today- it is seen by some as purely a corporate system and the third party software range is limited in comparison to Palm and Windows Mobile and even when compared to Symbian S60.

I will not be detailing every last specification of the P1i or showing screenshots of every menu because I don’t have the time and I want to talk about how the device performs in the real world. In particular I want to show how it feels to use this phone if you are used to Palm or Windows Mobile. If you want full technical reviews and expert commentary on UIQ keep an eye on All About Symbian who are the masters in this territory.

What’s in the box?

The box is silver and very corporate which may put some off but it is a minimalist yet beautiful design that starts the whole unpacking process off well. Inside you will find the following-

Sony Ericsson P1i
Desktop cradle
AC Adaptor
USB sync cable
Stereo portable handsfree (headphones)
Cloth pouch
512MB Memory Stick
Spare stylus
User manual
CD including PC Suite
P1 VIP support card

The entire set is impressive and the inclusion of a desktop cradle and memory stick are welcome because I for one feel that all smartphones should have these two items bundled as standard. A 1GB expansion card costs a tiny amount these days and thus it costs little to include and a desktop cradle is incredibly useful and in this case, an attractive addition to an attractive phone. All in all the entire package feels well made and this is the best ‘bundle’ I have seen in a long time.

First Impressions (hardware)

In the photos I had seen the P1i did not look too good because the black keyboard and black screen surround appeared to contrast too much with the silver outer edge. In reality it works rather well with small touches creating a consistent and appealing look that is neither ultra fashionable or too bland to be considered corporate only. The screen is one of the best I have seen to date and displays surprisingly well in sunlight for a touch screen model. Considering the size of the phone, which is comparable to standard mobiles, the screen is well proportioned and larger than my current phone (HTC S620). Obviously you may expect the keyboard to become the victim of a small phone / large screen scenario but the P1i keyboard performs much better than the m600i one did. The idea of splitting one key into two letters sounds like a backward step but for a phone that is not wide it is one of the only options open to Sony Ericsson. The keys feel softer and more responsive that the m600i set up and I found myself typing pretty quickly with 30 minutes use- I have little doubt that this keyboard will become much more intuitive that the S620 one I am currently battling with.

At the top there is an on/off button, a port for the stylus to be removed and a wireless opening. On the right we have a camera button, ‘@’ button for web browsing and the memory stick slot. Finally, on the left there is a jog dial (hooray!) and a back button just below it, both of which will bring back pleasant memories to past Clie users. Strangely there is a lanyard holder above the jog dial which protrudes more than it needs to- it is hard to decide if it is a good addition or not because it does look very good yet I would personally prefer it to be slightly further away from the jog. All of the input mechanisms are placed well, although the stylus should be on the right, and the stylus is better than expected at almost the same length as the P1i itself.

Front and back facing cameras are good to have and the 3.2MP camera was the first hardware feature that impressed me the most. I’m not going to post lots of photos and example videos to show the exact quality of output but if you are used to the cameras on Palm and Windows Mobile devices this one is light years ahead. Pictures are fairly sharp and easily good enough for printing and the videos also impressed me a lot, even though I have read negative reviews of this particular feature. This camera will not seem so impressive to users of certain phones (i.e. N95 etc.) but for Palm and WM users the story is different.

So, that’s the hardware apart from the communication features and processor, memory etc. and that will be looked at in detail tomorrow along with the operating system and my overall thoughts on usage. This is likely to be a three part review but my first impressions are extremely positive- it feels like a smartphone yet has all of the quality and sophistication you expect in a standard phone from S.E.

Available from Clove for GBP370.12. Thanks to Clove for the loan.