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Sony Ericsson P990 review: A coveted smartphone

04 August 2006 | Read the review | Post your comment
Sony Ericsson P990 review: A coveted smartphone - read the full textHighly awaited as it is, Sony Ericsson P990 is going to be the flagship of the Sony Ericsson product line. Equipped with every possible current connectivity features, an autofocus 2 megapixel camera, a second video calls camera, a conventional keypad and a QWERTY keyboard, Memory Stick slot, FM radio with RDS, the latest Symbian 9.1 OS, and last, but not least with a large 2.76" TFT touchscreen with a QVGA (240x320 pixels) resolution it surely made the news for many impatiently waiting fans when it finally hit the market.

 

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This new phone really is a dog. I managed to crash it within 5 minutes of turning it on! I have used a P800, P900 and a P910...I had hoped that SonyE would get the firmware on the P990 working by the time it was released in South Africa - no luck - and it's soooo sloooow as well. If you are reading this and wondering whether to make a purchase decision, it's quite simple: If you are a features freak and you don't mind dropped calls, rebooting constantly, complicated menus and very bad bettery life, then this phone is for you. If however, you actually use your phone for making calls, managing your contacts and checking your schedule...then save your money and get something else.

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  • 2006-12-09 20:35
  • N7$E

what are the difference between operating system in this phone and use by nokia on their smartphone?

this because both of them using symbian software,but the interface are different....can anyone explain????

is that mean software for nokia smartphone suitable for this SE?

  • Reply
  • 2006-12-09 10:58
  • TSQR

I have now had this phone for 4 weeks. I used it initially with the flip removed - bad idea, functionality when using the phone like this is greatly reduced and you need both hands at all times to use the handset. The battery life when used without the flip is also very poor. Eventually I started using the phone with the flip in place and the battery is only marginally better. Although I charge the phone every night the battery will not live through a full business day. It's not all bad news, I must say that the messaging facility is excellent but the fact is I want a phone to make phone calls not to send text messages. The call register has a strange quirk of not displaying your last call but only the one before it there is a one call lag on the register which after a while really started to annoy me. The phone periodically shuts itself down and restarts suggesting that this is to optimise perforfance. Bluetooth will not communicate with my Parrot 3200 car kit, when I started using my Sony Ericsson Bluetooth earpiece that started playing up too. In conclusion the phone looks absolutely first class in appearance and if you want a phone that looks good then in my opinion you canot beat it. If you require a phone with some degree of longevity for business use then perhaps you may want to consider other options.

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  • 2006-12-05 00:26
  • myES

Hi 'Rofox' !

I saw your comment posted on GSM Arena forum - I can tell you that I had same problem with my first P990i - I got it change on same store, second day after I experienced that problem. The one that I own now, it is pretty much OK regarding that matter that you have had on your SE ( meaning that the phone is not restarting because of that ! ) , but I'm still not satisfied with some problems that the software or even worst, maybe hardware problems, of my SE model still has, despite the fact that I did the software upgrade that SE is offering officially on their sites - maybe you should try that upgrade - maybe it will fix your SE radio - software ? or hardware ? - which is causing your phone to restart .
Reg. camera : I really do not enjoy the way that auto-focus is working ... Not to mention 'night time' setting which is bringing a lot of thin vertical blue stripes on the screen & on the picture took...
Did you tried the WiFi connection ? Is so nice... But when connecting to Internet, a lot of Kernel errors appears from time to time, making the phone to shut down & restart to often ... making the first good thrill dimm... :))
I really hope that those guys from SE are working in order to do something good reg. all this problems, & hope again that they will release soon a better version of their actual software upgrade reg. SE P990i model.
However, this phone is worth-trying for anyone who loves to have an all-in-one concept - I would really love to see a smart mobile phone from SE having a GPS incorporated device also, and the possibility to use one of his camera as a web cam, & much better quality in photo, audio & video respect... a TV-out... no more crashes in software functionality, better battery...
SE guys, just give us what we want & everyone will be happy !

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  • 2006-12-04 15:13
  • mAM{

How can I get the notes/jotter to syncronise with my outlook 2000? Everything else syncs but never any of the data on the notes/jotter function. same thing for the "comments" attached to
the contacts function.
I rang the SE helpdesk but they told me that the P990 won't work with the notes function of Outlook 2000. They told me to buy a more recent version of Outlook! This doesn't make sense to me. Syncronising worked fine with the P910i and all previous versions since the P600
Incidentally, I second all of the comments made by Lesko below on 13 .10.2006. Very true.

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  • 2006-12-04 14:03
  • njfh

Hi Pete,

Yes there is, its can be found on your 64MB memory Stick DUO that came with the phone under Try and Buy.

There is also SmartComNavigator for UIQ3
http://www.handango.com/Platfo...description1

GPS/J
http://www.handango.com/Platfo...328&R=186328

Also, I see that the main reviews/faq post is going on at http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_e...ews-1318.php

Hope this helps...

  • Reply
  • 2006-11-21 21:34
  • Nhd{

I have a question regarding the p 990 phone.
is there a gps software i can download or buy?
i bought it in the states.
thanks

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  • 2006-11-21 19:45
  • 4}gT

Got my SE990 yesterday, still waiting for the SIM swap to take effect so have't played araound with it that much yet.
From what I've seen thus far I really like. Yes, it seems a bit slower than my P900 and yes it takes a bit of getting used to.

I can only imagine how people are going to complain when Windows Vista is released 'cause it's not the same as XP/2000 and it looks different and.. and..

Things change, the P990 has more computing power and memory than my first PC had.

Give the phone a chance. If you are a die-hard P9xx fan you will love the phone, I know I do. The camera amazed me.

Boerseun, If you want a P900 you can gladly have mine... still in good running order. Make me a price. I stay in Pretoria... Will monitor the post for your reply....

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  • 2006-11-17 10:27
  • Nhd{

I have been using the P800, P900, P910i but P990 is a disappointment. I Agree with Mr Lesko comments (2006-10-13) about the phone book deficiencies, plus I will like to add that the sms is not half as quick and convenient as P910's you cant mark and erase multiple sms from memory. plus if you are mailing it to someone who has more than one mobile number, P910 use to give the list of all their cell numbers so you could tick which one or all the numbers, P990 doesn't.

Plus the unstable software, sometimes automatically restarts while talking. Sometime hangs and you cant receive calls even if you can see the call and the set is ringing.

I hope Someone at Sony Ericsson is talking notes of all the user complaints. We would appreciate a software update so this set can be more stable and come up to the tradition of P series.

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  • 2006-11-11 22:55
  • PSeM

I've just got a p990 here in Johannesburg and up to now I am quite disappointed. I used to have a p900 which worked very well for me. I expected the new phone to be faster, but it is isn't! In fact, the old P900 boots up faster, looks up contacts faster and is generally a lot more stable.

Sometimes I have to take the battery out as the P990 hangs on me. I would gladly go back to the P900 except I gave it to someone else!

The P900 was also a lot more user-friendly than this one. One is supposed to be able to "end" and application somewhere, but there is no "end" button. So you end up running all the applications you have used until the phone freezes up and you have to reboot, or take out the battery as it sometimes doesn't even want to do that.

Unless SonyEricsson provides better software, I think they are going to ruin their reputation with this one.

I wonder what kind of support there is for this phone. Actually, I have very little time to spend on solving mobile phone problems, so it is really very annoying after all the hype around the P990.

Boerseun

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  • 2006-11-05 16:44
  • Nxsf

hey folks!dont be so sticked with se.p990 its new,it has new software,3g,and other applications which do there premiere on p990(not like the usually nokia ph).so give some space to se and he will update its software to a perfect one.this is probably a trial software

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  • 2006-11-05 15:00
  • mjk4

luks like a beast

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  • 2006-10-29 21:06
  • nE%1

WOW! Its a cool phone. Im a sony user , ive almost used all SE's phones. Im sure its a perfect phone. Its just like a computer, the options, the folders, I mean its better than i-mate, as afar as i think so.

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  • 2006-10-29 16:13
  • Rxf3

all you guys just go to www.my-symbian.com
u willll get all your answers ...
all the freakin answers.
latersssss.

  • Reply
  • 2006-10-29 15:41
  • w4tN

will sony ericsson upgrade their wirless b to wirless g.
it is too slow for this smart phone.
it is possible they using software to upgrade it to wirless g?

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  • 2006-10-28 11:43
  • TS%u

having used the previous p-series phones, i bought the p990i last week. it has been useless. slow, hard to use, will not synchronise. it is going back, so i will try something else instead. maybe palm trio? sony - what have you done??

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  • 2006-10-27 15:06
  • nE1e

Hi Lexcute,

I'm interested in buying the P990i. where did you buy it for 31K pesos in the Phils? I'm also from Manila, and so far, 35K is the lowest price I found for the P990i.

thanks :D

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  • 2006-10-21 05:44
  • PRQ9

Hey,
I bought it for a couple of weeks. It's amazing. Everything is great, except: - poor quality on WIFI signal, quite slow menu, and the incompatibility with older software's. Except that it's great.

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  • 2006-10-18 00:10
  • IhjF

Hello,

I own P990i now 2 weeks and it's great. Only thing I miss is navigation software. Is there any? I couldn't find it. Does anyone now if Tom tom or others will have navigation for symbian 3 UIQ phones?

Alex

  • Reply
  • 2006-10-13 11:36
  • MmRB

This is the *worst* phone I have owned in the P800/900/910 series. It would take pages to write down all the failings of this phone and I will be returning it and going back to my P910. Given how late the release is, it is unforgiveable. Some key points:
* Very unstable - always running out of memory with only the basic apps running, very frequent Kernel Exec errors.
* Unbelievably slow compared to previous models (you click the screen to do almost anything and have to wait).
* Phonebook is appalling from usability perspective - no alphabetic "letter" tabs for quick access; can't enter brackets (), spaces or dashes in phone number fields to make it easier for a human to read; synchronisation has unpredictable mapping from Outlook fields; can't change number type (e.g. work->home) from quick "drop-down" lists next to number anymore; useless and distracting (h) or (w) added to end of *every* address field line in display mode; adding extra address fields is way too cumbersome; birthday field is unnecessarily prominent and can't be removed once accidently added (it wasn't obvious to me!); no intelligent handling of "0" from area code - ie. drop when including country code.
* What happened to the very useful clock screensaver from P910???
* Miserly battery (half the milliamp hours of previous) included.
* Stylus is now on wrong side for vast majority of population.
* Business card scanner is a joke - low accuracy means you spend more time correcting than you would have entering in the first place.
* Common settings are hidden down in too many depths/layers of menus. This is ok for rare settings but not for core functionality.
* Change from P910 focused too much on worthless aesthetic "gloss" (graphics which slow everything down) and not enough on getting device to work fast, efficiently and with streamlined workflow for common tasks.

I have worked in HCI/usability for almost 15 years and could mention many more points but don't have the energy to waste...



  • Reply
  • 2006-10-12 01:16
  • U2{Z
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