SONY ERICSSON T610 CELL PHONE

I should start off by saying I regrettably do not own this phone any more. I loved it while I had it, but did not like having T-mobile so I switched to Verizon and had to sell the phone... having said that, I like Verizon a lot but the phone I have now, while being good, is still second rate compared to the T610 of T-Mobile.

The phone itself looks very cool. Black and silver, when I first got it, it got a lot of looks and comments, now everyone has the phone, but it is still really cool. Very professional looking.

As for it's basic functionality:

Button Size: small
Despite the small buttons, this phone is easy to use. Making and receiving calls is easy and once you're used to the small buttons, text messaging is a breeze as well.

Screening incoming calls: convenient
Another thing I really liked about this phone was that it is possible to accept an incoming call, or screen it and send it to voicemail from the menu. This is nice if someone calls and you do not want to talk to them, you can send them directly to Voice Mail and deal with them later.

Lock: very useful
The phone allows you to answer calls when it is locked-- which is nice cause it allows you to prevent accidental dialing which can easily happen on a non-flip phone like the T610. I found I needed to keep the phone locked at all times (when not in use), or I would bump it when it was in my pocket and call people by mistake. They would later say they could hear my entire conversation, which actually says a lot about the microphone since people could hear me talking when the phone was in my pocket, or maybe I am just a loud talker ;)

Clarity: great
The phone is easy to her people on, and despite the small size, the microphone can pick up your voice with ease as mentioned above.

Headphone Jack: poor design but useful
It comes with a regular little ear piece, but what sucks is that it has an odd adaptor to it, which makes it hard to plug in when you’re not looking at it, ie, at night or in the dark, or when you’re driving. And it has to be a Sony Ericsson headphone jack, not an aftermarket one.

Physical Description : very stylish
The T610 is a tiny phone, which is what I liked about it initially. Smaller than a deck of playing cards and to this date, it is still one of the smallest phones available. I always carry my phone in my front pocket and not in any protective case, I could barely feel this phone on me. It was very nice and unobtrusive.

Display: large
Despite the small size and tiny buttons, the display screen is very large and makes up the bulk of the phones actual size. It is a great full color screen. The drawback here is that the screen gets really oily from your face when you talk on it.
Also, it is hard to see, --VERY HARD to see-- in direct sunlight.

Organizer: lacking but it’s not a PDA, so…
I rarely used the organizer, except to remember birthdays and such. I found it lacking. It also has a calendar, notes page, various alarms, timer, a stopwatch that I could never really figure out, a calculator and code memo.

Bluetooth: great if you use it…
I never really did except to download pics to another friend’s phone. It worked, but if left on, it drains the battery a lot. My friend has the same phone and somehow often manages to turn on Bluetooth with out noticing it. His battery dies very quickly then.

WAP browser: fun
I used it to download games. They have a lot of cool ones…space invaders was my favorite and great on the subway. Mini golf was cool, as was poker.

Camera: fair
It is ok, not much for features, no zoom, pictures are really only good to assign to caller ids. Don’t throw away your digital camera. It is a nice add on if you park somewhere and want to take pictures of the cross street signs so you can find your car a lot. I did this often. It saved me many times.

Ringtones: ok
They are not MP3 style, they are polyphonic. Which is too bad, you can’t have actual songs. You can create your own though, and that’s kinda fun if you’re patient and a bit creative.

Main Negatives:
Headphone jack (see above)
It locks up often, ie freezes. This usually happens when playing games, using T-Zones, etc. This can be fixed by switching the phone off, but that is a pain to do all the time. It usually happens when you are frustrated with the slow service of T-zones and try to back out of an application. This is when it locks up most of the time.


Overall, I really liked the phone, and wish I could get an updated version from Verizon. I’ll keep watching but I’m not going to hold my breath.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 50
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy