T68/T68i...The future is in your hands!
Written: Jul 23 '02 (Updated Jul 23 '02)
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Pros: tiny, sleek, color, bluetooth, IR, GPRS, WAP, World GSM compatible
Cons: Expensive, no keypad cover.
The Bottom Line: The most advanced piece of cellular technology available today in a sleek sexy small form factor.
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| andruzzo's Full Review: Sony Ericsson T68 |
I've been through lots of cell phones. Nokias, Motorolas, AEG, Siemens and Ericsson. Not one of the phones I have
had even comes close to the performance and functionality of the T68i that I bought. Hands down, the best phone that has ever been held in my hands. Why do you ask? Read on...
First off, let's start wit the fact that it's a true WORLD phone. It works on GSM networks of Asia, Europe and North America, namely 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz systems. So if you're a traveller...that alone is a great selling point.
If your provider can support your roaming around the world, all you need to do is call them to set it up. Otherwise, you can take your phone with you and use a SIM in the country of choice...which us what I do. Pop in a new SIM and voila...you're connected.
Secondly, the phone is the most advanced piece of cellular technology currently on the market. It has everything you can imagine...and then some. You want to surf the net? It has GPRS for always on net access via WAP. You need a modem for your laptop? IT's built-in. You want to receive and send faxes? Can do that to. You want to download and send mail to your favourite POP3 mail server...no problem...can do that too.
This phone also has support for EMS (extended SMS messaging) and is the first phone to support MMS (multimedia messaging system). MMS allows you to attach music and pictures to your SMS messages to send to others...of course, their phone also has to support it and so does your provider.
In addition, the phone also has InfraRed communication and Bluetooth! These two features allow you to send and receive data back and forth from your phone. With the infrared, once the phone is close, to your laptop for example, the two communicate and allow you to send data or to sync your outlook to your phone! If you have Bluetooth networking, you can even have your phone 30 feet away!
I have actually connected to the net with GPRS with the T68i and then via Bluetooth have used the phone as the gateway to the outside for my laptop to communicate...all in the front seat of my car. I've also done the same scenario but via infrared. Worked like a charm both times. The benefit of the bluetooth is of course that I can keep the phone in my shirt pocket while this is all going on.
Oh yeah, and for those who are still a few steps behind the state-of-the-art, you can even get a serial cable to connect to the phone.
Now for the show-stoppers: First off, the phone has a 256 color 101x80 pixel screen giving you crisp and sharp colors. The beauty of this is that you can load color images on the phone to use as backgrounds or, even better, to associate with pictures of people in your phonebook! When you associate a picture with a certain person/number in your phonebook, the phone will pop-up that image, along with the name/number calling, on the screen! Couple that with programmable ring-tones and you have one hot item!
It accepts GIF and JPG formats.
As far as pictures go, you have a few options on how to make them. You can take the easy way out and visit sites like:
http://www.esato.com
http://www.wapster.org
http://www.xmob.co.uk
...and download from hundreds of images. Alternatively, you can create them yourself using your favorite image editing tool or from Sony Ericsson's software, which is available here:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/uk/spg.jsp?page=start
Or, you can transfer them from a friend or you can buy the MCA-20 digital camera attachment that clips on to the bottom of the T68i and turns your phone into a digital camera! Your phone's screen becomes the LCD display and you can capture images that can be stored directly on your phone.
In addition, you can also load animated GIF images which can be used as ScreenSavers. The screenSaver comes on after the phone is idle and is displayed for about 10 seconds before the phone goes in standby mode. Another cool thing is that you can actually edit the theme of the phone. In other words you can change the colors of menus and title bars, set different background images, highligh colors, etc. This can be done via Sony Ericsson's mobile site via WAP, or can even be done at home on your PC with a wonderful theme creator which you can get here:
http://www.christersson.org/default.asp
Battery life is extremely good on this phone. It lasts for a very long time and I've even gone a week without having to recharge. Of course, if you used the GPRS or the communication stuff like bluetooth, you'll be using more juice than usual. Also, perusing through the images stored on your phone can run the battery down. But for normal phone use, this Lithium-Polymer battery is impressive.
Memory on the phone is also very good. Sony Ericsson gives you ample space to use as you like. You can store SMS messages, images and ringtones...how many of each you store is only dependent on the available memory. Also, you can select from different font sizes and from a variety of languages.
Now, there are some negatives to the phone. But these things don't really bother me too much. First, there is no keypad cover...it would have been nice if the T68i had one of these, much like the T39, not so much for the keys themselves but more for the joystick which can easily be moved when the phone is in a pocket. This can be alleviated by activating the keylock function. Secondly, the standby mode of the phone displays a faint clock that moves around....I wish that these could either be disabled or could be modified to be whatever I wanted. Again, a small thing but something I Would have liked. Also, one really simple thing that I'm surprised isn't included is the ability to change the ringtone of an incoming SMS message to anything I want...there's only 3 choces.
All in all this is a super phone that will also get alot of eyballs, oohs and aaahs. Accessories are amazing and numerous and support for the phone is great. But the best support is through online web pages such as:
http://www.t68.com
and through newsgroups like this:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ericssont68/
The wealth of information and help on these sites is great!
Of course my review focussed on the T68i and not the T68 per se, but if you have a T68...don't fret...it turns out that there is a software upgrade for the T68 to have all the functionality of the T68i...but has to be done by a sony ericsson service center or from your provider. Many people have done the upgrade and agree that the performance is much better, including battery life, and that the extra functions alone are worth the effort of upgrading the software!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 490
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Epinions.com ID:
andruzzo
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Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 9 members
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