The phone for the world
Written: Sep 14 '01 (Updated Apr 10 '02)
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Pros: Tri-Band, Small, Slim, Lightweight, Excellent Interface, Bluetooth, WAP, GPRS, Excellent Battery Life, Highly Expandable
Cons: Price, Color, PC Cable sold separately,
The Bottom Line: A easy-to-use tri-band phone for the traveller/professional with countless features such as Bluetooth, WAP, and GPRS support. Lightweight, compact, with excellent battery life. A stunningly engineered product with minimal deficiencies.
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| orac1e's Full Review: Sony Ericsson T39m Cell Phone |
I was sick. Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick. Mostly, I was sick of the fact that I had two cellphones; one for N. America and one for Europe. I own a little analog Motorola StarTac and in Europe I use an AEG brick (can't remember the exact model, but it turns on like a chainsaw with a rip cord). With the amount of time that I spend in Europe, I just got to the point where I decided that I absolutely had to have a tri-band phone. When I first came to this conclusion, the only one available was the Bosch Worldcom, and eventually the Motorola Timeport was made available. I have to admit that I *almost* bought a Timeport, but was lucky enough to see the new Ericsson T39m in the electronics store on the day that it was released. It was love at first sight. I knew that if were to have bought the Timeport over it, I would have regretted it. I fell in love with this phone at first sight.
First, I should warn people that this phone is as-of-yet *unavailable* in N. America (unless you find an importer), and the way to get a hold of one is to bring it over from Europe/Asia or purchase it from someone off Ebay. I got mine from an Electronics store in Europe with a connection deal. I gave the connection to someone who lives in Europe and the phone alone ended up costing me about $130 US. If you factor in the cost of the connection, it's actually pretty pricey, but I still think it was well worth it.
I will start with the bad points of this phone. There aren't many I can tell you. I think one of the biggest let downs I had with this mobile was when I asked the salesperson to give me one which was completely silver. Unfortunately, Ericsson has only released the phone in three colors, dark blue, champagne and baby blue. I opted for the dark blue one, but I suppose it is a matter of choice. Secondly, I have some qualms about the fact that Ericsson includes a software CD in the box but does not provide you with a PC cable. This is too bad because I think the genuine cable costs a pretty penny as do all authentic Ericsson accessories (but tons of aftermarket ones are readily available). Although it seems like a minor point, Ericsson has vastly inferior ringtones to Nokia. In comparison to pretty much *all* recent Nokia phones which enable you to control tempo etc., Ericsson mobiles are limited in composing ringtones. In addition, this phone does not permit you to edit the tone used for SMS alerts (i.e. you can't make the phone play a specific melody when you receive an SMS) and it's just a standard double beep. Lastly, I had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to easily record a phone conversation in the voice memo while on a call. I had to contact Ericsson directly for them to explain to me that there is no hotkey assigned for this task and that it has to be done via the interface (takes a couple of keystrokes). This was a little bit of a let down since a lot of phones which are aimed at professionals have this option very handy for recording day-to-day notes, and even the person to whom you are speaking.
Despite the above drawbacks, the positive aspects of this mobile *greatly* outweigh the negative ones.
"World" and Tri-Band
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The number one reason I purchased this phone was because it was Tri-Band. Most phones which use the buzz word "World" are not as international as one may think. The GSM standard operates on three different frequencies in the world. Europe uses 1800MHz, N. America uses 1900MHz and Asia uses 900MHz. This is a real problem for people who wish to use their regular cell phones abroad (I think it's been done to protect respective markets, and to make more money, but that's a different story), since they can't simply take out the SIM card from their cell phone provider at home and replace it with a SIM card form the mobile phone service in the country they are visiting. The frequencies are completely different and the phones will not work. Some mobiles use the tag line "World" but usually they are set to work in two particular zones, such as Europe & Asia or N. America & Asia as opposed to all three. Only tri-band phones will work in any country in the world that has a GSM cellular network.
Tri-band easy as 1-2-3.
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My experience with the T39m was very good. I simply removed the battery from the phone, took out the SIM card that I had from Europe and slipped in the N. American one. I replaced the battery, turned it one, and voila. Everything worked perfectly. My contacts were there and the only difference was the name of the network on the display.
Interface
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For as long as I can remember, Ericsson phones have always featured very intuitive and functional interfaces. This phone is no exception to this trend. Each function of the phone is easily accessible from the various graphical menus which can be navigated either with the Yes/No & Up/Down keys or with the digits. Overall, it's extremely easy to use. In addition, the interface permits you to assign shortcuts in a particular part of the menu so that you don't have to traverse particular menu locations to get to frequently used features. Also, all of the keys on the phone are assigned multiple uses allowing you to access the phone book, call list, voice commands, etc. with a single keystroke and without using the menus. Volume is easily changed using the slider key on the side (very easy to get to with your forefinger while on a call).
Features
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The phone includes the following features (which I don't personally subscribe to, but because of my background, understand their uses and importance).
* Bluetooth enabled (local wireless device protocol - allows you to use a wireless headset, print to a bluetooth enabled printer, or wirelessly synchronize with a PC)
* WAP enabled (Internet surfing)
* Infrared communication port (you can even play head to head tennis with another T39m via this port)
* GPRS enabled (High speed data transfer for mobile phones)
* Calendar
* Calculator
* Voice memo
* 2 Games - Erix & Tennis
* Synchronization with PC
* Memory Status
* Email support
* SMS support
* EMS support (Extended SMS)
* Call/Cost timers
* Multiple language support
* T9 predictive text input
* Phone profiles (silent, meeting, car, etc. - fully customizable)
* Vibrate mode
Display
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With the exception of some of the PDA-type phones, the Ericsson features one of the best displays that I have seen. Everything is graphical and the default display shows the phone's status all the time. Battery life, time, network, missed calls, new messages, call redirections, dual-line activity, etc are all easily seen from the main display. The screen also enables the user to personalize the main screen with a graphic of choice. This graphic can either be downloaded from a PC using the PC cable, sent via SMS, or edited manually using the phone's built-in drawing program. Lastly, the backlight is *extremely* bright, and I actually used the phone to find my way in the dark and light a candle when the power went out in my apartment one night. A nice little feature of the backlight is the way that it fades out. Instead of simply turning off, it slowly fades away in style. I couldn't get enough of this and when I first bought it, I would constantly open the front cover, and close it just to watch the light dim out.
Contacts
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The phone has lots of on-board memory enabling you to program all your contacts. I am not sure of the number of contacts, but I have about 30 right now and there are no problems. One nice feature of this phone is that it can copy contacts from a SIM card making your job of switching phones much easier since you don't have to program them in. The phone also has the option to write to the sim card memory, just like older phones which exclusively use the SIM for all memory functions. Contacts are very well organized allowing for multiple contact numbers such as mobile, home, office, etc. Each one has a characteristic graphic which allows you to know which number you are calling without memorizing the actual number itself. Furthermore, the contacts interface allows you to enable voice commands for your contacts as well as voice commands for the location which you wish to call (e.g. "Robert", followed by "Work" calls Robert at the office instead of on his mobile or at home). This feature is handy when using handsfree (sold separately) while in the car or on the go.
Ringtones
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As I mentioned, Ericsson support for ringtones is not as good as it could be. Nokia pretty much *owns* this particular facet of cell phones and their interface for ringtone composition is (in my opinion) the best. Yet, the Ericsson composer is still pretty powerful. I have managed to write two or three of my own, and after some trial and error (and eventually with the use of a PC-based ringtone composer) have come up with some cool renditions of songs that I couldn't find on any of the ringtone websites. The T39m is able to hold 10 personal ringtones, and is hard wired with 10 preprogrammed melodies and 4 simple rings. I use the various ringtones for various friends of mine so that I can know who's trying to get a hold of me without even bothering to look at the call display, and that's kinda neat. If you count the vibrate feature, that's a total of 25 different tones.
Physical
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Overall, I think the phone looks quite sexy. It's sleek, thin and it's damn small. I toss it in a regular shirt front pocket and there is still room for a palm pilot or wallet. It weighs very little (less than my Palm Pilot) and has just enough mass to ensure that you won't forget you have it without being bothersome.
Battery
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The included battery is so slim that it is flush with the rest of the body and I have seen its projected standby time from the display exceed 200 hours (although this parameter is *highly* network dependent - i.e. you will get different standby and talktimes on different cellular networks). Talk time can exceed 3 hours as well. Unlike the most common Lithium Ion batteries, the T39m's battery is Lithium Polymer which is a new technology. There are larger batteries also available and sold separately (also as aftermarket). The talk times on these must be quite astronomical in comparison, but I have no specifics on them. Each battery contains a small chip inside which monitors charging so that the battery does not experience memory (when the battery performance degrades from charging before completely discharging) and can't be overcharged. This is a great feature since you can just give it juice whenever you want without worrying about screwing the battery up and having to replace it.
Accessories
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Ericsson has a multitude of accessories for this phone as well as the T29 and T28 models. There are handsfree attachments, SMS keyboards, car chargers, travel chargers, desktop chargers, the list goes on and on. I suggest you check out Ericsson's website for a complete run down.
I've probably bored you now, but I wouldn't be surprised if you have gotten this far. This phone is truly remarkable, and I can't emphasize how useful this phone has proven to be. I could spend another hour writing more in this epinion about just how great the T39m really is, but in order for someone to get the most important opinion about this product, go and purchase it for yourself. You'll be applauding it just as much as I have.
UPDATE: April 10, 2002
My brother just bought an Ericsson T69i which really eclipses the T39m in functionality. Yet, I found one interesting point in which the T39 is superior. Although it is possible to change the font on both telephones, my brother and I are still unable to set the small font size on the T68i. He is left with very good text on all menus and interfaces except for his phonebook. This change in font size is automatic on the T39 and it looks great. As a final note, I have found out that there are indeed some secret features on the T39m. In particular, there is a hidden 'snake' game which can be accessed from the 'start' menu of Erix. At the start menu simply enter the key combination '3 6 9 # 0 * 7 4 1 2' and the snake game will appear. You control the snake using the 5, 9, 0 and 7 keys. The other secret that I learned about is that there are two secret menus that are accessible by using the keystroke sequence found at: http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=2052&forum=16&7 (I don't include the actual keystrokes as they are interpreted as HTMl markup and not allowed by the epinions text parser).
Not too sure what the menus are for (I don't wnat to end up network locking my phone), but there is a cool counter which keeps track of how many times you have used your flip cover! I'm currently at 5500+ flips in about 8mo of usage.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 130.00
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Epinions.com ID:
orac1e
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Member: Peter Androutsos
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 4 members
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