Cool feature phone, but no good service providers with it
Written: Dec 07 '03
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Pros: Jam-packed features; Inexpensive
Cons: Phone only offered by GSM carriers with poor reception/coverage
The Bottom Line: Having such a cool, feature-rich phone doesn't make up for the fact that it's only being offered by GSM carriers with poor reception coverage.
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| ewads's Full Review: Sony Ericsson T616 Cell Phone |
This Sony Ericsson T610/T616 phone is being heavily advertised right now by AT&T Wireless and Tmobile. So, I want to make sure you prospective buyers understand that there is a difference between the quality of the phone and the quality of the service provider.
Many people have complained that the reception and call quality of this phone is terrible. The main culprit here is the terrible GSM networks in the US, not the phone.
If you are concerned about the reception quality of this phone after reading negative reviews about its reception, you are better off choosing a cell phone service provider first. All US service providers are currently not technologically equal - it is a fact that GSM networks in the US will be inferior for at least a few more years.
AT&T's 800mhz GSM network is splotchy at best right now because it's still being built. It'll take a few years before their GSM network has acceptable reception. Tmobile uses 1900mhz GSM through roaming agreements, which is inferior technology (the 1900 mhz signal is especially weak inside buildings). So, bottom line, any GSM service in the US has vastly inferior reception to the CDMA service providers, such as Verizon.
I live in the SF Bay Area, and a web site that helped me to understand the differences between different service providers (in plain English) is http://www.sfbacell.com.
So, I blame T-mobile terrible GSM network for my T610's bad reception, not the phone.
The phone has everything you could possibly want - sync with Outlook, one-button camera, high-resolution color screen, bluetooth & infrared, Java app support. Everything is tied together very well by their proprietary menu app, which you navigate with a little joystick.
But, all these jam-packed features don't make up for poor reception from my service provider. My word of advice is choose a service provider first before choosing a phone. The T610 isn't useful when you don't have good reception.
Recommended:
No
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
ewads
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Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 1 member
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