Sony Ericsson’s hugely popular P series has been an evoving line of phones on the Symbian platform. With every passing product, Sony have continuously taken it to the next level. First was the P800, then the P900, then came the P910 and P990i, which was regarded by most of tech critics as the most awaited gadget last year.So welcome the latest addition to the P series, the P1i. With this, SE have taken it to the next level… Lets get on with ther review, shall we??
Looks and Build Quality
Out of the confines of the boxy shape of the earlier P series (i’ll bet that you could take one, throw it on the forehead of your most hated celebrity and they would be dead on the spot,HEADSHOT!!, thank you very much), we move on to something more swelte and sexy.The P1i is a hybrid of the P990i and a M600i, but then, who’s complaining. If you’re asking me, this is THE ideal shape for a PDA. Its got a beautiful aluminium/matt black finish. It weighs a light(well, light enough for a PDA anyway) 124g.
On the outside, its got a jog wheel and a return button at the left.On the right we have a shortcut key, the memory stick slot and the camera button. On the front, we have a tinny VGA camera for video calls, and on the back, a 3.2MP unit.
Input and Output
Sony Ericsson have always had some of the sweetest touch screens around. The one on this unit is a 2.6inch transreflective touch screen with a resolution of 240×320 displaying 262k colours.Its beautiful to say the very least and is very readable in bright sunlight as well.
While you can use your fingers for the larger icons, some are a tad too small and will require dual handed operation by means of the stylus. Handwriting recognition is also quite good and I so wish this phone could check my answer papers, it always seems to understand my garish handwriting… er he he. Stick to the stylus, thats my advice, you just cant go wrong.
Its also got a full QWERTY keyboard which is a slightly wierd if you are new to the format… its got 2 letters on the same key. To get, for e.g. Q, rock the key to the left and for W rock the key to the right. A bit confusing at first, but simple once you get used to it. You’d appreciate the fact that it saves some space and that makes the phone smaller, and makes the keys easier to type, unlike the P990i which required you to have fingers as small as a little baby to avoid touching the other keys. But the feedback is good.
Performance
The phone features a 208MHz processor with 128MB of RAM alongwith 256MB of ROM and 160MB of internal memory. Which gives it enough juice to power the applications. One thing I noticed on the phone was that, despite opening loads of applications in the background, the one which was in use showed little or no performance dip. Do this on a Nokia, and it’ll choke and splutter and eventually hang its boots up in no time at all. Goes to show that the phone is an effortless multi-tasker and also the fact that clock frequency ain’t the last word.
The battery is a Li-Ion 1120 mAh unit and is claimed to have upto 10hrs of talk time and 440hrs of stand by time. In the real world, the battery would last a good 2 days if your usage is like 1hr of talking, an hour of music playing, a few shots on the camera and some file transfer on the bluetooth. I’d have said a thrid day too, but usage patterns may vary.
Business and Connectivity
The P series line-up has always been known for its seamless business productivity applications. This one continues the heritage.
Quickoffice, as always, works like a charm. You can create a QuickWord and a QuickSheet file(which are stored in the universal .doc and .xls format). You can also view Powerpoint slides with the option to transfer the output to a projector. You also have a PDF reader, a note making application, a to-do application, a wonderful and effective business card scanner and the option to use BlackBerry Connect. What more could even a CEO need? And they can spare their real assistants with some work or better still, fire them. Who needs a live one who eats, gets sick and shows inconsistency, when you can get the P1i to organize your life in a smarter and slicker way?
On the connectivity front, the phone offers GPRS, Wi-Fi 802.11b, 3G, USB 2.0 with A2DP, Bluetooth 2.0 and IR. And this also happens to be the first SE phone to support iSync to connect with Macs.
I would have liked the phone to have quad-bands, PTT, GPS and 802.11g as well. That would have made the phone the best connected phone on the planet. But sadly, that isnt the case.
Entertainment and Multimedia
The phone is supposed to be a business phone but renders all multimedia applications with impeccable ease. It will seamlessly play your video’s, your music files with that Walkman-ish interface. It also has an FM player with a really neat looking interface.
To the back is also the speaker which delivers a pretty crisp output. If you’re playing high bitrate media, there is little or almost no distortion even at the highest volume. But, the provided earphones suck with a capital S. Your ears will hurt in no time and the sound quality is abbysymal. I’m disappointed with SE.
The phone is supposed to be a business phone but renders all multimedia applications with impeccable ease. It will seamlessly play your video’s, your music files with that Walkman-ish interface. It also has an FM player with a really neat looking interface.
To the back is also the speaker which delivers a pretty crisp output. If you’re playing high bitrate media, there is little or almost no distortion even at the highest volume. But, the provided earphones suck with a capital S. Your ears will hurt in no time and the sound quality is abbysymal. I’m disappointed with SE.
The phone also features TrackID. What this does is sample a portion of the music, and send it back to the main database and give you complete track info.
Coming to the camera, the 3.2MP unit is one of the best cell phone cameras around. The images produced are clear and crisp. I would have liked a Xenon flash though, the camera deserves it. But the camera interface needs to be tweaked a bit, its slightly confusing at times.
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4742/dsc00029bm5.th.jpg
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9824/dsc00028td9.th.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6562/dsc00024ms4.th.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3005/dsc00027ju3.th.jpg
Here are some pics(I havent fiddled with any of the camera settings in the phone while taking these pictures)
Hot!
Not!
Whats in the box? Docking stand, extra stylus, charger, P1-choice.com software voucher, USB cable, manual, SE PC suite CD, HPM-62 handsfree kit and a carrying case.
Price
Concluson : Mixing business and pleasure isnt exactly a comfortable idea, but the P1i manages both with amazing alacrity. It takes both these tasks quite seriously, for me to call it the best phone in this category because its strength easily outshine its weaknesses by a mile.
From my blog SatishSays.com
Looks and Build Quality
Out of the confines of the boxy shape of the earlier P series (i’ll bet that you could take one, throw it on the forehead of your most hated celebrity and they would be dead on the spot,HEADSHOT!!, thank you very much), we move on to something more swelte and sexy.The P1i is a hybrid of the P990i and a M600i, but then, who’s complaining. If you’re asking me, this is THE ideal shape for a PDA. Its got a beautiful aluminium/matt black finish. It weighs a light(well, light enough for a PDA anyway) 124g.
On the outside, its got a jog wheel and a return button at the left.On the right we have a shortcut key, the memory stick slot and the camera button. On the front, we have a tinny VGA camera for video calls, and on the back, a 3.2MP unit.
Input and Output
Sony Ericsson have always had some of the sweetest touch screens around. The one on this unit is a 2.6inch transreflective touch screen with a resolution of 240×320 displaying 262k colours.Its beautiful to say the very least and is very readable in bright sunlight as well.
While you can use your fingers for the larger icons, some are a tad too small and will require dual handed operation by means of the stylus. Handwriting recognition is also quite good and I so wish this phone could check my answer papers, it always seems to understand my garish handwriting… er he he. Stick to the stylus, thats my advice, you just cant go wrong.
Its also got a full QWERTY keyboard which is a slightly wierd if you are new to the format… its got 2 letters on the same key. To get, for e.g. Q, rock the key to the left and for W rock the key to the right. A bit confusing at first, but simple once you get used to it. You’d appreciate the fact that it saves some space and that makes the phone smaller, and makes the keys easier to type, unlike the P990i which required you to have fingers as small as a little baby to avoid touching the other keys. But the feedback is good.
Performance
The phone features a 208MHz processor with 128MB of RAM alongwith 256MB of ROM and 160MB of internal memory. Which gives it enough juice to power the applications. One thing I noticed on the phone was that, despite opening loads of applications in the background, the one which was in use showed little or no performance dip. Do this on a Nokia, and it’ll choke and splutter and eventually hang its boots up in no time at all. Goes to show that the phone is an effortless multi-tasker and also the fact that clock frequency ain’t the last word.
The battery is a Li-Ion 1120 mAh unit and is claimed to have upto 10hrs of talk time and 440hrs of stand by time. In the real world, the battery would last a good 2 days if your usage is like 1hr of talking, an hour of music playing, a few shots on the camera and some file transfer on the bluetooth. I’d have said a thrid day too, but usage patterns may vary.
Business and Connectivity
The P series line-up has always been known for its seamless business productivity applications. This one continues the heritage.
Quickoffice, as always, works like a charm. You can create a QuickWord and a QuickSheet file(which are stored in the universal .doc and .xls format). You can also view Powerpoint slides with the option to transfer the output to a projector. You also have a PDF reader, a note making application, a to-do application, a wonderful and effective business card scanner and the option to use BlackBerry Connect. What more could even a CEO need? And they can spare their real assistants with some work or better still, fire them. Who needs a live one who eats, gets sick and shows inconsistency, when you can get the P1i to organize your life in a smarter and slicker way?
On the connectivity front, the phone offers GPRS, Wi-Fi 802.11b, 3G, USB 2.0 with A2DP, Bluetooth 2.0 and IR. And this also happens to be the first SE phone to support iSync to connect with Macs.
I would have liked the phone to have quad-bands, PTT, GPS and 802.11g as well. That would have made the phone the best connected phone on the planet. But sadly, that isnt the case.
Entertainment and Multimedia
The phone is supposed to be a business phone but renders all multimedia applications with impeccable ease. It will seamlessly play your video’s, your music files with that Walkman-ish interface. It also has an FM player with a really neat looking interface.
To the back is also the speaker which delivers a pretty crisp output. If you’re playing high bitrate media, there is little or almost no distortion even at the highest volume. But, the provided earphones suck with a capital S. Your ears will hurt in no time and the sound quality is abbysymal. I’m disappointed with SE.
The phone is supposed to be a business phone but renders all multimedia applications with impeccable ease. It will seamlessly play your video’s, your music files with that Walkman-ish interface. It also has an FM player with a really neat looking interface.
To the back is also the speaker which delivers a pretty crisp output. If you’re playing high bitrate media, there is little or almost no distortion even at the highest volume. But, the provided earphones suck with a capital S. Your ears will hurt in no time and the sound quality is abbysymal. I’m disappointed with SE.
The phone also features TrackID. What this does is sample a portion of the music, and send it back to the main database and give you complete track info.
Coming to the camera, the 3.2MP unit is one of the best cell phone cameras around. The images produced are clear and crisp. I would have liked a Xenon flash though, the camera deserves it. But the camera interface needs to be tweaked a bit, its slightly confusing at times.
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4742/dsc00029bm5.th.jpg
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9824/dsc00028td9.th.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6562/dsc00024ms4.th.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3005/dsc00027ju3.th.jpg
Here are some pics(I havent fiddled with any of the camera settings in the phone while taking these pictures)
Hot!
- Slim and Sleek
- Great screen
- Good camera
- Good multimedia support
- FAST!
- Excellent multi-tasking
- Choices of input options(wheel, stylus, keypad, touch screen)
- Bang for the buck
Not!
- No EDGE, PTT or GPS
- Tacky camera interface
- Awkward keyboard takes time getting used to
- Horrid ear phone
Whats in the box? Docking stand, extra stylus, charger, P1-choice.com software voucher, USB cable, manual, SE PC suite CD, HPM-62 handsfree kit and a carrying case.
Price
- India 23000INR
- USA $599
Concluson : Mixing business and pleasure isnt exactly a comfortable idea, but the P1i manages both with amazing alacrity. It takes both these tasks quite seriously, for me to call it the best phone in this category because its strength easily outshine its weaknesses by a mile.
From my blog SatishSays.com
Amazing review there 
