Sony Ericsson
P800 - FIDO
Convergence has been
a buzz word for quite a few years now. We’ve seen many products converge
unsuccessfully (cameras with built in mp3 players, internet on TV, and so
on) and very few which have made a perfect blend. The Sony Ericsson P800,
on the other hand, pre-packaged with the Symbian 7.0 OS, is equipped with
features giving it an edge as a PDA and a mobile phone.
Feature overview
Weighing in at 159g,
and well fitting in one’s palm, the P800 is rather small considering
its capabilities. Although it takes up more space than today’s typical
phones, it is just about the right size for the PDA applications. To alternate
between phone and PDA modes is as easy as flipping the innovative keypad
which, when removed, allows users to take advantage of the full 208 X 320
pixel, 12-bit screen. The keypad can also be removed completely and the
phone can operate in “virtual keypad” mode. Other prominent
features include the built-in camera, the “memory stick duo”
memory expansion (28 MB total memory), as well as Bluetooth and IR support.
| Features |
The
Product |
- Extra large
colour screen
- Integrated
CommuniCam™ digital camera
- Personal Information
Manager (PIM) (contacts, calendar, notes and e-mail client)
- Integrated
Bluetooth™ technology
- MP3 and video
players
- MMS-ready and
Java™ enabled
- Advanced phone
book (255 entries and more)
- Tri-band world
phone (1900, 1800 and 900 MHz) that operates on five continents
|
|
Design
The P800 has been crafted
with both PDA and mobile phone users in mind. As a result, when working
in phone mode, the PDA features don’t get in the way, and all the
important phone features can be accessed through the 5-way jog dial (that’s
right, 5-way: scroll up, scroll down, press in, press forward, press back).
The added dimension to the jog dial makes for much smoother menu-surfing
compared to run-of-the-mill 3-way jog dials. In other words, with the flip
closed, the P800 operates just like any other candy-bar style phone. The
flip cover contains no electrical parts, it simply presses the appropriate
buttons against the touch sensitive background, essentially emulating a
keypad. Sony must have worked hard to make them feel like real buttons but
in the end, they do feel a bit off.
Let’s not forget
that the P800 also operates as a PDA. Conversely, when using the P800 with
its flip off, I rarely felt like I was using a phone. Rather, this device
delivered a full-fledged PDA experience, be it scheduling, web-browsing,
gaming, or even just listening to music. I often found it hard to believe
that it was “just a phone” rendering all this. For hard-core
palm-top users however, the P800 might not exactly be the perfect solution,
since it does lack expansion options such as compact-flash, SDIO, SD or
MMC. For average users looking for a well rounded PDA, on the other hand,
the P800 does the trick.
Phone operations
First
of all, the P800 is a tri-band GSM phone, and as such, it can be used almost
anywhere in the world. Reception-wise, the phone excels; with good
carrier signal reception, as well as low distortion and artefacts even in
areas with bad signal quality (malls, for example). Calls quality was very
pleasing; incoming audio was well balanced and had near perfect timbre,
and volume was high enough for use in crowded spaces. As for outgoing audio,
we received no complaints. When the flip is opened during a phone conversation,
the device automatically switches to speakerphone mode, which, once again
provides ample volume. Outgoing sound quality while in speaker mode was
not was not up to par however, and in some occasions the third party heard
echoes. This problem, however, is common for all speakerphones. The polyphonic
ring tones were adequately loud for noisy environments, but I found the
vibe alert to be on the weak side. Overall, great performance.
Thanks to its 1000 mAh
Lithium Polymer battery, the P800 is listed as having a talk time of up
to 13 hours, and standby of up to 400 hours. We all know that those numbers
are under “ideal conditions” which rarely occur. To find out
how much talk time the phone yields in more realistic situations, we established
a connection (with the phone fully charged) and checked on the battery periodically.
Our tests gave us an average of just under 7 hours, which is impressive
by any standard. Standby time, was not nearly as much as advertised, at
84 hours. The actual numbers will vary depending upon many factors, mainly
carrier signal strength.
PDA
Functions
The
Symbian 7.0 OS is surprisingly easy to work with. I was able to get it up
and running with little reference to the manual. The “flight mode”
is a nice addition when working as a PDA, since it allows the P800 to be
used in places where RF signals could cause interference. The handwriting
recognition was a pleasant surprise as well, and is a huge improvement over
the previous generation of PDA’s suffering from poor character recognition.
The included stylus, which clips onto the side of the phone, covering the
memory slots performs accurately, but has a flimsy feel to it. Sony Ericsson
has included three spare styli just in case. Armed with an ARM processor,
the P800 is capable of multitasking, but not with the included software.
However, a wealth of software is incorporated in this device, and the applications
include: Viewers (to open images, audio, video and documents), web browser,
PIM (personal information manager), calculator, world clock, voice recorder,
and two games. The 12-bit screen is very sharp, and performs well for most
purposes, but when it comes to multimedia, higher colour dept would be appreciated.
Seeing how the included
communicam can take pictures at 24-bit colour dept, it’s a shame that
the pictures can’t be seen on the display in all their glory. Other
than that, the communicam takes okay pictures, but do keep in mind that,
like most phones, it does not use a CCD sensor, so pictures won’t
be nearly as good as a digital camera. Rather, it is meant for taking quick
snapshots in well-lit conditions. As for transferring the pictures out of
the phone, the P800 is very well equipped in terms of connections. It is
the only phone I’ve seen to come with a cradle, which, although uses
a USB connection, operates at speeds similar to bluetooth, so transferring
large files can be somewhat lengthy (0.02 mb/s) but syncing remains quick.
My only gripe about the P800, connectivity wise, is the lack of a compact
flash slot. Had it been included, the expansion possibilities would be countless.
Pros:
-Phone and PDA function
as independent units
-Bright and sharp display
-Built in camera
-Sound quality
-Talk time
-RF reception
Cons:
-Lack of compact flash expansion
-Keypad feel
-Standby time
-Camera performance in low-light
-Price
Summation
Seeing all that we’ve
reviewed about the P800, I must say that its pros significantly outweigh
its cons. The sum of great phone performance, paired with straight-forward
PDA capabilities make it a great device. Sony Ericsson has definitely struck
the chord for a near-perfect convergence. Although it is priced steeply
with list prices of approximately 650$ (with no plan), it is worth it if
you seriously mean business, and the price is sure to decrease as the P800
enters the mainstream and as other companies join the PDA/phone boat. We
would like to congratulate Sony Ericsson for a fine piece of hardware, as
well as FIDO for providing
the services we needed to test all the features on the P800.
Amit
Rahman 
04.01.20
