vB Easy Archive - My Review of The t610 or How Sony Ericsson Broke My Heart

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My Review of The t610 or How Sony Ericsson Broke My Heart
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Posted by: dman081

Just got my t610 from amazon yesterday and all I can say is what a disapointment.
The phone is beautiful and has every feature that you could think of (except speaker phone). Problem is, with a signal bar that jumps up and down like a stereo equalizer, paired with a difficult to read display, all those cool features like camera and bluetooth just don't seem to matter much.

I have waited for almost a year for a phone with these features and it looks like I willl have to wait longer. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Must haves : reliable signal strength, small enough for pocket, internet access, color screen.
Very important: speaker phone, either bluetooth or camera. I say that because I don't currently have any devices that use bluetooth but am planning to get some, and a camera is nice to have but obviously not essential.
I prefer flip phones but that is not a make or break criteria
If t-mobile is as good of service as you guys say ( I suspect the sour taste in my mouth is due solely to sony ericsson) I wouldn't mind staying with them. I'm also looking at verizon and sprint, but would prefer to stay with gsm. I like t-mobile because they seem to offer the best minute and data plans.

For those who wish to read on, a complete review follows (it feels good to talk about it).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Up to this point I was an at&t tdma customer for 4 years and have been very happy. But I am now looking at having internet and possibly camera use through my phone, internet is a must. And AT&T seems to be going downhill fast with their customer service, policies, and rates; hence the switch to t-mobile which when I think about it, reminds me of how at&t used to be back in the day, thats a good thing.

Now the review,
Call quality: Excellent. volume is loud enough and clear and other end can hear you quite well. Only negative here is phone sems to pick up ambient noise a little too loudly.
Camera: what you would expect on a phone
Navigation: not as easy as my nokia 8265, but ok especially taking into account all extra features on this phone; buttons are small but somehow easy enought to push and find
Ring volume: Adequate, includes exellent feature that lets you compose your own ring, very cool and easy to use
Size/Weight: slightly smaller than nokia 8265, small enough to be in jeans pocket and forget its there; very light; build quality seems excellent although you get the feeling if you grop it its all over.
Screen: Excellent color and image quality, however, not only is it almost impossible to see in direct sunlight, in any condition outside (overcast or even in a car) it is very hard to see almost to the point of be unreadable
Signal: Does it even have an antenna??? Now I know gsm is still in its buildout phase but...I have been using this in areas no where near the fringes of service (columbus and canton, OH) and the signal strenth is all over the place. For a second I will think I am just in barely covered area, but then a second later I will have full signal only to be followed seconds later by no signal. And currently while typing this I missed a call that went straight to voicemail. Driving home today I wached as the signal went from full to none all the way home. Now I did have the phone sitting on my lap most of the times that it went to no service but come on
now, do I really have to hold it at eye level all the time just to get a decent signal.

On paper this is the one of the best phones I have ever seen, but in use it is, well, unsusable. So those of you who have come this far with me, I recomend that you do not get this phone unless you live in a near perfect coverage area, or hope that mine is defective and you will get a better unit.

Any further questions I will be glad to answer.

Posted by: krys10

glad to see i'm not the only one who feels this way. luckily for me, i didn't have to buy the phone to find out! my phone was stolen not too long ago, and i've been looking for something to replace it.

my wish list was as follows: bluetooth, speakerphone, camera, high resolution color display, attractive design with user friendly functions, and i wanted something that hadn't been/wasn't going to be released in the U.S.

i tried the nokia 6610, thought about another v205 or 3650, and finally the t610.

guess which one was the best package, yet most disappointing?

the 6610 had everything i wanted except bluetooth and it is in the U.S already (that wasn't 'demanded' persay, just preferred). i think i'm probably going to buy one if i don't find something else that better fits my needs/wants.

the v205 and 3650 are no longer with me for a reason, and i wasn't in a hurry to get something i've had before.

the t610, however, was almost everything i wanted! all the important things, anyway. i figured the speakerphone would be a small sacrifice for a great phone. buddy was i wrong. how great can a phone really be if i can't use the stupid thing? where the 6610 excelled, the t610 let me down on completely.

i have no use for a phone that has everything except DECENT reception. the t610 doesn't even qualify for DECENT! argh!

{edit: it really DOES feel good to talk about it!

}

Posted by: csrx

You can wait for the Nokia 6600 (which has all the features you are looking for) coming out in Q3 2003.

Here is the link Nokia 6600

Posted by: StevenT

You guys should consider the Simens S55/56. Small, color screen, very good Rf, bluetooth, speakerphone, excellent data capabilities, polyphonic ringtones, essentially everything...

No built-in camera, but it does have a very small camera that clips on to it when desired, and it has a flash.

Just a suggestion.

Posted by: Ludwig

I will agree the RF is below average, not nearly as good as my 6610.

I have been using the t610 for a week now. The ringtones rock, bluetooth rocks, grps rocks, iSync on my mac rocks.

RF is lacking, its a little better than the t68i, however I havent been in a place where I dont have service yet. Even with 1bar of service I can place calls and they sound crystal clear which is the most important thing. I have not dropped a call yet either.

I guess my real test is to take a long road trip and talk on the highway to see if it drops anywhere in anywhere I know that is weak.

Another plus is the in call timer, I cant believe the 6610 does not have that its pretty annoying if you ask me.

I have honestly come to the conculsion that there is no perfect phone, hence the reason why people usually have a couple, and it keeps people buying phones.

The Motorola v600 looks like it might be close but I am not sure I like the look of it, nor the fact that it will be T9, which sucks, and the menu system will most likely be typical Motorola. In terms of Menu's.....Nokia and Sony/Ericsson really have the best.

A small phone that fits in my pocket is a huge selling factor for me. RF, and bluetooth are others. Just really stinks Nokia chooses not to put bluetooth in many phones, or if they do it is hacked up in some way shape or form it seems.

Posted by: NL4J

That is why I still have my Siemens S55.

Phones I had in the past:

1) Nokia 6100/3650/7250/6610

2) Samsung SGH-S300

3) Panasonic GD-88

I think the S55 is the best value/phone currently available. IMO

Posted by: Michael95GT

The T610/T616 has a "Real Time" signal meter which is why it seems to be constantly moving(constantly being refreshed) I dont know if the 850 band has anything to do with it or not, but I've managed to make calls with NO bars showing at all, if the GPRS indicator is showing, I can talk on it.

Posted by: mesasone

If you upgrade your firmware, you'll get more bars to show at pretty much any given time. That doesnt mean that it has better rf with a firmware upgrade(though its possible), however you're baising your complaint on something fairly trivial. Try placing calls rather than looking at the signal meter. I think you'll find the meter to be a little misleading.

Or maybe not. who knows.

Posted by: dman081

That is a good point about the real time signal meter. It would be fine with me to have the signal meter show no signal all the time as long as it had service but, I have been missing 50 percent of calls to voicemail and have noticed cutting out and distortion on call that do go through.

Another thing I have to add is that my phone has frozen 2 times in two days. Had to remove the battery to get it to work.

Will the new firmware fix this freezing and brigten the screen a little (oh I hope I hope I hope)

Posted by: dman081

Definatley sending it back now because of the combo of bad rf performance and mostly unreadable screen in any type of daylight.

Guess I will wait for the 6600, but in the mean time I've narrowed my choices down to nokia 6100 and siemens s55 or 56. Any comments or recomendations?

Posted by: JohnnyK

I've had both.

The 6100 is slimmer and has a nicer screen.

But the S55/56 has Bluetooth.

Both have Java and polyphonics (but the Nokia does 4 tones whereas the S55/56 does 16).

So basically, it's your preference of the Nokia interface or the Bluetooth.

Posted by: Michael95GT

Since the T610 isn't gonna work out for you, definately go with the S56, I've heard nothing but good things about it. Since I really wanted a Bluetooth phone, it was down to the T616 or the S56, which ever I could get a hold of first. Two things pushed me to the T616, 65,000 color screen and built-in camera. If the S56 had a 65K screen, I'd probably have it instead, cause I could live with out the built-in cam.

Posted by: dman081

Have you heard that the 616 is that much bett rf wise. I know some people were saying that, but I just wanted verification. If so, would a firmware update do the sme thing for the 610

Also, what is csd?

Posted by: scandal8290

I've had the T616 for several days now and find that it gets as good or better reception than the 6590i it replaced. The signal bars do tend to be more jumpy but the phone makes and receives calls as well as the nokia. I think SE has a winner with this phone. Its got wonderful build quality (no creakiness), a great feature set and a color screen with 65k colors.

There is no one perfect phone out there though so what may work for me may not work for other people. I love it though!

Posted by: Silverlex02

I was gunna go buy a t610 today, but after reading more about the phone I think I am going to have to think it over a little bit harder. I had the 3650 loved the phone, but had a hard time with the keypad.

Posted by: Ludwig

Quote:

Originally posted by Silverlex02
I was gunna go buy a t610 today, but after reading more about the phone I think I am going to have to think it over a little bit harder. I had the 3650 loved the phone, but had a hard time with the keypad.

I say give it a shot. It is noticeably better than the t68i, in terms of menu speed, and rf.

If you find out it not working out for you or up to your standards return it. You have a full two weeks to do so.

Posted by: Silverlex02

Most likely that is what I will end up doing.

Posted by: sphen

seems im in the same boat.. testing out this t616 and seeing if the rf reception is good enough for me.

trouble is that its hard for me to look past all the cool things it does with bluetooth etc and concentrate on th reality of using the phone for conversations...

Posted by: Ludwig

Look past the signal meter and see if you can make calls in areas that you know are weak.

Does the phone drop calls?
Does the audio get distorted in weak area's like other phones you have?
How do calls sound with 1 bar?
How do they sound with none?
Do you get service inside buildings?

If you are dropping calls in areas you never used to before, or it is not handing off to other sites when you are traveling then you can be certain the RF is crap, but I havent had any issues like this so far.

Posted by: acidradio

I just got a T610 and am kind of disappointed with it too. Looks neat but in terms of usability it is not really great. Very slow, I don't get very good RF reception, buttons are difficult, kind of quiet, every button seems to accidentally start some kind of web browser. I think I will wait for the Nokia 6600 (again).

Posted by: difenbaker

here's a comprehensive comparison of the 7250 and the T610...

http://www.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads...N-CODE/if/9308/

.... you'll see that the T610 is not all it's hyped out to be. There are some issues of memory leaks, slowness, the non-customizable tones and other things....

here's another review:

http://mobile.burn.com/review.jsp?Id=391

.... BUT the T610 does have bluetooth, and a 65K colored screen.

Posted by: mesasone

Quote:

Originally posted by difenbaker
here's a comprehensive comparison of the 7250 and the T610...

http://www.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads...N-CODE/if/9308/

Woot, awesome. It's an ad.

Copy and pasted the wrong link, yo.

Posted by: difenbaker

Quote:

Originally posted by mesasone
Woot, awesome. It's an ad.

Copy and pasted the wrong link, yo.

oops!!! my bad...

here's the right link dude...

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/son...son/t610/p1.htm

and here's another one... but says basically the same things.

http://www.thevooner.com/feature/20...10/sonyt610.htm

Posted by: samantha2001

Quote:

Originally posted by difenbaker
.... BUT the T610 does have bluetooth, and a 65K colored screen.

plus email client, fully functional IR, fully implemented MMS (sounds, pic, text), 32 chord polyphonics, bigger screen, aluminum body. those are important to me. not to mention the SMS and caller ID pic, kinda neat features. Plus, it has the in-call timer, series 40 Nokia doesn't have that.

when i need a speakerphone, i have my 6610. i don't need an FM radio, i got my car's stereo. when i need a phone with great RF, there's my trusty old 6310i.

Posted by: Ludwig

Quote:

Originally posted by samantha2001
plus email client, fully functional IR, fully implemented MMS (sounds, pic, text), 32 chord polyphonics, bigger screen, aluminum body. those are important to me.

when i need a speakerphone, i have my 6610. i don't need an FM radio, i got my car's stereo. when i need a phone with great RF, there's my trusty old 6310i.

totally agree with you here. hence I might be picking up a trusty nokia 6310i, or 6590i which I have also heard great things about

Posted by: difenbaker

Quote:

Originally posted by samantha2001
plus email client, fully functional IR, fully implemented MMS (sounds, pic, text), 32 chord polyphonics, bigger screen, aluminum body. those are important to me. not to mention the SMS and caller ID pic, kinda neat features. Plus, it has the in-call timer, series 40 Nokia doesn't have that.

yup, everyone does have their own preferrences.... but there is MORE to a phone than just the number of features that it has.

Email client? that is IF the user uses that all the time. Full IR? given the limited amount of memory, you will really need that coz you'll be transferring files more often. Full MMS? in some countries (and in some networks) where the MMS service is lousy, this is irrelevant. MMS is expensive too. 32-ch polytones? nice to hear, yet you cannot customise the ringing tone (your stuck with ascending) and because of that memory leak - these same tones take almost double the size of a normal polytone. Bigger screen? yup, but hardly necessary, and it consumes more batt life. Aluminum body? cool, but it smudges quite easily with fingerprints and is almost always greasy all the time. And if you drop it or you scratch it - you're stuck with it, unlike most nokias - wherein you can just change the casing and have it looking like new. There's also a chance of dust gathering underneath the screen - in a nokia, you can just open it up and clean it. SMS and call ID? it's cool, but is a novelty at best, hardly a necessity. It also takes up more memory still - and the phone has only 70KB to start with (out of the box).

Quote:

when i need a speakerphone, i have my 6610. i don't need an FM radio, i got my car's stereo. when i need a phone with great RF, there's my trusty old 6310i.

Yup, the 6310i and the 6610 have great RF... but I think that it's the consensus of most users here (and some in europe), that the T610 - like the T68i that came before it, had a not-so-great RF performance. In some places in Canada, for example, the T610 becomes unusable just when you enter a mall.

hehehe... this is silly, comparing car audio to phone radios. Anyway, I think most car owners here have car stereos... probably why most wouldn't use their phone's radio, while in the car. That radio, however, is nice to have when you're passing the time, or would come in handy when you're walking, or shopping in a mall, or are in someplace without your car.

lastly... I think that the feature set of a T610 is nice, but I dont like the way it operates - it just too slow. I hate sluggish phones.

cheers!

Posted by: samantha2001

Quote:

Originally posted by difenbaker
yup, everyone does have their own preferrences.... but there is MORE to a phone than just the number of features that it has.

Email client? that is IF the user uses that all the time. Full IR? given the limited amount of memory, you will really need that coz you'll be transferring files more often. Full MMS? in some countries (and in some networks) where the MMS service is lousy, this is irrelevant. MMS is expensive too. 32-ch polytones? nice to hear, yet you cannot customise the ringing tone (your stuck with ascending) and because of that memory leak - these same tones take almost double the size of a normal polytone. Bigger screen? yup, but hardly necessary, and it consumes more batt life. Aluminum body? cool, but it smudges quite easily with fingerprints and is almost always greasy all the time. And if you drop it or you scratch it - you're stuck with it, unlike most nokias - wherein you can just change the casing and have it looking like new. There's also a chance of dust gathering underneath the screen - in a nokia, you can just open it up and clean it. SMS and call ID? it's cool, but is a novelty at best, hardly a necessity. It also takes up more memory still - and the phone has only 70KB to start with (out of the box).

Yup, the 6310i and the 6610 have great RF... but I think that it's the consensus of most users here and in europe, that the T610 - like the T68i that came before it, had a not-so-great RF performance.

hehehe... this is silly, comparing car audio to phone radios. Anyway, I think most car owners here have car stereos... probably why most wouldn't use their phone's radio, while in the car. That radio, however, is nice to have when you're passing the time, or would come in handy when you're walking, or shopping in a mall, or are in someplace without your car.

cheers!

i don't think i was comparing my 6610's FM radio to my car's stereo. i only meant that i don't listen to my phone's FM radio at all, i use my car's stereo if i want music etc. i don't even buy the stereo headset because i think it's just a waste of money when i don't even use it at all.

email client is really important for me because if i'm not online, i always check my phone for messages/emails ( i have set it to check email every 5 minutes).

and bluetooth as well. i connect it to my Ipaq 1940 (BT-enabled PPC) to check emails and stuff, or surf the internet. I also use my BT headset, no wires, no hassles. or connect to my PC and sync it effortlessly. some poeple won't understand why we are fascinated by bluetooth. jsut try it and you'll get hooked on it.

wouldn't it be nice to hear a "happy birthday song" when you get an MMS happy birthday message? or hear your favorite song/ringtone sent to you by your friends through MMS? or justshare ringtones through MMS?

IR...i think i've said enough about it.

memory leaks, ascending ringtones etc have been a known issue before i bought the phone so i'm prepared for it. and besides, i don't download too much stuff to my phone, just maybe some pictures, themes and ringtones.

i don't know but i think i like my T610 better than any of my other phones.

7250 and some other series 40 phones have its good points. but the things that i like most in a cellphone, i found it in my T610.

Posted by: difenbaker

Quote:

Originally posted by samantha2001
and bluetooth as well. i connect it to my Ipaq 1940 (BT-enabled PPC) to check emails and stuff, or surf the internet. I also use my BT headset, no wires, no hassles. or connect to my PC and sync it effortlessly. some poeple won't understand why we are fascinated by bluetooth. jsut try it and you'll get hooked on it.

yup, I agree... it's cool! Probably the reason why I can't let go of my 6310i. I use it with my notebook and my sis uses it with her tungsten T.

But bluetooth is nice for people with wireless headsets, or BT enabled laptops or PDA's, a must for the "techie" in all of us .... but for the average folk, who doesn't have another BT device to pair it with, they just dont use it.

cheers!

Posted by: terthen

if t610/616 isn't working for you, i highly recommend the s56. never tried the t610 since it is out of my price range--seems like some people find the rf just fine and some don't--but the s56 was w/in my price limit, and so far i love the s56. way better than the nokia 6610 i had; rf is pretty good, call quality is good, loaded w/ more features than the 6610 (bluetooth, camera add-on, etc.). onyl complaints is that i haven't gotten used to the navigation yet but i'll give it some time...so far 256 colors hasn't really hindered me

Posted by: RUYORK

I live in a perfect coverage area and love it.

Posted by: RichardL890

Am I suppose to buy some sort of sync cable to get this firmware upgrade?

Anyway, I got the t610 because of bluetooth and size. If the phone doesn't have BT, I won't even look at it because connecting my ipaq 2210 is top priority to me. The screen is nice but it's true that in sun light the screen is basically not even viewable. Kinda pisses me off but what choices do I have for small BT phones?

Posted by: bolido2000

Quote:

Originally posted by RichardL890
Am I suppose to buy some sort of sync cable to get this firmware upgrade?

Anyway, I got the t610 because of bluetooth and size. If the phone doesn't have BT, I won't even look at it because connecting my ipaq 2210 is top priority to me. The screen is nice but it's true that in sun light the screen is basically not even viewable. Kinda pisses me off but what choices do I have for small BT phones?

Just get the Siemens S56. Is almost as small as the T616 plus Siemems have great reception.

I do agree that I will prolly get a new phone (got the T616 practically free after rebates, credits and selling old phone). The reception is pretty lousy and inside buildings is non existant (whereas my Nokia 8390 would get 1-2 bars). I hate the way the buttons feel when I press it and the screen is pretty much unreadable outside (with or without direct sunlight). Other than that the phone has all the features I could wish for. I will prolly get a flip phone in the future or the Siemens SL56.

Posted by: badass bunny

as soon as the t610 came out with tmo our local tmobile rep wanted one so we told him to sell 10 phones and we'll give him one. he got it and a week later he's gonna ebay it and go back to his 720. he said he got a lot of dropped calls on it, but that's his experience. me personally haven't tried out the phone other than oogling at the great pictures it took.

Posted by: vespa

I too decided not to upgrade to the t610 (from a t68)....due to poor reception. One phone to really consider is the s55, a solid phone from both a feature and reception standpoint. Also one other big added perk is the user updatable firmware. I hated having to shell out $40 bucks to ship my t68 off to get another fw update.....

Good luck

Posted by: anshuljain

I couldn't agree more with vespa...the S55 is probably the best all-around phone in the market with the 6310i. The f/w is user-upgradeable(and its possible...take that Nokia, SE, Motorola etc!!!!), packed with all possible features that a power-user wants...tri-band, bluetooth, above average RF, decent battery life, excellent PC suite etc etc....the only places where the 6310i scores above the S55 is battery life and RF...and it outdoes almost all phones in that department. That said...S55 is the best bang for buck in the market.

Posted by: cmm3

Quote:

Originally posted by dman081

Up to this point I was an at&t tdma customer for 4 years and have been very happy. But I am now looking at having internet and possibly camera use through my phone, internet is a must. And AT&T seems to be going downhill fast with their customer service, policies, and rates; hence the switch to t-mobile which when I think about it, reminds me of how at&t used to be back in the day, thats a good thing.

tho i agree w\ u that AT&T is changing and is no longer the company we once remembered (i cant even count how many phones they have given our office "for free" that they no longer do) i wouldnt say they are going downhill. in fact.. i have found lots of improvements.

so my question... did u even condiser going w\ AT&T GSM? i dont know if u are in an 850 MHz area, but if u were... AT&T GMS and Cingular may have been better options. the T616 would have given u the added coverage of 850 MHz. its not a big improvement at this time but may be a big help.

CMM.

Posted by: mavericke

Dispite some of the commence made against the T610, I would be returning my 7250 for T610 because the T610 is better than 7250 in many ways. T610 is still definately the one for me.After all, the T610 is not too bad. It is still a good phone.

Posted by: samantha2001

Quote:

Originally posted by mavericke
Dispite some of the commence made against the T610, I would be returning my 7250 for T610 because the T610 is better than 7250 in many ways. T610 is still definately the one for me.After all, the T610 is not too bad. It is still a good phone.

indeed. T610 is still one of the best phones in the market today.

Posted by: Xarthan

Quote:

Originally posted by vespa
I too decided not to upgrade to the t610 (from a t68)....due to poor reception. One phone to really consider is the s55, a solid phone from both a feature and reception standpoint. Also one other big added perk is the user updatable firmware. I hated having to shell out $40 bucks to ship my t68 off to get another fw update.....

Good luck

my t616 has excellent reception and i do agree, this is still one of the best phones in the market today.

Posted by: micaels

Got my t610 today and loving it works so much better then my last phones.

Posted by: fwconti

I wish people would compare apples to apples when discussing the RF reception of various phones. GSM should be compared with GSM and TDMA should be compared with TDMA.

I have 3 GSM phones in my household (T616, T720, 3595), which is located in an RF black hole, and the T616 has the best RF performance. My wife (T720) is always using my T616 to make calls in the house. The T616 will make and hold a call with no bars showing while the T720 and 3595 will not with 1 or 2 bars displayed.

I love the real time signal strength display of the t616 as it gives a more truthful reading. The other phones may show 1 or 2 bars but that might have been minutes ago. Unfortunatley, from reports of a more steady bar display, it looks like SE have added a bit of averaging to the meter display in the latest software updates - That is a shame.

I love the T616!

Posted by: rally1

People keep saying get the Siemens S56, not the t610, but that is not offered by TMobile right?!

Posted by: banasamn

i have no problem with the t610 my RF is great everywhere. Overall i think it's a great fone

Posted by: generalthade

so the t610 works perfect in the city cause I am in NY too and I really want to be good in the suburbs and manhattan, I am really looking into this phone a lot.

Posted by: Sl300

i live in a horrible area for reception

t616 and the t610 were paper weights in my house, very rare to get calls/make calls

the rf on that phone is really bad in my opinion/experience

Posted by: joonlee

I am using SE T616 & Sharp GX22 and I find the RF on both phones to be equal. I used them in the basement and both phones have no problem dialing out and receiving calls. What's more important is the cell provider. I have both Rogers & Fido account and I must say that Rogers SUX!!!!!!

Posted by: Sl300

thats were we have our differenecs im still on rogers and im switching over to fido whenever i have freetime,