Sony Ericsson T616
Average Ratings
Its good looks were deceiving.
The T616 is beautiful! It feels good in the hand, dials easily, and -- at night, or in any dark space, it has a large, clear display. But that clarity disappears when you take it outside in even the foggiest sunlight. In fact, it's hard to make out anything on the screen at all in the sunlight.
The T616 voice quality sounds like it's coming from a submerged gravel pit. That's been my both my experience as well as the person on the other end. Folks at the local ATT store said that the sound quality suffers when it rains. "When it rains?!"
I've gotten used to the Nokia's ealily dialing of a saved number. With the T616, you have to either save a number to one of 8 speed dials, or go through several screens to get to the list of numbers then scroll down to the one you need. This was my experience with several of what I expected to be easy tasks, lots of scrolling around and hitting the back key to back out of wherever I was to get to where I wanted to go.
On the plus side:
* It displays all of the numbers you've called recently as well as the names attached to them and when you called them last (something John Ashcroft would love).
* The screen displays the current time and date.
* A central joy stick brings you to and around 12 different menu icons (if you have moderately small fingers).
* When not in use, the screen gradually dims (in a darkened room) then shuts down to display a dimmed digital clock that you can light up by touching any key.
* The fotos it takes are understandably not of great quality, but for a phone, they're not too bad.
So, being lucky enough to already own a digital camera and a nice Powerbook, all I needed was a phone that provided clear conversations, so I went back to my old Nokia 8265 with it's boring B/W screen and crystal clear sound. And that, after only 2 hrs of holding on for ATT to figure out how to "reverse migrate" me from GSM back to TDMA.
Great phone
this phone is really good i have found nothing wrong with the phone but the camera is a lil blurry but i cant complain because it is my first camera phone.
Pros: prity neat look. it is simple looking but it catches attention.
it has a nice large screen and is easy to read
you can customize just about everything in the phone to the way you want it
blue-tooth!
the music DJ is fun to play with
cons:
the camera is not the best but its alright. I'm not too picky.
the ring volume starts low then gets loud so i sometime miss calls. but you can always call them back.
and thats about it. this phone is really good and you should check it out your self!
Can't Wait To Buy One
I've been waiting for this phone since I first heard about the 610. I had heard that it was a very nice phone and now I am pretty much convinced. Now that I've seen and played with it firsthand, I am impressed. I had been using a T68i for the last 7+ months, until the RF went out. The only reason I hesitate to rate this any higher than 3.5/5.0 is that I've yet to test the phone in my own time (I can't wait to buy one ($200 MSRP)!). Usability is very nice, though different from your typical Sony Ericsson. Everything is very easy to use and access. Built-in camera, 65K colors, Bluetooth and polyphonic ringtones make it. Screen resolution is nice, as is picture quality. The T68i was a great phone, but this looks to top it. Only time (and testing) will tell.
THIS PHONE IS ALMOST PERFECT
I LOVE THIS PHONE. THE PICTURE IS GOOD AND I LOVE THE WAY S/E IS NOW FORMATTING THEIR MAIN MENU (STARTING WITH THE T68 OFCOURSE). I DON'T LIKE THE FACT THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE A SPEAKERPHONE BUT I CAN GET USED TO IT. HAVING JUST HAD A NK6100 IT IS CONVENIENT. IT LOOKS LIKE S/E HAS IMPROVED THEIR ANTENNA SO I'M PRETTY HAPPY ABOUT THAT. THE GAMES ARE COOL AND I'M STILL LOOKING FOR SOME TO DOWNLOAD. OVERALL THIS PHONE IS GOOD. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE.
Most Overhyped Phone Clock Ever!
Phone manufacturers should realize that simply packing a wealth of non-intuitive features in a candy bar doesn't necessarily make it an appealing phone, let alone, a functional one. Let's start with the T616's audio quality.
In a word the audio, well, sucks! Anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receving end of my calls reported hearing what sounded like a conversation conducted through plastic (Saran) wrap. My 5-yr old actually told me once that my voice sounded annoying! And, don't think it improves with better reception. It didn't. A Cingular Wireless service rep in CT once told me my voice was muffled even when my green reception bars were at peak level.
Then there's the picture quality. Or was that a digital blob? With the poor picture quality this phone posseses one wonders why Sony Ericsson even bothered providing that feature in the first place. Unless you are seeking a digital Rorschach generator don't bother with this functionality.
After a week of owning the phone, it developed a mind of its own. First it would go through episodes of repeatedly prompting me to update the time zones as I moved throughout my house which, incidentally, is small enough that it occupies one time zone only! It frequently reported that the SIM card was dislodged when it wasn't. There were times when the phone simply didn't want to shut down despite repeatedly pressing the microscopic power switch. I often reverted to removing the back plate of the phone and dislodging the battery from its contact to power off. Also, it seemed to always hang in purgatory between that blue time display screen and, uh, nothing even when I repeatedly pressed (thumbed the hell out of) the main menu button! And then I finally figured it out: this is not a phone but a decent Sony clock masquerading as a phone!
I couldn't help but ditch the thing and was about to abandon my quest for a good Bluetooth phone until I came upon the Motorola V600. Now, there's a phone!
3+ years and still great
I have used this phone around the world, dropped it onto a concrete sidewalk from the second floor, gotten it wet and it keeps on working. It is built like a tank. Recently I have noticed that the joystick gets stuck but overall no problems with buttons. Great reception and call quality. Only regret is that there is no speakerphone. I don't think I will have to replace it for at least another year. Will have outlasted all my friend's phones. When I do replace it, I will most likely buy another sony phone.
4 Years Strong
Yup, 4 years with the phone and still going. That has to be the best aspect of the phone, it was so far ahead of it's time that after 4 years it's still compares to most smart phones minus e-mail and MP3 players.
The biggest issue I have with the phone is the ring. It starts soft and doesn't get much louder. There is a setting for increasing ring, but it doesn't change the ring. Likewise, the speaker on the phone doesn't get that loud either. The other issue is the screen, doesn't get very bright, hard to see when your at the beach under the sun.
Sound quality, reception, number storage, Internet, MMS, voice dialing, pictures, voice recorder, ring tones, etc.., all work perfect. I've created my own ring tones, assigned pictures to callers, and voice dial through my Bluetooth headset. I've downloaded directions, sports scores, and yellow pages info, used the flashlight attachment, and synced my calender and contacts with Outlook (home and office) everyday. I've even dropped the phone more times than I can count, thrown it a few times out of rage, (dislodged SIM card warning is resolved by a power-down and up,) but never wished I had another phone.
This phone outlasted my wifes Nokia, Motorola and PalmTreo 650. I bet it'll outlast her Samsung too. Only reason I'd think about getting a newer phone is to pass this one on to my son and get a phone with an MP3 player.
When it's all said and done, this phone has made me a die-hard Sony Ericsson fan. I'm sure my next phone, IF I get one, will be a Sony Ericsson.
toughest phone
im giving this phone a 5 and i dont usualy use normal phones i am a smart phone user but as i was transfering to my next phone i had to wait a week and while i had this one i was really pleased. I DROPED IT IN MY HOT TUB AND IT SITLL WORKED AFTER this phone was treated like garbage and it fought though everything i threw at it just so see how much it would take and till this day it is the toughest phone iv ever had.
good phone considering what's out there
I got this phone 2 years ago, and am replacing it with the t637, b/c it stopped working. Now hold on, I had this phone for 2 year! And I've dropped it over 10 times. Trust me, it has put in its time, and it really was time for an upgrade.
Now the reason it stopped working was b/c the contacts at the bottom of the phone where the charger connects, wore off or fell off. The phone won't go into charging mode.
Also, I will admit, the joy stick stopped working properly about 4-5 months ago. But it was finicky from the beginning.
Small stuff though compare to its pro's. I had great signal strenght compared to others. It had a decent display, and it's a reasonably small phone, sleek, fits in your back pocket easily.
I'm just leaving a review, b/c I realized reading others' is helpful, I'll do my part. I'm sure no one will buy this phone as it's outdated, but in general, I'm thinking sony ericsson makes good phones. I'm seeing what's out there and I like what sony is doing. I wish it wasn't so expensive though...
I'll never buy sony ericsson again
I can't believe this phone got such a high rating (3.7 right now). I've had this phone for 2 years. The whole time I couldn't wait for my renewal which is finally here. I can't wait to throw it against the wall.
Pros:
-better than the T300 (not saying much
-world phone (actually works better in Europe than at home.
Cons:
-reception is incredibly poor.
-phone will answer automatically (even when auto-answer is off).
-phone will go into silent mode without my interaction. I have missed many calls because of this.
-phone will dial by itself even though it is always locked.
-Bluetooth sync with outlook calendar is random and all dates and times were wrong even though my phone's time/date and computer's time/date are correct.
-Bluetooth hands free is really really bad. barely works.
-Menus are very poorly organized. The address book is retarded.
-I never got voice control to work. Why does it have to be this confusing???
