Sony Ericsson T306
Average Ratings
MY FIRST PHONE EVER
Ok so I lied. lol I had that big giant nokia phone first! But this phone was my first real real phone! It had great screen quality, I could buy diff skins for the phone and buttons & the battery life was awesome! I still have the phone to this day! I dont use it bc it was on ATT Wireless network and that dont work with ATT Mobility. I had tones of polyphonic ringtones! This phone came out when texting started to emerge!
Finally.....a color phone I won't take back.........
Thus far I have owned a Moto T720 and a LG4400. Both were great in idea......but bad in execution in my opinion.
The T720 - Too new.....too buggy.
The LG4400 - Nice phone......but plagued by Verizon's block on downloading from anyone but them.
I just picked up the T306 about 3 days ago and so far I am very pleased. The phone is ultra light and the color screen is very bright. I have been downloading wallpapers and ringtones like a madman and it is cool to finally be able to successfully custimize my phone.
Cingular's GSM service is still developing, so the reception COULD be a little better.......but it already does 2X better than the T720 or the 4400 did.
The ringer is VERY loud and sounds great......the screen is 256 color.....so pics don't look outstanding....but they look good enough.
The battery life is excellent....espically for a color phone. I managed to almost run it completely down in 1 day.....but I had to spend over an hour using the wireless internet and make a lot of calls to do so.
BOTTOM LINE:
* Good color screen (256...but still good)
* Cool games
* Loud Ringers
* Downloadable content
* Lots of features and extras
* Less than $100 most places
I recommend this to any Cingular GSM customer......and from what I hear is equally as good with ATT GSM.
At least give it the good ol' 15 day trial......and if you don't like it, no harm no foul......but I'm will to bet you will.
Good Enough, but not neccesarilly good
This is definitely a good color phone, and worth purchasing, but read on...
The Good:
Small phone, easy to use and understand, great features, good for downloading games, good reception with all wireless providers, infrared port, battery lasts a very long time, changeable faceplates
The Bad:
Polyphonic ring tones are somewhat low and hard to hear, the phone is pretty bulky for an external camera[their are newer models that are much slimmer with built in cameras], the joystick can feel flimsy, turning on the phone takes over half a minute, and the phone comes packed with so many pictures and ring tones that you'll have to go out of your way to delete many of them to create memory for your new ones.
The Ugly:
The camera is disgusting. Pictures come out blocky, chunky, with distorted detail and color. First of all, you have to carry the camera attachment with you, it's not built it. So you have to always remember to bring it with you if you plan on capturing moments on short notice. But, even if you have it with you and take a picture, pictures come out terribly. The phone can display so little colors, that their is barely a difference between blue and black, red and pink, you get the idea. Also, once you take a picture the quality is bad enough, but when you save the picture, copy it to your phone and re-open it, the picture becomes even more blocky. It's not a glitch, for some reason its supposed to be that way. You'll find yourself having to explain to your friends what these pictures actually are that they are looking at, the quality is that bad.
Bottom Line:
Great phone if you want
(1)something to game on the go with[there is a whole lot of downloadable games that have graphics as good as the gameboy advance!]
(2)If you need an easy to use phone
Not recommended if you want
(1)An attractive phone
(2)A camera phone, since this feature comes out so bad that its absolutely useless.
Greate battery life and features
It's a greate phone I was with the LG vx1 but it sucks, the ringers are too low, so i change to Cingular ,(from Verizon) and i got this phone I love it. For about a day i was unsure but after the 2nd day i was sold with this little phone. Battery is grate last for about 6 to 7 hrs and lots of extra futures like the IR port now i can send pic from my PDA to my phone cool.
Great entry-level phone
I used to be a Nokia user for many years. When it's time to get a color phone there were very little choices. The Nokia 3595 and 3650 have awful keypads, the Motorola T720 and C350 have crappy color LCDs.
So it came down to the T58i and the T306. I picked the T306 because of polyphonic ringtones, better RF and GSM 850.
Since then I became a Sony Ericsson covert. The menus are still a bit slow (I had an Ericsson T28w previously), but the phone is immersely customizable with tons of connectivity options. I use the infrared port routinely to send SMS via my PDA, backup my phone #s, creating new themes and transfering new pics. The UI is not as reponsive as it should be but otherwise very well-designed with intuitive layouts. The MMS editor is very easy to use. It feels rugged and solid. The LCD has vivid color for being a 256-color LCD, much better than the Motorola T720's LCD and comparable to the Nokia Series 35/40 ones. It still can't display photos acceptably but the menu icons looks great. The LCD is also surprisingly readable under direct sunlight.
On the down side, the signal indicator fluntuates a lot at certain locations (I assume cell boundaries). The polyphonic ringtomes can be louder. The joystick is getting a little sticky already (3 months old), but it might help if I just try and clean it. I wish there were a calendar and PC sync. I really wish it had Bluetooth.
I could've picked the T68i and would be pretty much as happy. I still might switch back to a T68i for Bluetooth, or I might upgrade to a Z200 or Z600.
All in all, it's a great phone considering its price.
Great phone, good service
Pros: Color, WAP, IR, good reception, GREAT styling all in a CHEAP package.
Cons: No BlueTooth, joystick, keys a bit clumsy
First let me say I am totally stoked about this phone. It is by far the best mobile I have personally used. Sound quality is wonderfully clear, the screen is great and visible even in direct sunlight. (though it's only 256 colors) The GPRS/WAP functionality is wonderful and this thing even has a fully functional POP3/IMAP4 email client built in! (no attachments though) It is a very good size (not too small, definitely not too big) and featherweight thanks to it's Li-Polymer battery. Battery seems to last only a few days, but I do a lot of GPRS with it and spend a lot of time in weak signal areas.
The lack of BlueTooth is not a big deal when you consider this phone is $50 from AT&T. (I got it for $20 since I hadn't upgraded in 1.5 years) The joystick is a wonderful device, but it is harder to use than the T68 - it is shorter and very smooth so my finger slips off often. The keys are usable, but small and hard. If they were rubbery they would be easier to use.
The interface is great, but can be a tad sluggish at times. There are usually many ways to accomplish a particular task on the phone, so play around for the easiest/fastest way. (for instance, "M>>" then "yes" is the fastest way to lock the keyboard even though the manual suggests holding down "C" for a few seconds and then pressing "2")
I highly recommend this phone for those who can't afford (or don't want to pay for) the absolute coolest out there, but would like to have something that is really close.
I felt this phone at the time.
I really liked this phone, this was a nice little phone, i had it for about a month and then all of a sudden it stopped connecting phone calls, and i came to this one conclusion....
it was cheap.... im not the one to break phones i love and embrace my mobile cause im young and its always attatched to my ear constantly and for this phone to just up and cop out on me, no no..its cheap
dont buy it. dont do it.
Great phone.
I have used alot of GSM phones by different manufacturers. This T306 is a great phone. Personally i like the design. The screen is great for the phones age. The sound quality is excellant and the reception is great i have no problem at all with the phones call quality. I give this phone 5 blue cubes because for the time period when this phone was released it has excellant features and quality. Battery life is great also. All in all no complaints.
A good durablle phone
Background:
in Northern Virginia, use ATT Wireless.
I had this phone for a year and a half. Replaced once (read below)
the second phones screen was too bright but the first one was fine.
also, i bought this phone because i really liked how the buttons felt, they were not too easy to press and nicely spaced apart (better feel/spacing than current S/E T series phones IMO)
and i also liked its small size and yes i liked the look of the phone. so thats that.
Now onto pros
-durable - I replaced it once because i dropped it literally 40-50 times.
-even after i had dropped it many times, the phone still worked good(that includes coming apart a lot)
-signal strength/ability was great, especially after Cingular bought ATTWS, whenever i did not have one, i had the other i rarely dropped calls before or after this merger.
- it had good (3 bar avg) service at Lake Tahoe Cal/Nevada , where the vaunted Verizon did not have any service period.
-light weight
-small size
-really is a feature packed phone for the size, just check out S/E website.
-alarm really worked well, alarm never failed.
-despite so many features, easy to use, good manual (whats that? ha ha)
-signal worked well even in case
-easy to connect to WAP and easy to text msg.
-love having SIM card
-charged quickly
Cons
-small size sometimes i dropped it because it fell out of hands
-case falls apart easily but then again this is not really S/E's fault--few phones are designed to be dropped as many times as i dropped mine
-polyphonic ringtones were way too soft--i never used them because i could never hear them unlessi was holding phone.
-no real montly calandar--only events
=relatively short battery life compared to as advertised (whats new?) i avged 2-3 hours max versus 7 hours advertised. (but that 7 hours is prob. in test lab conditions and continious talking--turning on/off phone hurts battery life)
-screen could use higher resolution and better brightness/contrast,
