Sony Ericsson T616
Average Ratings
You can do almost everything on this, EXCEPT make calls!
I love everything about this phone except for a few things.
First and worst off, it get TERRIBLE signal reception. People who have said that they get good signals must either work for Sony Ericsson or have metal plates implanted in their skulls.
Secondly, the UI is a too complicated. Example, let's say you're on a call and need to look up a # in your phonebook, as I'm sure any one of us has had to do than once before. Here are the steps:
1. JOYSTICK
2. MAIN MENU
3. PHONEBOOK
4. MANAGE CONTACT
5. VIEW CONTACT
6. SCROLL TO FIND CONTACT
In contrast to the old Samsung I used to own:
1. PRESS DOWN ARROW (this puts you into the phonebook)
2. SCROLL TO FIND CONTACT
What's even worse is trying to setup speed dial. It's a SUPER PITA!!
All in all, these UI shortcomings don't warrant such a low 2 star rating, but the reason why I give this phone 2 stars is because the signal quality on this phone is EXTREMELY BAD. I've had friends in the same basement where I get bars and my friends w/their Samsungs and Nokias have plenty 3+ bars, all on Tmo service.
Other than that I really like the size and features of this phone, but the one feature that it can't do well at all is the one feature that it was primarily made for...to make phone calls.
Not That Bad
All right, in all honesty I wish to address some common complaints about this phone.
As background, I got this phone about three months ago for free (was a refurbished phone) from my provider (Rogers in Canada), and it's been through hell and back (I'm a very active person).
First, about the screen: remember, any screen invented thus far that can be reasonably fitted into a phone of this size will not display absolutely 100% in sunlight. As mentioned on here previously, hold it into the light, not away. I've never had a problem viewing the screen even in the brightest of conditions.
Second, poor menu setup and phone book: try moving the joystick in the "normal" screen.... Down = phonebook! And I can honestly say that I got the menu setup down pat after only a week of usage - what high learning curve?
Third, reception: I've continuously gotten 90-100% reception, only exception has been in my dad's basement, but then again the power lines in the ground right next to the wall cause a lot of interference....
Fourth, camera: it's a bloody phone, get over it.
Fifth, sound quality/volume: I get people when they are talking to me pick up on things that even I can't hear. Never had one person complain about the quality of my voice - from whisper to scream, it has a very clear mic. Same goes for the speaker, although I keep it on max, it is still loud enough! Vibration could be stronger though.
Sixth, SIM problems: only had one, and that was user fault. Dropped phone while doing a jump on my bike, fell about 10ft onto cement, phone stayed on and all's it displayed was "SIM problems, take out and reinsert SIM". Did so, and phone still works to this day. No latency problems either. (Happened about a month ago now)
Seventh, power button: yes, it's small, but you know what? If you're having to turn the phone on and off consistently enough in order to even notice it, then you shouldn't even have a cell phone. Here's the secret: hold it for a second or two!
"Very feature packed phone for the money"
This is phone 1 of 3 so far that i have tried on the Cingular Network, in the South-East Texas, (Angleton) area, about 40/45mins south of Houston. Testing
period approx. 14-days.
.::Pros::.
1. Overall beautiful phone, sleek and sexy, also solid and rugged feeling, compared to other phones.
2. This is a very feature packed phone for the money, which is what drew me to the phone intially.
3. Bluetooth!, thou i never had a chance to use the function, its somthing ive wanted on a phone.
4. Excellent reception (for me at least), in my house its hard for anything to get a signal, and even when this was down in the 1/2 bar range it still held on strong, for this i give it a thumbs up.
5. Very vibrant colors for a cell phone of its stature, for those of you that say its "hard to see", i never had this problem. i mean think about it if you have a tv outside is it not going to do the same thing, and if you position it in a way that its not in said direct sunlight does it not solve the problem?
.::Cons::.
1. The in-call volume and quality was somthing i felt was lacking in this phone by my standards.
2. The ringer on this phone wasnt as loud as i would like in a phone, since i usually ride around with my windows down and the radio on, i need a pretty loud ringer on my phones, my last phone suited this need.
3. The "UI" of the phone is sometimes slow on diffrent areas, which dont bother me nessaraly, but could be better.
.::Neutral::.
1. The camera, to the people complaning about this, its a CELL PHONE not a digital camea ffs. I personally thought it was a nice function to have if you needed to snap a quick shot of somthing close.
2. The "DJ" function of this phone was also cool to have i thought.
So overall, great phone, the sound quality/volume of the phone is the main thing that held me back from keeping this phone.
My next review is for the samsung s307, followed by a review for the nokia 6200,
check them out.
Great phone, but has issues
I bought this phone in Nov 2003, replacing a bad Nokia 3590. The T616 is great. The camera is convenient. The Internet is cool. The games are okay. The ringer is loud, and vibrates forcefully when ringing. Bluetooth and Irda. Very convenient.
However, the phone is EASILY SCRATCHED by anything. I sometimes have "Echo calls" where I hear myself on the phone, and the person I'm speaking with hears me, but I don't hear them. I have ATTWS, soon to be Cingular. Also, the keys are tiny.
I will get a flip phone in the summer, since they typically fare better than 'Bar' phones. If it were officially released in the US by the summer, I would get the Motorola V600 to replace my T616.
good..
this is a good phone. good camera. nice games.can have motion screen savers.nice joystick. but the screen smuges and scratches very easily. i might end up returning it :(. only if it gets too scratched thogh. thats the only flaw. oh and internet it slow and sometimes dosent load, like AT&Ts wap site is just a blk screen on my phone while on my friends panasonic GU87 its works fine. but if i do return it it would be for eitehr the NEC 525 or the panasonic.
Sony Ericsson Got It Right
This thing is built like no other Sony Ericsson phone and that's a very good thing. It's covered by an aluminum and mid-grade plastic body. It's a bit larger and heavier than my T68i and that is also a good thing. I found the T68i way too small to handle. The "joystick" and buttons also feel much more solid. I wont be worried about breaking them off by throwing it in my pocket (a scare I had with my T68i). The screen is large (for an Ericsson) and very bright. There's no problems seeing it in the sunlight. It's spec'd at 68k colors, but I haven't really been checking out photos on it to tell.
This phone is quick. Startup is quick. Moving through contacts is quick. SIM card loads are quick. With my T68i, I felt like I could turn on the phone and walk away for 5 minutes before it was ready to use. None of that with the T616. I'm guessing you can credit that to the updated OS running on it which is simply a lot less "dry" than on other Sony Ericsson phones. The T616 is Bluetooth enabled with full iSync compatibility. Mac OS X found it instantly and had all of my calendars and contacts transfered within a minute or so. You gotta love Apple for this kind of simplicity.
Unlike my T68i, I am actually getting strong signals in places where I couldn't before! I have AT&T in the Los Angeles area. The reception is incredible from what I've seen so far.
So I guess you can say I like the T616. Ok, you can say I love the T616! It's damn sexy looking, feature rich, does work as a stand-alone phone, and performs all of the tasks I need it to do extremely well. Anyone want a T68i? You can have it for a big bowl of nothing and maybe some shoelace ends.
Truly impressive
I tried the Siemens S56. No comparison. The user interface is significantly more friendly, there are more features, more easily accessible. The voice control and recognition is exceptional.
Pros:
~Excellent screen- usually (see below)
~Beautiful aluminum construction
~Great UI
~Nicely spaced, backlit keys
~Once you've used the SE joystick, everything else pales by comparison
~Decent reception, better than the T68i and the Siemens S56
~Excellent voice control
~Bluetooth!
Cons
~Screen difficult to see in bright sunlight (somewhat theme dependent)
~OS a little slow to respond sometimes
~somewhat limited memory
~screen smudges easily
~can't program right side button for function other than internet
~low-resolution of camera.
The cons are really more niggles than anything else. I had to come up with something. This phone is so much better than the T68i (a great phone on its own).
Now if only GPRS (and GSM for that matter) coverage in the northeast (USA) were more consistent.
Step in the right direction
I've used mine for a month and find it to be an excellent phone. Sound level in the ear could be louder, but i find the RF to be better than my other GSM phone (T721) and find it to be a great feature packed sturdy phone.
The screen can be hard to see in some outdoor situations, but a turn of the phone to get it into the light and out of the shadows usually does the trick.
RF "Shows" to be less on the RF meter, but in reality it hangs onto calls and will make and receive calls when other phones wont.
Feature packed and has both US bands and the 1800 intl band.
SonyEricsson hit a home run on this one and hopefully in future firmware releases they'll beef up the ear piece volume and maybe include a few more normal ringers and then i'd give it a 5!
SWEET phone!
I absolutely love this phone! It's GREAT! The screen is WAAAAAAAY nicer than the T720, reception is about the same, and it's so cool to look at. Even when I was buying it people kept stopping to look at it. The only bad thing is that the camera is kinda shoddy for real applications, but who cares?!? I have a digital camera for that! I say buy this phone if you can, you'll be glad you did!
This Phone Sucks Big Time :o(
I thought that this phone was going to be great. Everyone is sayingt hat the sound quality is bad. How did you guys even get a signal.
-)It has awful service the signal is full at one point the it just falls to nothing.
-)The screen smudges so easily it just stupid.
-)U can not see the screen outside during the day.
(On the other hand there are some good things)
-)The camera is good but could be better.
-)The Menu is easy to navigate
-)U can add great things to the you contact(Ring tones and pictures)
-) Free Downloads from Sony Ericcson(Themes,Pictures, and ring tones)
But it has alot of great stuff but what is it all if you don't have any service just a small organizer with lots of sound and pictures while u r still paying a $50 bill every month.
I Exchanged it for the Nokia 3300 and haven't looked back yet.
