The New Sony Ericsson T310
Prelude:
Packed neatly in a handsome box arrived my much awaited Sony Ericsson T310.
After a 2 day waiting period I finally had , what had smitten me the very first time I had a look at it in the newspaper.
Beauty....which would turn out to be more than just skin deep...awaited me!
First Impressions:
The very first impression of the T310, as I set it on my baby blue bedsheet, was that of utter balance and symmetry.A sight to behold with strong angular lines and a very orderly keyboard layout with the joystick in the middle stealing attention away from the phones rather bulky width factor. The cute little rump on the bottom, just below the keypad , which is perhaps it’s raised microphone....adds to the looks which set the phone apart from any other on the market today.Lighting plays really well with the phone’s contours and shadows on it’s metallic blue/white body make the phone stand out.
Body Matterz:
The build quality is superior and better than what I have seen on most phones. Honest opinion! I was surprised by the workmanship.The only drawback -- the joystick was a bit rusty for the first month of use.
Keys are tactile with a loud click on each keypress . They provide a little more resistance than what is needed.
SMSers beware.... fatigue sets in rather quick.
Reception:
As with all internal antennae phones, this was no exception; Keep your finger away from the topmost area of the phone when on air and it performs well. Reception was poor in large buildings , elevators and nil in basements, but then again it largely depends on your cell-provider and location from the nearest signal tower as well.
On the whole, the phone tends to hold onto data connections rather strongly . Voice data too, offers more than average level of clarity . The microphone is good but as with all phones, picks up too much of background noise.
Loudness of earpiece is not an issue on most occassions unless ur at the headbangers annual ball.
Display:
The display is a 101x80 pixel screen which is the same display found in the popular T68i. Colors are limited to 256 , and although cartoons look good, human images and scenic places look awfully bad.The screen is highly oversaturated and all the colors suffer from the ’’too-much-brightness’’ syndrome.The display is not all that sharp and the resolution especially, is low.All in all, a no show for me.
The time display is a built in screensaver which cannot be turned off and is activated after approx 20 seconds of inactivity.Any SMS/Missed calls are not visible as the screensaver never really turns itself off to allow the user to view the display, hence I really hate it having to click a button to de-activate the screensaver and see if there’s a missed call / SMS for me , everytime I have been out of my room.However Sony did not provide a screensaver disable function for this feature because the screen actually tends to ’burn out’ if it’s display is not turned off after a while .... I have noticed this effect when I keep a WAP site open for too long, without navigating through it, and then when I change the page, some images leave a mark on the screen for a while.
However I must say the time display on the screensaver is really bold and in big fonts. For old aged people who cannot read the time on most phones without their glasses, this is a boon.
The display can house 5 to 7 lines of text in a screenful, depending on the font size you choose, Yes , you can choose font sizes.
Organizer:
Events, alarms (daily , single) , Timer, stopwatch and calculator.....the usual works. But to my dismay I did not find a Calendar in here. Surprisingly you find it in cheaper SE models .
My Shortcuts:
A customizable menu . Load your favorite menu options here and access them on the touch of a button .
Under the Hood:
The phone comes with paltry few Kbs of memory..... ( I guess around 350Kb) for the end user. Pre - Installed Items cannot be deleted, which is a real pain since the memory available to the user is too low. On saving a picture to your phone which has a size of 5 Kb on the PC, you realize it actually took you anywhere from 8-12 Kb to store it in the phone. Sony says it’s because how data is stored inside the phone, that it can take more space than the actual figure .
Secret Tower:
Those really in need for more memory can do the 12 second trick . Master reset your phone and start timing it...as soon as 12 seconds are over immediately disconnect the battery from the phone. Re - insert the battery and start the phone. If your timing was dead on, all the preinstalled items are gone and you have a good 450 Kb or so of memory to play with....ENJOY!!!
Added Pleasures:
The phone can be attached to the popular MC25 series of digicams .The cam offers superior quality to that of the built in cam in both Nokia 7650 and Nokia 3650. Looks real cute as well and goes with the phones color theme.
It attaches securely to the bottom array of pin connectors and looks easy to work with.The phone immediately recognises the camera has been attached and switches to viewfinder mode.
Pictures can be taken via software menu option or a dedicated hardware button on the MC25.
To-n-Fro:
The infra red port on the uppr right side of the phone is a blessing apart from looking real cute .Transfers between other devices supporting infra red connectivity is a breeze . Users of similar phones can share ringtones, images etc.
Sound of Music:
For your listening pleasure Sony Ericsson T310 announces enhanced and new 32 bit polyphonic ringtones.You’d have to hear them to believe them.Seriously! What’s more....there is a dedicated speaker for mono ringtones so that they are undistorted n crisp sounding . Polyphonic ringtones however, use the earpiece .
On the flip side:
The battery cover slides open and a thin 3.6 V Li-polymer battery is revealed which secures itself to it’s bay without the need for any support .The battery says ’’ Made in japan, finished in Hungary’’ so no cheap China product here.
Build quality is awesome.Back cover does not rattle or feel weak.Battery life is exceptional . I charge it on a weekly basis, ie, every Sunday!!! I love the fact that as soon as the battery declines to a 30-40% power level the green battery indicator goes orange and anything below 20% glows in red.
Priced Possession:
The product sold for a retail of INR 10, 000.00 on launch , back in April 2003 and was the only color phone in the market in its range, except for the N3530 which sold for a tad bit less, sporting 4096 colors but a bleeding screen with horrible looks and big form factor . It really made babies cry man!
The not so pleasant stuff:
The phone , lets face it....is awfully slow.Although the speed has dramatically improved over the T300 , it still has that typical Ericsson trademark of being a sluggish performer.
SMS messages have to be opened up to reveal their content. I wish the first few letters of each SMS made up for it’s header so we would know which ones to keep and which ones to do away with without having to open them all up.