I Got bored with my old nokia phone & so I Decided to go for a new phone with FM Tuner.
While making a choice I had in my mind NOKIA 6030, SAMSUNG C230 & SONY ERICSSON J230i. (By that time I was unaware of RADIO MOTTO i.e. MOTOROLA C168)
I rejected nokia because of POOR FM Audio Quality (MONO FM) & SAmsung (thou it has Stereo FM)because of poor battery life & one MOre imp. drawback in sam is its ringtones are not loud initially. If u keep phone on ring & vibrator mode , initially it vibrates for 2 OR 3 times & ringtone is not audible. The volume of ringtone gradually increases & there are chances u may even miss a call if the phone is in other room.
so, now that u know why I bought this phone , let me tell u the features of this beauty.
SE J230i has 500 phonebook & 250 SMS.It has MMS, GPRS Class 10, speaker phone, WAP 1.2.1 ........The phones Sound reception is good, it is quite easy to use (there are many misconceptions in minds of people about SE Phones like it is not user friendly, hangs in middle of operation. Believe me! It is not so. I have used this phone for 3 months without finding any prob.)u can download ringtones, picture message, themes & wallpapers(also moving wallpapers). I have used WAP & gprs services on this phone .the speed of the phone is good.there are many free downloads for this phone on sonyericsson.com. u can avail this facility after free registration.(u should activate gprs& wap services fron ur service provider )
The battery life of this phone is good . battery lasts for 2 days without charging & using FM for 3hours a day. the display is larger than nok6030 & clear
FM Quality & Reception is excellent. the company provides the headsets that are provided with sony ericsson K750i (the phone best known for its sound, cam.... etc.)
NO Other phone in this segment can give u such FM Audio Quality. I can bet on it..(I have not compared Samsung C230 with this, but I believe sony ericsson J230i will outperform it. After all its sony, best known for sound) I stay in mumbai & I frequently travel in trains from thane to VT & churchgate to borivali listening to FM channel.The FM Reception in train is good.
If u sit in quiet room (where radio signal reception is good ) or walking on street with FM on
U will only listen to music around you & nothing else.It feels as if there are speakers around u & you are walking in between.(BEWARE & KEEP UR eyes open on road as u r prone to accident)
It can play all frequencies of sound quite well (for e.g. bass , treble etc.) I won’t compare it’s sound with sony ericsson K750i as it is a class apart phone.
The ringtones are quiet loud & soothing to ears. u cannot miss a call.good vibrator.
THERE is T9 DICTIONARY.
NOW about the drawback .............
It has limited memory about 600 kbs only compared that of nok6030 (2mb) &sam 230 (2to3 mb). so there is a problem of what to download.Display becomes dull in sunlight as it is standard STN display & not LCD/TFT but u can view it . in standyby mode u cannot view the screen because of STN Display.
for game lovers it is a disappointment as u cannot download games (2to 3 games are preloaded)
Major drawback what I feel is its looks because of the cheap looking plastic button & a orange backlight. Sony could have improved that. pricing is good. there should be 3.5mm jack instead of fast port which serves both charging as well headset jack.
If u Are ready to compromise on looks like me this phone will give u good performance. Near competitor for this phone is radio motto (motorola c168) only because of price factor & little bit of good looks I repeat again only because of price factor & little bit of good looks .
Let me tell u something about its competitor radio motto (motorola c168)
five days back my friend purchased this phone & I got a chance to compare it . BELIEVE ME GUYS the FM RECEPTION IS not good as I have compared it in mumbai ’s train as it did not catch all frequencies. there is lot of disturbances. you have to move the phone from left to right & up & down to get good reception .quality of FM sound is good compared nokia 6030 as there is stereo FM. ON a close look the phone has a cheap plastic body covered with glossy colours as it can fade out gradually. on this site I had read a review saying that it has good head sets & that person had compared the mottos sound with that of sony ericsson K750i . it is completely a false statement. BELIEVE ME sony ericsson K750i is a class apart phone, not even an N70 can match its sound.Display of moto is poor, they boast it has 65k colours but the fact is that it has 4096k colours. Sms ing is not fast. After using it for 2 mnths the phone started hanging.
radio motto (motorola c168) or nokia 6030 does not have a good bass as it is a crucial factor while listening to music. more over the headsets provided with motto are very cheap looking. Because of a cheap plastic body covered with glossy colours which can fade out gradually & very cheap looking headsets the cost of motto is less. but FM RECEPTION is POOR. It does not have speaker phone.
If u Are ready to compromise on looks & ur budget is less like me this phone is for u guys. Instead of going for radio motto (motorola c168) shell out few hundred rupees more if u are an avid FM LISTNER like me & go for SONY ERICSSON J230i. you will not regreat after listening to its FM SOUND QUALITY & RECEPTION.
If BUDGET IS NOT A CONSTRAINT STRAIGHT AWAY GO FOR SE K750i OR OTHER SE WALKMAN PHONES.
HOPING THAT U WILL APPRECIATE MY EFFORTS & GIVE A FEEDBACK.
28/09/06
SE have upgraded the software for this phone & many small bugs r removed.
Increased user interface, loudspeaker volume have increased a lot , now it much louder than NOk 6030.
Earlier, during the launch of this phone there were few probs. in this phone but sony had immediately rectified it. Because of this fact many mobile dealers r adopting NEGATIVE MARKETING Tactics(may be to sell the STUPID RADIO MOTO) .I WILL SUGGEST U TO PURCHASE FROM OFFICIAL DEALER.
IF U WANT DEALER LIST IN MUMBAI OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PHONE I M ALWAYS THERE FOR UR HELP.
CONTACT ME AT sandynator@gmail.com