SONY ERICSSON T 200 MOBILE PHONE
My friend wanted to get a mobile phone for him about 18 months back. I accompanied him to the electronics shop and ended up buying the beautiful T200 phone myself for 105 USD (4800 Rs ?).
I thought at that time (and still believe) to have struck a good deal in buying this phone. You will have to keep in mind that the Nokia 3315 was going at about the same rate at that point of time.
T200 is a model from Sony Ericsson which is in some ways similar to the T100 that was available in India sometime back.
Looks :
The phone is light blue in color (Sony calls it Ice Blue) giving it a cute and classic look. It also comes in Ebony Black color. But since I loved this color itself, did not even ask for the second color. This is one of the few models that has a combination of very good profile, shape and color.
Size and Weight :
Length is 105 mm and width is 48 mm. This makes the phone in the same category as the Nokia 8250. (But once you see this phone, 8250 will look ugly to you)
At the time of purchase and for a while after that, this was one of the light weight models in the market as the standard battery was by itself light in weight.
I am no sure about the exact weight (around 100 gms)
Positive Features :
This is a tri band phone which supports GSM 1900, 1800 and 900 and has two line service.
It has a blue background which is pleasing to the eyes. The display is LCD Gray scale 4.
GPRS enabled and it has a one button access to high speed (up to 43 kbps) mobile internet connection.
WAP 1.2.1 enabled
- You can store up to 300 phone book entries.
Picture phone book option lets you to link a ring tone and a picture to each phone book entry. This very useful feature enables you to identify the person calling when you hear the sound or when you see the picture on the display.
The phone book can either be reached by the 4 direction scroll key in the middle or by pressing and holding the alphabet key (Pressing and holding key `7’ will directly take you to phone entries starting with `P’)
It has a decent collection of picture to be chosen as a background display. You could also download more pictures and ring tones from internet.
Battery life is very good. I used to charge once in three days only up till 6 months after purchase. Till date (18 months) I am getting at least two days life for each charge.
EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) lets you add sound, picture and animations to your SMS’s. The phone also has a predictive text editor with option of adding words to dictionary.
The phone displays the name of the place that you are currently in (if you are in Camp range in Pune, the phone will say CAMP) instead of just displaying AIRTEL (or any other service provider)
The talk volume is good and the side key lets you increase / decrease volume easily while you are talking
A separate short cur menu option is available. Using this feature you can create a short cut for often used functions.
You also get standard features like Call hold, one touch silent mode feature, 5 games, organizer, events calendar and alarm clock with snooze function…
Negative Aspects :
If you keep the phone in your trouser pocket, it gets switched off without notice (some times). I am unable to figure why and how this happens.
The ring volume is average. If you are production shop floor or in a busy market, you will most likely miss the phone ring. On the other hand, Vibration alert works fine.
Black and white display
No polyphonic ring tones
No MMS
Conclusion :
I have been using this phone for 18 months without any issues (but for the switching off issue). I liked it so much that I went back to this phone after using the Samsung C100 for a few months.
I am not sure whether this phone is in production now or whether it is available in India currently.
It sells for around 85 to 90 USD in the U.S. currently (4200 Rs).
In my opinion this would be a good option as against the Nokia 1100.