People - back again.
righto, will try to keep this short and sweet, as i’m also trying to work :)
this is my fifth phone in around 4 years, and i’ve run through all kinds of other electronic gadgets too.
i’d been on the lookout for a decent, working color phone that has some nice extra features, such as games, themes, etc. had also seen other models in the market - notably the nokia 3530, panasonic (don’t remember the model) and some other cellphones.
the nokia does have its features - with 4096 colors as against the 310’s 256, but this extra color depth doesn’t really translate to anything very good - the nokia can be described as fuzzy at best. panasonic phone - honestly, it was pretty pathetic.
n3530 also has another great disadvantage - it looks sick, with the human technology gone too far. the only thing I appreciate about it is a little rubber tab behind, which actually allows you to grip the phone well (actually, forces you to would be a better phrase!) and ensures you have the optimum hearing/talking position.
now back to this superb model...
01. looks - the usual ericsson / sonyericsson rectangular look, no antenna. but what a color combination! dark blue set off against silver, the entire thing looking like a very well-engineered unit. turn it over, and the first thing you notice is now well the battery cover fits in - does have a little notch for a fingernail to plug in and slide it out (and gives you a very uncomfortable feeling as to whether the cover will stay on, but it actually does) - it closes without any discernible click, and stays closed. no shaky battery case here. turn it back to the front, and you see the beautiful gap between top part and screen - does tend to collect dust, but a gentle once-a-week clean with a brush will take care of that. it looks awesome, and this gap also holds the speaker.
02. network / signal strength + battery life - i’d used a philips azalis 218 before this - and that was till then the best phone for these two important factors. the t310 beats philips hands down. I charge it for around 20 minutes, once in four days, and that’s enough to keep it going without a problem. i’m able to use it - without any loss in voice clarity - inside of a basement, when in a lift. it practically pulls signal strength in.
03. call features - the usual stuff here, no surprises. you can make / receive calls, play with call waiting - whatever your provider provides (hey, that sounds nice!). one good feature here is that when a call is in progress, you have both the call duration and clock displayed (most phones only display one of these). and by the way, both speaker and mike are very, very good.
04. conveniences - here’s where the phone takes off soaring. it’s very good to hold - may seem chunky compared to others like t100 (which feels cute and delicate), but gives you a comfortable ’will-not-fall’ feeling. distance between speaker and mike is pretty much optimum, with the mike at bottom. buttons are easy to use, though a little on the smaller side. the joystick will take some getting used to, with (usually) confusion between ’click’ and ’move down’. once you get the hang of how this phone works (it’s very intuitive), you’ll feel you’ve been using it for a lifetime. you can change displayed font size from small to large (with a medium in between, to boot). I particularly liked the icon-based interface, which is so self-explanatory (and the included help is not needed at all).
05. features / extra fittings - games... predefined games (i like only golf), pictures, animated .gifs (read screensaver), 32-tone polyphonic ringer, composer, voice recorder (now that’s a great feature!) - though these are pretty much standard in today’s mid- to top-end phone. the best part is that all this comes packaged with superb connectivity - name it, you (almost) have it. infrared port, gprs (for 24-hr internet, if available), wap browser, high-speed data (supported by a built-in modem), camera / fm-radio connectivity. that’s about the lot. oh yes, and there’s the concept of themes, too - that’s great. no, it doesn’t have bluetooth (and doesn’t run the windows ce operating system).
06. safety issues - this is where I believe sonyericsson has done a good job - when you set any polyphonic ringtone, it pops up a warning that loud tones may damage hearing. now that’s what I call real human engineering! there’s also a very unobtrusive ring on top (looks flimsy, though) that takes a little loop of wire and allows you to hang your phone by a strap - perfect when you’ve hidden it deep in your pocket / bag and need to pull it out quick. also is safer when you’ve got the strap around your wrist when using the phone - lesser chances of dropping it.
i’ve done enough trumpeting. now for the impartial, negative part of my review.
01. pre-defined stuff - the t310 has 1mb of internal memory, of which around 458kb is taken up by predefined items (most of it junk - in my humble opinion), which apparently cannot be deleted (but am still searching for some good links).
02. no change in default screensaver - the clock is good (no doubt with good intention, as a standby watch), but a chap would prefer some flexibility in changing this (even to an analog-like clock would have been a good idea).
03. the screen - I agree, display clarity is the best among any other phone i’ve seen / used, but it’s too smooth (and kind of protrudes, like most of sonyericsson’s new models) and may be liable to a lot of scratches, if not adequately cared for.
04. buttons may be considered a trifle hard by discerning users. (not actually negative, because they work perfect, but still...).
05. games platform - this phone is embedded with the mophun platform for games - but among the 4 major ones, mophun ranks three. it is technologically the best, but not necessarily ’marketing-ally’. so the number of games you can download / use may not be the largest - but what the heck, you keep a phone for around a year (new models will always be ’better’) and then change - so this may not really matter.
06. solitaire! - my old ericsson t28s had solitaire (and the t100 also has a crazy implementation), but this phone, with blazing color, deep clarity, does not have solitaire! solitaire! - the king of timepass games. solitaire! - the thinking game. that’s a pet rant actually - so probably one personal part of this review ;)
that’s it, then - my two cents’ worth.
have a great day!
yakamichi.
update, on 28 august 2003
speaking of battery life - here’s an update... i’ve just started sms-ing and mms-ing to a large extent (around 20-30 messages a day), and suddenly realized that these things practically EAT the poor battery - life reduces by around 20-25 percent of life without messaging.
so there it is - such is life!
but still, i always wanted something like this, and love to flaunt it!
end of update, on 28 august 2003