Review of Sony Ericsson T610

flywheel

Originally posted by Faltermyer
Of course, but SE Center will put new firmware on it for you for free im told, which would clear all the Vodafone CRAP out of it would it not?

Or would it have to be flashed?

i'd expect an SE authorised Service Centre wouldn't (shouldn't) - what with the deal between SE and Voda for the branded handset...

but a a lot of questions/answers about this on the likes of esato.com

including some poor people who had their SE direct T610s flashed with the Vodafone system - now that's bad luck!!

and you'd have to use your own method for removing the logos on the casing (disclaimer: at yoru own risk)

BrianG

MiCr0

i've got ways and means!

hudson806

Thinking about the T610, but the t630 looks like it might be a better phone all-round (improved screen and battery life). Does anybody know when it's due to launch?

(Sorry for hijacking the thread a bit with this )

Faltermyer

Originally posted by Faltermyer
Of course, but SE Center will put new firmware on it for you for free im told, which would clear all the Vodafone CRAP out of it would it not?

Or would it have to be flashed?

Just checked that and no, Upgrading the Firmware in an SE center would not remove Network Provider customisations.

I got my T610 this morning. Absolutely SWEET looking phone. Only slightly bulkier than my Nokia 8210 which is damn good considering all the features it packs in comparisson.

But its still locked to Orange. My Unlock kit should be here tomorrow I hope.

Then Im gona look into Flashing... but as mentioned... it can be risky so Ill see how much Orange have altered it and decide if its necessary or not. I dont think it will be as bad as a Vodafone tweaked phone though.

ADSLUSER

Does anyone know if the Vodafone branded T610 can still irDA ringtones and pictures or is this feature disabled like other Vodafone branded phones (e.g. sharp GX series?

Faltermyer

Unrelated a little but its stuff like that that makes me hate Vodafone as a company and their general Business ethic.

Just spoke to the company re my Unlock kit and it should be here tomorrow!!

Stephen

Orange don't to a whole lot of customisation to the T610 fortunately. When you turn it on first, it will have an Orange skin loaded, which makes the user interface look really crappy. You can change it back to the default easily. Not sure if you can delete the orange theme. There's also a bunch of images installed on it by orange and you cannot delete these. When browsing the "my sounds", "my pictures" and "my themes" folders in the phone, there will be a link to the Orange wap site to download more in each menu. The default wap page is also set to the orange homepage. They also removed some of the default games, ringtones and themes (i've no idea why) but they can be downloaded again for free from the sony ericsson website by wap/gprs.

The orange logo on the front is easy to remove with a standard human fingernail
Most things can be changed back to the SE defaults easily, but to remove those Orange images and fix the menus back to their standard states I think you'd have to find someone to flash the phone with "standard" SE firmware.

v10

Got mine today @ €50 !!! Great knowing people in the business.

Like it ... smaller than 7250i and so far in my opinion, it's a better phone... but time will tell...

Anyway to anwser some peoples questions :

Yes, it's littered in vodafone branding and has the usual Live! style menu, but all the features seem to be working including being able to send and recieve images from your pc via infrared (without any additional software, I may add)

The only thing I've noticed is that you can't change the function of the softkeys under the screen (left & right) ... they seen to be locked to Live! acccess and the left to the recent call activity. maybe I'll find a way ...

It's €129 with standard (no discount) upgrades.

Any more questions .... ask

flywheel

Originally posted by hudson806
Thinking about the T610, but the t630 looks like it might be a better phone all-round (improved screen and battery life). Does anybody know when it's due to launch?

T630 is due out Q1 2004, also check this thread for some details

hadn't heard any thing about battery life imporvements though...

BrianG

hudson806

hadn't heard any thing about battery life imporvements though...

BrianG [/B]

Thanks for the link. I guess I read about the battery life at http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4207.html

"Sony Ericsson said the T630 will offer up to 13 days of standby time and up to 14 hours of time, all in a package measuring a minute 102 x 43 x 17 mm. "

That's the only (apparently) new feature that would convince me to wait for a 630, so can anyone tell me what kind of battery life they get from their t610s?

flywheel

that's pretty much the T630 press release, the T610 specs list its battery life as being the same (14h talk time and 315h standby)

with any manufacturer quoted battery life is a very rough guide (hence the 'Up to')... that's usually prod. marketing speak for 'less than'

getting a rough guide on how long it really lasts depends on what it is being used for - mine usually lasts a few days with a bit of email, calls and using it as a modem over the course of those days

BrianG

Faltermyer

Originally posted by Stephen
The orange logo on the front is easy to remove with a standard human fingernail

Well all I can say is you must have sharp fingernails!! Cos ive tried to remove it 4times already and gotten fed up!

Should have it unlocked in a few hours, got my cable,and awaiting Logs by email. No flashing just yet as Im a little wary of it. Wanna be sure I can trust the files Im given...and ill have to buy another cable!

Tony_ire

I have just removed the orange logo. You can do it with just your nails but it can take a while. Don't use anything too sharp (like a needle!!) or you might scratch the silver paint underneath, but I used a 20p coin and it came off very quick.

Faltermyer

Well, 2/3s of a day into use and I have to say I like it, it gets better as I get used to the massive differences in the User interface compared to my 8210 that Ive had nearly four years.

I am experiencing the hiss on calls so I can assume I have an older Firmware version so I shall be getting Sigma to update that for me next week.

Id also really like to get it flashed as there is no basic WAP menu, just two Orange menu's. So I have to go through and Orange page(I think its permanently cached) before going onto other sites.

Camera is reasonably impressive especially given the size of the phone. The "Night Mode" is pretty decent for a camera in a phone too. And Im told the Newer Firmware gives some extra editing functions for photos as well as better camera control.

Stephen

You can change the default wap page (activated by using the button on the right hand side of the phone) to whatever you like. I use google.

Faltermyer

Oh , that button!! First time ive used it! Cool! I had already set my own Homepage, but didnt realise there was a direct way to it... probably would hav discovered that tomorrow!

Thanks for the tip.

Im in the middle of an MMS/WAP/GRPS buzz cos my last phone had no conectivity features at all, not even wap. So to change to a complete media phone and such a good one is great. I feel like a kid on christmas day with a new gadget!!

Stephen

Another handy tip I learned from reading esato.com boards is this:

If you just want to see the clock without having to go unlocking the keypad or whatever, just press one of the volume buttons on the left side of the phone and it will illuminate the clock for a few seconds.