Review of SonyEricsson P800 compared to o2 xda

talla

Part 1


I’d like to start of this review by apologising for the length of the review and by stating that first of all there is a major difference in these two devices. The P800 is a phone first of all with pda features, while the xda is a pda first with phone features. So the first thing to decide is which best suits your needs.

1. Size… The P800 wins this one hands down. The xda is roughly the same size as most pda’s (size = 18.2 (D) x 73.05 (W) x 129.45 (L) mm) and weight is 200.8g ). The P800 is about an inch smaller in height, and lighter in weight, about two thirds the width but is slightly thicker(size = Size Dimensions 117 x 59 x 27 mm and weight is 158 g) than the xda. To give you an idea of the size of the P800, its about an inch smaller in height and roughly an inch wider than the Nokia 6310/6310 i.

Appearance… This is matter of personal opinion but again I would go for the P800. The P800 is blue and grey with an internal aerial and a keypad which can be removed while the xda has a metallic colour with an aerial on the right hand side.



3. Screen … Both devices use a 4096 colour screen but the actual dimensions of the screen are different. The size of the xda is bigger though 240 x 320 compared to 208 x 320 on the P800 (when in flip open mode, I’ll discuss this later). Both screens are touch screen where you use a stylus for navigation or if you are very careful you can use your fingers. There is very little difference between the screens so I’d have to call this a dead heat.

4. Operating system… The xda runs on Microsofts Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition while the P800 runs on the Symbian 7.0 Operating System (Nokia 7650 runs Symbian 6.0). Pocket PC Phone Edition is basically the exact same operating system that would run on an IPAQ or HP Jornado with the phone module added on. Like all MS operating systems, it is prone to crashes and can be at times very unstable, with up to 10 resets a day. After 4 days using the P800 and the Symbian Operating System, I can say I have only had to reset the device once. It is very stable and in my opinion faster than the MS operating system. So again the P800 wins this hands down.

talla

5. Phone … No contest here whatsoever, P800 destroys the xda here. The P800 operates in 2 modes, flip closed where it operates like a normal mobile phone, and flip open where it has the same phone functions but opens up access to the PDA functions, applications, internet and control settings.

In flip closed mode, you use the keypad for text input and a 5 way jog dial on the side of the phone for navigation. Everything is very similar to most conventional mobile phones in this mode. In flip closed mode you only have access to half the screen as the keypad cover the rest. Everything is resized accordingly. Also the there is no touch screen functionality with the flip closed. You have access to your contacts, various call lists (missed calls, outgoing calls etc.), access to Messages (SMS, MMS, Email and something called area information(which I have yet to discover its function). Flip open mode is where the phone really stands out. When you open the flip, the screen becomes fullscreen and navigation is by the jogdial at the side again or by the stylus. Also when you open the flip, the phone automatically switches to speaker phone(this can be switched off) Text input is again used with the stylus, using a virtual keyboard on screen, handwriting recognition or by a virtual keypad onscreen. It is in this mode that all the customization is done(and there a hell of a lot of customization). Just to give you an idea of the customization as theres too much to list, here a few of the things:

Voice control- You can record a magic word that when you say it, the voice control is activated. With this you can answer calls, reject calls, dial a contact, when the contact calls, there name can be played.

Caller ID – You can assign any jpeg or BMP file to be displayed when you receive a call from a person in your contacts, either transferred from your pc or by using the built in digital camera (more about that later).

Ringtones- The P800 supports polyphonic ringtones and any ringtones in the following format- wav,au,amr,midi and rmf. In theory you can assign a different ring tone for every single contact.

Background/Screensaver – You can have any background image you want in Jpeg, bitmap and gif format. Also you can enable a screensaver if the image is in gif format.

Accepted Callers/Rejected Callers- You can set up a list where the phone will only accept incoming calls from a list of allowable numbers and reject all other calls, or you can just setup a list of numbers to be rejected.

Now for the xda, the phone functions are very limited. Navigation is by the stylus and placing of calls is by using an onscreen keypad. The keypad is big enough to use your fingers on for dialing but unlike the P800 this cannot be used for txt entry, it is strictly for numeric entry and this is where the first problem occurs. Entering text in Sms is done by using the stylus on a virtual keypad or by using handwriting recognition (which isn’t a patch on the P800 and both methods take too long). There is also a fullscreen keyboard software available which allows txt entry in sms using your fingers onscreen but I found this very unstable and led to even more crashes (available for $10). Also one of the main bugs in the operating system is when you receive a sms, only the phone number is displayed, even though the number is entered in contacts, it will not display the name of the sender. (This has now been fixed by a third party software developer and a fix is available for download from the internet, although Microsoft have not been able to programme a fix for this is nearly a year!!!) There is no MMS capability(again there is a third party developer which may have a programme for this, but I have tried this and not been able to get it to function). Customization is limited. There is no support for polyphonic ringtones and the only format supported is wav. There is no support for photo caller display and the ringtone is used for all callers.(there is a beta version of software which allows picture id caller display and a limited number of different ringtones but it is very buggy and you have to pay $25 for it I think). You can customize your background but this is done by separate MS programme. That’s about it with the phone functions on the xda.

One thing that is missing from the P800 is sms delivery reports, but it’s a small thing, with the xda, this is available but you have to set this for each individual sms you send.


6. PDA….The xda wins this as it is primarily a PDA. The xda has pocket outlook, pocket excel, pocket word, Contacts, Calendar(for appointments), voice notes, notes(txt or freehand) and tasks. The xda can synchronize email(outlook), Contacts, Calendar and notes with Microsoft outlook on your desktop pc. The P800 has its own email client, contacts, calendar, voice notes, Jotter( free hand notes), tasks and has viewers for word, excel, powerpoint, access, pdf files and wordperfect but you cannot edit these files at present. The P800 can synchronize email, contacts, calendar, and I think jotter with Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, but the current synchronizing software is a bit hit and miss and only runs on Windows Me or higher. Also with the email client there appears to be no way to save attachments to the phone itself.

talla

7. Multimedia… The xda would have won this but for the fact the P800 has a built in digital camera. The picture quality is only average and its slightly better than the Nokia 7650 outdoors, but the quality of pics indoors is better on the 7650. The xda has no camera and although there was a clip on camera planned for it nothing has been released. The P800 has a audio player which supports mp3, amr, au, wav and midi files. It also has a Video player but it only supports files in mpeg4 format. The xda has windows media player which supports in audio wav, mp3, wma and midi, it also supports mpeg3 video and windows media files. I know it looks like the P800 has way more options but the problem is with the video player, it takes quite a while to launch the video and there are not many mpeg4 files available. But overall the P800 has more capabilities.

8. Internet… The xda uses Pocket internet explorer to view pages on the web and is able to access most websites, apart from sites with frames. The inbuilt browser on the P800 is slightly slower than Pocket Internet Explorer and cannot view sites with frames or HTTPS. There is a third party webviewer available but this does not support javascript but for all other webpages its about twice as fast at loading pages than Pocket Internet Explorer. The xda comes with MSN messenger built in and is very easy to use. There is a third party application available that accesses MSN messenger but again you have to purchase it after an initial trial period. Both the P800 and the xda have built in wap browsers which are fairly similar. So the xda wins here as you have to purchase third party applications for the P800 to compete with the xda. Both devices use GPRS for internet access.

9. Connectivity… the P800 supports Bluetooth, IR and GPRS for connectivity. Files are easily transferred by IR, Bluetooth or by placing the P800 in the docking cradle. The xda supports IR and GPRS for connectivity. Files are transferred by IR or by placing the xda in the docking cradle. The P800 wins here because of Bluetooth.

10. Memory… The xda comes with 32mb of ram (about 20mb free) with an expansion slot that supports MMC and SD cards(although none are supplied with the device). The P800 comes with 16mb ram (12mb free) and with a memory stick duo slot (16mb stick supplied with the device). At the moment the xda wins easily here as there are SD cards available at the moment up to 512 mb and will soon have 1gb cards available. At the moment there are no Duo Memory sticks available commercially but 64 and 128mb sticks will be available in the next couple of months. However, 128mb is the largest capacity that will be possible for the P800. The xda wins easily here.

11.Applications… There are literally thousands of games and applications available for the pocket pc operating system, coded in embedded visual basic and embedded C++. As the P800 has only just been released, ther are only about 10-15 games and applications available at present. It supports Java and Person java coded games and applications.

Again sorry about the length of the review but I wanted to give a detailed comparison. In my opinion the P800 is the better quality device, with more functions and a lot easier to use, but others may have different views.

MiCr0

Originally posted by talla
7. Multimedia… The P800 has a audio player which supports mp3, amr, au, wav and midi files. It also has a Video player but it only supports files in mpeg4 format.

8. Internet… The inbuilt browser on the P800 is slightly slower than Pocket Internet Explorer and cannot view sites with frames or HTTPS.

i've tested the browser on the p800 for a good while now - it will display http://home.eircom.net prefectly - frames are no problem.
also - the p800 browser supports streaming video

overall - an excellent review - double thumbs up talla

Ste.phen

Does anybody know if/when O2 Ireland will be offering the P800 on contracts?

I'm dying to get my hands on one, but STG£528.75 from expansys is a bit steep, I was hoping for a SIM free price of about £450 inc vat. (yes, i'm a dreamer )

talla

id say it will be a couple of months before the P800 is offered on o2 at least. When I rang them up looking for a couple of settings, they refused to help me, standard line , hanset not supported yet. The CS rep admitted that there wasnt even a test unit in the country yet. I saw a thread on esato.com where SE UK were offering the P800 for £499 sterling sim free, accepting preorders now, expecting to ship at the end of january. I'll try and locate the SE sales number if you want

talla

as a matter of intrest, have you been able to access hotmail micro? i keep getting a webpage telling my my browser needs to have cookies enabled but when i check my preferences, cookies are enabled???

Ste.phen

Thanks, I think i'll jsut wait for them to release it officially, I'm looking to take out a contract anyways, so getting some money off the P800 would be an added bonus.
I also had some trouble trying to insure a SIM free Nokia 7650 (sold it in teh end, and bought a second hand T68i), so it might be better to insure it if/when i buy it on a contract.

MiCr0

Originally posted by talla
as a matter of intrest, have you been able to access hotmail micro? i keep getting a webpage telling my my browser needs to have cookies enabled but when i check my preferences, cookies are enabled???

i'll check when i get a chance and tell ya

talla

the phone seems to be available on contract in the european countries its been released in for about €500 - €600. I've a funny feeling that o2 will offer it on contract probably at €700 +(i've no word just using logic here, i'll explain) . First of all, we all know that there is no competition here, and any handsets released here are usually €100 + more expensive on contract here than most european countries and secondly as o2 have huge quantities of stock of their own branded xda still here (as has been posted here several times), thats still retailing for €629 on contract, they are hardly going to offer the handset at a cheaper price than xda. They may lower the price to compete, but I wouldn't hold my breath in the Irish market.

Ste.phen

If O2 launched it at €700, it might be less hassle to just get it SIM free for the 850-odd expansys wanted for it.
I'm rather adamant about sticking with O2 for some reason?

flywheel

fantastic review talla (only got a chance to read through it now) you should submit it to www.allaboutsymbian.com

they have this on their homepage:

There are no Sony Ericsson p800 reviews available yet. We welcome outside reviewers and if you have a review to submit please do so, all content is welcome.

how have you found using it day-to-day now you've had it a couple of weeks?

BrianG

talla

dad to day, its a joy to use, the reason i wanted to get the firware upgrade was because there are a couple of niggly problems with bluetooth which are supposed to be resolved in this firware upgrade(problems with volume on headsets and also transferring files is a bit hit and miss). Everything is so easy to use, sms, mms, email web browser(although i'll get the opra browser when its eventually released, read the review on my-sybian.com). application and games which i mentioned in review was a slight issue which is not an issue any more as there appears to be another new game or application released every day. Also the sync software issue through the usb cable has been resolved with a new pc suite available for download. I still haven't used the P800 to its max as i keep finding more and more settings and features to mess around with each day. If anyone has the spair cash, its a must have device. Although i'm still stuck trying to sell my xda, think i did my chances no help by writing this review:):)

bkehoe

Thanks for the great review talla! Anyone know how does it compare to the 7650 for size?

Brendan

talla

yeh me again.lol
Bought the girlfriend a 7650 last week for her birthday. Both phones are almost exactly thesame size but when keyboard is slid down on 7650, the 7650 is bigger. the only 2 things that you could compare the 7650 and P800 on is the size and the camera. P800 wins on size and its a draw on the camera, P800 takes better outdoor pics and while both cameras dont take great indoor pics in bad lighting, the 7650's camera is slightly better. 7650 is very limited in what it does in every aspect compared to P800(I was very disappointed with the capabilities of 7650). Obviously there are plenty of applications for 7650, but limited memory really defeats the purpose.

also to give you an idea on how P800 compares to nokia 3650 and Orange SPV check this link

http://my-symbian.com/uiq/compare.php

as you can see, P800 overall rates highest

flywheel

looks like the Opera Small Screen Rendering Browser for the P800 is out Monday 17th - for free from the SonyEricsson website - good on ya SE

Opera Press Release and details:
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2003/02/11/



talla, if you have a chance let us know how it runs

BrianG.

talla

yeh will do Brian!

talla

@ Brian
Been using opera for bout half a day now, its amazing, havent found a site i cant get into yet. Speed is slightly faster than built in browser. Handiest feature for me is the open in new window feature which i've always missed from all other mobile browsers. Can't believe it was available for free. Big thumbs up so far:)

fabien

Great review talla - its now august, and i don't see any sign of that phone in ireland...how has it been since february, are you still loving it? Did you get that firmware upgrade?
Also, do you know if the duo memory sticks are available?

Thanks
Fabien

jesus_thats_gre

Its been launched on Vodafone within the next month, fingers crossed all!

tribble

DO NOT BUY THE P800!

Don't get me wrong. It is a beautiful phone and works well.
I should know I bought one a few months ago
Got nicked though
but enough of my whining - this is why you shouldn't buy it.

SE are replacing it soon with the P810/900.
see the register p800 replacement

P800 was a bit too 'plasticy'
P900 is metal

P800 screen was a bit crap (for hi res photos etc)
P900 is imroved 65k colours

P800 crap camera (ok good light but low light was poor)
Possible 1.3MP camera on P900 (won't know for certain 'till next month)


+ lots of other improvements

see www.esato.com/board for discussion on p800 and p810/900

talla

agreed, wait for the P810/P900. its just shows how bad the networks are here when the P800 might only be released this month when it was first released back in December 2002. God knows how long it will take for the P810/p900 to be released here. :mad:

flywheel

@fabien

mobileburn.com have a good set of high-res photos for the new model

re the memory expansion - was able to pick up a 128MB Duo for about Eur80 in a SonyStore in the US and it sure made a big difference to using the device - should be able to find them on the web for around that last time i tried a SonyStore here they hadn't heard of them (yet), no details if the new model can handle >128MB Duos

if you are looking for one now / very shortly then you might be able to pick one up with a (hopefully decent) operator subsidy - if you can hold off for a few months then (like any cutting edge tech.) you'll have more options....

how long to wait? likely months rather than weeks - although hopefully not as long as for the P800 which was first seen in public in March 2002 at CeBIT but only began shipping around Nov\Dec 2002 (mainly due to the Memory Stick Duo Being added) - when it does begin shipping the new model will likely be available for the usual premium "import" price and then a wait for a UK version to be released and then for the price to settle to something that doesn't require a massive wad of cash to purchase

also by that stage the new XDA II should be appearing, and if MS have their way some Smartphone 2003 devices, and others (rumouring) a new Nokia device for this level - so that starts the whole comparison process all over again and you'd want to weigh up your requirements against a whole new set of competition...

DubWireless goes off whistling... Like a circle in a spiral, Like a wheel within a wheel, Never ending or beginning, On an ever spinning wheel

Fidelis

Originally posted by tribble
P900 is metal

Wouldn't be too sure about that. I'm holding one in my hands & it's plastic

Possible 1.3MP camera on

I'm not sure that it's up to that quality. I don't have any documentation to verify the camera specs but it can take 640x480 images which are on par with the N7650 but not as good as the Sharp GX-20. Unfortunately, in hi-res, the images can be around 100k in size.

The P810/900 looks a bit better than it's predecessor. In comparison to it's predecessor, the only difference in size is that it's noticeably slimmer. I never played around with the P800 much, so I don't know if the following P810/900 features are new or have simply been carried on from the P800.

Bluetooth, MMS, hi-res camera (640x480), 65k colours, removable electronic flip pad, video recorder, mp3 player, e-mail client, 16MB of internal memory, memory card slot & finally... chess!

The P810/900's stick is nicely snuggled well into the case, with only the tip protruding. I remember the ease with which the P800 stick would come loose, so this is a nice addition. As you will see in the above image, the keys on the flip pad are fairly thin. They aren't that nice to touch. The flip is also is electronic. What I mean is that unlike the P800, where the flip pad buttons merely strike the touch screen, the new flip pad doesn't touch the screen at all. There must be an electronic connection somewhere between it and the phone itself but I'm worried about causing some damage so I won't try to tear it off just yet

Now, the video recorder - the only limit on the amount of recording is down to the amount of memory you have remaining. With it's internal 16MB of memory, it's possible to record up 10mins of high quality video & sound, 20mins of medium quality video & sound or 35mins of low quality w/o sound. Couple that with external memory cards and you're laughing! There are also a host of different profiles for both the camera & the video recorder e.g. automatic, custom, night, outdoor, indoor etc.

The hand-writing recognition software is a bit tricky to use although I'm sure with a bit of use, it'll come to me. SE have added a bubble mirror just below the camera lens, just like the Sharp GX-10, SE Z600 etc. There is an overall sleek look to the phone, it's looks the business. The scroll wheel on the top left of the phone is handy for volume control & scrolling through the phonebook. It's also quite fast to navigate the various menu's, there's very little delay between menu's, even scrolling the images is quick & smooth. MP3's can be played through the loud speaker to annoy the people around you & the screen is nice and big. I like it!

All in all, the P810/900 is a pretty damn good phone. Now, too see just how 'removable' this flip pad really is!

flywheel

@Fidelis

you always get all the cool gear :cool:

on the one you're testing, is the Opera Browser built-in (or installable)?

also, is there any Voda branding on it, if not do you think it's likely...

cheers,
BrianG

tribble

Wouldn't be too sure about that. I'm holding one in my hands & it's plastic

ah, well in the photos leaked a few months ago it appeared to have a metal case.
Rumour was that is was magnesium...
You sure it isn't?

Anyway, damn you Fidelis - I want to play:mad:


tribble:cool:

Fidelis

Originally posted by tribble
You sure it isn't?

Pretty sure. I felt the difference of a metal phone with the N8910i & the Motorola V60i but I certainly don't feel it here! It feels very much like plastic

Originally posted by DubWireless
on the one you're testing, is the Opera Browser built-in (or installable?

Hmmm, I can't seem to find the browser specifications anywhere on the phone. I'll try and find out tomorrow.

also, is there any Voda branding on it, if not do you think it's likely

This a very early model and so it's not branded. Unfortunately, I would expect at least a logo plastered somewhere on the cover and maybe some software embedded Vodafone Live! themes & links. They've done it with the SE T610, SE Z600 & the Sagem myV-65 so I think corporate branding is here to stay.