P910i has some 'must-have' features<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Like shopping for a luxury sedan, choosing a cell phone that will
\nmeet your requirements can be difficult.<\/p>\n
You want a full-featured cell phone that can function as your
\norganizer, store all your contact numbers, take some decent
\npictures and short video clips, let you surf the Internet, enable
\nyou to read your e-mail, let you play some games, play back music
\nfiles, etc.<\/p>\n
Above all, you want a cell phone that makes you feel good each
\ntime you use it in public.<\/p>\n
On the market, just a handful of models will do most of these
\nthings. The P910i from Sony Ericsson certainly ranks among the
\ntop tier.<\/p>\n
While it may not have the most comprehensive set of advanced
\nfeatures available today -- none really does -- it excels in
\nseveral areas.<\/p>\n
The P910i is the third generation of Sony Ericsson's flagship
\ncell phone PDA series, the predecessors being the P800 and the
\nP900. Courtesy of Sony Ericsson Indonesia, I was able to play
\naround with it during the recent Idul Fitri holiday.<\/p>\n
Sony Ericsson focuses on making cell phone handsets and other
\nmobile accessories such as GPRS, EDGE and Wi-Fi cards for the
\nnotebook computer.<\/p>\n
The company was founded by Sony and Ericsson with equal share
\nownership in 2002 to capitalize on Sony's proven prowess in
\nconsumer electronics and worldwide distribution network, as well
\nas Ericsson's strength in mobile communications technology.<\/p>\n
The lowdown
\n\"We consider the P910i a smartphone,\" head of Asia-Pacific
\noperations Kazuo Nakai told me in an interview at Sony Ericsson
\nIndonesia's office in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"With it, you can read and edit Word documents and Excel
\nworksheets and zap Powerpoint presentations via Bluetooth to a
\nBluetooth-capable digital projector.<\/p>\n
\"You can also synchronize your data in its PIM (Personal
\nInformation Manager) with Microsoft Outlook,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Extending the list of productivity tools are the Opera
\nmicrobrowser for surfing the Web, a PDF reader, a handwriting
\nrecognition tool, a calculator, a calendar and a file manager.<\/p>\n
The Symbian operating system ran without a glitch during my
\nreview test. The cell phone responded quickly to any input.
\nSynching is done via Bluetooth, infrared, USB or RS232 cable.<\/p>\n
SyncStation, a charging cradle that connects to the PC, is
\nalso included in the box.<\/p>\n
As you would expect from a high-end product bearing the brand
\nname \"Sony\", the P910i has an excellent fit and finish. You can
\nfeel the Japanese company's legendary craftsmanship in building
\nsmall and stylish electronic gadgets when holding this cell phone
\nin your hand.<\/p>\n
By the way, I have always shunned PDAs that do not have
\nkeypads. While you can tap on the screen with the stylus to make
\na call, I have always found that pressing the keypad is a faster
\nand less error-prone way to do it. Luckily, the majority of
\ntoday's PDAs come with a keypad of some sort.<\/p>\n
In the case of the P910i, both a keypad and a full \"QWERTY\"
\nkeyboard on its back are available so that you are not limited to
\nthe touchscreen and the stylus for input.<\/p>\n
The QWERTY thumb board is surprisingly adequate for entering
\ntext. Unfortunately, if you try to use it with both thumbs, the
\nentire cell phone will dance all over the place and reading the
\ntext on the screen will become well-nigh impossible.<\/p>\n
The large touchscreen is simply fabulous.<\/p>\n
The 18-bit (262,000) color TFT display is bright, and it is
\nmiles better than the one I saw in the P800. I also admire the
\nfive-way jog dial. It is definitely one of the greatest features
\nI've found in this cell phone.<\/p>\n
It is very thoughtfully placed on the left side, right where
\nyour thumb will normally be. You can use it to call up the menu,
\nscroll up and down the list, select a highlighted menu item or go
\nback to the previous screen -- all without touching the keypad or
\nthe screen.<\/p>\n
For example, with the keypad closed, you can use the jog dial
\nto go to Messages to read or send SMS, MMS or EMS messages, to
\nstart the phone function, to retrieve your list of contacts, to
\ncheck appointment schedules or to invoke the list of applications
\nand options.<\/p>\n
Once you've tried the jog dial, you'll agree with me that
\nother PDAs should have one, too.<\/p>\n
The P910i also comes with an MP3 audio player and an MPEG4
\nvideo player, so you can have music in your leisure time. It
\nstill uses a VGA digital camera, not the one-megapixel type that
\nan increasing number of cell phones in our local market currently
\nhave.<\/p>\n
\"This particular model is aimed at business users rather than
\nthe imaging market,\" replied Nakai when I asked him about it.<\/p>\n
As you might guess, this cell phone uses a Memory Stick Duo
\nslot for additional data storage. Sony Ericsson throws in a
\nMemory Stick and an adapter in the box.<\/p>\n
One step at a time<\/p>\n
What's still missing from this sleek smartphone? Support for
\nEDGE is one thing that you'll notice immediately, given that such
\nservices are already available here.<\/p>\n
The news is, Nakai says, his company will launch the EDGE-
\ncapable Z500 model in Indonesia within the first quarter of next
\nyear. I guess the successor to the P910i will support EDGE as
\nwell.<\/p>\n
Support for Wi-Fi is also missing, unfortunately. Some latest
\nPDA models now come with Wi-Fi already included. Very recently,
\nNTT DoCoMo released probably the world's first Wi-Fi cell phone
\nmodel, a 3G FOMA cell phone that will allow people to talk via
\nVoIP wherever there is a wireless LAN.<\/p>\n
Having a 1.3-megapixel CCD camera such as that used in the
\nSony Ericsson S700i would be nice, but you must understand that
\nit would further increase the price of this sleek gadget.<\/p>\n
My wish list would also include an I\/O slot that would enable
\nyou to add, for example, a Wi-Fi module to this cell phone PDA.<\/p>\n
But then again, such an extra feature would increase the
\nthickness of the device and affect its overall design.<\/p>\n
Well, you can't have everything, can you?<\/p>\n
For now, if you want a great-looking, feature-rich and
\neasy-to-use cell phone PDA that still fits into your shirt
\npocket, this is very likely to be the one for you.<\/p>\n
Be forewarned, though; this tri-band cell phone will set you
\nback around Rp 7.5 million.<\/p>",
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