SonyEricsson P800 - What's Hot & What's Not ...
ngws 30th Dec 2002

GPRS/HSCSD/CSD

The slowest to the fastest

    As expected, the P800 supports the usual CSD and HSCSD dial up and the 'always-on' GPRS with a typical 4down + 1up link. GPRS is currently the fastest for any GSM network worldwide and in fact, slightly slower than a 56k from my test ... any faster, we should look toward WCDMA (3G) or the much viable CDMA2000 system in use in countries like South Korea and the USA. 

Email Client/Speakerphone

POP3/IMAP4

    An email client is included in the SE P800 too with the ability to download and read attachment (see below). It's very easy to setup as long as you have a POP email acct.

Documents Viewers

    Completing the vision of a mobile office .. the P800 can view Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Acrobat PDF files. That's where the happiness ends ... while all Pocket PCs and especially a Sony Clie with a software called Documents To Go from DataViz, you can view and EDIT your file on the move. It would be nice if SE could negotiate a port of Documents To Go for the SE P800. 

Speaker on the back?

    The loudspeaker or multimedia speaker (for general usage) is located at the back of the phone?! I wouldn't wants to flip the phone over (with screen facing down) when I am conversing via. loudspeaker with a caller! Granted. With the speaker facing down ... it's actually quite loud if your surrounding is slightly toned down. Once the decibel goes up, the sound gets a little muddy but still audible. Of course, I would prefer it to be in front, the old fashioned way ...

Bluetooth/Clock

Blue + Blue

    Now for Bluetooth ... The promise of no wires continues. Ideal for transferring files, networking between handheld devices, Bluetooth is a must. To add, the SE P800 supports the headset profile and this should pleased alot of users out there who has the latest and smallest Nexlink Bluespoon or the Jabra Freespeak headset to show off. Yes .. I tried it with a HBH-30 the other day at a local store and it worked perfectly .... NICE!

International Clock

    The SE P800 gives you a free world clock detailing almost every imaginable countries and cities in the world.

Voice Dialing/Magic Word/Memo Recording

How well does it works?

    I remembered my 1st try at voice dialing with the Philips Genie some years back and it's a nightmare! 'No Match found!' It seems that the Genie at that time is very particular about the speed and tone of your voice and it has to be an exact match before it dials. The Samsung SGH-600 fared much better and is alot more forgiving .. having a 100% success rate. Now, the SE P800 up the ante once again with Voice answer, Magic Word and Voice Dialing.

    Voice answer is very interesting. You can accept or reject an incoming call simply by 'talking' to the phone! To start off, you record a voice command to 'reject' calls e.g. not free. The next time a call comes in, all you need to do is to tell the phone 'not free' and it will end the call. Cool .. kudo SE!

    Magic word and voice dialing works hand in hand to prevent unauthorized use of the feature e.g. when you are attending a social gathering and everyone is going 'Hi Peter or Hi Danny'. You wouldn't want the phone to start dialing Peter or Danny, would you? You now have a secure state whereby voice dialing is not active till the phone hears the 'magic word'. This is a protection feature.

Noise ... Noisy

    The Voice memo feature on the P800 is 'well-hidden' among the long list of applications .... It would be nice to have a dedicated button for Voice memo and magic word at the same time .... The sound quality is acceptable with noise in the background. I tested it with the Nokia 7650 and there is virtually no noise ...

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