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SonyEricsson P800 - What's Hot & What's Not ...
The MemoryStick DUO Pre-defined folders The SE P800 is not exactly the 1st with an expandable memory for a mobile phone .. Siemens has the SL45 with a MMC long before the P800 came along. It has MP3 playback too. And like the SL45, the P800 has a pre-defined directory structure for the phone to access the necessary infos. Just make sure that you copy the correct files to the correct folder, otherwise a 'read/load error will occur'. To make up for a lack of a file explorer, the files in the individual folder are updated and displayed AUTOMATICALLY e.g. MP3s on the DUO will appear on the playlist etc. In fact, you have the choice of viewing files between Internal/External memory but it's limited to your current application e.g. if you are in Audio, you can only view sound files only.
Only 16MB ... The MemoryStick DUO is a good idea ... even though no one seems to be taking them on. Recent news on the future of the MemoryStick didn't boost my morale as well (since I owned some Sony stuffs that uses the MemoryStick). You can read more at this link http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-977004.html With the future uncertain and only a 16MB DUO to play with, the P800 is indeed in hot water. If you really need a comparison of this dire situation, take the example of the new xD Picture Card. It was announced like at the end of July 2002 and in December this month, you can buy yourself a 128MB xD card with the 256MB coming at the end of Jan 2003. The DUO was actually announced in April 2002 and went on sale in July 2002. And today ... it's still a 16MB!!??
If you look correctly, the DUO is roughly half the thickness of my regular 128MB MemoryStick ... and it wouldn't fit into the P800. If only I could fit my SD :( PC Synchronization Headache .... It's nice to sync .. I always sync my Fujitsu Loox the moment I got home. The SE P800 has a USB cradle and easy to install PC Suite ... well for Win98 users, it's time to upgrade your PC since PC Suite can only be installed on WinME or later. So I went over to my secondary desktop (With WinXP) and started the installation ... everything went well ... placed the P800 on the cradle and an error msg!!?? PC Suite seems to be based on the same technology as the one found on the 7650 ... using mRouter to connect your device. After numerous uninstalling and reinstalling ... I gave up and went over to my laptop (with WinXP too).
This time, the insta;;ation was smooth but now it doesn't sync although I could install games from the CD. So I thought cradle out, in come my Bluetooth USB dongle. Nope .. doesn't work on my secondary desktop PC (same error msg as above) and it's now the 'Synchronisation not started' error as shown below on my laptop.
Summary A Rich Man's handphone and a Poor Man's PDA So ... an exciting trip, eh? Can't wait to buy one ... I can see. For all that's good, there must always be some bad to 'bring balance to the Force' :) For a phone, the P800 did exceptionally well. No question asked. The features, the technologies that go into making this phone is a one-off! The SE P800 is one-of-a-kind device that few or even none can emulate in the near future ... maybe only the Neonode N1 or Telme T919? A phone with 12MB of memory at your disposal ... all the ringtones, the nicest wallpapers, the best screen savers, all the Photo-IDs of your contacts and a camera on-the-go... couple that with Bluetooth, a large 4096 colors touch-screen, Java support ... how very nice for a mobile phone. Alas ... the SE P800 is also a PDA with the PIM taking up quite a bit of space. The audio/video player took a chunk too ... the document viewers needed a place to stay as well. The browser needs to be cached ... games to be installed and before I realized it, it's almost full ... and it couldn't play mpeg, wma etc. So, the iPAQs, Jornadas and Looxs can sleep easy ... the SE P800 poses NO THREAT at all in terms of media playability and software availability.
I am not banking on the MemoryStick DUO to help me out anytime soon. Here's why. For the record, I owned some Sony digital cameras that uses the 'bigger' MemoryStick; Namely the Sony F505 and F707. For a long time and I really meant a looooooonnnng time, the capacity of the MemoryStick was struck at a measly and expensive 64MB. I jumped for joy when I chanced upon a 128MB MemoryStick 1 year 6 months ago in Taiwan (visiting Computex Taipei) and what do we see today .. still the same old 128MB MemoryStick. Considering that Sony's digital cameras are one of their CORE business and they should be churning out higher capacities to the market as soon as possible ... Nope! Dream on .. my friend, 128MB is the best Sony can give you even if it means losing customers to rival brands using CompactFlash or SD/MMC. Back to the DUO ... No one is using the DUO except for the SE P800 and the Mitsubishi D251i ! If Sony chose to 'ignore' millions of their digicam users worldwide .... what can we expect from Sony when the target audience for the DUO is so much smaller! I don't understand the rationale behind the absence of User Profiles too ... even a full pledged PDA-Phone like the Jornada 928 has built-in profiles as well. For a phone this advanced, I would like some control over the screen contrast/brightness/hue ... Sadly, these were missing too. While almost everyone is pleased with 12MB of memory, I wish SE could have given more ... I am not expecting 64MB like those on my Pocket PCs but something like 16MB or 24MB would be nice. Please .. it's a phone and a PDA for goodness sake! Much To Prove Everything is not so dim ... in all, the SE P800 is a great device (I don't use 'great' very often) with lotsa potential. Only time will tell if this device can truly live up to its name and hype ... but time is never on our side when technology come and go like the falling rain. For the time-being, it's a half-baked potato! With only a 16MB DUO available (I cannot even create a reasonable MP3 playlist let alone a video!?) and a lack of games and software, my patience is as usual running thin. With more phones jumping on the Series 60 platform, games and such will obviously appear faster. Now, this is something we can only know in the future. Anyway to make the most out of it, I am enjoying it as much as I do with the Nokia 7650. The screen is nice and very responsive. The menus are straight forward ... the sound is clear ad concise ... no major bugs so far (for a week of usage). Except for a minor one where I need to power off/on the set for the phone to recognize my new GPRS settings?! The battery is standing up well for my style of usage (surfing, listening to MP3, playing MIB) and on average, I charged it once a day! As the bulk is similar to the Nokia 7650, I have no problem adapting to it thus far. If you are thinking of buying one, wait for the clarification/announcement from Sony at CES next month 9-12 Jan 2003 (or read MemoryStick DUO section above). For the optimistic who thinks that Sony is not that cruel to leave them in a lurch ... think again as they have did countless times before .... If you have the extra dough, the P800 is the way to go. Serious ... it's that good (along with the 'flaws')! But remember, buy within your needs and budget .. the P800 is NOT for everyone. Pros
Cons
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