Nokia N86 8MP Preview
Friday, June 19, 2009
I'm currently at London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) in Terminal 5 International waiting for a flight back to Canada. Interestingly there is a Nokia store right inside the airport with prices usually 15% off the UK market price and no tax! Not only that - they carry the latest Nokia phones. One of them being the N97 and the other is the N86 8MP!!
It looks similar to the N85 but with a more subdued color scheme.
The OLED screen is almost the same as the N85 but the slight tint makes it easier to see under direct light. I still have to try it under direct sunlight.
Sliding the screen up exposes the number pad.
The side profile is similar to the N85.
Sliding the screen down exposes the multimedia keys that look better than those on the N85.
The number pad looks very retro like those found on phones 5 years ago like the T610but it was very comfortable to use with great tactile feedback.
The 8MP camera exposed.
First impressions: The build quality is a big improvement over the wobbly N85. Nokia has got it right this time and it's almost as tight as the E65. The phone doesn't creak and has a good weight to it. The UI is snappy and uses a theme similar to the 5800. The camera is fast to start up and I will be updating this blog entry with sample photos I took with the N86 compared to my trusty N82. As I mentioned before the keypad looks ugly but it is very functional and nicely spaced. the buttons are a tad small if you have big fingers.
There really isn't anything bad to say about this phone in terms of build and usage but it's a phone that the N85 should've been. With the N97 stealing the spot light, the N86 is actally more exciting for me. After a little price drop, I'm definitely going to pick up this phone. I highly recommend you drop by your local Nokia store to try out the phone. You won't be disappointed!
Labels: n86, nokia, nseries, preview
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Nokia E72 Leaked
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The E71 upgrade rumoured to come with a 5MP camera and in the form of a E71i has been leaked and it's currently being called the E72.
The following are rumoured changes from the E71:
- 5MP camera with autofocus
- QWERTY keyboard to resemble the E63 with a shortened space bar
- optical mouse rather than a Dpad (allows you to swipe to scroll down like the Blackberry's navigational ball)
- 3.5mm headset jack at the top
- speakers on rear by camera
- comes in black and 2 bland greys
- runs S60 3rd edition FP2
- integrated Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat
The E71 has almost been out for a year so it's just about the right time to refresh one of Nokia's best selling phones. The 5MP camera may just push me over to upgrade so I don't need to carry my N82, for its 5MP, with me.
More photos after the jump.
The 5MP camera:
I'm glad they kept the etched battery cover.
The side profile shows the volume keys, 3.5mm headset jack, and power button:
Now featuring an optical mouse:
Different "colors":
With the addition of a 5MP camera, Nokia is keeping an already great design fresh.
Are you excited? :)
Update with live photos:
Image from budip
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| Posted by Eric at 3:17 PM | Permalink
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Nokia N85 Review
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Nokia N85 is positioned as the successor to the Nokia's prized N95. The N95 introduced a number of firsts for Nokia such as the 5MP camera, built-in GPS, and dual slide. There is high expectations for the N85 to replace such an amazing phone. Nokia has chosen the safe route with only slightly improving the N95 formula with a spring loaded lens cover, adding dual LED flash, changing to an OLED display while keeping the camera at 5MP, GPS, and wifi. No significant new features were added. The firmware on my N85 is V 10.045 (the initial production firmware). The box contains the phone (N85-1), battery (BL-5K: Extended 850 mAh), charger (AC-10), Nokia 8GB microSD card (MU-43), Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U), USB cable (CA-101) and stereo headset with controls (HS-45, AD-54), and Nokia CD with utilities and programs.
Quick facts:
Name: Nokia N85-1
Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 WCDMA 900/1900/2100
Weight: 128 g
Dimensions: 103 x 50 x 16 mm
Battery life (stand by): 360 hours (GSM), 360 hours (WCDMA)
Battery life (talk): 414 minutes (GSM), 270 (WCDMA)
CPU: 32bit Freescale MXC300, 369 MHz ARM1136JF-S + 220MHz StarCore SC140 DSP
My phone was manufactured by: (your phone's country of manufacture could vary) Finland
Aesthetics
The N85 continues with Nokia's Nseries design with a simple glossy exterior, square ring dpad, and minimal markings.
Front Closed
The D-pad carries the Nokia ring design with a center key and up/down/left/right all on a ring. The ring is fairly narrow so playing fast paced games is a little tricky with it. The call and end buttons include a little sliver of green/red respectively to easily feel out where the buttons are. The actual call and end buttons occupy a larger area and the ends of the phone but are flush with the rest of the phone.
Back Closed
A simplistic back with a textured look. I'm not keen on the mocha brown but it does bring up the texture better than if it were all black. The difference between the black front and rear brown isn't as noticable in person
In my hands
The N85 has a good weight giving it a solid high quality feel. The N85 doesn't creak while it's closed but does have a wobble on the slide mechanism when the phone is opened. It has a better slide than the N95 but not as stiff and solid as the E65.
The phone has a glossy finish on both the front and back so the N85 collects fingerprints and smudges easily. The side is a non-glossy metallic color so it doesn't smudge. Since the phone is so smooth, I found myself having to nudge the bottom of the top half to open the N85. Not really convenient but I'd probably get used to it.
N85 compared to the N82
The N85 is a tad thinner than my N82 which is a good feat for a feature packed slider.
The phone has slightly rounded sides so it's tricky to get standing up on it's own to take photos.
The SIM mechanism is similar to the E71, which I'm not a fan of. Taking the SIM out is very tricky and I end up using my nails to slowly pull it out.
Keypad
The N85 is a dual slider like the N95 and N96 before it so you can slide the top half up to reveal the number pad or slide the top half down to reveal the 4 media keys.
Dpad
The number pad:
A rubber separates horizonal keys from each other so you can feel the top keys from the lower keys. However there is no separator between keys vertically beside each other so it's hard to feel the difference between 1 and 2 keys.
The 4 media keys are unlit when the phone is off:
Clicking either the number pad or media keys gives the user a click feedback to confirm the key was pressed. The click is loud and feels a little sticky like the number pad of the Motorola Razr or the Nokia 6650.
The keypad light is strong, evenly lit, and no light leaking. This is one of the best lighted Nokia devices. The D-pad is not lighted however. As with most phones these days, lighting is controlled by a light sensor.
Display
The stand out feature of the N85 is the 2.6 inch OLED screen used. The screen resolution is 240 x 320 and can display up to 16.7M colors. The difference between an OLED display and a traditional LED display is the lighting where each pixel lights up on the OLED so black is when pixels don't light up while traditional LED is backlit so black is still lighted up. Thus blacks look very black on an OLED giving better vibrate colors.
Unforunately there is a drawback to the OLED that is its visibility under direct sunlight. As you can see in the following photo, there is too much glare to comfortably see what's on the screen.
Multimedia Features
Camera
The N85 features a 5 megapixel (MP) camera with a Carl Zeiss lens which has been featured in numerous Nseries phones since the N95. The camera user interface (UI) in the N85 resembles recent N-series phones and takes pictures in the portait orientation.
A small spring loaded cover protects the lens. I prefer the side switch found on the N82 over pushing down on the actual cover but both work.
For a list of all the different settings and modes, please refer to my Nokia N82 review.
Daylight with Automatic setting (N85 / N82)
The N85 produced a slightly more detailed photo as you can see in the bricks around the "For Sale" sign. But the N85 photo had a slight yellow tint to it.
Daylight with Automatic setting (N85 / N82)
The N85 photo shows a lot better detail on the branches and leaves of the tree. The N82 seems to have a very narrow focus area so most of the tree ends up being a blur.
Dimly lit night mode with no flash (N85 / N82)
The N85 produced a far noiser photo but was brighter than the N82.
Dimly lit night mode with flash (N85 / N82)
There is just no competition here. The N82's Xenon flash produced a much sharper photo as you can see from the box label and less noise in the photo.
Macromode with Automatic setting and no flash (N85/ N82)
The N85 produced a noiser photo but detail is comparable.
Macromode with Automatic setting with flash (N85 / N82)
The N85 produced a slightly yellowy photo. Detail is comparable on each. Flash doesn't make as much of a difference up close.
Video
The N85 also records video. You can record directly to the memory card and length of the movie is only bound by the amount of free space available. It's the same settings as the N95 and N82. Videos came out my fuzzy and desaturated than the N82.
GPS
As with most recent Nseries, the N85 packs an internal GPS that connects to GPS satellites and does not require data. I heavily rely on this functionality to help me get around so the GPS sensitivity is an important factor for me.
So I compared the lock on time after a cold boot of the phone:
E71 vs. N85
The N85 was faster to lock on than the E71.
N82 vs. N85
The N82 locked on a lot faster than the N85
GPS sensitivity is no where close to the performance of the older N82 but at least things have improved compared to the E71 which shares the same GPS chipset.
External Memory
The memory card is hot swappable so you can take it out while the phone is on. The N85 prompts or alerts you that the memory card is being removed when you open the rubber protector. The thin plastic cover is sturdy on my phone but I don't recommend playing with it as I think it will wear out quickly and become loose.
Battery
I found myself out of power after about 2 days of use. I would have GSM only, make around 30 minutes of calls, browse the web for 10 minutes, and launch GPS for about 15 minutes. Charging from 1 bar of battery to full took less than an hour. It's unfortunate that Nokia had to shrink the battery capacity to fit the slim profile of the N85.
Ratings:
Performance...........9
Build quality...........7
Keypad...................8
Connectivity...............9
Features for $.........9
Software................9
Camera..................8
Battery life.............8
Overall.....................8
Nokia has produced a worth successor to the uber popular N95 with a smaller phone, same sized but better quality screen, and impressive imagine quality. For me, what holds the N85 from replacing my N82 is the lack of Xenon flash, poor night photos, and slow GPS lock time. I definitely recommend new users to Nokia S60 check out the N85 as their first power phone.
PROS:
*attractive design
*WiFi
*Strong RF with triband 3G
*Fast high quality camera
*GPS
*Large, sharp, and brilliant OLED display
*impressive 5MP camera quality in daylight
CONS:
*Poor display visibility under direct sunlight
*Lack of Xenon flash
*Unimpressive dimly lit photos
*Slow GPS locking
Quick facts:
Name: Nokia N85-1
Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 WCDMA 900/1900/2100
Weight: 128 g
Dimensions: 103 x 50 x 16 mm
Battery life (stand by): 360 hours (GSM), 360 hours (WCDMA)
Battery life (talk): 414 minutes (GSM), 270 (WCDMA)
CPU: 32bit Freescale MXC300, 369 MHz ARM1136JF-S + 220MHz StarCore SC140 DSP
My phone was manufactured by: (your phone's country of manufacture could vary) Finland
Aesthetics
The N85 continues with Nokia's Nseries design with a simple glossy exterior, square ring dpad, and minimal markings.
Front Closed
The D-pad carries the Nokia ring design with a center key and up/down/left/right all on a ring. The ring is fairly narrow so playing fast paced games is a little tricky with it. The call and end buttons include a little sliver of green/red respectively to easily feel out where the buttons are. The actual call and end buttons occupy a larger area and the ends of the phone but are flush with the rest of the phone.
Back Closed
A simplistic back with a textured look. I'm not keen on the mocha brown but it does bring up the texture better than if it were all black. The difference between the black front and rear brown isn't as noticable in person
In my hands
The N85 has a good weight giving it a solid high quality feel. The N85 doesn't creak while it's closed but does have a wobble on the slide mechanism when the phone is opened. It has a better slide than the N95 but not as stiff and solid as the E65.
The phone has a glossy finish on both the front and back so the N85 collects fingerprints and smudges easily. The side is a non-glossy metallic color so it doesn't smudge. Since the phone is so smooth, I found myself having to nudge the bottom of the top half to open the N85. Not really convenient but I'd probably get used to it.
N85 compared to the N82
The N85 is a tad thinner than my N82 which is a good feat for a feature packed slider.
The phone has slightly rounded sides so it's tricky to get standing up on it's own to take photos.
The SIM mechanism is similar to the E71, which I'm not a fan of. Taking the SIM out is very tricky and I end up using my nails to slowly pull it out.
Keypad
The N85 is a dual slider like the N95 and N96 before it so you can slide the top half up to reveal the number pad or slide the top half down to reveal the 4 media keys.
Dpad
The number pad:
A rubber separates horizonal keys from each other so you can feel the top keys from the lower keys. However there is no separator between keys vertically beside each other so it's hard to feel the difference between 1 and 2 keys.
The 4 media keys are unlit when the phone is off:
Clicking either the number pad or media keys gives the user a click feedback to confirm the key was pressed. The click is loud and feels a little sticky like the number pad of the Motorola Razr or the Nokia 6650.
The keypad light is strong, evenly lit, and no light leaking. This is one of the best lighted Nokia devices. The D-pad is not lighted however. As with most phones these days, lighting is controlled by a light sensor.
Display
The stand out feature of the N85 is the 2.6 inch OLED screen used. The screen resolution is 240 x 320 and can display up to 16.7M colors. The difference between an OLED display and a traditional LED display is the lighting where each pixel lights up on the OLED so black is when pixels don't light up while traditional LED is backlit so black is still lighted up. Thus blacks look very black on an OLED giving better vibrate colors.
Unforunately there is a drawback to the OLED that is its visibility under direct sunlight. As you can see in the following photo, there is too much glare to comfortably see what's on the screen.
Multimedia Features
Camera
The N85 features a 5 megapixel (MP) camera with a Carl Zeiss lens which has been featured in numerous Nseries phones since the N95. The camera user interface (UI) in the N85 resembles recent N-series phones and takes pictures in the portait orientation.
A small spring loaded cover protects the lens. I prefer the side switch found on the N82 over pushing down on the actual cover but both work.
For a list of all the different settings and modes, please refer to my Nokia N82 review.
Daylight with Automatic setting (N85 / N82)
The N85 produced a slightly more detailed photo as you can see in the bricks around the "For Sale" sign. But the N85 photo had a slight yellow tint to it.
Daylight with Automatic setting (N85 / N82)
The N85 photo shows a lot better detail on the branches and leaves of the tree. The N82 seems to have a very narrow focus area so most of the tree ends up being a blur.
Dimly lit night mode with no flash (N85 / N82)
The N85 produced a far noiser photo but was brighter than the N82.
Dimly lit night mode with flash (N85 / N82)
There is just no competition here. The N82's Xenon flash produced a much sharper photo as you can see from the box label and less noise in the photo.
Macromode with Automatic setting and no flash (N85/ N82)
The N85 produced a noiser photo but detail is comparable.
Macromode with Automatic setting with flash (N85 / N82)
The N85 produced a slightly yellowy photo. Detail is comparable on each. Flash doesn't make as much of a difference up close.
Video
The N85 also records video. You can record directly to the memory card and length of the movie is only bound by the amount of free space available. It's the same settings as the N95 and N82. Videos came out my fuzzy and desaturated than the N82.
GPS
As with most recent Nseries, the N85 packs an internal GPS that connects to GPS satellites and does not require data. I heavily rely on this functionality to help me get around so the GPS sensitivity is an important factor for me.
So I compared the lock on time after a cold boot of the phone:
E71 vs. N85
The N85 was faster to lock on than the E71.
N82 vs. N85
The N82 locked on a lot faster than the N85
GPS sensitivity is no where close to the performance of the older N82 but at least things have improved compared to the E71 which shares the same GPS chipset.
External Memory
The memory card is hot swappable so you can take it out while the phone is on. The N85 prompts or alerts you that the memory card is being removed when you open the rubber protector. The thin plastic cover is sturdy on my phone but I don't recommend playing with it as I think it will wear out quickly and become loose.
Battery
I found myself out of power after about 2 days of use. I would have GSM only, make around 30 minutes of calls, browse the web for 10 minutes, and launch GPS for about 15 minutes. Charging from 1 bar of battery to full took less than an hour. It's unfortunate that Nokia had to shrink the battery capacity to fit the slim profile of the N85.
Ratings:
Performance...........9
Build quality...........7
Keypad...................8
Connectivity...............9
Features for $.........9
Software................9
Camera..................8
Battery life.............8
Overall.....................8
Nokia has produced a worth successor to the uber popular N95 with a smaller phone, same sized but better quality screen, and impressive imagine quality. For me, what holds the N85 from replacing my N82 is the lack of Xenon flash, poor night photos, and slow GPS lock time. I definitely recommend new users to Nokia S60 check out the N85 as their first power phone.
PROS:
*attractive design
*WiFi
*Strong RF with triband 3G
*Fast high quality camera
*GPS
*Large, sharp, and brilliant OLED display
*impressive 5MP camera quality in daylight
CONS:
*Poor display visibility under direct sunlight
*Lack of Xenon flash
*Unimpressive dimly lit photos
*Slow GPS locking
Labels: N85, nokia, nseries, review
Continue reading "Nokia N85 Review" >>|
| Posted by Eric at 3:30 PM | Permalink
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Nokia N97 Preview
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Nokia's most highly anticipated and important phone for this year is the N97. It features a touch screen just like the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic before it and a slide out keyboard too.
I was in Monte Carlo last week attending the Nokia Hackathon 2009 to put together my widget idea and test it on the Nokia N97, so I got the chance to play around with one for a few days...
The N97 features almost the same specs as most other recent Nseries phones such as HSDPA, 5MP Carl Zeiss camera, built-in WiFi, USB charging, dual LED flash and GPS. But it stands out from the crowd with its large touchscreen, use of S60 5th edition, and the slide out full QWERTY keyboard. As of this writing, the N97 sales package should include the phone (N97), Extended Li-Ion Battery (BP-4L), Compact Travel Charger (AC-10), Stereo Headset (HS-45), Data Connectivity Cable (CA-101), and Audio Controller (AD-54)
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (left) compared to the Nokia N97 (right)
The N97 has a slighter wider and longer screen than the 5800 but maintains the widescreen ratio.
The N97 closed:
Most people complained that the phone was too long and thick for their taste. It took me a while to get used to the thin silver diagonal button being the home key. For most previous N-series phones, the thin silver button was the multimedia key, which I always avoided.
Front:
Back:
Side:
5 Megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash:
The N97 opened up:
Close up of the keyboard:
The keys are spaced well apart making them easy to distinguish from each other but makes the keyboard too wide to use with one hand. The Q, A, Z keys are no longer aligned above each other as on other Nokia phones (i.e. the Nokia E71, E61) and the space bar is placed at the far right. These keyboard quirks made me initially annoyed with the keyboard but you quickly get use to it by the second day.
N97 opened and behind the screen:
You can spot the display ribbon in there. I hope it doesn't come loose on production models.
Hands on:
First impressions were very good with a large high quality screen. Build quality is exceptional with a solid spring loaded slide mechanism that had little to no rattle. There was little to no creaking while the phone was closed. The OS was responsive in most cases but still faces a number of lags such as switching the screen between portrait and landscape. Browsing web pages on the N97 was amazing with smooth initiative gestures and a screen able to display full readable pages Unfortunately the rest of the UI suffers from issues found on the 5800 such as a single finger swipe doesn't scroll the length of the swipe but just simulates a single push of the D-pad. I didn't find tapping and double tapping on the screen an issue on the N97. The keyboard buttons were the right size for easy typing and provided just the right feedback. The lack of Xenon flash keeps it from replacing my N82 but my E71 is in danger of being replaced.
Look out for a full review once I can get my hands on a retail unit!
I was in Monte Carlo last week attending the Nokia Hackathon 2009 to put together my widget idea and test it on the Nokia N97, so I got the chance to play around with one for a few days...
The N97 features almost the same specs as most other recent Nseries phones such as HSDPA, 5MP Carl Zeiss camera, built-in WiFi, USB charging, dual LED flash and GPS. But it stands out from the crowd with its large touchscreen, use of S60 5th edition, and the slide out full QWERTY keyboard. As of this writing, the N97 sales package should include the phone (N97), Extended Li-Ion Battery (BP-4L), Compact Travel Charger (AC-10), Stereo Headset (HS-45), Data Connectivity Cable (CA-101), and Audio Controller (AD-54)
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (left) compared to the Nokia N97 (right)
The N97 has a slighter wider and longer screen than the 5800 but maintains the widescreen ratio.
The N97 closed:
Most people complained that the phone was too long and thick for their taste. It took me a while to get used to the thin silver diagonal button being the home key. For most previous N-series phones, the thin silver button was the multimedia key, which I always avoided.
Front:
Back:
Side:
5 Megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash:
The N97 opened up:
Close up of the keyboard:
The keys are spaced well apart making them easy to distinguish from each other but makes the keyboard too wide to use with one hand. The Q, A, Z keys are no longer aligned above each other as on other Nokia phones (i.e. the Nokia E71, E61) and the space bar is placed at the far right. These keyboard quirks made me initially annoyed with the keyboard but you quickly get use to it by the second day.
N97 opened and behind the screen:
You can spot the display ribbon in there. I hope it doesn't come loose on production models.
Hands on:
First impressions were very good with a large high quality screen. Build quality is exceptional with a solid spring loaded slide mechanism that had little to no rattle. There was little to no creaking while the phone was closed. The OS was responsive in most cases but still faces a number of lags such as switching the screen between portrait and landscape. Browsing web pages on the N97 was amazing with smooth initiative gestures and a screen able to display full readable pages Unfortunately the rest of the UI suffers from issues found on the 5800 such as a single finger swipe doesn't scroll the length of the swipe but just simulates a single push of the D-pad. I didn't find tapping and double tapping on the screen an issue on the N97. The keyboard buttons were the right size for easy typing and provided just the right feedback. The lack of Xenon flash keeps it from replacing my N82 but my E71 is in danger of being replaced.
Look out for a full review once I can get my hands on a retail unit!
Labels: n97, nokia, nseries, preview
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| Posted by Eric at 5:11 PM | Permalink
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Nokia N85 Preview
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
More than a year has passed and the N95 has reigned as Nokia's top high volume feature-packed phone. The overpriced and slower N96 didn't do well in the market but the N86 was unveiled to serve as the N95's successor with a lower price point for the masses.
Opening it up:
Packed with almost everything you'll need such as the phone (N85-1), battery (BL-5K: Extended 850 mAh), charger (AC-10), Nokia 8GB microSD card (MU-43), Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U), USB cable (CA-101) and stereo headset with controls (HS-45, AD-54):
First impressions are very good with a large vibrant high quality screen. Build quality is much improved over the N95 with a spring loaded side mechanism but still not as solid as the older Nokia E65. There was little to no creaking while the phone is closed.
The N85 isn't groundbreaking as the phone it replaces. It features almost the same specs as its predecessor such as HSDPA, 5MP Carl Zeiss camera, built-in WiFi and GPS, and the dual sliding mechanism. But its stand out feature is the use of an OLED screen that uses less power than a traditional LCD and makes black very black as the individual pixels are not lighted. A few other little upgrades is the addition of a FM transmitter for broadcasting music from the N85 and use of 2 LEDs for the camera flash.
Stay tuned for the upcoming review as I take the Nokia N85 around the block.
Update: I've posted my N85 review
Opening it up:
Packed with almost everything you'll need such as the phone (N85-1), battery (BL-5K: Extended 850 mAh), charger (AC-10), Nokia 8GB microSD card (MU-43), Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U), USB cable (CA-101) and stereo headset with controls (HS-45, AD-54):
First impressions are very good with a large vibrant high quality screen. Build quality is much improved over the N95 with a spring loaded side mechanism but still not as solid as the older Nokia E65. There was little to no creaking while the phone is closed.
The N85 isn't groundbreaking as the phone it replaces. It features almost the same specs as its predecessor such as HSDPA, 5MP Carl Zeiss camera, built-in WiFi and GPS, and the dual sliding mechanism. But its stand out feature is the use of an OLED screen that uses less power than a traditional LCD and makes black very black as the individual pixels are not lighted. A few other little upgrades is the addition of a FM transmitter for broadcasting music from the N85 and use of 2 LEDs for the camera flash.
Stay tuned for the upcoming review as I take the Nokia N85 around the block.
Update: I've posted my N85 review
Labels: N85, nokia, nseries, preview
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| Posted by Eric at 12:00 PM | Permalink
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Sony Ericsson W580i Review
Monday, March 23, 2009
It has been a while since I've had a new phone to review but this one is a special one. Unlike my most recently reviews, this isn't a Nokia - it's a Sony Ericsson. When my mom was ready to replace her aging Motorola V3 RAZR which was having a difficult time holding a charge, I looked at the best cheap phone she could get. Since she was on Rogers and her contract had been up for a while, the best place was to get a phone on contract. My mom isn't big on e-mail or browsing the web so a smartphone would overcomplicate things for her. There were a few Motorola flips and Nokia flips that didn't even look as nice as the RAZR - as you can tell, she's big on asthetics. But she spotted a pink thin slider that sparked her interest - namely the W580i.
The firmware on my W580i is R8BE001 (the initial Rogers production firmware). The box contains the phone, Sony Ericsson Battery BST-38 900 mAh, travel charger CST-60, USB data cable, Sony Ericsson Stereo Headset HPM-70, 512MB Memory Stick Micro card, and Sony Ericsson CD with utilities and programs
The W580i is a very sleek thin slider running Sony Ericsson's proprietary OS.
Quick facts:
Name: Sony Ericsson W580i
Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Weight: 94 g
Dimensions: 99 x 47 x 14 mm
Battery life (stand by): 370 hours
Battery life (talk): 540 minutes
My phone was manufactured in: (your phone's country of manufacture could vary) Malaysia.
The W580i opened:
There are no keys on the right of the phone. The left side has a very recessed volume rocker which is hard to push since it's so thin. The top has a very recessed black power button on the keypad half that is difficult to push when the phone is opened.
Aesthetics
The W580i is a beautiful phone in pink. Unlike most manufacturer's who just change the faceplate and call it a new colour (like Nokia and RIM), SE has gone all the way with pink LEDs behind the D-pad and number pad, shiny pink plastic between the keys in the number pad, and a pink headset. A really great job by SE.
The W580i is a lot better looking than Nokia's 5610. SE did a lot better job in the use of colors.
The sides of the phone have very little grip so I push the slide from the bottom to open the slider.
Side featuring the LED:
Although it's a little tacky for a business phone, the LED looks OK for a personal phone
Opening the slider will automatically unlock the keyboard while closing the slider will display the lock option for the center, after a couple seconds of being closed the phone will auto key lock (change this at menu > settings >phone > automatic keyguard). Auto keyguard does not apply when the slider is open.
Sony Ericsson W580i to the Nokia E71
A good sized screen that keeps up with the big boys
Sony Ericsson W580i to the Motorola V3 RAZR
The W580i is impressively thin and definitely pocketable.
The sim card holder is not good with just a slot. Taking out the SIM is tricky as you need to push it in and slide:
The W580i has a creaks all over when you push on it from any two sides. The battery cover slid off a couple times so we had to tape it to the phone.
Display
The screen is a good size and resolution is at 240 x 320 pixels (2 inches) and can display up to 262,144 (18-bit) colors. But a major problem is the very slow refresh rate causing a lot of ghosting.
The W580i keypad is well lit with lighting even coming from the sides:
The W580i is recessed but fully exposed with no layer of glass or plastic to protect the LCD.
Keyboard
Upper half featuring the soft keys and D-pad:
Lower half featuring the number pad:
The raised outer rim around the D-pad makes pushing any direction difficult without using your nails. The soft keys are wobbly and don't feel very accurate in differentiating between the top and bottom buttons. The W810i soft keys feel a lot better than the W580i even though they are laid out the same. The bottom of the soft keys (back and C keys) are very close to the Walkman and task buttons making them feel odd pressing them.
The number pad is flush with the lower part of the phone without the usual notches on the number 3 so it's hard to dial without looking. The buttons are large enough for midsized fingers. The bottom set of keys are really close to the rim of the phone so they can be tricky to press.
There is a known issue with earlier W580i in green that had cracking keypads due to the paint used. Luckily this phone hasn't had that problem yet after a couple months of use.
In hand
The W580i is a good size and comfortable to hold
Software
As i mentioned before, the W580i runs SE's proprietary OS. There are very little Rogers customizations like the left and right softkey can't be changed so it's stuck as Calls and Roger's music player.
The phone feels slow within the menus but the music/video player was more smooth and faster than the 5310.
Not much is different between the old W810i and the W580i so you can refer to my W810i review for details on the software.
Reception
The W580i supports all 4 GSM frequencies for world roaming.
Sound Quality
I experienced some problems with voice cutting in and out but none of my calls were dropped. Audio is loud enough but didn't increase enough in loud environments.
The Rogers firmware prevents you from using any MP3 as a ringtone. You must first DRM the MP3 using SE software or purchase MP3 ringtunes from Rogers.
Speakerphone
The W580i has loud speakers with no bass. The audio quality is not as good as the stronger W810i speakers. It also only plays mono through the speakers.
Headset use
The W580i sales package includes a stereo headset (color matching in pink too!) for the W580i's SE proprietary port. The 5610 also supports Bluetooth stereo headsets through A2DP but I wasn't able to test this.
Multimedia Features
Camera
The W580i has a 2MP (1600 x 1200 pixels) camera
The camera is protected by a plastic cover that's hidden when the camera is closed.
UI:
Since the W580i isn't a Cybershot, it uses the traditional SE camera UI with limited support for shortcuts and very little options.
The only other 2MP camera phone I have available is the venerable W810i. The main advantage of the W810i is its autofocus but it does take a longer time to take a photo since you can't disable autofocus and must wait for the focus.
Close up (W580i / W810i with macro)
Without autofocus, the W580i cannot get a sharp image of the grapefruit. The background cup looks sharp however. Colors are pale on the W580i but much too warm on the W810i.
Macro (W580i / W810i with macro)
Without macro mode, the W580i cannot focus and produces really bad photos. The W580i tries to mask this problem with blurring the noise. The W810i has noticable noise but sharp.
Dim (W580i with nightmode/ W810i with nightmode)
The W580i produced much more noise than the W810i but attempts to hide it with aggressive use of blurring.
Daylight (W580i / W810i)
Surprisingly the W580i produced a warmer and sharper photo than the W810i if you look at the cars. However the W580i still uses a little more blurring so the bricks are not as clear as the W810i. I prefer the photo with the W580i in this instance.
The photos produced by the W580i uses too much blurring to hide noise in all cases. There were no unreasonable shutter delay as those found on mid-ranged Nokia photos such as the 5610. Photo saving also takes a reasonable amount of space unlike the 6 seconds of the 5610.
The W580i camera produces impressive results in the daylight but the lack of autofocus and macro limits its use in close up photos. The W580i doesn't have a flash LED so you can't take photos in darkness.
External Memory
A 512MB memory card is included in the W580i. The memory card is accessible without opening the battery cover.
Battery
Battery is good but not impressive. The W580i lasts 3.5 days from full charge. Without a SIM card or placing the phone in flight mode, the phone lasted 5 days without a charge.
Ratings:
Performance...........6
Build quality...........8
Keypad...................6
Connectivity...............3
Features for $.........8 (Rogers $29.99 for 2 years)
Software................8
Camera..................8
Battery life.............4
Overall.....................7
PROS:
*Attractive exterior design
*Flexible SE OS
*Great build quality
*Decent camera images
CONS:
*Slow menu navigation
*No autofocus or macro mode in camera
*No 3G support.
*Complicated menu system
*No 3.5mm headset jack
*cheap battery cover
Overall the W580i is a great mid-ranged phone with a very compelling design and decent build quality. The W580i produces shockingly great images from its non-autofocus 2MP camera. The sluggish UI can be frustating to some people. I had some call quality issues but phone always reports full bars with the Rogers network in Toronto.
The firmware on my W580i is R8BE001 (the initial Rogers production firmware). The box contains the phone, Sony Ericsson Battery BST-38 900 mAh, travel charger CST-60, USB data cable, Sony Ericsson Stereo Headset HPM-70, 512MB Memory Stick Micro card, and Sony Ericsson CD with utilities and programs
The W580i is a very sleek thin slider running Sony Ericsson's proprietary OS.
Quick facts:
Name: Sony Ericsson W580i
Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Weight: 94 g
Dimensions: 99 x 47 x 14 mm
Battery life (stand by): 370 hours
Battery life (talk): 540 minutes
My phone was manufactured in: (your phone's country of manufacture could vary) Malaysia.
The W580i opened:
There are no keys on the right of the phone. The left side has a very recessed volume rocker which is hard to push since it's so thin. The top has a very recessed black power button on the keypad half that is difficult to push when the phone is opened.
Aesthetics
The W580i is a beautiful phone in pink. Unlike most manufacturer's who just change the faceplate and call it a new colour (like Nokia and RIM), SE has gone all the way with pink LEDs behind the D-pad and number pad, shiny pink plastic between the keys in the number pad, and a pink headset. A really great job by SE.
The W580i is a lot better looking than Nokia's 5610. SE did a lot better job in the use of colors.
The sides of the phone have very little grip so I push the slide from the bottom to open the slider.
Side featuring the LED:
Although it's a little tacky for a business phone, the LED looks OK for a personal phone
Opening the slider will automatically unlock the keyboard while closing the slider will display the lock option for the center, after a couple seconds of being closed the phone will auto key lock (change this at menu > settings >phone > automatic keyguard). Auto keyguard does not apply when the slider is open.
Sony Ericsson W580i to the Nokia E71
A good sized screen that keeps up with the big boys
Sony Ericsson W580i to the Motorola V3 RAZR
The W580i is impressively thin and definitely pocketable.
The sim card holder is not good with just a slot. Taking out the SIM is tricky as you need to push it in and slide:
The W580i has a creaks all over when you push on it from any two sides. The battery cover slid off a couple times so we had to tape it to the phone.
Display
The screen is a good size and resolution is at 240 x 320 pixels (2 inches) and can display up to 262,144 (18-bit) colors. But a major problem is the very slow refresh rate causing a lot of ghosting.
The W580i keypad is well lit with lighting even coming from the sides:
The W580i is recessed but fully exposed with no layer of glass or plastic to protect the LCD.
Keyboard
Upper half featuring the soft keys and D-pad:
Lower half featuring the number pad:
The raised outer rim around the D-pad makes pushing any direction difficult without using your nails. The soft keys are wobbly and don't feel very accurate in differentiating between the top and bottom buttons. The W810i soft keys feel a lot better than the W580i even though they are laid out the same. The bottom of the soft keys (back and C keys) are very close to the Walkman and task buttons making them feel odd pressing them.
The number pad is flush with the lower part of the phone without the usual notches on the number 3 so it's hard to dial without looking. The buttons are large enough for midsized fingers. The bottom set of keys are really close to the rim of the phone so they can be tricky to press.
There is a known issue with earlier W580i in green that had cracking keypads due to the paint used. Luckily this phone hasn't had that problem yet after a couple months of use.
In hand
The W580i is a good size and comfortable to hold
Software
As i mentioned before, the W580i runs SE's proprietary OS. There are very little Rogers customizations like the left and right softkey can't be changed so it's stuck as Calls and Roger's music player.
The phone feels slow within the menus but the music/video player was more smooth and faster than the 5310.
Not much is different between the old W810i and the W580i so you can refer to my W810i review for details on the software.
Reception
The W580i supports all 4 GSM frequencies for world roaming.
Sound Quality
I experienced some problems with voice cutting in and out but none of my calls were dropped. Audio is loud enough but didn't increase enough in loud environments.
The Rogers firmware prevents you from using any MP3 as a ringtone. You must first DRM the MP3 using SE software or purchase MP3 ringtunes from Rogers.
Speakerphone
The W580i has loud speakers with no bass. The audio quality is not as good as the stronger W810i speakers. It also only plays mono through the speakers.
Headset use
The W580i sales package includes a stereo headset (color matching in pink too!) for the W580i's SE proprietary port. The 5610 also supports Bluetooth stereo headsets through A2DP but I wasn't able to test this.
Multimedia Features
Camera
The W580i has a 2MP (1600 x 1200 pixels) camera
The camera is protected by a plastic cover that's hidden when the camera is closed.
UI:
Since the W580i isn't a Cybershot, it uses the traditional SE camera UI with limited support for shortcuts and very little options.
The only other 2MP camera phone I have available is the venerable W810i. The main advantage of the W810i is its autofocus but it does take a longer time to take a photo since you can't disable autofocus and must wait for the focus.
Close up (W580i / W810i with macro)
Without autofocus, the W580i cannot get a sharp image of the grapefruit. The background cup looks sharp however. Colors are pale on the W580i but much too warm on the W810i.
Macro (W580i / W810i with macro)
Without macro mode, the W580i cannot focus and produces really bad photos. The W580i tries to mask this problem with blurring the noise. The W810i has noticable noise but sharp.
Dim (W580i with nightmode/ W810i with nightmode)
The W580i produced much more noise than the W810i but attempts to hide it with aggressive use of blurring.
Daylight (W580i / W810i)
Surprisingly the W580i produced a warmer and sharper photo than the W810i if you look at the cars. However the W580i still uses a little more blurring so the bricks are not as clear as the W810i. I prefer the photo with the W580i in this instance.
The photos produced by the W580i uses too much blurring to hide noise in all cases. There were no unreasonable shutter delay as those found on mid-ranged Nokia photos such as the 5610. Photo saving also takes a reasonable amount of space unlike the 6 seconds of the 5610.
The W580i camera produces impressive results in the daylight but the lack of autofocus and macro limits its use in close up photos. The W580i doesn't have a flash LED so you can't take photos in darkness.
External Memory
A 512MB memory card is included in the W580i. The memory card is accessible without opening the battery cover.
Battery
Battery is good but not impressive. The W580i lasts 3.5 days from full charge. Without a SIM card or placing the phone in flight mode, the phone lasted 5 days without a charge.
Ratings:
Performance...........6
Build quality...........8
Keypad...................6
Connectivity...............3
Features for $.........8 (Rogers $29.99 for 2 years)
Software................8
Camera..................8
Battery life.............4
Overall.....................7
PROS:
*Attractive exterior design
*Flexible SE OS
*Great build quality
*Decent camera images
CONS:
*Slow menu navigation
*No autofocus or macro mode in camera
*No 3G support.
*Complicated menu system
*No 3.5mm headset jack
*cheap battery cover
Overall the W580i is a great mid-ranged phone with a very compelling design and decent build quality. The W580i produces shockingly great images from its non-autofocus 2MP camera. The sluggish UI can be frustating to some people. I had some call quality issues but phone always reports full bars with the Rogers network in Toronto.
Labels: review, sony ericsson
Continue reading "Sony Ericsson W580i Review" >>|
| Posted by Eric at 8:00 AM | Permalink
| 3 Comments
|
The Nokia N97 Widget Competition
Saturday, March 21, 2009
*updated*
A while ago, Nokia was accepting idea submissions for small mini-applications that run on a phone's home screen, called widgets, in their Nokia N97 Widget Competition. One winner will receive a N97 with their winning widget entry developed and running on the N97.
Since the submission deadline and preliminary voting had ended, Nokia has shorten the list to 50 widgets for everyone to vote. The widget receiving the most votes will continue along with 9 other widgets selected by the Forum Nokia panel to the grand prize.
I had submitted a few widget ideas for this competition and two out of nine of them made it to the short list:
Location based sightseeing/events
Wouldn't it be great to be somewhere and be able to find out that there's a free concert at the local park just 10 minutes? Using the GPS/AGPS of the user's Nokia device, the widget will transmit the user's location to a central server. The central will then return events happening close to the user's location and time
Ovi Local Notes
Leave your friends or everyone a note that will appear when they visit the same spot. So you can let everyone know that the pub just around the corner has great beer! Each note you create can be limited to your friends/contacts on Ovi or everyone + includes your location based on AGPS. Notes that appear are automatically updated based on AGPS.
There were a lot of quality submissions so I'm pretty happy to make it to the top 50. I hope I move on to the next round too.
You can go take a short list and vote for your favorite at: http://2009.nseries.com/competition/shortlist.aspx
There's a little quirk to the voting process: You choose one widget as your favorite, scroll to the bottom and click "Ready to Vote", then scroll to the bottom again to click "Submit Vote". You can only vote for 1 so make it count :)
*Update*
I found out this week that one of my designs made it to the top 10!
Location based sightseeing/events
Thanks to everyone who voted for me. Mine was picked by NSeries and Forum Nokia as one of the nine strongest ideas. So now my widget will be programmed by a team of talented developers from Forum Nokia on April 28, 2009 in Monte Carlo during the Nokia Developer Summit. The team will have 24 hours in what's called a Hackathon to code my widget then it'll go before a panel of judges to select a winner.
I'm really glad to see one of my ideas make it this far. I'm definitely eager to see my idea implemented into a real widget. Hope I go all the way!
*Originally posted 3/10/09 Continue reading "The Nokia N97 Widget Competition" >>
A while ago, Nokia was accepting idea submissions for small mini-applications that run on a phone's home screen, called widgets, in their Nokia N97 Widget Competition. One winner will receive a N97 with their winning widget entry developed and running on the N97.
Since the submission deadline and preliminary voting had ended, Nokia has shorten the list to 50 widgets for everyone to vote. The widget receiving the most votes will continue along with 9 other widgets selected by the Forum Nokia panel to the grand prize.
I had submitted a few widget ideas for this competition and two out of nine of them made it to the short list:
Location based sightseeing/events
Wouldn't it be great to be somewhere and be able to find out that there's a free concert at the local park just 10 minutes? Using the GPS/AGPS of the user's Nokia device, the widget will transmit the user's location to a central server. The central will then return events happening close to the user's location and time
Ovi Local Notes
Leave your friends or everyone a note that will appear when they visit the same spot. So you can let everyone know that the pub just around the corner has great beer! Each note you create can be limited to your friends/contacts on Ovi or everyone + includes your location based on AGPS. Notes that appear are automatically updated based on AGPS.
There were a lot of quality submissions so I'm pretty happy to make it to the top 50. I hope I move on to the next round too.
You can go take a short list and vote for your favorite at: http://2009.nseries.com/competition/shortlist.aspx
There's a little quirk to the voting process: You choose one widget as your favorite, scroll to the bottom and click "Ready to Vote", then scroll to the bottom again to click "Submit Vote". You can only vote for 1 so make it count :)
*Update*
I found out this week that one of my designs made it to the top 10!
Location based sightseeing/events
Thanks to everyone who voted for me. Mine was picked by NSeries and Forum Nokia as one of the nine strongest ideas. So now my widget will be programmed by a team of talented developers from Forum Nokia on April 28, 2009 in Monte Carlo during the Nokia Developer Summit. The team will have 24 hours in what's called a Hackathon to code my widget then it'll go before a panel of judges to select a winner.
I'm really glad to see one of my ideas make it this far. I'm definitely eager to see my idea implemented into a real widget. Hope I go all the way!
*Originally posted 3/10/09 Continue reading "The Nokia N97 Widget Competition" >>
|
| Posted by Eric at 9:02 PM | Permalink
| 1 Comments
|
