In a nutshell: The G900 combines a touchscreen user interface
and a stylus for handwriting recognition with a conventional keypad.
It's a 3G smartphone with great organiser functions, and also includes
a 5 megapixel camera, video camera, media player, Bluetooth, WiFi
and a memory card slot.
Review:
October 2008. Updated March 2009.
Although it seems to be quite popular in other
countries, the G900 hasn't really taken off in the UK. It's a 3G
Symbian smartphone with a combination of a normal keypad and a touchscreen.
It's perhaps more of a PDA than most phones, and it's definitely
a good phone for organising and messaging.
For a smartphone, it's reasonably compact and pretty
lightweight. It has a conventional keypad, but also has touchscreen
controls, and can even recognise handwriting - that's what the stylus
is for. The handwriting recognition takes some practice, but once
you get used to it it's a very quick way to enter text.
The phone has some powerful organiser functions
pre-installed and, being Symbian, you can download plenty of third-party
apps too. Useful features include a voice recorder, Opera web browser
and support for RSS feeds. With 160 MB of onboard memory and the
capacity to take microSD cards up to 4GB, you'll be able to store
plenty of stuff and use your phone to organise your day-to-day life.
Although it's not a Cybershot or Walkman phone,
it still comes with a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash,
plus a media player, so you have full access to core multimedia
features.
Connectivity is excellent, with Bluetooth and USB
available. The G900 also has WiFi support and 3G, although note
that it has triband GSM support, not quadband, and there's no HSDPA
support either. These seem to be illogical omissions.
We're not sure why the G900 isn't a popular phone
in the UK. You can see from the user reviews below that it is more
popular in other countries. We can't find anything particularly
wrong with it, other than the usual issues with Symbian phones,
i.e. a slow user interface with occasional freezing.
Features of the Sony Ericsson G900 include:
5 megapixel camera with LED flash, autofocus
and 16x digital zoom
Video camera with video light and video stabiliser
Display: TFT, 262,144-colour, 240 x 320 pixels
Media player
MP3/AAC ringtones
Speakerphone
Voice recorder
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email
3D Java games
Animated wallpaper
Opera web browser, RSS feeds, blogging
Personal organiser functions
Flight mode
Vibration alert
Memory: 160 Mbytes plus support for Memory Stick
Micro™ (M2™) (up to 4 GB)
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear
words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Average
rating from 59 reviews:
Reviewed by ray from HK on 3rd
Jul 2009
Things I hate about this phone: 1. You have to use touch screen
to end a call. 2. It takes eternity to start up. 3. Black screens
and freezes happen all the time. 4. Spontaneous reboots note: bought
it 7 months ago. Rating:
Reviewed by sexy from sexy on
12th May 2009
it sexy oh yea Rating:
Reviewed by Zumri from Sri Lanka on
2nd May 2009
It's Not Stylish. other whys no problem Rating:
Reviewed by lsb from uk on 26th
Apr 2009
i got this ohone about 10mths ago and it has been mal functioning
since november. I loved all the features and touchscreen initially
but not now. The touch screen gradually wouldn't work sometimes
and now not at all. I can make a call and use functions as long
as i can use butttons but can't end a call- have to switch it off.
A wise IT friend said to update it via sony software so did but
now can't use it at all because it requires touchscreen to confirm
language!!! Sony ericsson have said send it to their repair but
they need proof of purchase so a very expensive piece of plastic
as i bought it sim free. boohoo Rating:
Reviewed by hiiiii from fffffffff on
15th Apr 2009
I think its quite good!! Rating:
Reviewed by thoomb from UK on
11th Apr 2009
Fantatstic phone, i have owned a smart phone before and this is
far quicker, have not experienced any speed problems. camera is
very good quality, phone is packed with features, top of the range
phone and battery life is decent to. Very pleased with it! Rating:
Reviewed by hamid alam from Sudan on
4th Apr 2009
hi i have sony ericsson G900 but my touchscreen user interface not
work properly thanks hamid Rating:
Reviewed by bahram from iran on
31st Mar 2009
it is very good but slow. Rating:
Reviewed by jonesy from indonesia on
30th Mar 2009
this phone is a piece of junk. hate this phone, ive had it for less
than a year and it always restarts on its on and the battery sucks.
USELESS PHONE Rating:
Reviewed by mama from uk on 27th
Mar 2009
i bought one g900 sony phone and its not connecting with the sony
wakman series by bluetooth and with the laptops i dont know why
it is and the camera clarity is also not so good Rating:
Reviewed by debbie from greece on
24th Mar 2009
good camera though not as good as other 5mp.the touch screen is
actually useless because most of the "buttons" are TOO small for
fingers so you have to use the keypad anyway.the BIG problem though
is the transmitting aerial(i think that's what it is called!)my
phone almost allways appears to be off when someone calls me.but
good media player and radio.xx Rating:
Reviewed by antony from Indonesia on
16th Mar 2009
This phone is a sluggish snail man!.... How come some said it works
perfectly?? Rating:
Reviewed by Jason from UK on
13th Mar 2009
I have had this phone for about 6months now, it works fine but from
time to time it freezes, i only have one problem with it though...
dust gets into the phone and eventually onto the screen and its
starting to annoy me. Dont buy this phone Rating:
Reviewed by Ben from England on
13th Mar 2009
Rubbish Rating:
Reviewed by ricardo from comsta rica
on 10th Mar 2009
this phone didnt last 6months in good conditions. wireless started
to fail out of the blue - dont waste ur money on this. Rating:
Reviewed by amira aslan from malaysia
on 6th Mar 2009
DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!!! i hate it.this phone is slow. always hang.sometimes
it shut down by itself.i was so sad because it have problems in
saving picture.i cant play games on this phone coz i is sooo slow....so
i lost some valuable picture.the picture quality is soooooooooooo
bad....the camera is slow and takes along time to capture a picture.
my k810 is much much much better than this snail slow phone.i cant
stand a slow phone because it makes me feel tension! i am going
to buy a c702 tomorow.hope that phone is better. Rating:
Reviewed by richard from kenya on
5th Mar 2009
overall,its nt a bad 4ne,jst that its so slow,worse,i cant get the
damn flash on,nt unless i restore the phone to its factory settings..damn Rating:
Reviewed by Her from UK on 25th
Feb 2009
DO NOT BUY IT. i have had it for about two months and it doesnt
even work anymore. it restarts automatically, the screen goes purple,
it is so slow and the screen goes blank and you have to take the
battery out to get it to work. I would advise you not to buy it
because its a waste of money. Rating:
Reviewed by - from UK on 20th
Feb 2009
Well, I got mine from Hong Kong since June, and ever since, it has
worked perfectly fine. Rating:
Reviewed by ssgp from india on
24th Jan 2009
fine Rating:
Reviewed by Dimitris from Greece on
29th Dec 2008
Ok guys I'll be honest to you. DO NO NOT BUY THIS PHONE, IT'S NOT
WORTH. I bought this phone 2 days ago, after reading many reviews
and I decided to buy it because I was impressed with its features,
but I was really wrong. The phone has 5mp camera. SE are you sure
it's 5? My old SE K750 with 2mp take better photos. Believe me,
the quality of the photos is really bad. Video quality is in the
middle from bad to good. Media Player is ok. Touch screen is high-respond
and Wi-Fi not that fast. Video streaming is a complete rubbish.
Glithy videos on youtube. Also the Phone is very slow, really slow,
it takes from 3 to 10 seconds to do anything, I tried running a
Gameloft game and it run like I was playing in slow motion. I was
very dissapointed with this so I decided to update the phone's firmwire
from the program SE Upadate Service. And so I did but it didn't
change a bit. Not so slow but still slow. I tried to explore the
phone and it froze about 4 times. When I charged it for 2nd time
screen went black and then nothing. I removed the charger but the
screen was still black. I guess it self-destroyed its firmwire because
I tried anything even updating again but black screen again. So
I took it back and bought one of the best, if not the best, SE phones,
the K800 and I'm really happy. Its not that G900 was too advanced
for me, I'm gadget-maniac and G900 could be a better phone if they
paid more attention to its software. If you still wanna buy it don't
tell me I didn't warn you. I don't like this phone not because it
crashed, I didn't like it before it crashed. Use your brain my friends!
Why the heck do you want touchscreen on a phone? Is it really so
important to you? And why do you want the wi-fi? All of you have
a PC and internet! Don't get overexcited for a phone like this.
It's simple doesn't worth your time and money. Hope this review
helped, bye. Rating:
Reviewed by hmylan from ksa on
12th Dec 2008
i hate it , recharge batree not working Rating:
Reviewed by Faisal from United Kingdom
on 28th Nov 2008
I upgraded to this phone for over a month now, all applications
works perfect. Compare to M600 it has a camera and picture quality
is excellent as well as a video recorder. Handwritten recognition
is really good when you don’t want to use keypad to send messages,
also ideal when you want to write a quick note. For those with big
fingers you can use a stylus for a touch screen. The only odd thing
is when you apply a new theme from your memory card, this saved
straight to your internal memory and are not operated through memory
card like other phones. The phone is not very popular in UK because
it’s exclusive to Carphonewarehouse and only available in
O2 and Orange. It’s a best Business phone on the market, I
recommend this phone and give it a 5*. Rating:
Reviewed by Steffen from Norway on
28th Nov 2008
extremely slow and extremely enoying! The interface/layouts is a
bit off and becuse of it I tend to click my self in to unintended
menues and since its so slow it take ages to get out again and to
what i really want. And Why is the chargerheadphones plugg on the
side and not on the bottom? It makes it 10cm wide - my tumb cant
reach all buttons! But my fingers are still to fat for the small
tochscreen icons. So there I go agian in to an other unintended
menu. Oh Sh**! Its was fancy when I got it at work but now its snowing,
the train is late but I cant get the thing to call my boss becuse
its freezed up again. Out with the battery in the freezing cold
then.... Rating:
Reviewed by Chris Sparke from UK on
28th Nov 2008
I've owned a G900 since the day it came out in the UK after reading
excellent previews of it online. I have found it nothing short of
excellent with almost no problems of consiquence. There is a second
or two lag to every screen loading and menu's appearing, but if
you can live with that and be just a little bit patient with it,
it more than rewards you. The touchscreen is accurate and responsive,
allowing you to press tiny buttons (things designed to use the included
stylus with) with fingertips. It contains the majority of features
you would expect both of a Smartphone, and of Sony Ericsson. The
camera and media player are both excellent considering they are
basically add-on features on this phone. Syncing with Microsoft
Outlook for emails, appointments, remiders, etc. has made things
really easy to keep track of. The fact that it looks like a normal
Sony-Ericsson phone (just a block with rounded corners, screen and
a keypad) that is only a little bit bigger than a normal p hone
makes it brilliant for people who would like some of the features
of a Smartphone (e.g. syncing Calender with Outlook) but still want
to be able to use a normal phone. The phone has a good battery life,
in my experience (especially when considering it has a full touch
screen). Internet is as quick as I would expect and fairly easy
to navigate, although since the screen is no-where near as large
as an iPhone it obviously can't handle big pages as well. If you
want a smartphone, but are unsure about switching away from a convention
phone, then this might be the perfect solution. It's a Smartphone
in a Feature-phone body. Rating:
Reviewed by SteveyGTI from USA on
12th Nov 2008
I've had the G900 for 4months now. This is a perfect phone for staying
organised. The sticky-note pad is an excellent feature for spontaneous
note taking and reminders. You just write a note on your phone w/
yer stylus and save it. you can also set an alarm reminder with
each note, and create folders for notes and send notes as sms or
mms. the phone is equipped w/ Quickoffc,PDF app,Activesync, Blackberry
Svcs,Bluetooth,Wi-Fi business card scanner and so many other apps
good for you business professionals out there. Its rather easy and
user-friendly to navigate thru the phone. Use the touchscreen, D-pad
or #keys,. the camera/video features are great: AF,touchscreen AF,
multishot, panoramic, etc. the phone is thin, lite, hardly noticebale
and not flamboyant by any means. A+ for hardware and software apps.
Unfortunately, the phone can drag and be a little slow when navigating
thru the apps. It only has 160MB of RAM for all the apps that are
packed into this phone. It needs more RAM, like the Experia X1,
which has 256MB!! The G900 can support up to 8G of external memory
for excessive picture taking and music and podcasts listeners. Overall,
this is the best phone i've ever had. The handwriting recognition
w/ sticky-notes and 5.0 MP camera are my 2 fave features. Get this
phone if you arent a speed freak and dont mind the drag time of
navigating thru apps. The iphone is probably better for you if you
are particular about speed and brilliance of colour, but iphone
is a whole different story. Thanks for reading! Rating:
Reviewed by Lala from Philippines on
7th Nov 2008
I really love this phone. Every single detail is almost perfect
for me. I have to admit that this phone has some slight turn offs
but that's life everything has it's weakness...^_^ I LOVE IT!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Ursula A from South Africa
on 5th Nov 2008
I recently upgraded my phone to the G900 and it's great. I'm having
trouble with no sound coming through on ringtones, message alerts
etc, although the volume has been set. Using the handsfree there
is sound (just to test if there is sound). I've navigated through
settings etc & even turned the phone off and back on again, but
the sound still does not work on ringtones, message alerts etc.
Any suggesstions? Rating:
Reviewed by Harris from Malaysia on
19th Oct 2008
Love the phone... better than N series... Rating:
Reviewed by Dan from U.K on 18th
Oct 2008
I have had this phone for about a week now (I got it sim free on
the internet) Moving up from my k800i I had high expectations. These
were met in my opioion. I would agree with everything the review
above.Handwriting rec is impossible still cannot do it.I did have
inital problems getting used to the applications but I put that
down to myself rather than the phone. I haven't exprienced any of
the slow down that has been mentioned in the previous comments either.
For me this phone is a dwfinate step in the right direction for
SE Rating:
Reviewed by nic from uk on 17th
Oct 2008
It's not popular in the uk because you can't get it anywhere! There
seem to be no new phones being introduced even though they are everywhere
else in the world. :( Perhaps they're trying to get rid of the bulky
K850i and the novelty C902 overstock first? [Editor's comment: You're
right, nic. It's because the networks aren't selling it that no-one
in the UK has it!] Rating:
Reviewed by Omar from Malaysia on
16th Oct 2008
Received this phone as gift from my wife. Phone is slow, camera
picture quality not as good if compared to my previous SE W810i.
Always got problem with the mrouter. Anyway, will try to like it
as it has the touchscreen and Wifi... Rating:
Reviewed by krikke from belgium on
15th Oct 2008
LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE
IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, great phone of you know how to use him !!! Rating:
Reviewed by Ritche M from Philippines
on 7th Oct 2008
there are a couple of mods for this phone at the following forums:
1) esato.com 2) se-nse.net 3) persian-forums.com mods available:
1) camera mod 2) sound mod 3) alarm mod 4) etc... :) Rating:
Reviewed by Arianne Ruivivar from Sri
Lanka on 6th Oct 2008
OOG! It's superfragilistic. I love my Ham!! Rating:
Reviewed by Nick from Indonesia on
30th Sep 2008
Not nearly as good as the M600i. It has a few more features; wireless
& the camera, but it has not been designed as nearly as well. The
M600i had a fly wheel at the side for easy scrolling, and was easier
to operate. Not impressed by the camera either - bring back the
M600i. Rating:
Reviewed by roker from india on
28th Sep 2008
the poorest of all Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from Thailand on
22nd Sep 2008
Had this phone since July and love it. It does everything I ever
wanted a phone to be. I even bought two. One for me and one for
my wife and both work very well. Those that talk about it being
slow and not taking good photos were simply unlucky. The photos
aren't as good as a other camera phones but its designed to organize
your life and it does this well. Sure I had issues syncing the phone,
but that's the beauty of mobile phones today. I sync the phone with
my outlook calendar via goosync and easily get my email as well.
I use google maps on it and the media player software works great.
Even better is the speed of the wi-fi. In a city like Bangkok you
are never far from a free wireless connection. The touch screen
and buttons are very intuitive. If Thailand only had 3G networks
I'm sure it would work much better. For the price, it's well worth
it. Rating:
Reviewed by jepong from Philippines
on 20th Sep 2008
here in my country, SE phones rule! LISTEN PEOPLE, you have to try
this piece of technological breakthrough before you comment it bad...
we're the texting capital of the world, we have 89million of population
and over 2billion txt a day!!!! and this phone can cover this huge
RESPOSIBILITY.... buy one tomorrow folks Rating:
Reviewed by Katz7 from India on
18th Sep 2008
guys, i just got this phone not even a week back. and its sweet...
much much better than the N series. Its smart, sophisticated, good
looking and a brilliant handset. The touch screen is great,and the
wifi is superb. couple of things i didnt like in it are 1) the call
receive and end call is on the touch screen, 2) the volume of the
speaker isn't tha great, being a sony phone, other its a remarkable
piece of technology. Rating:
Reviewed by Avshash from Israel on
18th Sep 2008
Definitely not a good mobile. I don't recommend. not user friendly
at all. It does have good features on paper, but in reality this
mobile is very slow, the camera's results aren't good (although
it is 5megs). Was unable to assign rotated images to contacts (only
landscape!), media gallery is slow too. SO: Pros: Wifi works fast
(this is a web surfing mobile), full touch screen, Customizable
Symbian UIQ3 OS. Cons: Slow, not user friendly, poor pictures quality. Rating:
Reviewed by eyemole from UK on
18th Sep 2008
This is good phone.I really liked it. But I had some problems like
sound stops working sometimes. In this state phone USB detection
stops working and powering off also does not work. But surprizingly
other functions work well. I saw in this forum people talking about
new firmware. Could anyone please tell from where to get new firmware. Rating:
Reviewed by dna from UK on 16th
Sep 2008
Excellent phone. Those who've written bad things are simply incapable
of using it. It needs a firmware upgrade before use (I recommend
generic world1 as the everything works much quicker). This phone
is superb but needs getting used to. If you're not technical stick
with a toy phone like the N95. Applications open instantly from
the second time onwards as they stay open in the RAM. Its packed
with features which ALL work well. Battery life is adequate, reception
is fine. To sum it up - its a brilliant phone but may be too advanced
for some. Rating:
Reviewed by SimonF from South Africa
on 16th Sep 2008
I have had the G900 for a short while; it really is an outstanding
phone. Once set-up and yes; the SW needed to be updated to the latest
and greatest to resolve the response time... but the features and
all the options etc it's great. I would recommend this phone to
everyone that loves S.E, and for business use it’s absolutely
perfect. Rating:
Reviewed by Nezaras2000 from Syria on
14th Sep 2008
i bought this phone 1month ago and i like it, the camera is amazing
the touch screen perfect and the software is excited, the only things
i hated are there is no record a call when i talking and there is
buttons to answer u can only press on the touch screen but everything
else is great specially the battery so u feel it will not get empty
ever and never Rating:
Reviewed by MickeyC from UK on
12th Sep 2008
I've had my phone for the last two weeks and am really impressed.
I had the N96 and was more than happy to send it back for this phone....
A little trickey at first but now that I'm used to it its great!!
Updated the SW as soon as I got it wich was running a little slow
but with the latest update it's running like a dream... Never been
a fan of Nokia and will stick to Sony Ericsson all the way... Rating:
Reviewed by arak from cyprus on
8th Sep 2008
nice phone and i have it over 2 months with no problems at all Rating:
Reviewed by DM from Kuwait on
30th Aug 2008
This is the worst phone I have ever owned. I bought in June and
in August, it started to act up. It restarts itself on its own,
very slow respond, it lags a lot, the camera's performance is very
bad. the flash is not as good as the Sony Ericson's phone such as
K800i. You have to touch screen in order to answer your phone call
as there is not specified a actual button for answering. If you
want to answer the phone, you have to look for touch screen button
and touch it exactly as you might accidently do the opposite. This
phone is HIGHLY NOT recommended to anyone. Rating:
Reviewed by Nick from UK on 27th
Aug 2008
Probably the best phone SE have produced, NOT for those without
technical knowledge. All the problems I have read about on here
are down to user error, you need to read the handbook and get to
know what this phone can do. 5MP Camera is superb once you sort
out the settings, notepad and text handwriting is great BUT you
have to practise, don't expect to just get the phone, switch on
and be able to use everything without problems.Battery life is adequate
when you consider what the phone does, the touchscreen is excellent
and the keys are big enough to text, but handwriting makes this
obsolete once you have mastered it. Screen size great and memory
up to 8GB with M2 card. Phone lighter, slimmer and better than Nokia
N95, a great package. Rating:
Reviewed by Silas from Malaysia on
23rd Aug 2008
Got the Phone. Working fine after i update the software at www.sonyericsson.com.
it was slow when i got it. :) Rating:
Reviewed by nikolas from cyprus on
20th Aug 2008
sony ericsson g900 is a to good phone.it is to cheap [5 mega pixels
camera , wirles internet,touch and go]I LIKE IT:-) Rating:
Reviewed by Mahmud from Libya on
14th Aug 2008
Brilliant one of the best phone device in the world, good quiality
good response spicytially in new released software, the sound is
perfect I recommend it Rating:
Reviewed by fadzz from Lebanon on
14th Aug 2008
CJ dunno what ur talking abt, there IS a search function to it,
and the camera is pretty good, much better than the nokia n95,,
u have to tweak around with the settings though. software is slow?,
format it and do a software update and that'll solve the prb.. CJ
i suggest next time u get ur info right before posting stupid comments.
All in all great phone with great features,, recommended Rating:
Reviewed by kerry from united kingdom
on 12th Aug 2008
this phone is so good and slim it fits easily in your pocket and
takes up no space. it is one sleek sexy phone. it is gorgeous Rating:
Reviewed by saeed from uk on
8th Aug 2008
i got this phone its not really slow, i recomened its no bad phone.
i like it........ Rating:
Reviewed by CJ from England on
2nd Aug 2008
Ok - I have had this phone for 1 month now - and not impressed.
I was impressed to start with but here is my list of problems: 1.
Software slow - gets very boring waiting for messages etc to open
2. Camera rubbish - 5MP? 2MP cameras way better 3. No search function
in contacts - so have to remember everything by surname 4. Worst
of all - signal!! What is going on? I have not had a conversation
on this phone without being cut off for about 2 weeks - I even phoned
Vodafone to see if a mast was down. Overall it seems to try to do
everything (slowly) but the one thing it can't do is actually be
a phone!! E-bay here I come.. CJ Rating:
Reviewed by carly from america on
27th Jul 2008
this phone is the worst phone ever made in history like!!!! ok its
alright to show off to friends but i cant actually work the thing
like!!! because of all of its retarded features its the slowest
thing ever like, like i press a button and it it takes 40 minutes
to buck up like, my advice is like to stay about 100000000000 miles
away from this stylish but worst phone ever, the camera is horrific!
it doesnt even take pictures like, never rely on this phone like
it is retarded! Rating:
Reviewed by jordan nesfield from england
on 25th Jul 2008
i bough this phone at 20 july i looked good but it froze so much
time i tryed to say it wll stop so i took this back a got c902 Rating:
Reviewed by MacDavish from Mauritius
on 21st Jul 2008
Ya zats z type i was really waiting for. Zo it doesn't hav a nice
outlook & colour like the C902 but the features, 5 MGApixel camera
& 128 RAM memory compensate it all. just love it. Bzw still waiting
wen wil Sony Ericsson put mor zan 262k TFT colours in zer new mobs. Rating:
