Review: Sony Ericsson P990i

Sony Ericsson P990i Review

Phone rating:

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Sony Ericsson announced their flagship phone, the P990i way back in 2005. It was eagerly awaited for nearly a year before it finally appeared, and frankly, it wasn't worth the wait. The new Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia looks set to be a better phone.

The P990i is the upgraded version of the very successful P910i PDA-style smartphone, and incorporates a number of new features, including 3G, WiFi, an upgraded camera and an FM radio. In fact, the P990i has just about every imaginable feature. It's the ultimate phone! Or is it?

As soon as the P990i was announced, it was obvious that Sony Ericsson had taken away one of the most popular features of the P910i - its huge screen. The P990i has a smaller screen, with a full QWERTY-style keypad in the lower half of the device. This design has split the P-series community. Some like the new design, or are willing to tolerate it: many hate it. The P990i also has a downgraded version of the popular jog-dial control. The P990i has a 3-way jog dial instead of the 5-way jog dial used on the older model. This was done apparently in response to user feedback, but judging from the user reviews below, it's another unpopular decision.

The design of the P990i incorporates a conventional numeric keypad which can be flipped open or removed to reveal the full QWERTY alphanumeric keypad beneath. In addition to key-based data entry, the p990i has a touch-sensitive screen with a stylus to operate an onscreen virtual keyboard. Most users seem to prefer this to the real keyboard. The phone also has support for handwriting recognition. The 3-way jog dial can be used for scrolling and selecting and most phone functions can be accessed without opening the flip.

The P990i uses the Symbian 9.1 operating system, making it into a powerful multi-tasking device. Sony Ericsson intended the P990i to be a genuine mobile office, and the device really does come close. An advanced contacts and calendar application is incorporated, which can be wirelessly synchronised using WiFi/Bluetooth. With every conceivable type of connectivity included (3G, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, USB, infrared and Fast Port) you can connect to any other device and use the phone as a high-speed wireless modem to connect your laptop to the internet. The USB connection supports mass storage and drag and drop functionality.

The P990i is the first 3G P-Series, and it supports the full range of 3G functionality, including video calling as well as fast internet access. There are two cameras on the P990i: a forward-facing camera for video calling, and a 2 megapixel camera on the rear. This is the same type of camera first used in the Sony Ericsson K750i: a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, a photo light and a digital zoom. It makes the VGA camera installed on the P910i look like a joke. The phone is supplied with Adobe PhotoShop 2.0 Starter Edition, for editing photos on a PC. A novel business application that make use of the camera is a card scanner that uses the integrated camera together with OCR software to store digital versions of business cards in phone contacts. There's more functionality in the P990i that you can shake a stick at. Examples include a high quality music & media player with support for Bluetooth stereo headsets, an FM radio with RDS, a speakerphone, a polyphonic ringtone composer and 3D Java games. Push email gives secure access to corporate or personal email, and a document viewer lets you both view and edit attachments. An Opera web browser is included, and there is support for RSS feeds, VPN (Virtual Private Network) and even virus protection, file encryption and a built-in firewall. The internal memory is 60 Mbytes, with a 64 Mbyte Memory Stick PRO Duo™ provided, and this can be expanded to 4 Gbytes. Memory Stick Duo™ is also supported.

As this is a Symbian-based phone, there are plenty of third-party applications available. Sample applications supplied include Audible (download and listen to spoken editions of books, magazines and newspapers), SlovoEd (multilingual translation tool), IntelliGolf (golfing assistant) and WorldMate (travel information service).

But now for the negatives, and there are several of these - quite serious ones. We've already mentioned the unpopular design, with a reduced size screen and QWERTY-style keypad. Most users find that the virtual keyboard or handwriting recognition are more effective ways of entering text. Apart from this, the really big disappointment now that the P990i is finally available in the shops is the buggy firmware. Considering the fact that the launch of the phone was delayed by about nine months, you'd think they'd have got this sorted by now. But as you can read from our user reviews, the phone is slow, buggy and crashes frequently. One of our users put this rather nicely: Miran Ali wrote that "if you buy this phone prepare to be saddled with a software more unstable than a virus ridden windows 95". It's also a rather slow interface. The third big problem with the phone is the dire battery life. You'll probably get about a day's use out of it on average.

For a flagship phone it's disappointing, especially when you consider how long we've been waiting for it. Maybe Sony Ericsson will get the firmware problems sorted soon. Maybe not. In the meantime, be careful if you're seriously considering buying this phone.

Features of the Sony Ericsson P990i include:

• 3G smartphone (Symbian 9.1)
• 2 megapixel digital camera with autofocus, 2.5x digital zoom and photo ligh
• Video camera (30 frames/second)
• Display: TFT, 262,144 colours, 240 x 320 pixels
• Stereo music & media player
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• MP3 & AAC ringtones
• MusicDJ (polyphonic ringtone editor)
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, email
• Speakerphone
• Conference calling
• Sound recorder
• Caller ID (photo ID)
• Advanced personal organiser functions
• 3D Java games
• Flight mode
• Vibration alert
• WAP 2.0, GPRS
• Memory: 60 Mbytes plus 64 Mbytes Memory Stick PRO Duo™ - also supports Memory Stick Duo™
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB mass storage, Infrared, Fast port, WLAN 802.11b
• Triband plus 3G
• Size: 114 x 57 x 25 mm
• Weight: 150g

Sony Ericsson P990i Consumer Reviews

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 100 reviews:

Reviewed by Bollinge from England on 3rd Dec 2006
I have been waiting for this phone for about eighteen months, and despite the reviews here, ordered one from Orange. They released it a couple of months after the other networks 'cause they have their own software package. Having used it for a couple of days, it seems their software is as bad as everyone else's. The phone locks up several times a day - sometimes you have to take the battery out to re-boot it. The battery packed up around 5pm yesterday, from being fully charged at 9 am with only moderate use. (My P910i lasts for three days). Anyway, the battery is miniscule; around half the size of a P910i. Agree about the call accept button: I have cut several people off. Camera is very slow and idiosyncratic. Sometimes great pix and other times poor exposure and out of focus. Cannot link it via Bluetooth to my laptop, long calls to a "helpline" in prospect. Cannot access my WLAN at home, "unable to connect", although picked up the unencrypted WLAN in the pub OK. Call Orange: "We don't support WLAN connections". No Orange backup facilty "software has not yet been written". FM (RDS!) radio has poor reception. Very dificult to navigate around. I put some pix on the memory card from my old phone, but cannot find how to display them. 3G coverage patchy, but when you have got a signal it can all work great until it crashes. Linked it via USB to my laptop, synched them and surprisingly my favourites from I.E. appeared on the phone web browser. So there are some good features. I have a 7 day trial. Will I send it back? At the moment it's 50/50.
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Reviewed by Hector from Malta on 1st Dec 2006
Ok we all now know that this phone is absolute junk!!! What ticks me off is that the average review star rating makes the phone look not too bad. BEWARE this is because the first reviews to be written by people who did not actually own one!. It would be interesting to see what they now have to say, if they actually purchased this junk
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Reviewed by Louie from USA on 29th Nov 2006
this phone is utter TRASH. sure it may have loads of options and far ahead compared to other smart phones. But what good is it when the phone keeps crashing ? any fool who reviews this phone more then 1 star obviously didnt use it more then a week. i had mine for aboue 3 months now. it is nothing but problem after problem, internet crashing, messaging crashing, it even crashes just sitting there doing NOTHING! i think everyone who writes or reads these reviews need to go to the SE website and just forward the review. All it will take is a simple software rewrite that can be downloaded and updated to yoru phone. but they will never do it unless we all complain. So each person that reads and writes a review. just email sony on their web page. with enough complaints they will fix each bug. DONT let them just wait a whole year then come out with a p995 or something like that. i paid $900 for this phone, its worthless. in fact i went back to my p910. seriously.. this item should work. but its worthless. anyone who buys it after reading these reviews. you deserve the peice of crap they made
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Reviewed by xen from Germany on 29th Nov 2006
I used to work as a contractor at Ericsson in the early 90s. They were a great company to work at and since them I am brand loyal and always had Ericsson phones. I owned the P800, P910 and now the P990. This has now cured me. I will happily buy another make after this phone. Hope someone from Sony-Ericsson takes note of these reviews. Not only is the software badly designed and full of bugs, but also really stupid. Why can't you install backups from previous phones? You'd think SE would want to lock you in. If you drop your P series phone full of your data, you should be able to buy a new better phone and restore the backups. Now you may as well buy a Nokia and you probably won't have more work to do. The hardware is mostly OK. I am hoping for a radical rewrite of the software. Example problem: the phone runs out of battery very fast because the backlight comes on at half strength when a button is pressed, i.e. always in my pocket.
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Reviewed by - from - on 28th Nov 2006
Amazing how many of the "reviewers" go on about how great the hardware is, the screen, etc. Well, what does it matter if the software is total crap. All of you who swear that "it's a great phone" have probably never used it. It even crashes randomly just sitting in the cradle, doing nothing but regular email pull from a standard IMAP account. DO NOT BUY IT. I've had a QTEK 9100, a Nokia E70, and a QTEK 9600 (TyTn) this year. The Nokia E70 is completely unusable for a business user (4 lines of email text visible...), the QTEK 9100 is just slow and the Outlook version is unreliable (SMTP fails randomly), the QTEK 9600 just has a bad camera (auto white balance doesn't work outdoors). I was hoping that the P990 is better. After even one week: Give me a Microsoft phone any day, it sucks as well but at least it doesn't crash doing nothing.
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Reviewed by Kay from UK on 28th Nov 2006
Stick with the P910i
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Reviewed by Hector from Malta on 28th Nov 2006
I previously owned the P900 and the P910, so I eagerly purchased the 990i. In all my years of mobile telephony I have never been more disappointed with a mobile than with this one! Apart form the frequent crashes and auto termination of programmes, I found out that the mobile gave even more trouble when I inserted a 1gig Sony memory card, and became unbearable. But of all these inconveniences the one which is really stiupid is the fact that to answer the phone one has to hit a particular button, well this same button moves two ways, one way you answer and the other you reject the call. So hitting this tiny button 2 mm off the centre will reject the call you intended to answer.!!##@@
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Reviewed by Zeus from UK on 27th Nov 2006
I write this review having owned the previous P800 and P910i, with which i was impressed with. The P990i surely feels a step forward and 2 steps back. By this I mean i surely felt i was upgrading with out a doubt as the previous phones only got better and gave me more. I understand that the new P990 is plugged with fancy bits including wifi, rss, better functionality with regards to the contacts etc... However i feel a little cheated as none of my accumulated software for the P910 will not work as per the operating system change... well thanks for symbian 9.1 & UIQ 3... but I always thought a downward compatability would be the most logical thing to do as majority of the P990 customers would be upgrading like myself.... Also having waited so long for it - they could of gave us a 3.2m pixel camera....
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Reviewed by Ellen from - on 25th Nov 2006
i trade my p910i to p990i... wel at first, it is great but in just a few days, it is working so slow that i wished i didn't trade my p910i to p990i!buy p910i rather than this phone!
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Reviewed by dan from uk on 24th Nov 2006
Some of these reviews have got it right: do not buy this phone It looks great at first: light, good styling, great screen, good video, has a radio and 2 MP camera. BUT - it is a useless PDA and phone clearly released with zero usability testing: - you cannot access your diary / contacts while on the phone - there are way too many levels of information to stop you getting what you want, e.g. you click to write a message, and it asks you 'Voicemail or SMS' - which is more likely I wonder? A total waste of time - It crashes and at the time of writing my phone is DEAD and I have to send it to Banbury for 10 days: total waste of time - Its very slow to load any applications - It chews up the battery - all in all: do not buy, please, save your time, energy and patience
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Reviewed by Larry from UK on 24th Nov 2006
The P990i has problems at the moment, that's undoubted - there are serious problems with the firmware that SE need to correct. However, with all the genuine problems to comment on, I find the site review above seriously misleading on a couple of accounts. Firstly, the screen is not significantly smaller than the P910's. It's shorter yes, by 10mm, but it's also wider. It's *also* higher resolution, meaning that in pixels it's actually larger than that of its predecessors. I'm not sure how you could not be aware of that unless, and this seems impossible, you actually reviewed the phone without seeing or using it. You wouldn't do that, would you? I'd have thought not, but you then go on to suggest that people are happier using the on-screen keyboard than the nice big proper keyboard built in to the phone. This is an absolutely absurd statement to make - the virtual keyboard on this and every previous UIQ phone is practically unusable, with tiny on screen buttons - why would you imagine that anyone would prefer to use that over literally ANY other text input method? Bearing in mind that this phone actually has FOUR, including a full qwerty keyboard which, if you'd used it, you know was actually very nice. [Editor's reply: the screen may have more pixels, but that doesn't change the fact that the P990i has lost almost half its available space by the placing of the keyboard. Regarding the value of the keyboard, that is subjective, and as you say, there are four methods of text entry, which is three more than most phones. Our review does not state that this design is bad, but it reflects the split in the P-series community between those who find the new design useful and those that do not. You can see for yourself if you read the user reviews on this page that the majority of users disagree with your viewpoint. We are always very happy to publish diverse opinions on this site, and thank you for taking the time to criticise our review.]
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Reviewed by Paul H from UK on 24th Nov 2006
The first question is how did I end up on this site writing a review? Simple answer, I own a P990i. Since buying I have spent hours, maybe days surfing the web to find fixes, patches or other updates to solve the many problems I have encountered, and today I landed on this site while continuing my search for solutions to crashes, hang up’s, call completion issues, PC connectivity problems, and maybe I’m at the stage of searching for a shoulder to cry upon! Perhaps I’m just too choosy, perhaps I split hairs, but as a previous owner of a P800, 900 and 910, I have become accustomed to owning a stable and easy to use Sony-Ericsson Smartphone, which I have doused in water, dropped, installed/uninstalled software upon, upgraded, changed settings a million times upon, added and removed devices and synchronised pretty much without any failure to perform, at the moment my long awaited 990i just is not in this category. However, I will persevere: Why? The phone offers pretty much everything a power user could want: I do use push email (3 accounts), I do synchronize with Outlook 2003, I browse in Wi-Fi hotspots and talk to my friends and family overseas using VoIP and IM, photograph my surroundings, use 3G for video calls, I do hang several Bluetooth devices off it and even use the fast port connection too! In fact I pretty much use and live with every feature of this device, and yes, despite frustrations am willing to wait until S-E resolve the fore mentioned issues and revise the OS to a more user friendly version. Why? Simply put, when functioning correctly the phone is stunning in terms of functionality, 10mm of screen size less than its predecessor or not, this handset is undoubtedly streets ahead of any other Smartphone. My only problem now is to rate this as 0 or 5 star! Ask me after the next crash, or the next time I complete an international WI-FI VoIP call successfully, and the answers will be very different!
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Reviewed by john from england on 23rd Nov 2006
well dont know where to start ,had the p800, p900, and the p910i,, free upgrade to 990i, was anxious regarding reduced screen size but not put off by neg press. how wrong can i be, the features if worked all the time great ,but they dont! ive gone back to my old phone and my 13yr old daughter now the proud owner of a good camera,mp3 player courtesy of this phone, given this poor new product, exploding laptop batteries and delay of ps3 in britain sell sony shares!
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Reviewed by larathabal from greece on 24th Nov 2006
if the whole world will run out of computers i will buy one of those who ericsson or sony ( which is japanese son-ne=means lose money) called it phone, my brother hav one and he also wondering how is capable of using it, anyway ericsson phones never been user friendly so why this one?? i hate to say but sorry dudes i hav been fan of ericsson but now i believe, that nokia is taking charge!! i still hav nokia 3220 its not superb but enough good for my needs, and quite fast! if i wanted a sattelite i will buy a sony":)
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Reviewed by phil radford from UK on 23rd Nov 2006
Well what can I say about my new Sony Ericsson P990i? After running most of the PDA type range from Sony Ericsson. It all started with my first Sony Ericsson P800, then Sony Ericsson P810, Sony Ericsson P900, Sony Ericsson P910i, and now on to the Sony Ericsson P990i but not for long. I have tried to like this phone but it has been the biggest disappointment I have had for a long time. I know that the P990 is a replacement for the P910 but it’s so far removed its unbelievable. For me the problems with the P990 is its software/operating interface its just dam…………………! (Sorry but if you have had the misfortune to run a P990 you will know the words to use.) I find it impossible to work with and its impractical for day to day use, what do I mean? If one has to go through umpteen menus just to make a speed dial or any kind of call without having to study your phone first its impractical full stop. When making or receiving calls one tends to accidentally catch the camera button. When one ends the call, that’s when one of the P990 lock ups occurs and the only way one can get out of the lock up is to remove the battery and reboot. The next thing for me is when one is trying to put a photo on a quick dial before one can select the desired photo it comes up with application closed. For me one of the mean reasons for having a stylus type phone is not to have any of them daft little joy sticks and buttons that just keep packing up, just like the wife’s Sony Ericsson T610. Using the P990 as a phone with speed dial. It just takes too long to find speed dial. Speed dial means speed dial and not menu after menu dial, I know there is one but its buried so deep in the menus that I just cannot find it quickly. It needs to be move up the menus so it can be one touch Speed dial and I mean 1 touch. I was hoping all my problems was isolated to this phone alone but after reading the above I don’t think so. List of my faults and problems. 1. Photos are out of focus when looking a smallish lettering. 2. Clock keeps losing time. 3. Blue tooth and WiFi Internet connectivity problems crashing the phone. 4. When answering calls some times disconnects instead of connecting or sends busy. 5. Battery life is just to short. 6. The fixed keypad must be some kind of joke or maybe this is not a PDA phone. 7. The phone is just to slow. 8. What is that razed bit on the side of the wheel all about it gets in the way. 9. Screen is now too small. 10. Ring volume to low. 11. Why have you put the stylus on the left? (Must have been a left-handed designer) I just cannot go on with this list as it’s depressing me all most to tears. I know some are petty but valid. After all I have hung on to my poor old 910 for many months running it into the ground knowing that the new one is coming. If only one could put in to wards the face smacking gut wrenching disappointment this new P990 has left me feeling. Some great bits. 1. I love the key lock slider. 2. Nice light for camera. 3. Love lens cover. 4. Like new location for the power button, was a problem for me on the P910. Needles to say totally disappointed in the software. I will not be keeping this phone going back to my fully restored P910i. Sony its time you recalled all the P990’s or do some thing with the software/operating interface. One thing in particular put a one-touch speed dial or is there one but its buried so deep in the menus that I just cannot find it quickly. And I mean 1 touch.
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Reviewed by Jak from UK on 23rd Nov 2006
this phone is amazing. at first i was disapointed and got confused with it quite frequently i even threw it accross the room a few times but after a while it grew on me and once i figured it all out i found that it is quite a good phone give a chance and all you idiots figure out all of it before you post your reviews.
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Reviewed by Pete from UK on 21st Nov 2006
I really want this phone to be good, infact it would be nice if even average but it pains me to say that it is absolute Junk, its not even heavy enough to be a door stop. I've had mine for 2 months, I had a P800 before then nokias in between. The symbian software seems soo un intuitive, its an absolute dog to use, When trying to wrestle it out of the case to answer its all too easy to acidently reject the call, the software is buggy as hell as well as trash. Here's a list of errors with mine still un resolved. P990i Problems 21_11_06 (on Vodaphone) 1.Call monitor fails to log all calls - some are logged and some are not? no obvious pattern for this 2.Clock keeps apauling time , losses around 3 minutes a week. I had a wind up Timex as a child that was more accurate 3. Answer button randomly disconects incomming calls when pressed, other person is told that I have disconnected. I then have to try and call them back which doesn't always work 4. phone lock code is randomly asked for when trying to answer a call before it will bring up the menu that allows me to answer. Normally by the time ive entered the code then pressed the 'Done' button, its too late to answer the call as its gone to voice mail 5.After using a blue tooth headset (sony ericsson) the phone then won't revert to using its built in ear piece and speaker, often then crashes when trying to get it back on with the only solution being to remove the battery and restart the machine. 6. Answer key does not work with Sony ericsson blue tooth head set, the same head set works perfectly fine with other head sets, even a nokia! It does work fine with the ear piece version supplied however. 7. The speaker phone option randomly fails to work, usually it works initially however eventually it decides not to work despite be available and selected in the menu, the only way to get it working is to switch the phone off and back on again. 8. Generally the software is diabolical, if somebody calls whilst writing a text it dissgards the text and I have to start again. If the text is longer than a standard single text message, it warns me when I try to send it (which is fine) then I am left with 2 choices, either send it as a multiple text, or cancel it in which case it deletes the text, there is no option to edit the text back into a single text message length. I have given the phone a 1 star rating only because there is not an option for zero stars. Its trash, Sony Er' should be ashamed of it, its been released before the bugs were sorted and the usibility assessed and properly developed.
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Reviewed by Peter Sheriff from UK on 21st Nov 2006
Have had P990 for about 2 months. Have upgraded software numerous times from SE website (no new firmware for weeks) and problems continue. Phone crashes, restarts without warning. Locks up without you realising then after you restart phone you get loads of missed calls, sms & emails. I searched the internet yesterday looking for solutions and found Swiss Mgr Pro by cellphonesoft.com - since downloading this software it has stopped the P990 crashing by closing down unused programs and background software automatically, releasing RAM. It's early days yet but it certainly seems to have made a big differece so far. If anyone else has the same problems I would recommend the Swiss Mgr Pro (its free for a trial). I'm a big fan of the SE smartphones but when the phone crashes again and again enough is enough - I'm going to give the software a chance before throwing the phone in the bin. It's a shame because I waited months for the P990 to come out and it's reliability is a big dissapointment.
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Reviewed by Leo McCauley from Donegal, Ireland on 19th Nov 2006
Not a patch on its predessor P910i. I only have used it mostly for phone functions - calls do not connect, CAlls are made where the receipient can hear me but I cant hear them. Menu is rubbish (especially in comparison to P9101) So many layers to find functions that were on the desktop of 910i please some one suggest a better smartphone
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Reviewed by Andrew from London on 18th Nov 2006
well, after my previous rubbish nokia and the increasing pressures of uni life, i needed a phone which could help all aspects of my now hectic lifestyle. Enter the p990i It has everything one could want in a phone. great battery( apart from playing games or being on the net for long periods), FM RADIO, touch screen, blackberry,push email, a geat camera and video player, great games for times of boredom, a music creator, an innovative scroller wheel on the side, and the usb connection for the PC. i apologise now for anything els i have missed out. This phone keeps me wel organised an on track of any other engagements i do have, since i am not your typical run of the day uni student but one who has much to do and many people to see. it has that WOW factor about it. and appearance is very sleek and the flip down QWERTY keyboard is quite a gd bonus as well. Aside from the grand scale of things, the p990i, also has its problems. the phone crashes for absolutely NO reason and it becomes a nuisance waitin for it to restart or reboot or you even have to take the battery out after waiting an incredulous 20mins. the phone life battery can drain quickly, but there is no need to constantly be tappin away at it and sapping its dear life. it also takes about 2-3 days to get used to the interface and trying to find out where everything is. The addition of the office installments and ability to view pdfs is a grand help esp to myself as i can quickly skim over adobe docs quickly on the train and familiarise myself later in the evening when i get home to my PC. i love my smart phone. So aside from the problems with the phone, the benefits do outweigh the costs, a little patience is necessary though when you 1st purchase it but afterwards its a really nice and smart piece of kit. 8/10 ;)
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Reviewed by Michael LeNoir from usa on 18th Nov 2006
I have owned the P800, and the P910. In fact I gave my P910 to my best friend when the box arrived with the P990. Now our frienship is threatened as I try to get it back. There is nothing intuitive about the P990. The infrastucture menus are baffling at times. Nothing connects without several hours of learning curve. You are constantly looking for the commands where they should be....the battery drains quickly...and I get an install error every time I try to install meaningful software. Look for me on EBAY
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Reviewed by Freda from UK on 17th Nov 2006
Dont you have "0" star for this lovely piece of architecture. I never read the reviews on the net before buying this masterpiece. all i can say its useless mobile phone slow, crashes and battery is less than 3 hours. DONT BUY ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT TO SUE SONY PEOPLE.
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Reviewed by Kourosh from uk on 17th Nov 2006
I have had the p900, p910 and I just got the p990 I must say I am not happy with it and am going to send it back tmw... the problem is working with the phone has become less user friendly... but has some great functions... the new keypad has great keys for the numbers but the top buttons are terrible… software does crash sometimes… if only they kept the same functionality as the p910i with the extras… I would have been much happier…
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Reviewed by dgoodguyisback from London, UK on 15th Nov 2006
This is really a good phone. I have placed so many reviews in the past and my reviews have come to be regarded very highly. It is true that sometimes the phone has some software or should I say operating system crashes, but then which phone doesn't. Even mainframe computers with complex and elaborate protection also crash. So, What are you all yapping about? This is the best featured communicator today. It has a good ergonomic design, nice camera, good display (SVGA), Symbian operating system UIQ, Wi-Fi and a host of other very sweet features, designs, and specs . The only upset here is the reduced screen size and badly placed key-pad. WHy couldn't Sonyericsson leave the P910 design intact? P910 was really an innovation. The key pad in P990 is anachronistic in character to the other laudable features mentioned earlier. All in all, a good phone. Take it from me. I give you 4 stars, my sweetie, SE P990
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Reviewed by Johnny A from UK on 14th Nov 2006
I've just bought a Sony Ericsson P990i(UK issue) and so far I'm pleased with it, especially after having been a confirmed NOKIA user for years. Unlike many users here, I haven't been spoiled by using the previous P-series phones - a mate had the P900 (handwriting recognition, et al) and loved it, boring everyone around him to tears! The phone is impressive, with loads of features which I'll take my time to get used to, including handwriting recognition. It retains power from the battery well and I love the business card scanner, MP3 player, bluetooth and the navigator dial on the side is ok, if you take the time to learn to use it. So far the P990i seems to pick up signals even in poor areas (I'm now on O2 after being on Virgin which may help explain this.) My friend with the P900 told me that TomTom satnav software can now be installed on the P990i so I'll be doing that soon. His P990i is now on order after learning about that! The down side? The software sometimes freezes on SMS messaging on rare occasions & it is slow to boot up compared to my NOKIA (I'm getting a 2nd-hand 6230i as a backup to my Sony in a few weeks) but given the loads of features on board, this can be allowed & it's still very good. It's a bulky phone compared to my NOKIA and there doesn't even appear to be a carry-case available for it yet! (unless someone else knows different out there!) Sony should be able to fix that easily, surely? The Sony navigation menus are not as intuitive as the NOKIA ones - then again, who's is? Take a leaf from your camcorder development team Sony! I've got one which is excellent. I agree about the P990i's memory card duo slot - the slot cover does look fragile - I hope Sony will make replacement parts and covers to easily renew it or make them from more durable materials (Black & red are good colours to start rather than just boring old silver.) Sony should also provide a free anti-scratch cover for the screen in the box. Seems obvious to me. Having said all that, I waited 9 months for the UK issue of the P990i and so far, I'm not disappointed. It's still the only smartphone worth getting in the UK market. So come on Sony! Sort out the niggles please, and you've got the makings of a winner. But there is room for improvement re: speed, size/profile and ease of use. If not, I can see myself returning to Nokia again when I next upgra de. I'll put in another review once I've learnt to use the more advanced features (email, etc.) and have had a chance to use it outside of the UK. If anyone can pass on any tips/useful features for the P990i ESPECIALLY how to install the TomTom software yourself on it, I'd be very grateful. My email addy is: jaco0639@hotmail.com Tks Johnny A
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Reviewed by bob from - on 13th Nov 2006
this phone is gr8 not 4 dum ppl tho
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Reviewed by Julian from UK Dunstable on 12th Nov 2006
Got P990i few days ago.... It is for people with brain. Stop being negative about it...Just because you ain't bright emought to use it. It is packed with features... Learn how to them and you are on your way.... I love the phone
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Reviewed by Collin from - on 12th Nov 2006
It was ok i suppose...
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Reviewed by Miran Ali from UK on 12th Nov 2006
My primary purpose of buying this phone was as a pda. The back up and synch functions actually work this time which is a major improvement. But if you buy this phone prepare to be saddled with a software more unstable than a virus ridden windows 95. I think sony shouldn't have launched this phone without first stabilising their software. My reccomendation is the Nokia E63 if you want all the functions of the P990i on a stable platform. Only drawback is the camera.
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Reviewed by Geoffrey Carter from United Kingdom on 10th Nov 2006
Whether it's for business, or pleasure, or both as is meant to be in the case of the long-awaited P990i, consumers have right to expect that their phone will work. Even allowing for the fact that smartphones are more complex, especially if they also offer high resolution cameras, Wi-Fi, FM radios etc., Sony Ericsson's firmware has managed to render both phone and PDA functions near on impossible to use. UIQ 3 and Symbian 9.1 were meant to usher in a brave new world of crisp, user-friendly and intuitive user interface.. SE have taken these and delivered a product inferior to it's predecessors and it's rivals. The phone is infested with bugs, worsened by network operators that insist on loading their clunky firmware on top of already unstable architecture. Battery life is truly the worst I've ever experienced. Unless you enjoy using a slow, unintuitive ddisaster of a phone, I strongly advise you to avoid any hype from SE and keep using you 910s or 900s. Too many problems to mention here, but the worst of it all is, SE don't seem to read any web-based feedback and their support staff refuse to say why Sweden haven't managed to offfer a decent firware overhaul.
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Reviewed by Thomas Downey from UK on 10th Nov 2006
Having been a happy owner of a p900 and p910 this poor is poor. I echo all the negative posts that have gone before it is a rubish piece of kit. Do not buy this phone
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Reviewed by adrianp from romania on 9th Nov 2006
I bought recently a P990i unfortunately without checking the net for review, based on my previous experience with my old friend P900. I do not have words to express my dissapointment and regret for my purchase. I suspect the designers & engineers who built P900 left the company and SE had to bring some fresh graduates from the arhitechture university, train them in FORTRAN and release quicly the phone. I am as much sarcastic as dissapointed. Send my best regards to the designers of P900. We want them back!Don't buy before trying one and if you still like it, rent one for a wek from a friend than you'll understand why I wrote this.
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Reviewed by Rez from Portugal on 8th Nov 2006
Funny how that worse reviews are from Americans, those genius of mobile phone world lol Frankly, this phone is not for dumb people. With first firmware it was indeed buggy, but with r3b01 and after formating internal drive, and installing swiss manager pro for memory management, the phone is pretty stable, and can multitask if you now how. Now, the calendar, Opera via wifi and UMTS, Tom Tom for GPS, stereo music via bluetooth, Outlook Sync, java apps, fm radio, rss feeds, gmail, camera (see http://www.pbase.com/ares/se_p990i ) all work great. Remaing memory problems, that by the way were also present on Nokia N73 and Nokia n80, will be solved in next firmwares, like SE always did
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Reviewed by Keith Smith from Great Britain on 6th Nov 2006
I have been using the P990i on orange for a week and haven't suffered any of the problems as reviewed here. Alright, i am not using it as a buisiness tool, just a phone that does a lot of things good. I have converted from using several SPV's, so i do find it rather large, slow to start, menus not as easy,but i do like it. The first thing i did was log on to the sony software site, but it already had the latest version installed, I think Orange are more thorough before they release models. My biggest gripe is the battery. It is laughable. One call to orange of approx 20 miutes took the battery level from 100% to 81%, and a 4 minute call via a bluetooth headset reduced it by 10%. Just installing and editing my contacts and applying settings took it from 100% to 49% in 2 hours! I only used to charge my SPV c500 once, maybe twice a week if i had given it heavy use. Also the battery is not the one detailed in the hand book, 950 instead of the stated 1120 mAh. This would make a small but welcome difference. Overall, a nice piece of kit
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Reviewed by marty lavery from n. ireland on 6th Nov 2006
The physical phone is very good, nice styling ( very nice with flip removed) and with nice buttons with good feel. There is just one major problem with the phone and that is the operating software. Could it be made any less intuitive. I own a p910i and the software on it is fantastic. Anything you want to do on it is only an icon push away. But on the 990i all the things that where simple to find are now hidden behind menu after menu. For example: silent mode used to be (flip open) touch speaker icon at bottom of screen and tick silent. Now you have to open a general icon and try to find sound settings. To get to the clock settings are similarly hidden. All the things that used to be easy are now much more difficult to do. No dought this software is a BIG step back in comparison to the OLDER GENERATION p910.
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Reviewed by malee from india on 5th Nov 2006
a very bongus phone. very bad camera result. very big. better u buy a p910i
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Reviewed by BEN from United States on 30th Oct 2006
This is the most amazing piece of poor engineering in all my years (15+) of reviewing and commenting on these types of technologies for corporations within the marketing departments. From the P800, P900, P910i and now the illustrious P990i, all of which have had significant problems in performing basic operations to include receiving or placing a call. The operating system failures are boundless and if you are in a pinch for time and need to depend on your phone, this is not the one you want to being carrying around (doesn’t come with a case, sold separately). It is so terrible and can be nerve racking to make a grown man cry when in the middle of a 3 way conference call or sending a important SMS, let alone email, the phone reboots without warning!! The P990i absolutely has no basis being on the market today, especially for the “always required, must be in touch, never missing a call” business person. From the constantly rebooting, to Active Sync not w ork as advertised nor supported until you call the actual manufactures of it (DataViz) to the “busy” word that pops-up every time you want to perform a basic task from entering the Address Book, Calendar or email. The other phone features such Camera and Video recording are good, however the video records blurry in most cases and the camera has difficulty with different lighting regardless of what settings you activate. The supposed MP3/4 player DOES NOT WORK, unbelievable unless you load them into a separate file on the memory stick or internal memory. The PC Desktop software that comes with the phone and the software upgrades from the website have been changed, there is no way you can up-load your CD music to the phone, in fact they have pulled this feature from the PC Suite. We have place and spoken to the US and Canadian Level III support for Sony Ericsson to include speaking to the UK Sony support, no answer back, no follow-ups, no direct replies other than the nebulous auto-replies. Very disappointed and shameful for a company like Sony Ericsson would sell this device for over $800 USD and not provide support or do a major recall.
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Reviewed by Ron from UK on 29th Oct 2006
"upgraded" from P910I to P990I two weeks ago and had loads of fun meanwhile … 1.) Phone backup not working (actually .. it works for each 1.) computer until the next reboot. I installed it on 3 PC's and managed to do about 5 backups. Uninstall and re-install does not help at all. I'm running out of computers now) 2.) Phone is rebooting without any warning in order to "increase performance". It will be not operational until the pin code has been entered. Wow ... really an asset .. especially for someone being on 24/7 call ! 3.) Outlook synchronization is implemented in a "very interesting" manner. Regardless of the setup "use last item modified", the setting "merge items to both PC and phone" is being applied. I spend hours meanwhile to get rid of all the duplicates. (I use the phone to sync my office outlook with my home-pc outlook... very challenging indeed !) 4.) Receive an MMS with flip close. Open the flip to have a better look to the picture and watch the phone going totally bananas. (Power off button is not working at all, just open the damn thing and remove the battery will do the trick) I called SonyEricsson tel. support and was advised to download the software from the corporate webpage, what I did (regardless of the fact that the software version was exactly identical). The new phone operating systems flattened my phone configuration but that was pretty much it. (None of the issues has been resolved) I raised about 5 tickets with SonyEricsson during the last 10 days, not a single response yet ( except the “AutoReply Sony Ericsson Call Cente” one’s ) I would strongly suggest not even to thing about to consider borrowing this masterpiece of phone technology for one hour … Best of luck of all those who fell for the SonyEricsson adverts ….
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Reviewed by Derek Mann from United Kingdom on 27th Oct 2006
Like a lot of reviewers Ive had all the Ps 800 900 910. I also made the mistake of getting an M600i (dont touch it its pants) before quickly trading up to the P990i. I think when SE get the software right Ill give a 4 star but at the momnet I get the ocassional screen freeze and hate the extra steps to get to the menus which have always been one touch away on the other P series. Keyboard - you know I thought I was going to hate it and it shrunk the screen too much.. but to be honest when you use the phone with the flip off (as I always have) its OK. The smaller screen is only a bit smaller (3.5mm) and I can live with it. What does annoy me is the non restore of my P910 files, the smaller weaker battery and the limited function jog dial. Still wipes the floor with the opposition though...
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Reviewed by steve mac from uk on 27th Oct 2006
Used to crash alot before I learned to use it properly and closed 'not in use' applications! Wifi is another great plus for this great device and enjoying the learning process......love it.
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Reviewed by Jason from United Kingdom on 25th Oct 2006
I’ve had my P990 now for since in launched. I loved my P900 and P910 and to be honest I expected a certain amount of quality and usability in the P990. But the sad fact is that while it is full of features that are very good. The UI is just plain bad, everything takes twice as long as on the P910, and I don’t mean performance you have to either press double to buttons or click the screen twice as much. For example to get the to app picker before it was always one click away on the P990 it always two or more click away. What did UIQ do? I find my self more and more looking at other phones, I don’t think I’ll be keeping this one past Christmas, unlike my P900 which I used for a full year.
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Reviewed by Nikos M from Greece on 25th Oct 2006
I had the P800 and P900 and now the P990. All the features of these phones are still there and couldn't have been otherwise. The phone is not fast but not slow either so the job gets donw with no problems. All the applications installed work fine (QuickOffice & PDF) The only huge problem is battery life. With normal usage you can only get a max of 1,5 days and if you are lucky maybe 2. And that's... if you switch it off during the night! Even the P800 was lasting more than the P990i
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Reviewed by jin from uk england loveing it on 24th Oct 2006
hi everyone the p990i is a smart phone and it all ways will be a smartphone it kicks ass and who ever is looking to get this smart phone get it Cu's the p990i crew rules
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Reviewed by Billydude from USA on 20th Oct 2006
I got this phone for a few weeks now and it works well in general. But it is slow and crashes a lot. Some earlier model software issues. I hope that SE fixes them ASAP. Performance issues are major. It is slower in perception compared to P910i which I owned earlier.
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Reviewed by Jenna from Uk on 20th Oct 2006
I got this brick phone from office but i must say i was disappointed in this phone already returned 2 phone back now i thinking to get Nokia phone. This phone says do not buy if you use it for 1 day as it is very very slow and crashed now and then. If you answer the call it takes to voice mail.
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Reviewed by Tej Sodha from united kingdom on 20th Oct 2006
This phone is amazing don't belive the poor reviews but they have a point it isn't the phone most sony ericsson handsets have problems woth crashing my SE w810i keeps crashing but i don't care i got a brand new one for free anyway back to the point the SE p990i is a graet phone i would advise you to take it have had allthesony erisson p series and this one tops them all with its features i can download music off limewire pro on it and the internet is free aslong as you have a wireless router and broadband or what not anyway its up to you know thanks for your attention 100% phone 10/10
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Reviewed by Dave from England on 17th Oct 2006
DONT HAVE ONE THEY ARE SLOW, THEY CRASH, GENERALLY A VERY BAD PHONE. Mine is under 14 days old and is going back. ive had a p900 (excellent) and various XDA phones non of which were as bad as this. Do yourself a favour and stay well clear untill they sort the software.
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Reviewed by Matthew from England on 17th Oct 2006
If you compare the 990 and 910i.side by side. The most remarkable thing is that the 990 is thicker, hence bulkier in the pocket. The screen however is only slightly less long, and is substantially wider. The jog dial was presumably dumped because of the many faults it suffered. But mine has stood up to a year's heavy usage and the lack of it reduces one hand operation...a handicap. The new keyboard is actually harder to use than the old one, and reduces the screen size...why??? Overall it is a real dissappointment, radio and even wifi (with 3G) are not needed. Will keep my old one as long as possible.
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Reviewed by Bobby from UK on 16th Oct 2006
this is my worse buy with Sony phones i got all p series phone and all i can say PLEASE DONT buy this expensive piece of junk.. Its slow, crashes auto, battery suks and its a mess even WiFi dont work propa.. I have returned 3 of p9901 phones and all have same problem so now i got nokia n73 with is much better.. I still think p910i is much better. Bob
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Reviewed by spiros galan from greece on 14th Oct 2006
I just bought the damm sony ericsson P990i. I just wasted 580euros. Please DON'T BUY this phone. It is a bad phone in most aspects. It is very slow indeed an the phone keeps 'crashing' and the screen goes blank. Every time you open a contact with the flip closed and then opens the flip ...you get a blank screen which needs a long,long, long, very long, wasteful reboot. or quite often the phone reboots just like that with no reason!!!! Most functions of the phone seem to be wrongly designed or programed. If my english were better I could write a lot of details of this useless phone. If you need more info to persuade you NOT TO BUY THIS REDICOLOUS PHONE my email address is: sgala999(at)gmail(dot)com. Take care and I hope I saved you 580euros!!
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Reviewed by Jez from UK on 13th Oct 2006
Ok. It's been 3 and a half weeks since I got my first p990 and I am now on handset No 5!!. Yes, you read it correctly. 5 handsets in under a month. Pretty impressive. Each handset I have tried has similar problems. The first 4 kept locking up, crashing and rebooting. The fifth one is a lot more stable. However, all of the handsets I have tried are very slow. The OS does not seem to be able to keep up. For instance, when receiving an incoming call, the CLI number will be displayed on the handset for about 3 rings before it links the number to your contacts and displays the name from your address book. Because of this, if you set up personal ring tones for different callers, they will not work because it takes the phone too long to recognise who is calling and therefore plays the default ring tone. About 50% of the time, when I go to answer a call using the accept button it rejects the call instead and displays 'busy tone sent'. I have now worked out that if you answer the call within 2 rings, it rejects. After 2 rings and it accepts. Another problem I have encountered is once you end one call, it can take up to 15 seconds before the phone will let you select another contact to call. What else is there to say. Oh yes, a lot of the time, the screen alternates between desktop and keyboard locked screen. It's as though you have locked the keypad and are constantly pressing a button. Does wonders for your battery life! My final rant is about the currency converter. If I want to convert GBP to EURO, I first have to put in the USD rate!! Why oh why SE. Roll on the P995!
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Reviewed by paul foyston from uk on 12th Oct 2006
i have a sim free version of this phone...i havent had 1 lockup or crash as yet....fast...smooth - FANTASTIC - would recommend 100%...i have had most of whats on offer at the moment, and this phone is a light years ahead....awesome...buy one!
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Reviewed by Louisa from UK on 11th Oct 2006
I have used both the P900 and the P910 and both phones were excellent. I upgraded to the P990i last week and had to send the phone back as it kept crashing. I received my replacement today and within 2 hours it did the same thing. I spoke to one mobile shop and they said all of the P990i that they sent out had come back for the very same reason. Why don't SE do something about it - it's ridiculous.I'm off to look for a suitable alternative.
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Reviewed by Adam from England on 11th Oct 2006
I should first say i have never liked the sony ericssons but I have just got this phone on contract and i personally think it is a amazing phone i noticed that they have crammed everything into this one and has alot more features than its predessesor the p910, this phone has a qwerty keyboard a number keyboard on the front the qwerty is on the actual phone you can also take of the number keyboard so it doesnt have that flip on the front it has numerous amounts of applications on heres a few of them. games,camera,video camera,video calls,internet,wireless lan,bluetooth,mp3 player and alot more extras i think they have done a fantastic job on this phone i have only had it for a day and i have not got through most of the extras it has its quite amazing well worth on getting it on contract for a business or you like sony ericsson.They have bundled a few accesories in with it like a hand strap but cant put it on the phone or i havent found it yet, comes with cradle and ear phones and usb cable and charger it also comes with a tiny screwdriver and a spare pen for the touch screen. it has two cameras for video calls aswell. i personally think its an amazing phone they have come along quite well and i think i wont be changing my phone until they either bring out a better one or if they dont either way im keeping the phone :D if the phone rating above would let me go higher i would apart from the key things below i have just stated but who cares if they are gonna reboot the phone with all the things on this phone :D There are not alot of problems i have had with this phone it starts with crashing but wouldnt suprise me due to they have crammed alot of stuff in the phone and that it restarts and then says it restarted due to a performance upgrade (okayyyy???)
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Reviewed by Aldro from UK on 11th Oct 2006
In many respects not a superior phone to its predecessor P910i. Most annoyingly, I've had to return two new 990i's to Vodafone ( my provider) since the phone keeps 'crashing' and screen goes blank indefinitely. This happens every time one opens a Contact with the flip closed and then opens the flip - bang! a blank screen which needs a long, wasteful reboot. Sony Ericsson tech support asked me to download their software upgrade service pack from their site but it does not load onto the phone properly. They claim a new (debugged) version of the software is being installed in new production. We shall see! P990i leaves much to be desired; the P910i was an instant winner...
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Reviewed by Rose from USA on 11th Oct 2006
I've noticed that most of the negative points listed in these reviews seem to be based on comparisons made to phased-out features on older phones. Since this is my first smartphone I can truly say I think the jog-wheel is just fine and the screen size is certainly ample. The camera is amazing and once I learned the software, navigating and data control is a breeze. A keyboard seems essential and I'm getting quite good with it. The touch screen and handwriting recognition is a bonus and I use them as well. Quality of MP3 play is remarkable. I used the WiFi in my home and it worked perfectly the very first time. If this is your first smart phone, you will truely be amazed.
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Reviewed by peter from uk on 10th Oct 2006
I just recieved my P990i yesterday and have been playing with it since. Not at all impressed. I had two p910i's and loved them but the p990i seems cheap when you hold it. the duo card slot cover is about to break on mines and i only opened it twice.(this ones going back under warranty probibly next week) The jog dial function was excelent on p910i, dont know what heppened, by the looks of it SE for some bizare reson took an excellent feature away. Ill probibly swap the phone for the w950i and wait another couple of years for the next P series and hopefully they will have learnt by then
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Reviewed by Adrian SHepherd from UK on 10th Oct 2006
This is a critical review and only highlights problems. I give the phone 10/10 and then deduct points down to 6/10 for the following reasons. So why can I not restore my 910i backups onto it ! It's never going to work according to Sony. Maybe they should write a program that extracts info from the disk backups. Why are the old KERN-EXEC software bugs still around, and certainly more prevalent. Hopefully a series of software updates will fix these. 3G is a joke. My phone is never 'attached'. Some strange text settings means the keypad only inputs numbers during text messages with the key flip up. With the key flip down it's the same, and the only cure is to select all, backspace, hit the ALT key and start typing again. SMS is a real pain with this phone. Why cant the phone turn on wireless automatically and try that first for connections when sending email, if wireless is disabled it dials out, useless for my WLAN at home. Account groups don't work, My priority lists have my Work WI-Fi as top of the list, but outside of the office it still tries to use the Office WLAN, and then fails, it doesn't revert to GPRS or WAP as a fallback/alternative. The proprietary earphones act as the radio aerial, so I can't use the RADIO as an alarm clock function, even though it is an option... Who goes to sleep with earphones on ? The card scanner is a joke, it's the camera in Macro mode with a not too clever OCR function. It hasn't really worked for me yet. Editing contacts is a dark science... For some reason the documented tabs just do not appear...sometimes they do... I haven't figured this out yet. Battery life with Wireless enabled is poor. To be expected I suppose. Just remember to pack a spare if you intend to use wireless a lot. O2 settings for WAP and GPRS , MMS etc just don't work unless you already have an active internet connection. MMS messages have remained in my outbox for days despite having connected via WAP/GPRS/WLAN many times whilst they sat there. The phone dials out at random times in the early hours of the morning for GPRS connections. Hmmm... The docking station supplied sorely lacks speakers, and could do with a built in aerial so that the phone can act as an alarm clock. No leather case... No case at all... Disappointing... All my P910i accessories are now redundant, the docking pin out has changed thus the power cables and connecting leads all need to be replaced with the new style connectors. Of course there are some great points... Bung a 4GB memory stick in and you have a very decent MP3 player, the bundled software is simple and intuitive, with on the fly bit rate adjustments to various user chosen kbps levels. Took me a while to figure out the phone had to be put in file transfer mode rather than phone mode prior to docking. The camera, with lighting macro facilities is brilliant. Video too. It's as good as my Cyber shot 2mbp camera that I swear by for simple fast quality shooting. The effects and settings are quite comprehensive for a phone and match that of my Canon digital camera. My ear doesn’t send tones to my listeners all the time as was the case with my P910i, you are unaware of it happening and this can really annoy callers. Signal reception is possibly slightly better than my P910i, with the odd extra bar appearing in known areas of bad reception around my house. Having gone from zero to a useable 1 bar in most flat spots, this saves me running around the house when sending a txt. Bundled Adobe Album Photoshop Starter Edition v3.00 works very well... Booting up when the phone is docked and taking care of new images etc. It will take me time to get to like this phone, as soon as the software quirks are ironed out and the 3rd party accessories start to show up on eBay etc, it will become more useable and take over where my P910i bowed out. I suppose, like the new BMW 7 series styling and i-Drive, the forced style changes and software interfaces etc will eventually become the acceptable norm, although, just when I reckon I become au-fait with the latest offering, the new model will appear and I will have to start all over again. I am still miffed about the backups.... All my calendar entries and to do lists , one of my biggest uses for this phone have all been left behind. They sell this as a business phone, but can you imagine Microsoft trying to get away with this ? I dare say the camera and video and MP3 player features will offset the downside. They really are good. In brief... It's an evolution of the P910i.
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Reviewed by Jonas from Sweden on 10th Oct 2006
The difference between the screens are veeery small. p910=2,8", while P990i=2,76" Thats not even something to talk about, it just look like its smaller, but it really isnt. The keypad is a great improvement, im impressed by all everything; especielly the WiFi, which i quite rare on a smartphone, and quite useful if u have hotspots in the city or wifi at home.
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Reviewed by Tom from UK on 8th Oct 2006
OK, I have owned a hell of a lot of supposedly "Smart" phones in my 19 years, including every incarnation of the P-Series, a Treo 650, SPV C500, R390 and a 9210i. Now I have a P990i, and to be honest, I'm very happy. The screen (as so many have commented) is slightly smaller, but the overall resolution and the new OS make up for that in abundance. It's bright, clear, and the anti-aliased fonts and new themes look beautiful. The QWERTY keypad that resides below it is infinitely better than that on the P910i, and is only bettered by that on my Treo. The camera is pretty good, surprisingly good at low light situations, and the auto-focus works well. MP3 Playback is good, even over A2DP, and battery life isn't hugely affected. WiFi, IR and Bluetooth are all easily accessible and easy to set up, working flawlessly with every device I have tried them with. The new OS itself does take a little getting used to (after using UIQ 2 devices) but once understood is much better. Unlike the P910 and its predecessors, the P990 TRULY multitasks, which is why memory can become a little tight, hence the Task Manager app. I have only ONCE experienced a memory run-out situation in 3 weeks of having this phone, and that was when I had every app open and tried to open Vijay Singh Golf. Apart from that, not a single crash, not a single problem. LOVE IT.
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Reviewed by steve from uk on 7th Oct 2006
Ok you have changed the stupid qwerty key board, but you allso got rid of the great actions used by the toggle wheel. What were you thinking of Sony. The screen is smaller, not good news for those of us that use the phone for Sat navigation. Anyway why use all that space for the key board when the touch screen is ample. Not impressed Sony take heed.
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Reviewed by Zahid Pervez from Pakistan on 7th Oct 2006
I have used P910i but when i saw P990i i didn't see any major change, except for better battery backup and bit good outlook. In next model, should go for sleek model, bit handy would work more. Good luck
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Reviewed by SMc from uk on 5th Oct 2006
I've had 2 P910i's now. I LOVE the screen size, the handwriting recognition, the extensive functionality ans the excellent level of usability. But though the P990 has a radio, a better camera and wifi, all of which I wished for in the P910i, they have removed the large screen, in favour of a keypad which I NEVER used on the P910i at all. Who would, with the excellent handwriting recognition. Someone at SE needs to be fired. I have not and will not replace my P910i with a P990i. Roll on the P1000i. Hopefully they will keep all the improvements of the P990i and put back the large screen.
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Reviewed by Nitin Mohan from India on 3rd Oct 2006
I waited for this phone for almost 6 months, Features are fine but it hangs a lot especially when i open the flap in between a task. I have removed the flap and now its slightly better. I still get 'not enough memory' notification if i try to open games. Its also draining battery rather quickly. Bottomline - 'Do not buy'.
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Reviewed by hamsterlegs from UK on 1st Oct 2006
I really wanted this phone to be good, I've had a P800, 910 and now a 990 in my hand, but I'm disappointed the SE have messed it up. It is really slow, has crashed almost every day I have used it. I can’t believe they have removed the back/forward selections on the scroll wheel – this is a big step backwards. The screen is actually smaller than the P910’s. The camera is OK but I found with video capture the audio is noticeably out of sync with the video. Also, the software has all been re-written and contains less features than the P910 (such as no zooming or moving of images) I’m going back to my P910 until a decent phone comes out.
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Reviewed by Dean from United Kingdom on 30th Sep 2006
As yet another upgrader from 910 to 990 I can only say that SE will be keeping my loyalty for the forseeable future. Scanning through the reviews below I'd say the highs and lows on my particular phone (imported from HK) are a little different from others. My 910 needed charging daily while my 990 goes 3 days between charges. The 910 camera was useless, the 990 camera is good enough although the autofocus is a bit dodgy. My 990 gets signal where the 910 never would. The 990 runs applications like a porsche while the 910 is more like a bus in comparison. Firmware is stable and I've yet to experience a crash that is not due to me trying to force a UIQ 2.x application to install and I am not sure what has happened to the Java support because the 990 balks at some Java installations that should be cross compatible. In fact that is my only gripe. After a year or so of my 910 I have a suite of applications that made it exactly what I want in a smartphone (Magic Profiles, Tracker etc etc). Now, none of my essentials run in UIQ 3.0 and I am left high and dry with a device that could be as close to perfect as makes no odds, but the software support is just not there. Yet. That being said, the extended battery life is bound to be due in part to the lack of 3rd party software running in the background. If the software support was there then this would be a 5 star review for me, the lack of immediate support makes it a 4. I suppose I'll get all the apps I want just as SE are ready to release a P1000.
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Reviewed by plassi emmanuel from Ghana on 30th Sep 2006
i think the phone is very nice
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Reviewed by Graham Williams from Guernsey on 28th Sep 2006
Having owned this 'Business' phone for some 3 weeks now my phone bill has gone up due to the 'Back' button in the middle on the left hand side, exactly where I put my thumb when I pick the phone up to answer it. This sends a busy tone to the caller so I have to call them back. It's the same when I manage to pick the phone up missing the dreaded button, but hit the answer with my big thumb and press yet another 'Back' button, only to busy them out again. It's a shame I can't alter the functions of these buttons. Other than that, a true upgrade to my P910i. I love it.
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Reviewed by Antoine from UK on 24th Sep 2006
Looks great without the flip. In my secong week of ownership and am still revelling in all the features it has. Great everything so far except occasional crashes and problems transferring mp3's. On thw whole really good phone but feel that being the first uk users we will have to bare with the minor inefficiencies until SE sort them out.
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Reviewed by Oliver from UK on 21st Sep 2006
I had a 910 and have waited patiently for this new model. I've now had it a week and it's very nice....-BUT The keypad although far superior to the last one is unnessary as I can write quicker without it. I think the software needs a couple more months to settle down as the phone crashes on an irregular basis. Sony if you are listening you could write a migration tool to get info from a 910backup to the 990. I think the radio is a waste of space but that's personal. Somone went folder crazy and it now takes a while to failiarise yourself with where SE have hidden the various programs. Maybe you could have a way of moving things about like a PC into a favorites folder. Oh yes and why oh why use a smaller capacity battery when the last one only just lasted all day? I've taken to carrying around a spare........ SE need to work hard into the night to get the software right. at lesat there is a facility to update the firmware yourself so if you've got one take the time to kee p up to date.
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Reviewed by dgoodguyisback from London on 20th Sep 2006
People keep hyping about poor(small) screen. Matteroffact Sony Ericsson made a monumental mistake in reducing the screen size. Who needs a qwerty keyboard in a phone with touch screen? Otherwise it is one of the best phone with superb connectivity ever built.
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Reviewed by Jon from UK on 19th Sep 2006
To Robert from South Africa-you obviously haven't seen one, and therefore definitely not used one! There is still a jog dial, although admittedly it is now 3-way rather than 5-way. This could be good as it seems there was a problem with the extra 2 functions on the p910i (it's the only thing on mine that no longer works properly.) Also, yes there is a keypad, but there is still a touchscreen, and the virtual keyboard and handwriting recognition features have been retained. On top of that...it's the best looking p-series phone yet, although to be fair the flip is a little unsightly. The one thing I would agree with is the phone only having 2-megapixels, a little behind in the current market, and an upgrade to a 16million colour screen would have been nice. But then again, this is an IMMENSELY well-featured handset despite this.
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Reviewed by Hassan Motamed from Iran on 9th Sep 2006
That;s Great to see another SE Smartphone.I am sure every body could fell sartisfied with se "P" series...again another surprize....every thing is OK and great except camera which seems 2 mp is too low for this phone and also the price(the high price of the phone would limit many users to try this excellent smartphone)
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Reviewed by Robert from South Africa on 22nd Aug 2006
I've been the proud owner of a P800 & P900, then I got hijacked last year and got a brand new P910i. Needless to say, I'm a 'P-Man'. When I saw photos of the P990i, I just couldn't believe my eyes. It's the ugliest phone I've seen in my life! The software seems pretty good, but why, oh why, did Sony decide to dump the jog dial? Also, I've got no need for a full keyboard on the front of the phone, I write must faster with the stylus. Always makes me think I've got a tablet PC. The only way Sony can save the P-series, is by removing the stupid keyboard, put the jog dial back and make it a slider phone - almost like the LG Chocolate. Then call it the P1000 and you'll make a bigger profit than you'll ever make with the PS3.
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Reviewed by SE p'd off from UK on 17th Aug 2006
Sony ericsson are really missing the point when it comes to the UK. we are the last place they release handsets. I have had all the Sony Ericsson P series handsets and loved them all, but when you have to wait 2 years for a replacement.........come on Sony Ericsson pull your fingers out. My company has used the P series handsets as company phones since their introduction. Now they are swaping them out because SE cant supply a viable alternative. I have used one of my european colleagues personal handsets and while it is definately a P series it seems to lack any real wow factor that a new phone should instill in its user at least for the first 24 hours anyway. This is especially true when you consider this is meant to be SEs Flag ship model of the moment (if it ever arrives here)
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Reviewed by Kenny K from Malaysia on 16th Aug 2006
I had an unofficial version P990i(from Europe), the official P990i is still be launch by Sony Ericsson Malaysia. The first glance of the phone look pretty impressive, there are tonnes of function, especailly the name card scanner that I am really impress with. However there are few things that annoyed me, first the jog dial is gone, if you learn to use it, the jog dial is quite a good tool to use. the other thing is the wifi signal for p990i is really poor in picking signal, on my laptop I ot excellent strength on my home wireless, but on the the p990i it was on poor signal. and finally please do check the memory duo card slot, the cover to it will break easily, please examine and see how fragile it is. Having said all that, P990i is still the only smartphone worth getting in the morket. And of course this is only my own opinion.
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Reviewed by Tom B from United Kingdom on 16th Jun 2006
Yesterday I recieved one of the first P990i handsets in the UK. I recieved this through a contact at the SE repair centre but have been assured it is in full working order. So far I have been impressed with most of the features, the screen resolution which is apparently a big issue is workable and I have not been left wishing for increased res. The 2 MP camera is again more than sufficient and unlike the N91 which I also have, when you take a picture it gets taken the second you click so you do not have to hold your hand in the same position until it is ready! for me this is a complete relief. The memory slot is ample allowing me to insert my 2gig card again enabling plently of music, email and game storage. I have found the speaker phone also to be far superior to anything i have had before with excellent volume and clarity levels. Overall an excellent device which like others before will be the multi tasking device to have for at least a couple of seasons.
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Reviewed by andy from india on 15th Jun 2006
ok the screen is wider than p910 so still but only 2mm overall sq centimeters i dont think its so much of a issue and the keypad if thy had not put in then there would have been guys talking abt there should have been a keypad (see the p 900 review)so guys its a what a person wants dont blame the se guys if they would have had a big screen people would have said screen is too big should have had the keypad in there (see the p 900 review)come on guys the phone is great screen is toooo gooood.
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Reviewed by DirectHex from UK/ South Africa on 22nd May 2006
I had a P900 and have P910. I thought the P800 was pretty ugly and knew the Smartphones comng would nuke it pretty quickly so I didn't bother getting it. I have had a mobile device since the Psion 5MX and to be honest i'm dissapointed with some Key things. 1) Sony's upgrade path is lame. Transfering from the P900 to P910 was a pain in the arse, especially taking SMSs accross. SONY PLEASE let us have proper software that replicates P910 data onto the P990. Non of this incompatible software rubbish. i got better thigns to do with my time than arse about with SMSs 2) The P990 either gets released soon or you go back to the drawing board and do some serious rethinking. Make the outer case vulcanised and/or durable. for such a big phone when you jumping from plane to plane like I do its bound to tumble - and then you winc like your about to have a car accident when it does. 3) Loose the Keyboard in the case idea. Give me back my flip or do something more clever , the Psion Mx had a lovley solution. 4) I want higher res, if you can get so much res in PSP you can do it on your smart phone. 5) Longer battery life. Guys the power usage sucks on the P series. loose some of the novelty features and give us a performance phone. 5) I want my new P Series to BE A BAD BAD BOY. Seriously, I'm not spending in excess of 400 USD unless its the DADDY. I want to hear other smart phone cying into their bodygloves when they see mine. AND DONT RELEASE IT UNTIL U DO IT.
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Reviewed by GV from UK on 15th May 2006
errr correct me if i am wrong, but didnt the last P series phone have a screen resolution of 208 x 320?.. isnt the up-comming P990i 240 x 320?... For a bunch of phone geeks you guys really do skim the details when you read specs on a new phone... Oh hang on.. the physical size of the display matters huh?.. not the resolution... i see.. so most of you arent all that intelligent either.. Well, i guess your right.. i mean they could have gone for a 640 x 480 screen with a 4" diagonal.. that would be cool.. Oh but hang on, then a measily 1800 mA battery would only last 10 minutes.... Ok sarcasms getting boring huh... well I at least think this is a pretty good spec on a phone considering the competition. Well done SE, recon you've got a hit here.
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Reviewed by n. prince from united states on 20th Apr 2006
In order to obtain a license blah,blah,blah,ray,ray,ray..., and so forth. What are we bureaucrats or exacting creditors here? The same critic who is getting on peoples case for reviewing something that they've most likely never held before in there hand, rated the phone 5 stars! Where is his p990? 1+1=2. I don't want three pieces of garbage. I have a p900 and a p910 lying around. I don't wanna be a junk collector. They both got some serious software issues. Their products echoes for a more reliable software. HELLO THERE, ANYONE FROM SONY ERICSSON PAYING ATTENTION. I disagree with the suggestion that one has to experience death in order to learn something or figure out where is a company going with their products. Will someone get this guy a map and a lantern. Anyway, these are simply reviews from a lot of previous Sony Ericsson P-series owners and also those who'd reviewed the reviews of fortunate editors. I read the specs and I'm simply not impressed. I don't like what I've seen. Others have failing experiences with their past P series and do believe it's going to take a whole lot more than that. The past examples are way too fragile and sensitive. SE ought to incorporate Sony's water repellant technology with the inclusion of some shock technology. If Motorola can produce a phone as thin as the Razor then it won't break Sony Ericsson none to incorporate a feature that deploys a thin,convertible-type, Qwerty keyboard that deploys from and retracts back to the flip when/when not needed. This way it won't compromise space and one can enjoy the best of both worlds and even end up with a 3.4 in" screen or more with a virtual keyboard underneath (on the srceen when the retractable keys are removed)for those remove-the-flip-fans. As mentioned before, keep the five-way jog dial for a more useful widescreen internet browsing and (tv)video viewing. Get rid of those tedious little bite size memory sticks duo pro and go to a full size memory stick, among the other things previously mentioned. Get a real battery for extended video/internet usage. A phone that can plugged directly into the USB ports and a quad band phone would be more like it, to me. A phone that can connect almost anywhere, digital as well as analog. And definately important, it ought to be equipped with something like a 800/1800/1900 MHZ GSM/GPRS not a the old out-dated (and limited) 900/1800/1900 MHZ or somethin' that can reach out a little lower/further still. Let the service providers catch up to the phone's connection capabilities. A world phone ought to be a world phone, no less. Some out there are just satisfied with whatever product a manufacturer spits out at them. This will be Sony Ericsson's P series fourth time around, it better be Right! No more trash, thank you.
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Reviewed by Nasser from UK on 12th Apr 2006
First of all why are half the posts reviewing a mobile phone they don't even possess? Sony Ericsson P990i has a thumb keyboard in order to obtain a licen