MORE ICE CREAM NEWS!!!!!!! (Sony Ericsson Android 4.0 Confirmation)

The following 2011 Sony Ericsson models have been confirmed for Android's new Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) update.

• Xperia active
• Xperia arc
• Xperia arc S
• Xperia mini
• Xperia mini pro
• Xperia neo
• Xperia neo V
• Xperia Play
• Xperia pro
• Xperia ray
• Live with Walkman

Considering that the source code was just released Nov 14, let's hope they won't take too long from the time of announcement til actual release date!  So far, with how quick they've been releasing updates... this looks promising!  Only time will tell.

These are some of the new features users can expect to get from Android 4.0

• Virtual buttons in the UI, in place of capacitive or physical buttons
• Separation of widgets in a new tab, listed in a similar list to apps
• Easier-to-create folders, with a drag-and-drop style
• A customizable launcher
• Improved visual voicemail with the ability to speed up or slow down voicemail messages
• Pinch-to-zoom functionality in the calendar
• Offline search, a two-line preview, and new action bar at the bottom of the Gmail app
• Ability to swipe left or right to switch between Gmail conversations
• Integrated screenshot capture
• Improved error correction on the keyboard
• Ability to access apps directly from lock screen
• Improved copy and paste functionality
• Better voice integration and continuous, real-time speech to text dictation
• Face Unlock, a feature that allows users to unlock handsets using facial recognition software
• New tabbed web browser, allowing up to 16 tabs
• Automatic syncing of browser with users' Chrome bookmarks
• Modern Roboto font
• Data Usage section in settings that lets users set warnings when they approach a certain usage limit, and disable data when the limit is exceeded
• Ability to shut down apps that are using data in the background
• Improved camera app with zero shutter lag, time lapse settings, panorama mode, and the ability to zoom while recording
• Built-in photo editor
• New gallery layout, organized by location and person
• Refreshed 'People' app with social network integration, status updates and hi-res images
• Hardware acceleration of the UI
• Resizeable widgets
• Wi-Fi Direct

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray - Accidental Camera Tip

Ok, my movie playback review is long over due (that's still coming up)... but I've been playing with the camera of the ray in more situations and this may interest some readers.

I've found that when a bright light source is hitting the ray from the side (effect is more pronounced if the light source is coming from the left - where the lens is closer to the edge) there's very slight ghosting visible in the photo.  You can simply change the angle you shoot at, cup your hand over the lens, or make a very small/short lens hood.  The X10 Mini Pro didn't have this problem as the lens was recessed further into the body.

I made a crude one out of electrical tape, just to see if it would work.  The cleanest way I've found is to get a cone shape slope as close to the lens as possible (reverse of a regular lens hood) to minimize the visual change in the phone.

Slight ghosting visible on the upper left

With the lens hood, slight improvement

My initial idea was to blacken out the silver ring

Electrical tape

Cut a hole slightly smaller then the silver ring

Tweezers make the job a lot easier

The tape slopes and floats a little above the lens

Extending the lens hood to about 1-2mm improves the effect, I'm guessing a small rubber O-ring would do the trick as well.

Over-all I decided to remove my lens hood despite the effect simply because I felt is was only in certain lighting conditions that it had an effect.  YMMV, so you may choose to improve on this concept or ignore it all together.  Just wanted to share my discovery.

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Review: Part 4 - TimeScape, Facebook and UX

Continued from Part 3

A while back, when I first got my X10 Mini Pro, I commented on the promise, and limitations of Sony Ericsson's TimeScape interface, cool looking but not ready for public use just yet.  Two Android generations later, and Sony Ericsson has learned quite a bit from their past mistakes.

TimeScape w/ Infinity button

TimeScape used to be heavily integrated into their version of Android.  This, in theory, was supposed to make it better, but instead made the interface slow and very difficult to update.  This in turn slowed the development of the X10 family and despite the positive feedback on the phones, the quickly outdated software became a huge ball and chain.  Today, I'm happy to report that TimeScape is more like an app, rather than a core system.  This means that it doesn't bog down the system nor does it hamper software updates.

Running on Android Gingerbread, the new TimeScape looks gorgeous, and allows much better plug-ins like RSS, other Social Networking sites, and email integration via 3rd party plugins available in the Marketplace.  The new widget is also live, unlike the older TimeScape which only showed the newest message, the current one allows you to scroll through messages without having to launch the app.

It now also integrates the Infinity button for messages received from contacts, pressing it will bring up a separate 3D stream of messages from that particular contact.  No need to look through your call history or email history to see your correspondence with someone.

Graphics are a lot smoother, thanks in part to a faster CPU, but mostly to much more efficient coding.  Gingerbread is supposed to have a 400% increase over Eclair, and TimeScape itself has been cleaned up... all these things combined really has improved the over-all user experience (or as Sony Ericsson wants to call it, UX) and enjoyment of using the app.

Facebook integration

Facebook Inside Xperia is another neat (or annoying, depending on your view of Facebook in general) feature.  I'm a heavy Facebook user, so this level of integration is great for me.  What once took 3-4 apps on my X10 Mini Pro, now is all built-in the UX of the Xperia ray.  Contact photos, numbers, status updates, and other important info are all automatically synced and updated.  Your phonebook cards can now contain all the info on that particular person's Facebook page.  Twitter is also integrated, just sign in with TimeScape.

Some people aren't fond of social integration, you don't have to use them.  Just don't log into your Facebook or Twitter accounts.  One caveat is if you're on Google+, unlike Facebook and Twitter, you need to log into your Google account to use your Android phone, Google+ integration is AUTOMATIC, and must be disabled if you don't want your phone to automatically update your status and upload photos.  Or you can just not download the Google+ app.

A few issues: This integration overlaps with Facebook's own app sync... so you will have 2 Facebook apps using up your data connection.  The other is purely aesthetic, the app seems to try to sync even when  mobile data is off, so you always get this annoying red triangle saying "Facebook Sync Failed" when you're data connection is lost, even when the app is set to manual sync.

SonyEricsson has been really slow the past few years... fumbling about for a unique fingerprint to put on Android.  I think they've found it with TimeScape and Facebook Inside Xperia.  Let's hope that future software updates and upgrades won't exclude previous generations so quickly.  For now, good job on the big improvement!  It makes looking through status updates actually fun!  Hahahaha!

Up next - Movie Time!  Video formats, playback, and the built-in gallery

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Review: Part 2 - Pump Up The Volume!

After seeing how great the Xperia ray's screen in my Part 1 review was, naturally I wanted to check how good its media capturing capabilities are.  Does the Exmor R camera really deliver?  How's the audio during video recordings?  What about music and movie playback?  Or are they all just marketing stickers on the box?

First up, audio/music playback.  Test was conducted using the ff:

• Included Sony Ericsson headset
• AKG K324P In-ear Isolation earbuds
• AKG K240DF Studio headphones w/ Meier Corda 2 Move Headphone amp
• X-Mini 2 (to compare against the built in speaker)

I decided to compare it against my X10 Mini Pro as a reference playback unit.  I used a 256kbps mp3 of Dave Brubeck's famous Take 5.  The results from switching from one playback system to another are:

• Included headsets aren't great.  Better than Apple's stock earbuds, but not by much.  So I won't bother giving a detailed review of these.  But these choke the sound quality of the ray to about 40% of their capabilities.
• The Xperia ray's volume is about ¾ of the X10 Mini Pro.  This makes it quite weak, even with efficient headsets.  Although volume levels are loud, some people may feel it isn't loud enough.  Personally I find it's well within the safe db levels of listening even at maximum volume.  I would however, recommend using a headphone amp.
• Xperia ray has an annoying clicking while NOT playing any media, this can only be heard through my reference K240DFs, not the K324P or the included headphones.
• The Xperia ray has much cleaner bass frequency response than the X10 Mini Pro, bass notes are fuller at lower frequencies without being muddy or overpowering.  Treble on the ray seems more balanced than on the X10MP, which may make the MP seem 'clearer'.
• xLoud feature on the Xperia ray only affects the built-in speaker, and not headphone playback (good call!)
• The X10 Mini Pro built-in speaker is much louder and much fuller than the Xperia ray.
• Both the Xperia ray and Mini Pro built-in speakers sound 'clearer' than the X-Mini 2, albeit a lot weaker.
• xLoud feature on the Xperia ray makes ringtones sound just as loud as the X10 Mini Pro.
• Xperia ray built-in speaker sounds best 1 notch below maximum volume, at maximum volume, you get a resonant buzz from the casing of the phone itself... this resonant buzz is not present on the X10MP, I'm assuming this wasn't by design, but just basic acoustics.  The sheer volume of the X10MP gives the built-in speaker a larger 'cabinet' to work with thus making it sound fuller and louder.
• EQ has a few presets, I'm not an EQ kind of guy, but they work better than the ones on the iPhone 4 or iPod Touch 4 which to me introduce way too much distortion.  The ray's EQ is acceptable... although I would still recommend leaving it flat for the best audio quality.

Over-all, I'd say the Xperia ray has average music playback capabilities.  Nothing bad, nothing great.  I find it cleaner and clearer than the older X10 Mini Pro, but the lack of volume output makes using a headphone amp almost necessary, which negates the convenience of a small phone.  Although using it in the car is quite nice and I prefer the output going into my car headunit.

It won't win any audiophile awards, but then again, neither will any mobile phone... will you be happy with the music playback capabilities?  I would say yes.  Unless you like listening to your music at ear-bleeding volumes, it's quite decent for most users.  It sounds better than the 2nd gen iPod Shuffle, but not as good as the iPod Touch 4.

Final verdict: Average music playback.  Decent frequency response and respectable bass extension.  Low volume output, not a deal-breaker, but some may find it a bit too soft.  The included earbuds aren't isolation buds so they do let in a lot of ambient sound, which drowns out the already weak volume of the ray.  So unless your unit came with the LiveSound headset, I'd seriously recommend getting a better pair of cans.

Next up - Say Cheese!  It's picture time!  The big deal behind Sony's Exmor sensor.

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray Review: Part 1 - The Screen

From my initial review of the Xperia ray, the next few entries will be a more in-depth review of each aspect of the phone.  This review will be about the Reality Display.

Since the death of my P1i, Android has been my mobile OS of choice.  The expandability and flexibility has met all my communication needs since Symbian's UIQ.  Now, it's been a little over a year since I got my Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro.  I've enjoyed having such a small phone, and all the new larger phones don't really appeal to me as much.  Which is what led me to the Xperia ray and it's 3.3" Reality Display.

With my new Xperia ray, the first feature you notice is the beautiful new screen, dubbed Reality Display.  With a pixel density of 297ppi, it's much higher than my X10 Mini Pro's 156ppi, and quite close to Apple's Retina Display of 326ppi.  (On a side note, PCs run at 72ppi, most Macs run at 96ppi and the Apple iPad runs at 132ppi.)  Which is just my way of saying, at this level...this IS nitpicking.)  This makes images and video look incredibly crisp and clear.  Combined with Sony Ericsson's Bravia Engine (which only works on video and photo playback), the Reality Display is the single most stunning feature of the ray.

The following are close-up shots of the ray's screen against the iPod Touch 4, and the X10 Mini Pro.

Xperia ray screen

iPod Touch 4 screen

X10 Mini Pro screen

iPod Touch 4 vs Xperia ray

Xperia ray vs X10 Mini Pro

The level of detail on the ray is quite high and comparable to Apple's Retina Display.  Although no one will ever really read text at these sizes, it does make pages and icons look sharper and more vivid.  It also has a tendency to have a warmer hue than both the Retina Display and the X10 Mini Pro.

The other great quality of the screen is the contrast.  Blacks are very nice and deep, thus making the other colors stand out very well.  If you look at the ray vs X10 Mini Pro, you'll see that the Mini Pro doesn't really show black, it's more of a dark gray.  Color rendition on the ray is quite excellent as well. Gradients are smooth and there isn't any noticeable banding.

Another great aspect of the screen is that Sony Ericsson has made it from Scratch Resistant Mineral Glass which keeps the display nice and new looking.  I wouldn't keep my phone in the same pocket as my keys, but I'm pretty sure it can handle daily wear and tear.  So no need for a screen protector.  Due to it's glossy nature, the ray's screen is a fingerprint magnet.  On that note, my X10 Mini Pro did have scratch resistant coating and it held up decently, but being a plastic screen, it does have micro scratches visible after only a year.

Now, some people are asking if the screen is too small.  It's not.  There are bigger screens out on the market, and there are smaller screens.  It all depends on what apps you intend to use often... if you use your mobile communicator as your primary entertainment device, then you will be better off with a larger screen... or even a small 7" tablet.  The 3.3" screen of the ray is more than adequate for surfing, email, SMS, and casual video playback .  Games are pretty decent to play... but the screen size does make finger accuracy an issue with Angry Birds... hahahaha...

In the next part of this Xperia ray review - Multimedia capabilities: Audio, Video, Photo...

**And for those of you asking... this is my weather widget***

Slim Is In: A Sony Ericsson xperia ray Initial Review

xperia ray

Are you tired of lugging around a huge phone?  I am.  I've been using touchscreen phones since 2003, (Sony Ericsson P800, P910i, and P1i) and they've just gotten bigger and bulkier over the years.  I've always found it inconvenient to always have to remove my phone from my back pocket when sitting down.  Bulky phones aren't quite nice to have in a shirt pocket either, as they do tend to tug on your shirt.  Which is why I was so happy when Sony Ericsson came out with the X10 Mini Pro last year.  It was, at the time, one of the smallest Android phones on the market (the smaller one being the X10 Mini w/o the keyboard) It suited my needs at the time, and I was willing to sacrifice screen size and performance for weight and portability.

It's been a little over a year since I've had my X10 Mini Pro and having been spoiled by the diminutive size, it's quite difficult to go back to the bulk of iPhone-sized (or larger) phones.  Since then, I've been waiting for a worthy replacement for my little Android.

Enter the xperia ray (yes, it's NOT capitalized).  Sony Ericsson's latest entry into the "Design and Style" smartphones.  I have to say I'm very impressed.

Beautiful aluminum frame

The Design - Not only do they break away from all the iPhone-esque styled smartphones, but they've actually gone back to the Scandinavian stylings of Ericsson which I've always loved!  The aluminum frame really makes a difference.  Much like the classic Ericsson models that used magnesium, the new xperia ray feels like a premium piece of equipment.  And although this is a purely aesthetic feature, this does make the ray look and feel more elegant than almost any plastic smartphone out on the market today.

No more labels! Yay!

Thankfully Adam-West-Batman-Style labels for features and buttons are no longer present, and external buttons are kept to an absolute minimum!  (Yes, I do know that's the camera, I don't need a permanent label to tell me it's 8.1 megapixels.  Nor do I need a label to tell me that it's a volume switch.  I also know that's the charging port, I don't need a label to tell me that either!)

Volume-wise it's 55.3 cm³ while the xperia mini is 73.2 cm³ which means it's actually SMALLER than the mini, even though sporting a much better screen (more than double the resolution).

iPod Touch 4 vs. xperia ray

It's quite thin, at 9.4mm, it's almost as thin as the iPhone4 (9.3mm), it's bigger brother the arc (8.7 mm) and the Galaxy S2 (8.5mm).  But because it's a lot slimmer than the usual smartphones, it's also a lot lighter.  At only 100g, it's 16g lighter than the Galaxy S2 and xperia arc (that's a tbsp of sugar lighter... quite a diet), despite being able to keep the same screen resolution as the bigger Android phones.

Jet black Bravia Screen

The Screen - The beautiful screen is jet black, and contrast is great.  It makes the phone look incredibly sleek.  Although the Bravia Engine only works with photos and video, the screen is excellent and does any media justice even with the Bravia turned off.  Viewing under sunlight is not a problem, and is comparable to the better screens out there.

8.1 - f2.4 - HD

The Camera - Quite decent.  It's 8.1 megapixels with an f/2.4 which makes macro shots quite nice, with decent bokeh.  But it has a tendency to over-expose shots.  The Exmor sensor does quite a decent job of low-light shots, albeit at the expense of noise... but it does keep the shutter speed down so you can take bloggable shots at your next drunken party without much blur.  This is not going to replace a DSLR or high-end point and shoot, but it can match a similarly sized PS camera.  The Exmor sensor will do much better than most PS cameras out there without a flash (I personally hate using a flash, so this is a big deal for me).  Video is in HD, and does a decent job for videos and audio.  Front camera is not as good as the front cam of the iPod Touch or iPhone 4 though.

The Audio - The external speaker is decently loud.  There's a function called xLoud that equalizes any audio played to sound louder, so this works well with ringtones and alerts.  It sounds clearer, but not as full, as the XMini2 speaker.  The included headset is nothing to blog about, it's included... that's about it.  Although it sounds better than the Apple earbuds that comes with all the iPods.  But with a decent pair of cans, the ray sounds great... no hiss, noise, or buzz. 

Gingerbread vs Skinned Ecla

The Interface - I'm quite happy with the stock interface.  I'd rather use native apps if possible.  And Sony Ericsson has done a good job of cleaning up their act.  TimeScape had a lot of promise with my X10 Mini Pro, but it bogged the already slow Android 2.1 that it was just fun to look at, but not fun to use.  I'm happy to report that TimeScape is now just an app, and no longer a burden to the phone when not in use.  It works smoothly and can actually be practical to use for either social networking, or RSS feeds.

The Preliminary Verdict - Sony Ericsson has made an excellent piece of lifestyle hardware with the xperia ray.  For those that want a great performing smartphone, that looks elegant and classy, and doesn't burn your wallet, it's an excellent all-around performer!  Stay tuned for the next few days to get an in-depth review of each feature!

In the next entry:  The Screen - A comparison against the X10 Mini Pro and Apple's Retina Display.

Sony Ericsson xperia ray unboxing

FULL REVIEW COMING SOON!!!

xperia ray hands-on

Side by side against my X10 Mini Pro

My first hands-on video.  The Sony Ericsson xperia ray is on top of my "Next Phone" list.  One of my primary concerns is the ability to use it with just one hand.  I think it performs quite well, considering I'm right-handed.  The screen is excellent, boasting an 854x480 resolution in only 3.3", gives the xperia ray 296ppi (pixels per inch) which is very close to the iPhone 4's 326ppi.

The predictive input is quite responsive and easy to use for the most common functions.  Multi-tap is also available for those that use shortcuts, and odd spelling.

Pre-blog: The Sony Ericsson P910i

Ok, after holding out during the P900 days... I finally was able to jump a small generation gap between my P800 and the new P910.

A few of my friends had the P900 so I was able to compare the P800 and the P900.

I will be making comparisons the both the P800 and P900 just because there are certain things that I feel are relevant to both older siblings.

Now with my P910 I think I can make a pretty good comparison to the phone I've had the longest (almost 2 years)... my beloved P800.

First, the obvious... the screen... it's a whole lot better, even compared to the P900. Contrast is much better and colors are a lot more vivid.

The numeric keypad on the P900 feels a bit better though, more tactile feedback, and it's easier to feel the keys. The P910 keys are good and big, but relatively flat... so there is a greater chance of hitting the wrong key. But it's not that bad... the P900 keypad was just a bit better. I do like the white backlights however. I won't discuss the keypad on the P800 cuz that was just pathetic...whoever designed the P800 keypad should be shot!

It's still running UIQ 2.1 so no jump over the P900. Small things were added.. a dedicated PDF viewer (although even the P800 could view PDFs, it didn't have a cute icon for the app)

Other apps on the CD are mostly demo apps so those are useless.

The sync application is now unified for the P800/900/910 the latest version can be downloaded from SonyEricsson's site.

Now for famous thumb-board. It works really well. Feels weird at first. Specially since I got used to using the P800 without the keypad... I'm still faster with my stylus though. But the keypad is fun to use, entering long messages is a lot easier now. The flip is a lot stiffer than the one found on the P900, but you can still open it with one hand.

One thing that I did notice however is that the phone itself is a lot faster than the P800. I haven't been able to confirm the CPU used on the P910 yet, but I'm guessing it's that the P910 now uses faster memory... probably the same type found on the Duo Pro sticks.

On board memory is heaven... it's like moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a 2-storey mansion! Handy Day memory bars look empty even with most of my apps installed.

The biggest problem I had was transferring my SMS from my P800 to my P910 (ya, ya... I'm an SMS hoarder)

Ok... that's enough of the good news. There are a couple of glitches that I already found.

One being that the P910 has issues with the HBH-30. Since the P910 now supports the new Handsfree/Headset Bluetooth profile, older headsets seem to have a problem keeping paired. My headset works occasionally...but it loses it's connection often now so I can't initiate a voice call from it. According to the new and improved SonyEricsson call centers, the HBH-30 is not compatible with the P900 or P910...duh... whatever. (If I find out that those morons are working in Convergy's, I'm going over there and I'm gonna beat them with a stick!!! HAHAHAHA!)

The Bluetooth issue is the only serious bug I've found so far... the second bug I've found is fixable.

I had issues syncing with Outlook XP. Again, SE Call Center help...was of course... no help at all. I found the solution though, download the latest SP3 for Office XP and it fixes the sync problem. I can't speak for Office 2003 users, but I'm guessing if you have sync problems, get the latest Service Pack from Microsoft.

Over-all, the P910 is a great upgrade to P800 users. P900 users, well, I'd recommend just holding out for the next one... or sell your P900 and add more for the P910. But unless you plan to get the new Duo Pro sticks, the P900 is good enough for most people.

**Wishlist: WiFi, and cheaper memory sticks! (Oh, the P910 comes with a 32MB Duo PRO stick...by... Sandisk! hahaha! I guess Sony didn't meet their deadline)

Pre-blog: Sony Ericsson P800 First Look

Ok, I've had my P800 for about a week now.  Here's my initial review:

It's great!  I tried it out extensively before purchasing it, and I was pleased by most of it's features...and for once, it seems to be an SE product that won't be plagued by too many hardware defects.  (I'll get to the software issues in a while)

The package comes with everything to get you started:

• P800
• 4 styli (1 on the phone, 3 extra)
• 16MB Memorystick Duo
• Memorystick Duo adapter
• USB cradle (it's slow for USB)
• Wrist strap (this clips to a loop inside the battery compartment at the bottom of the phone)
• Nylon pouch (no, it doesn't have a belt loop)
• Stereo headphones/handsfree
• Charger
• Removable keypad w/ alternate cover
• 2 CDs (one for software, the other Multimedia)
• Manual
• Quick start guide
• Accessory brochure.

First, the screen.  It's fairly good.  Don't get me wrong, I don't find anything wrong with it... Colors are a bit washed out for me.  This could be because it's a touchscreen, as I've noticed that most touchscreens (even on PDAs) are a bit lighter than their non-touchscreen counterparts.  I would recommend getting (or making) a screen protector right away since this device will go through a lot of use.

The removable keypad is, well, pathetic.  I don't use mine.  It's ugly, has poor tactile feedback, and the 'bump' on the 5 key is almost invisible so typing/dialing without looking is almost impossible.  And the phone looks way better without it anyway.  BUT... the keypad may have a few uses... one, it can serve as a screen protector when closed.  And two, it does allow one handed operation (SMS, dialing) that is a bit better than using the virtual keypad and your thumb.  It's difficult to use the P800 without looking at it though.

Signal reception is average, about the same as the T68i.  I initially thought I had problems regaining lost signal, but so far, that seemed to be a 'first day glitch' only.  I haven't had any signal (GSM/GPRS) problems since.

Communicam: about the same as the MCA-20 in terms of quality.  But it does offer lower compression, so if you intend to tweak things in Photoshop, you'll have better results using pictures from the P800.

Speakerphone is loud enough to use in a car, or relatively quiet room.  I initially found it strange that it was placed at the BACK of the phone though.  I did find that this setup worked better than the "proximity sensor" setup on the older Ericsson R520 (also found on the new Nokia 7650) as this way, your speakerphone doesn't get turned off by accident, and holding it up to your ear by accident isn't deafening either. (This also is an advantage if you're in a very noisy environment and need to use the speakerphone near your ear just to hear the other party)

Stereo headset jack is proprietary (it has 2 rings for stereo, and 1 for the mic) , but you can use a 2.5mm to 3.5mm stereo jack adapter to plug the P800 to bigger speakers for MP3 playback... you do lose the handsfree function if you do this.

Browser button is USELESS.  Press it with the flip closed, and it asks you to open the flip, since browsing cannot be done with the flip closed.  Open the flip, and you'll need the stylus anyway, so the "shortcut" button is something I wish they made 'remappable'.  The browser isn't the new Opera w/ small screen rendering yet, but it works fine for me...I can wait for the Opera upgrade.

Messaging is unified.  So all your SMS, EMS, MMS, Emails, beamed items (Anything received via IR or BT) & OTA messages are found under this menu. Sending a message is very straight forward, fields are clear and handwriting (Jot) is a breeze.  *Just a note: Palm is now going to license Jot to be used in the Palm OS, rebranded as Graffiti 2.

To send a message, there are two ways: One, go to the messages menu, click on create new SMS.  Two, while viewing a contact, you'll see 2 small envelope icons beside their mobile number... click on the one with the "play triangle" on it to send an MMS to that contact, or click on the regular envelope to send a regular SMS.

Battery life is only about a day or two after playing with the phone a lot. That's great life for a PDA, but only average for a phone.

Ok... now for the software...

Organizer, Contacts, Internet, Speed-dial and Messaging all work great.  I honestly like the look and feel of Symbian over Palm or PPC.  I like Palm OS 5 though.  Although some people had problems syncing with Outlook, I didn't experience any hitches with mine.  Works over cable, IR, or Bluetooth.

The phone is as multi-tasking as you can get given such a small device and the fact that it's PRIMARILY a phone.  While in a call, you can switch to speakerphone mode just by opening the flip...this way you can continue talking, while viewing, reviewing, or entering new info on the phone.  The call won't end by closing the flip, it'll just switch off the speakerphone. The phone actually can perform more tasks at once than a Palm can!  For example, I have TIPICme (this is a unified messenger for Symbian, it handles Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and AIM) running in the background while I'm surfing.  A call can come in, GPRS session is paused, call ends, surfing resumes and TIPICme is still running in the background.

The phone runs on an ARM9 200mHz CPU (yup, 200mHz), has 12MB onboard RAM (It's actually 16, but 4MB is used by the OS), and 16MB on the Memstick Duo. OS is Symbian's new UIQ (Symbian OS 7 Quartz ver 2.0)

The phone isn't perfect (yet)... most of its bugs are software related. Here are some bugs that are universal:

• Warning Triangle flashing (this means a system failure occurred, press & hold the power switch until the phone shuts off, then turn it on again)
• Communicam bug (displays SE logo instead of viewfinder, only restarting the phone can fix this)
• Clock is inaccurate...sometimes late, sometimes fast... I haven't had any problems, but a lot of my friends experience this. -GPRS login inconsistencies... sometimes the phone has trouble logging in even though GPRS is available.
• digitizer 'jumps' sometimes.

I feel I've left out a lot of other features... there are just so many on this phone.  If I remember anything else, I'll send in more info!  Hope this answers some questions.

John Lacson