SE p1i unleashed...!!!

Hello Friends,

Sony Ericsson launched the P1i to build on its range of P Series handsets. The P1i boasts of having push email features. Apparently, it also delivers on the multimedia front. But can it level above the P990i? Read on to find out.


P1i
Bundle


Sony Ericsson P1i handset, Stereo headset (Standard Sony Ericsson), 1GB M2 Sony memory, USB cable, Carry pouch, Cradle, Extra stylus, Charger, CD and manual


Specifications


Network: UMTS/GSM 900/GSM 1800/GSM 1900


Sizes: 106x55x17 mm


Weight: 124 grams


Screen: 2.6" 262K color LCD touchscreen (240x320 pixels)


Operating System: Symbian 9.1 UIQ 3.0


Battery: 1120 mAh


Turn ons


Symbian 9.1 OS, 3.2 MP autofocus Camera, Jog Dial navigation, MP3 Player with Walkman features, 3G Ready, Blackberry connectivity


Turn offs


A bit slow, No EDGE


Build & Design


The Sony Ericsson P1i has a rock solid image. The phone is well built and seems like it can take a fall or two easily. The phone is a mix-n-match of materials. On the face of the phone there's brushed steel enveloping the edges, while on the back, its silver plastic.

The front and sides of the phone feature a gloss finish, and the back of the phone has a smooth rubberized plastic finish. This all makes the phone look elegant, though I personally don't appreciate the gloss finish on the sides.


It gives you comfort but could give you the scares of the phone slipping off from your palm and the only little resistance provided is from the rubberized back.


The face of the phone incorporates a huge 2.6" touchscreen LCD, followed by the QWERTY keypad. It isn't the standard keypad; it's ripped right off from the M600i - with 1 difference: the last line of buttons is equally sized in the P1i, unlike in the M600i. Above the top left corner of the screen, beside the earpiece of the phone, is the secondary camera for video calls, and below the earpiece is a neat impression of the Sony Ericsson logo.


The left side of the phone has the touchpad housing of the stylus. The lanyard loop, jog dial, back key, and the main navigation controls are on this side of the phone too. The navigation is quite comfortable for right-handed people.


As for the lefties, it could be a little awkward. The right side of the phone has an internet hotkey and the camera button. This side of the phone also contains the M2 card slot protected by a hard plastic dust cover.


The back of the phone has a large chrome ring, within which is the 3.2 MP camera lens. Nothing is present on the back except for a standout chrome strip, which adds to the phones elegance. The top of the phone has the power button and the Infrared port, while the bottom of the phone has the multi-purpose Fast port connector.

Interface


The Sony Ericsson P1i has a simple interface; even a novice can navigate to any option they're looking for. The phone has a 208MHz processor, which uses 128MB of RAM from the total 160MB of internal memory. In spite of these specs, I found the phone to be a little slow.


The memory bump-up has been utilized via much optimization. But a slightly better processor with this kind of optimization would have surfed right through the storm of application processing.


The jog-dial interface is the best part of the P1i; it makes navigating through the menus an easy, one-handed job. The jog-dial has a click as well to select, and there's a back key as well to move a level back. This is a popular feature in Sony Ericsson smartphones.


The interface has a feature called Activity Menu. In this, you've 15 icons - and even then your screen is uncluttered. The icons can be minimized to only show the first row.

he best part is that if you ve internet access on your phone and keep connected to an IM client, you can actually make a contact one of the icons. This allows you to simply click and chat with your favorite contact. Activating the Activity Menu, you also get the schedule of the day that you can minimize or maximize whenever you want to rain check.


Using the phone as a touchscreen is also simple. Handwriting recognition is decent, and there's always the QWERTY keypad to help you type faster. Though this could be a debate because not all are comfortable with this awkward keypad. It took me about a week before I could punch in an SMS without needing to look at the keypad. Once you get used to it, it'll be a breeze to type and much better to operate than the stylus.

Camera


The P1i has a 3.2 MP autofocus camera. It has LED flash assistance as well for capturing images in low lighting conditions. The LED is smart and comes ON only when capturing the image instead of staying ON the entire time and sucking on the battery life. The images are captured at a max resolution of 2048x1536 pixels. Image quality is good, and in low lighting the images are very acceptable.


The camera has video recording capability as well. At CIF resolution of 320x240 pixels, the video quality is good. You can record video with or without sound.


Multimedia


The P1i has a common media player for playing audio and video files apart from separate audio and video players as well. The music player is nice; a Walkman like application sans the flashiness. The music player has the Walkman proprietary equalizer preset MegaBass. The P1i also has a decent FM Tuner.


Connectivity


The P1i has a good list of connectivity. The phone has the ancient infrared as well as the latest Wi-Fi. It's also 3G ready with a dual camera for video calls. The phone has basic GPRS as well - though it misses EDGE, hinting that the phone is made for the UK. Even there, not many are happy with Sony Ericsson churning out phones without EDGE.

Wi-Fi is easy to setup - just as in a Windows Mobile handset; no need to punch in codes to get info. The Bluetooth is a v2.0 and has Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) capabilities. The phone also has Blackberry services to work easy with push e-mail clients. So you can access your office emails, etc. without much problems.


Battery Life


The P1i has an average battery life. The phone will last you just a day with usage of all the whistles and bells of the phone. The specs state a talktime of 4 hours from the 1120 mAh rated battery.


The phone lasted me a day with about 2.5-3 hours of talktime, WiFi usage, and just a little music and camera shots. It's pretty acceptable. But I'd ideally want to use my phone for at least a couple of days before I need to put it back on charge. You can use the bundled cradle for this purpose. You can not only charge your phone but also connect it to the PC via the cradle.


Conclusion


The Sony Ericsson P1i can be purchased off the shelf for around Rs.24,000 with a 1-year warranty. The phone is a good buy if you can do without EDGE (a major issue, as EDGE is the fastest available connection in the country till 3G comes around) and the awkward keypad. At the end of the day the P1i is a worthy successor to the older P Series handsets from Sony Ericsson.

(compiled by snehashish,source unknown)