Feb 28, 2008 06:15 PM
4537 Views
Buying a cell phone in the PDA category can be quite confusing. There are numerous models available in the market and they all do well.
My problem was, none of these phones was the "complete package". Some dint have a good camera, otheres dint have wi-fi. Some were really bulky. Some were not blackberry/active sync enabled. Others just plainly over priced.
The P1i may not be the god's gift to the young professional, but it comes pretty close.
*Exteriors:
Has a very classy feel to it. Not like the cheap plastic often used on cell phones. Lets just say, itlooks and feels **expensive. The screen is made of glass(as is the case with all touch screen phones), so you dont have to worry about it getting scratched. Glass is a much better option that way as compared to plastic screens. It also comes with a small black pouch which keeps the phone safe and new for longer time. Most importantly, its very light and slim. So you can slip it into your jeans. Doesn't need one of those "clip on belt pouches". Personally, I hate them.
Basic phone functionality:
Answering and making calls is very simple. The best part is, the list of last dialed/recieved/missed calls is as old as one month. The clarity of voice is also very clear, something you come to expect of phones at this price range. The speaker phone aint the loudest. Even the mic is not receptive to voices from a distance. So you cant clip this phone to your dashboard and chat on speakerphone while you drive. You will have to use the handsfree. Messaging can be painful, at least to begin with. It takes a little getting used to the QWERTY keyboard as opposed to T9. Morever, the keys on the phone are rather small. And yet, each key can be pressed in two different sides(left and right) to type different letters. Now thats a tradeoff one has to make in order to use a phone with a QWERTY keyboard and still not make it as heavy and big as a brick. Its not so bad once you get used to it. The touch screen keyboard is nice too, but you need to use the stylus for it. The keys are too small to be used with the fingers alone. I suggest you use it before you buy it.
*GPS, GPRS and mail sync:
*The P1i is compatible with active sync as well. So you dont necessarily have to buy a phone that runs windows mobile to sync you office mail account in case your office infrastructure uses microsoft servers. The active sync application doesn't come installed with the phone but its easily downloadable from the official website and installs without any hassles.
It comes installed with the blackberry application and if your office has a blackberry server for mail sync, that works well too. I have used both and they work fine. In case you are not very tech savvy, you might need some help from your office tech support. If thts not feasible, dont loose sleep over it. If you google for help, there are ample of blogs taking you step by step to installing every application on the phone.
A word has to be mentioned for the GPS(Global Positioning System) functionality of the phone. It works surprisingly well. Points out your location to within 10 meters range, even on those small streets that you thought werent even on the map. But its nothing more than a toy with very little real use of it. Of course, this is a personal opinion. Once you are over the initial charm of showing off to your friends, the small GPS device that comes with the phone will probably get bundled and packed with the original box, never to be used again.
Opera web browser made available for the symbian OS running on this phone is quite nice for browsing. It arranges text in a very readable format. The text size may be a little small for some peoples comfort. But its actually very resonable give the fact that you are trying to browse the net, read mail and even edit office document.
You can even configure your personal mail account to show on your phone.(of course, you need a gprs connection for all thsi to happen, ask your operator for the price details).
*Music, camera and other functionality:
*This is not the loudest phone in the market. But its loud enough to wake you up when you get a call, even if your phone is safely tucked into the pouch. The sound output on the headphones is a bit of a let down. But maybe I feel that way because my previous phone was music phone(w830i). The camera is a real winner. 3.2 mega pixel is nice. Even the colour reproduction is satisfactory.
*Final word:
*Dont buy this phone if you are not going to take a gprs connection. The USP of this phone lies in its GPRS capabilities(browsing the net, reading mails, mail sync with your official mail). If your requirement is just to make calls, take photographs and listen to music, there are other phones avaiable on the shelf that will do an equally good job, if not better.
If however, you are someone who does not like to leave office work back on your desk, this is the perfect device for you. It will not let you down. It does not hang. And you dont even need to restart the phone when you install/uninstall any applications. The speed of OS is also quite impressive, even if your memory card is nearly full.
