The Z200 Saga. Review on Sony Ericsson Z200

I have this urge to beat around the bush and am not going to get to the point early on. So only guys with immense patience can read further, the rest can simply buy the SE Z200 if they can lay their hands on a good second hand piece.

This flip phone made by Sony Ericsson was an impulse buy that I regretted for quite sometime. It was Dec 2003 and I was on the lookout for a flip phone. The only flip phones that fit my budget were the old fashioned Motorola models with B/W LCD screens and some other unknown brands like Bird etc. which would do nothing except connect you to the person you dial. The good ones from Samsung and LG were way beyond what my bank balance would permit.

Despite some reservations, I decided to settle for one of the Motorola models after making initial enquires and survey. The salesman sensed a sucker the moment I stepped into the showroom. After showing me the flip phones from the Motorola archeological site and Bird, he showed me the SE Z200… a phone that looked like the handiwork of Gorgio Armani and I was totally besotted. This flip phone looked out of the world, had a color screen (4000 or so colors) with graphical icons, IR port etc. and was only a couple of grands more than the basic Motorola flip model. I sensed immense value in the phone and was already dreaming of the style statement I would be making with this beauty.

I managed to save my dignity by swallowing all the saliva the phone had generated in my mouth and ran to the nearest ATM to withdraw the required additional amount. The phone totally costed me Rs. 9000 with bill and I came out of the showroom feeling a winner.

And sure enough, every person in my office was totally impressed with this babe and I even got a marriage proposal. The heady feeling slowly subsided after a few weeks, and I was beginning to realize my folly. My dreamy looking babe was turning psychotic real fast. My calls got disconnected even when the network signal strength was full. The battery at times would drain immediately after a few hours of charging. And the phone used to turn off and turn on at its own will.

Now this phone has a round display on the front which displays the network signal strength, time etc. What happened was that, one night (I was alone at home, with parents being out of station), I had woken up around 1:45 am to find the backlight of the front cover round display blinking rapidly. In my grogginess I got scared to death and assumed that there was an intruder or a ghost inside my room. I pulled my bedcovers and tried to go back to sleep not wanting to put my life at risk. Didn’t know when I fell asleep, but the first thing I did next morning (after finding no evidence of theft and dismissing the ghost theory) was to run to the showroom to return this crazed beauty. “It’s because you have activated GPRS sir!” the salesman said. “What nonsense!” I countered, “All my friends have GPRS on their phones, and none have these issues”. The salesman calmly explained that the issue was due to the settings that the service provider downloads on to the phone for GPRS accessibility, being incompatible with the Z200 operation software.

He sent me to the Sony Ericsson authorized service center and asked me to explain the problem clearly to the service engineer. Now as luck would have it, the service engineer was on leave and I had to deal with the dumb clerk. I repeatedly told her that only the phone’s software needed to be flashed/reloaded to resolve the issue and no hardware needs to be changed, and if the issues persisted I would gladly return to the service center, accept my foolishness, dance on one leg and apologize to her in front of everyone present. No dice! I had to surrender the phone to her for a few days (she also hinted the possibility that the phone may visit the capital of our great country if required) for necessary checks and repairs.

I was not surprised, when I collected my phone the following week and encountered the same issues the very next day. I marched into the service center and made a huge show of rage and righteous anger. Thankfully the service engineer had returned from leave and promptly upgraded the operation software. He then advised me not to use my existing Orange SIM and apply for a new SIM with the same phone number. With all this done I have not had a single issue with my phone to date.

I have dropped this phone on staircases, wet bathroom floors, gutters etc. and not a squeak from the aged beauty. To top it all the battery charge now lasts 72 hrs (up by 24 hrs) in spite of regular use and there is no call disconnection even when in a lift or train. People however no longer pay attention when I talk on the phone and the marriage proposals have dried up. No regrets though, I am beginning to fall in love once again.