Screen - 262,144-colour TFT, 240x320 pixel
Memory - 80MB* memory, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo - *Actual free memory may vary due to phone pre-configuration
Available colours - Premium Silver
Sizes - 114 x 57 x 25 mm, 4.4 x 2.2 x 1 inches
Weight - 150 g, 5.3 oz
3G � speed is the issue
Megapixel imaging and video
Effective mobile office
80MB internal memory + 64MB Memory Stick PRO Duo included in kit
Media Player
An in-phone media player that lays MP3 music and MPEG4 video files
Imaging - Camera 2 megapixel, Camera integrated, Photo light, Video Call, Video Clip, Video record, Video streaming, Autofocus, Digital camera menu
Document readers
Handwriting recognition
Picture editor
Picture phonebook
Picture wallpaper
SVG Tiny 1.1
Themes display
Viewfinder display
Wallpaper animation
2,5xDigital zoom
Messaging - E-mail, MMS (Multimedia Messaging), MMS Video, Predictive text input, Push e-mail, SMS long (Text Messaging)
Sound recorder
Document editors
Entertainment
Content Online
Games Download
Games Embedded
Java
Media Player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
MusicDJ
Polyphonic ringtones
FM radio RDS
Java MIDP2
Connectivity - Bluetooth, GPRS, Infrared
UMTS
USB support
Fast port
High-speed data
Synchronization PC
USB mass storage
WLAN 802.11b
3G
Internet
Modem
WAP 2.0 XHTML
Full function internet browser
Controls
Camera button
Internet key
Flight mode
Icon desktop
Jog Dial
Menu shortcuts
Touchscreen
Vibrating Alert
Voice Mail
Voice control
Organiser
Calendar
Contacts
File manager
Memory Stick
PIM Sync
Alarm clock
Business card exchange
Calculator
Conference calls
Memory Stick Duo
Memory Stick PRO Duo
Phone book
Speakerphone
Stopwatch
Tasks
Timer
Notes
Symbian OS
Performance (dependent on network and phone usage)
UMTS 3 hours 0 min 300 hours 0 min 1 hours 40 min
Talk time (up to) 9 hours 0 min 400 hours 0 min -
Standby time (up to) 9 hours 0 min 400 hours 0 min -
Video call (up to) GSM 1900 9 hours 0 min 400 hours 0 min.

Expert Reviews from other websites (1 review)

Sony Ericsson P990i Review at Mobile Phones UK (1 November 2006)

Sony Ericsson P990i Consumer Reviews (299 reviews)

Write a review of the Sony Ericsson P990i! Please share your experiences to help other people choose the product that's best for them. 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! Reviewed by Abdul on 22/05/2009
hi as sony erricsson mob seems a good cell phones compared to others and i hae used many of the models and found to be the best in the audio quality specially,and in the model of touch screen the p800 and p990i i found very nice,but it makes me wonder why sony erricsson mob, here in doha Qatar are so expensive when Nokia Mobiles are cheeper and has picked up a great market in the mo users, a peron who likes to by a Mob can see that when Nokia offers the smae features and the price is much cheper then sony erricsson, and even the assosaries like head phones, memory card bluetooth and even a charger are dam expensive compareing to other mob assosaries, and this makes to think over this a lot,to go for Nokia, becouse the price the Sony erriccson will be not much in demoand and forceable makes buyers to go for Nokia, how ever the customers even though like SE. have no way to choose Nokia due to the expensive Price, i would like to request the Company to bring donw the price so that itcan pick up the marekt and ofclurse many who love soney erricsson can be able to use it and take the benifit of this product, and more over like to add one thing which is very important if i am not mistaken that is about the service centre who deals with the customer so badly and rudeley where i had face after i bought 4 mob, and when to get it serviced they charged me me high and even after that when my problme not solved and i asked them that i had payed almost half of my mob price to get it repaired its not still working the reply came which is really surpriseng that, they said i can throw that in a dust bin and itsof no use, so is this a service centre who gives this kind of service?? do any customer will go for this product when they get this kind of service,????? i just want this to bring in the notise of the company that are they aware of it or not wha goes on with the local dealers and cervice centre thats what i have to say thank You
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Reviewed by Dean on 21/04/2009
Tops
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Reviewed by jo on 20/04/2009
the battery is rubbish apart from that handy
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Reviewed by NewDumbGuy on 30/03/2009
This might come as a VERY late posting, but back then, wage earning people like myself could hardly come up with the dosh to splash on anything costing more than 3 weeks sustenance. Back then this phone would've costs me a month's salary here in Malaysia. I would guess that there are more negative reviews than positive ones. Yes, I have to agree that the 990 is delving itself into a greater un-friendly user mode than the previous 910 or even the 900. Believe me, SONY has this thing about making it more difficult (or 'technical') with every new model launched (the P1 was a step-back as with the newer G series). Getting a picture resized in MMS made me utter words even a sailor would blush, but it's so gosh-darn simple with my Motorola A780 or my MotoMing A1200 - you just hold the stylus and 'resize". The 990.? Well, you got to use the picture viewer to alter THEN go to the mail section to attach it..! And you can't switch between MMS and normal SMS... But then again, this is all part of the learning process if you're willing. It's something like my Volvos - they bug you, drive you crazy and make you dig up loads of info - and then, when enough blood/sweat/tears are lost, the answer appears in front of you as if by miracle. But by me, this is a really great phone to have and there are tons of things you can do if the services suits you. But beware, this phone is only for those who have played around with many, many, many phones and will want to take a chance taming a wild horse or a rabid alligator. IT IS NOT FOR current Motorola, LG, Samsung, Nokia or even K-series Sony users. Even O2 users would throw up at the idea of owning this one. IT IS THAT BAD... I read somewhere someone threw it all across the room and it's a wonder it's still working (padded room perhaps.?) Fortunately, as with all electronic thinggies - prices fall drastically, and I've been fortunate in getting my hands on one full set for less than 1/2 the original price. So yeah, it's good for me. With all the low ratings and complaints of bugs, I've got around to understanding that the reason of a buggy set is too much ram. the near perfect functional phone must have a maximum of 512M of RAM, not more. Less is better. And as a previous owner of the 910, yes, the 910 is a better phone - solid in built and less prone to crashes. However, as we move forward, technology improves and sacrifices must be made for the demand of newer wants and fancies. So my ratings will stay at 3 *, it's far from a perfect phone, but I love it - warts & all....
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Reviewed by Devi on 19/03/2009
I am experiencing frequent no network detection. The problem arised as i changed few SIM cards. Is it advisable to repair it ?
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Reviewed by Rizwan on 06/03/2009
The calls related functionality of this cellphone randomly get held. But problem is phone keeps on functioning normally, i.e., interface for other software keeps on working (e.g. music, calculator, notes etc). You only find out that the calling functionality is held when you try to make a call, and then the phone really gets stuck and needs restarting. While the call functions are held, the incoming caller will hear busy tone or cellphone off message from other end.
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Reviewed by asif on 22/01/2009
a very bad phone but has a good look.........
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Reviewed by azman from malaysia on 11/01/2009
for me this phone is better for other model,i like the function and image this phone,another one this phone very smart.
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Reviewed by Rajeev Singh Bhadauria on 28/11/2008
Any other phone not capmarable...........
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Reviewed by pda expert on 26/11/2008
When it enters the market, it was way ahead beyond other competitors (despite its late coming). So don't compare nor judge it by any other current pda/smart phones. It's simply the the best.
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Reviewed by draglyar on 20/11/2008
I feel tricked as I already bought this. Video streaming not working, also numerous bugs... And the firmware won't update to the latest version because the phone is branded from a phone company (that's right, this is RIDICULOUS). This is my first Sony Ericsson smartphone, and it sure is the last.
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Reviewed by SAINT on 31/10/2008
THE P990I is not sch a bad phone though the proccesor speed is a laugh. i rather like the phone and besides am a p series addict
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Reviewed by VSK Nair on 21/10/2008
Phone "out of coverage area" while on gprs!!! I have taken unlimited gprs package from my service provider. But while I am using internet on gprs, the calling party gets the reply as the phone is outside coverage area. My email client keeps checking for new email messages every 15mins. and every 2 hrs the rss will get updated. These are the times when the phone is in gprs usage. I like to keep myself online on gmail, yahoo and msn, but due to this problem, I am unable to use this facilty as I may not recieve any calls. I do not know how many important calls I have missed... The phone also restarts itself at least twice a day. After restarting it says "phone has restarted to improve its performance". This lso happens when we are about to make a call. Has anyone found this problem with their handset and is there any solution
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Reviewed by Mark Chapman on 09/10/2008
I looked at the ratings and although poor decided to take a chance buying a cheap used P990i, i'm glad i did. Most of the ratings are from when the phone first came out in 2006, Sony Ericsson must have listened to the users as with the new updated firmware and software my P990i has never crashed in the 6 months i have been using it? I have loaded Tomtom 5 on to my phone and recently went to Miami and loaded the maps for the whole of the USA and Canada on my P990i and it worked like a charm. Connectivity is good WIFI is fairly quick, Bluetooth excellent and when connected to your PC with the PC suite. I have to agree start up is slow as the phone loads but once loaded response is reasonable and the phone is quite heavy, i have 8gb of pro duo memory installed which means i can have loads of music and several films. The MP3 player is good and video playback is as good as my HP PDA so no complaints there. I am sure now we are getting to the end of 2008 there are better Smartphones available but if you have a fixed budget and don't want to get into a long contract at �35 a month a used P990i is a good option, firmware and software update is free from Sony Ericsson you just need to connect via USB to you PC and they will wipe and reinstall the updated software direct to your phone.
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Reviewed by Newsjunky on 08/10/2008
On first glance this phone looks great. However, as other users have pointed out the software is extremely buggy. In fact many of the problems associated with the P900 have seemingly remained unsolved. The KERN-EXEC 3 error occurs frequently especially when attempting to use internet applications, with WIFI or via the mobile network. The Gmail application, from Google, and a number of other applications also produces the same problems. Since the whole point of a 'Smart-phone' is to access the internet, these errors make the phone somewhat pointless. Attempting to use the internet in Europe and China, by either the network or WIFI, has repeatedly failed to even get a connection. The bluetooth headset [also Sony Ericsson] constantly drops out. Additionally the phone restarts 'to improve performance' on a regular basis. Although the Xperia X1 may be a better phone, since it uses Windows Mobile, it is probably advisable to see how reliable the product is as reported by early users. I'm seriously looking at the G1 [Google phone] though again it's probably advisable to see early user reports. The big problem with all the new phones is how tied they are to specific networks. The iPhone is tied to O2, the G1 is tied to T-Mobile and the Xperia is tied to Vodafone. Orange have not said what they are doing with regards putting out a new 'smart phone'. These tech companies have a long way to go in providing reliable and useable devices. This phone [P990i] is another device to be consigned to the shelf along with my P900, T39m, T28s and A1018s. I had more reliability from the simple but chunky Motorola m301, but then it was just a phone!
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Reviewed by dr ahsan from pakistan on 04/10/2008
its a nice phone,i m using 4 GB card in it not bad,i like this phone
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Reviewed by Patrick on 29/09/2008
I have been using my sony ericsson p990i for a short time now and I have to say I�m 50/50 on it the phone pretty much does the basic functions which I bought it for call, text e.t.c the rest of the phone functions are bonuses such as mms internet but they work fine as well. The down side to this phone is the awkward camera the camera only works well in certain light conditions poor battery life for a phone like this the battery life is completely useless it wont even last a whole 24 hours but I have learnt to conserve my battery life by turning off all sound and using only vibrate also not always fiddling with the. The headphone, usb and charger port on the base of the phone starts to get loose so when you plug your headphone the sound breaks frequently because of the connection also it usually doesn�t charge unless you adjust it same effect with the usb. The main problem is the phone software is so bad the phone freezes or turns off but if come to learn to deal with this by first update the phone system software secondly avoid running multiple apps at the same time. All in all the phone is a good phone but the following might put you off buying it Phone size Phone camera Battery life System software and Charger port If all this were fixed the phone will be nice
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Reviewed by www.itechportal.com on 03/09/2008
I have purchased this phone recently for less then $200, and all I can say is WOW. Now DO not be fooled by by all the previous reviews, since they either never bought the phone, too lazy to use it, have a low intellect, or did NOT updated their firmware. I got this phone with the firmware updated to the most recent one. It does not hang/freeze/crash/ or anything! WIFI works flawlessly, music quality is superb, camera is excellent, and the whole design is beautiful. The phone weighs less the the p910 and the p900, and the touch screen can be even compared to the iphone's. The screen is huge, and the resolution is good too. All I have to say is that this phone is excellent, and don't listen half the negative reviews you see.
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Reviewed by ahmad on 17/08/2008
it is one of the best mobile in the world.this is look like your drums.you can search the internet as well as the other mobile like N95.I can say it that p990i is better than all of the nokia phones.if you don not agree you could try.
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Reviewed by faisal shai on 13/06/2008
belive me this phone is superb in all aspects wonderfull browsing dvd like video durable i hve no more wordssimply the besr
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Reviewed by Numpers on 09/06/2008
Once you remove that goddam flipper, it's a different beast - much more like the business tool it's meant to be. Battery life is awful, but all functions are spot on.
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Reviewed by Sambo on 29/05/2008
Outstanding phone (if you have the latest firmware), anyone that doesn't think so just doesnt know how to use it.
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Reviewed by wendelll on 18/05/2008
the toutch screen stopped working
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Reviewed by james marshall on 10/05/2008
I loathe this phone, it's been a millstone around my contractual neck. it's a great fat, lazy useless pig. Run, run, run away from it. It's badly designed, clunky, always crashing. It's too big, complicated and frankly I never worked out most of the functions. Get a blackberry go on.
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Reviewed by shmaz on 20/04/2008
Anyone with battery issues should try turning off 3G and stick to GSM networks (control panel-device-mobile networks). Then update software at sonyericsson web sight, and you`ll have a fine phone,ive had mine 2 years and its the best,travels with me everywhere and takes excellent pictures. a great phone,hard to beat.
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Reviewed by andy from sunderland on 26/03/2008
this was an upgrade from my n70.what a mistake,just as previous messages my phone switches off then tells me it was to improve the phone it then rejects calls even if i answer via ear peice and like many others it also freezes.as it is insured i am now onto my 4th phone on this current contract,which would be up now but for signing up to free broadband.I contacted orange last week and was told i would have to pay �15 to get a replacement.This phone is only 6 weeks old and orange want to take �15 from me? what happens if the next one doesnt work either. Is it just orange customers that are having trouble????????
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Reviewed by ron on 09/03/2008
pros: nice design many features cons: short battery life TOO SLOW,even openning a message restarts itself often memory leak OVERALL: yeah, its sure is a great phone,(for at least a month or so)because u have a new phone.. but all these excitement will NOT last for long.. IT WILL disappoint you somehow....TRUST ME TRY IT YOURSELF
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Reviewed by bb on 07/03/2008
the phone hangs up quite frequently and needs to be turned off before using again. at times message comes not enough memory and becomes useless, it must be shut off/on before using again, this is very irritating. does anyone know how to prevent this.
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Reviewed by patrick on 21/02/2008
those of you guys who gave it a low ranking, you can't seem to keep up with the phone's technology.TRY MASTERING THE PHONE FIRST.
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Reviewed by c3lus on 11/02/2008
The features are great. The fact that it isn't a reliable phone is not. The phone freezes up at the drop of a hat. Calls don't get connected on a consistent enough basis for me to consider it reliable. I have to agree with Katalin and Howard on this. In fact I too have reverted to using an old Nokia 6310. Orange did send out replacements (three in one week) but no real difference - and in one case it got worse). I've concluded that a feature rich phone is only good if it is, in fact a good phone
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Reviewed by yhell on 08/02/2008
just acquired now.. and i love it...
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Reviewed by Katalin Molnar on 29/01/2008
I have been using Sony Erisscon P990i for longer than a year. I realised I made the wrong decision to buy this. It is extremely slow compared to other similar phones. Battery life is very bad, if I use it to talk to people as well as use some of the other functions on the same day I will not get a full day battery life out of it. This means having to carry my charger with me on a little bit busier day. I had to change this phone twice now and things gone very wrong with it again. It is full of bugs an doing very strange things that are specially annoying like changing it's ring tone and other sound signals on its own, crashing often in several different programs. Time needs regular resetting as it being slow. MOST IMPORTANTLY - and this "feature" had still not been explained by Sony Ericsson or Orange, my line provider; On average, every other or every 2 out of 3 text message sent to abroad -that is chargeable- wiil be 2, 3 4 times larger than actually is by it's ch aracter. For example if 160 character is 1 text message than at 165 it will be 3, or at 120 it will be 2, ot at 360 characters I will send 4 sometimes 5 text messages instead of 3. This happens only when the receiver is not a UK mobile. So I am very sorry but really not recommending this phone. I hope they will sort it out for next time round and people can buy a better value and more compatible phone.
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Reviewed by Mario Trinidad on 28/01/2008
the p990i is good despite of lots initial problem , slow but superb and wonderful little box, can any one help me upgrade or where to get firmware and other application to download..tnx mario philippines mario3nidad@gmail.com
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Reviewed by Kant Lee on 24/01/2008
I have had this phone for a year and it crashed more than 10m times, the phone frozed a dozen times, and the only thing that I can do is to remove the battery inorder for the phone to "recycle" itself. A piece junk if you ask me.
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Reviewed by Fred on 24/01/2008
I have had the P990i for 18 months now. i know there were lots of initial problems with firmware but after updates I find this phone to work really well. It does absolutely everything I ask from a phone and some. I do appreciate the full qwerty keyboard and am a bit reluctant to swap for a newer model without one.
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Reviewed by bjay on 20/01/2008
nokia user for years 6600, n90, n70, n73, n80 and then switch to SONY ERICSSON guess what.. P990i the BEST phone i ever had... upgrade to its latest software and everything will workout fine. just remember the first problem you will encounter with this phone is the battery it drains fast .... 1. initial charging of the battery at least 4 hours 2. play with it until the battery drains out and the phone automatically shutoff. 3. charge it for 5 hours 4. use it, play with it do whatever you want until the battery runs out. 5. charge it for 6 hours forget the green light hahahaha... the rest is history !!!!!
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Reviewed by DC on 11/01/2008
Great phone! I was lucky to get it after the software upgrade by SE. I haven't had any major problems thus far, of course there are a few things we all would like to change here and there but overall this is still one of the best phones on the market. Unfortunately the newer version P1 isn't as aesthetically appealing as previous versions, looks like a scientific calculator.To me the P990i is best functional with the flip removed, but that's just me. Wish though that I could have screensavers as my wall paper like on the walkman series.
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Reviewed by silver on 05/01/2008
Got the unit from a local dealer here in the Phils., it crashed and hanged on the 3rd day of my use, it was good it is still on warranty. It sucks...
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Reviewed by yAshAr on 05/01/2008
the best ive ever seen
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Reviewed by ronriel on 01/01/2008
This phone is excellent! I have been using this for months now without any problems. Battery life is short during the first 2 days of use (which is understandable - Read your manual). But now it lasts up to 4 days. If you just read the manual carefully, I guess you wont have any problems with this phone. It never crashed on me yet. I wonder where you people got your p990i because mine never gave me problems.
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Reviewed by Howard Roberts-Jones on 28/12/2007
Functions great the locking up every couple of uses and the length of time to get into phone numbers after a reset unacceptable unfortunately against previous experience with Sont Ericsson I chose the P990i vary dissapointed particularly I had to sign up for 18 months have actually got Nokia 630 out of draw to be considerably more reliable better battery life (cannot last a normal working day without recharging)really would like a version without camera but with facility to read and edit at least word but ideally Excel files probably go back to a spv (Orange UK) or abasic nokia next time VERY dissapointed with its unreliability
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Reviewed by Michael on 20/12/2007
Its a good phone.. If you like completely useless piles of junk, i have had a problem with every single one of its features, and im on my 5th one, because orange wont let me choose a different handset. NO ONE BUY A P990I!!!
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Reviewed by king ericsson on 20/12/2007
the best mobile in the world it contain everything you need
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Reviewed by Prashant on 17/12/2007
Bad Phone. Everything suddenly shuts down stating KERN-EXEC error number 3.
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Reviewed by Johan on 13/12/2007
If you run nav4all on your phone DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR SOFTWARE It will no longer work.Rest of new software work well
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Reviewed by Andrew Strong on 12/12/2007
I hate this phone. I hate it becauce it is full of bugs. It won't switch off - how about that? The buttons are too small, way to small for my average sized fingers. Keeps losing info. Can't set up email. It's just rubbish. I have wasted far too much time and money on this and will never, ever buy a Sony Ericcson again.
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Reviewed by Freska on 10/12/2007
Well I have to admit , at start i hated that phone because of its very short battery life and the way it halts suddenly or restart to enhance performance!, everything else is great the software, the camera, the memory up to 8 GB (I'm using a 2 GB), the qwerty Keyboard and the hand writing recognition (needs some training), Lately i read a review that now I can use the phone for 3 days at least without recharging (amazing for those who already suffers from battery life), here is how to do it: - OPen Flip - Go to battery settings - Set Car and handheld mode to Auto - Set brightness to 30% for handheld, 15% for handheld dimmed, 20% for car, 10% for car dimmed and save - Set the Keypad to lock after 1 min (to avoid draining your battery every time you touch a button bu mistake or in your pocket) - Control panel > Connections > Mobile network --> Set network selection to GSM and 3G mode - ENJOY 3 to 5 days of mobile use on a single full battery charge :o) AMAZING !!
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Reviewed by julian Hall on 09/12/2007
very dissapinted. Had 900 and 910. The software crashing and processor speed are big issues along with changes to the functionality that do not make sesnse. Many applications are buried and require addl button pressing that waste addl time. Data retrieval is slow and calender and phone book funtions are slow, fiddily and over complicated. even thought of going back to my 910 had it not been for the radio feature. Lost confidence in Sonyericsson. thinking of other options!
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Reviewed by nehvep on 03/12/2007
I had this phone for almost a year now, during which time I aged about 10! How can you design a phone with a button the size of half a finger tip, which is split in two: the upper part accepts a call, the lower rejects it? Why did they away with the simple feature of the P910i: flip closed normal speaker, flip open speaker phone? Why is the power plug so dismal that it keeps dropping out? I have a belt case for the phone. No matter how gingerly I try to take it out, for some reason I touch something which makes the phone reject the call. I got rid of it - I'm so happy!
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Reviewed by Andre Shepherd on 27/11/2007
well hostly you people who test the phones are looking for a super so why don't you all come together and make a super cause every phone company has it's ups and downs as far as i think sony ericsson has brought the a game to the table that no other company wanted to go are touch and sence sony was the frist to do so some ok every one wants to copy are try to out do them. From the p800 to the p990 all are very got phone to own. I had own three p910's before reason why to p910 cause two was stolen and i give the other to my girlfriend cause now i have a p990 and when the p1 (p1000) comes out i want it in fact i would love to own the whole p serise and where i live the in Barbados the p910 has a very hot prise of 1350.00 and the p990 coast even more 1550.59 now do the math in how much i love the sony ericsson p serise
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Reviewed by Theo on 24/11/2007
Absolute trash. Never EVER even THINK about buying one of these phones. Don't even accept one as a gift. This is so full of bugs I had to call rentokil out!
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Reviewed by SeWeLam on 22/11/2007
I can't say nothing other than really I'm afraid of updating my phone using SEUS thought that I have a serious problems with the phone as it is so slow and kills tasks automatically all by himself..and this frustrated me so much I wish if there any way to install Windows Mobile on it but in vain of course...regardless of the many features in P990i I can't use it all at th same time as it lags RAM size very much...I hope that there is any solution for all of that problem...
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Reviewed by Dino on 14/11/2007
This phone has good web browsing capability, fm radio sounds bad on headsets but sounds great on speakers, call quality is good, camera not too bad I like the k750i better but the p990i has better flash. sometimes the flash dont work and doesnt take good pics sometimes.
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Reviewed by jon on 13/11/2007
my p990i was crashing all the time.the i went to the sony ericsson web site and done an update,it hasn't crashed once since. i am very pleased with the phone i updated it two months ago.
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Reviewed by Dino on 12/11/2007
The phone shuts off by itself sometimes, The game disappeared for some reason, and the setting for the themes doesn't work, automatic keypad lock I hate it!
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Reviewed by Howard on 09/11/2007
Got this as an upgrade from the P910i in October 2006....BIG BIG mistake! It's now November 2007 and stuck in a 24mth contract (12mths to go) of continual problems. I'm on my 3rd phone from Orange..fair play O range have been good...the phone has been rubbish. As I keep it on 24hrs a day it looses lots of its functions like deleting txt's, even answering the phone without cutting the person off. DON'T BUY THIS PILE OF JUNK! THERE ISN'T A zero STAR OR I WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT ZERO!
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Reviewed by connor on 08/11/2007
absolutly outstanding its one of the best phones ive eva owned its great for emailing my friends throu my wireless internet and i have got a extra expantion witch lets me go on msn messenger i am so happy. im so glad the 2 mp camera is more like a 4mp its brillent buy it now before u miss out
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Reviewed by tommah on 07/11/2007
though the phone is ok.was trying to update the software on my sony ericsson P990i and it went dead! All am getting from it is a "no organiser software" message on the blank screen. please sony ericsson do something.
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Reviewed by nadeem on 02/11/2007
poor isnt enough word for this phone, its pathetic. programs terminates automatically. infact its too much automatic... u never know what it is going to do next, hang or camera hangs, or mediaplayer giving errors etc. web is pathetic, if a file is of 5 mb it would download 500 bytes and says done, its not phone its crime.
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Reviewed by terry on 31/10/2007
super phone...i like it...
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Reviewed by alberto on 30/10/2007
i like so much
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Reviewed by kojot on 29/10/2007
very good phone !!
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Reviewed by trish on 28/10/2007
problem with the alarm .. the unit goes off all day long and you can't get rid the the alarm, regardless of cancelling it.
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Reviewed by jigx on 26/10/2007
good
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Reviewed by Steve W. Plymouth on 21/10/2007
The 990i What can I say, I waited a long time to get this and spent several months reading about every phone I could in 'Total Mobile' mag and finally settled on this one. I have a P900 but dropped it and cracked the screen but I prefer that phone to this one. The software runs so slow and is so unreliable I feel like I've gone bakward, not forward. The appearance did capture my gaze and the thought of what I could do with this phone had me sold, until that is I got it and used it for a few days. I got it as a contract on Orange and just over a month later it started top play up. The clock would not work and it wouldn't ring. I contacted Orange and they very reluctantly exchanged it but only for a re-conditioned one as I had had it for over a month (so beware this is normal practice for Orange). I got my second P990i and guess what it went wrong again, I'm now on my third phone and hate it with a vengeance and I'm only 12 months into an 18 month contract. This phone (my third one) is set to ring and vibrate and the ringtone is set with different songs for each of my stored numbers. Trouble is for some time now it won't ring or play the song, I am sick and tired of this phone and will have to change it again. I don't know what Sony Ericsson had in mind when they potrayed this phone as their new so called 'Flagship'. As for battery use 'Total Mobile' said it would last for a lot longer than it does! one good days use and it needs charging. Even in standbye mood it fails after 2 days. It'd the worst phone I have ever had and I have had several! The almost perfect P990i would comprise of (in my opinion)the following: 1) The screen size of the P990 2) More user friendly software that is easy to navigate 3) Qwerty keyboard (one good feature of the P990i) 4) 5-6 megapixel Camera 5) Longer battery life If Sony Ericcson were to do this I would consider using one of their phones again, but as it stands now, I would not entertain having a Sony Ericsson phone in my home ever again! I had the same problems with my previous phone the Sony Ericsson 750i. It was bought as Simm Free so not tied to any network, I bought it as soon as it was available and paid �399 for it. It went back to Sony Ericsson 3 times for repair under the one year wartranty. I gave it to my son in the end as the camera stopped working just a fwew days after the warranty ran out. As it stands now; I will never use a Sony Ericsson phone again!
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Reviewed by Mr Black on 19/10/2007
I bought this phone about 3 months ago; it was an impulsive decision. I was my first time of handling it and it was going for a good price. I had always wanted the older p910 but when I got this opportunity I couldn't let it pass me by. I love the phone but the problem is the fact that the software is unstable. I created my personal MP3 ring tones, store them on the phone, used them for about 4 days, then this evening, for no reason I could notice, the files all vanished. That also included some nice recordings that a friend gave to me. I have had to restart the phone so many times just to get it working normally that I am really disappointed. It is still a very good phone and I still love to won it but I think sony-err can do something about upgrading the firmware/software so we can have a better experience using it.
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Reviewed by alberto on 09/10/2007
very nice
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Reviewed by RK Chaturvedi on 02/10/2007
The name Sony Ericsson seems to be a name of a cheater when it comes to P990i with its highly trouble some firmware. I have never ever been so disappointed by any cellular phone and the manufacturer company which completely failed to provide after sales services to its esteemed customers by giving deaf ears to customers dissatisfaction.
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Reviewed by anish john on 30/09/2007
very good mobile but the sound quality and ringing volume is very bad and low comparing to other Sony mobiles
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Reviewed by Dave on 26/09/2007
I bought one in Hong Kong just after Christmas 2006. In the last 9 months of usage, the phone has rebooted twice on me. I've found it to be reasonably reliable. I've taken a few "emergency" photos with it - they're acceptable, but I'm comparing against a proper SLR here. Accessing the photos are a litle tricky until you work out that the phone has a multitude of storage folders but there are two primary options - store in phone memory or store in the memory stick. I've loaded about 40 MP3 songs onto it and the audio is great. There's a reasonably addictive golf game on it that I play every now and then. Bluetooth works fine. Have not tried WiFi or Internet connectivity with it. Currently I use it to synchronise with MS Outlook at my office. Works a treat. I have my calendar, contacts, to-do list and notes sync'd to the phone. Entering text with the stylus is rather peculiar. Can't get it to lock into the appropriate case I want - the only way I've managed to get around that is to use the keyboard. Battery life lasts for about 2 to 4 days depending on usage. The speaker could be louder. Ring-tone is a bit soft - I like it really loud so that if I'm in another room I can get to it.
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Reviewed by Shane Jeffcoat on 26/09/2007
My 910i met with a watery death, I thought great, time for a better phone. Vodafones replacement is the 990i. this was an expected happy time, new features, faster applications. "Not Likely" what a pig of a phone. Good features, Card reader. Bad features, Screen hard to read. phone crashes all the time in numerous applications from speed dial, call log etc. Cannot use the buttons with the flip removed as the phone crashes when on calls, Where does one stop. Called voda phone, fobbed of with all the excuses, we need to send it back to Sony Ericsson, may need upgraded software, Basicly they don't want to know. This does not have a low enough rating to express our disapointment on the quality of the phone or Vodafones lack of service.
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Reviewed by che an on 26/09/2007
well im a new owner of p990i. . and i can say it gives me headache. . i dnt know if just dont know how to use it or its really jjunk can some one tell me how to update software i go to its site but its not working
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Reviewed by agrika on 26/09/2007
This is most horrible phone I have ever had in my life. I will never wish anyone to have all these troubles I had with this phone. NEVER BUY IT!
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Reviewed by W Malik(thelivingflesh@yahoo.com) on 26/09/2007
Why do people just blame Orange for Sony Ericson? or the other way round? Phones great for wireless, if you change your default BT router and put something good. Bluetooth depends on the class and software you use on laptop.Get a 990i not from orange, no contract.buy the real one its got no cheap softwares on it.
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Reviewed by M.Nazifi on 20/09/2007
mmm...yap,you're on indeed(I mean the negatives),but as for me it's worth,it dose nearly anything you can expect from a cellphone,I(like manty others) was waiting for the i-phone,to appear although I'd bought it before,but comparing...I found this one better(p990i),I'd be more happy if you name a better phone(e.g. a phone with more facilities or somethin' better in totto)
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Reviewed by Jonny Scarborough on 19/09/2007
Hi there. I had the p910i and now have the p990.The functions on the 990 are outstanding. Yes it crashes and freezes now and then, but how many phones are trouble free. The buisness card scanner is cool. The camera has a flash and takes quality pics and video. and to boot the wifi is a great addition browse the net the phone resizes the page. super fast. yes the screen is smaller. but it makes the phone feel more sturdy. between the 910i and the 990 i had a nokia n91. what a heap that was. put me off nokia for good. looked great. but had more bugs than nitty nora. I personally think sony are nearer to getting it right than the other competitors.
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Reviewed by Pak Putu on 19/09/2007
I have used this phone...ehm...It's execellent.However,sometimes hang.When I take a picture, the risult is some times blured.
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Reviewed by Owen James on 18/09/2007
I own a Sony Ericsson P990i and I find it a really good pda mobile. However the battery life is shortened significantly when I use the fm radio and the phone crashes frequently when I add new contacts and I have to re-boot it. The positives include its multi-purpose functionality and its keyboard which I find much asier to use than other smart phones. It's 2 megapixel camera is also a big plus. The phone is generally very user-friendly when you get accostomed to it. However as a Sony Ericsson convert I implore the manufacturers to iron out the bugs mentioned!!
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Reviewed by Sarah H on 13/09/2007
Do you know I wish I'd read up on this phone before getting stuck into contract on it that Vodafone wont let me get out off as the phone they say is fine! Well fine enough that the best advise I can give is turn the phone off and wait the next 12 months for the contract to expire - I shall not be going for a SE phone again or a customer of vodafone!
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Reviewed by Petar on 11/09/2007
Well avtually.. when I first took the phone, there were alot of "bugs". But after updating the firmware from the sonyericsson official site, now the phone runs real smooth and in 1 week use, it crashed only 1 time (because of java application). Battery life's not too bad, it lasts 2-3 days..
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Reviewed by Alexander on 07/09/2007
I love my phone, but I miss a GPS chip, more RAM space and higher resolution camera
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Reviewed by Scott Hansen on 05/09/2007
I've owned this phone for almost a year now. Have had the previous two models and loved them. My gripes with the 990i is the firmware issue. Seems that alot of the time, I will answer a call with bluetooth and the phone will crash. It takes a good few minutes to reboot. Very Very frustrating. Sony claims that it is a in-compatible headset issue. I've have over 30 bluetooth headsets and despise 80% of them. The funny thing is these headsets work perfect with my 910i. No bluetooth issues at all. I feel that Sony made alot of bad choices with this model. Also, it is very hard to hear when you are using the phone without any kind of headset. It is so attenuated!!! Can't use the phone effectively with the bluetooth and you can barely hear anything out of the phone. What good is it. I think this is my last Sony/Ericcson phone unless Sony gets a bright eyed-bushy tailed engineer that can knock some sense into Sony!!! Go buy an iPhone!!!
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Reviewed by A Evans on 02/09/2007
P990i. Still a flawed phone. Having previously owned the 990 and the 910 it is an improvement, but connecting to a PC is fraught with difficulty - also according to Orange you cannot install the software for 2 different types of Sony phone (eg990i and 850i) because they are incompatible with each other. Although the screen is a good size it is extrermely difficult to read in sunlight.
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Reviewed by Stefan_tcekov on 02/09/2007
i had my sony ericcson p990i for less than a month and i still love it. it has a lot of things in it and specially i like the design. it`s true that i have to restart it sometimes, but is ok. if you people dont like the design, the small screen ot the bugging firmware of the phone, i have one very easy phrase for you - dont like it dont buy it. i think is stupid to buy something that you`ve expected for that long and to write a negative things. all phones sometimes get bugs and you have to remove the battery to restart it. it`s normal i think. for that price sony ericsson p990i is perfect phone with a lot of extras. i will rate it 4 stars - excellent, because i havent seen an outstanding phone till now and i guess i will never see. maybe in next 10 years will have the perfect phone.who knows! :)
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Reviewed by Saeed on 02/09/2007
The worst phone i ever used
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Reviewed by john atkins on 02/09/2007
well after a new firmware i thought it would have made some difference and well not really i am always getting out of memory errors when i have only got one app running it does seem to be slow still it is very up setting to spend your hard earned money to get all these problems and lake of software to go with it i have a good mined to sell it and get back my p910i i think it was better as a pda than p990i ok short a good camera but i can live with that. have a nice day
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Reviewed by Maruful on 29/08/2007
Dissapointing!!
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Reviewed by majidalialtaf on 27/08/2007
i baout p990i good phone
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Reviewed by sumukh raghu tilak on 24/08/2007
it is excellent
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Reviewed by gaz on 24/08/2007
its a good phone but to be honest there was no point putting a touch screen in bacause the screen is so tiny!
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Reviewed by medusa on 23/08/2007
it rocks!
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Reviewed by alberto on 23/08/2007
very mach good
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Reviewed by ladan on 23/08/2007
I really loved this mobile
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Reviewed by Papa on 21/08/2007
trying to connect the wifi. bliv me , it's hell. the fon keeps on freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing and freezing.
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Reviewed by christopher on 16/08/2007
It's junk , i have had nothing but trouble with the p990i, bring back the p900
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Reviewed by saad on 14/08/2007
My overall experience has been good with sony ericsson p990i. Although it does had few downside which i would like to point out. First, its slow. For the business phone, a smartphone which offers application which are more usefull to people on the run. But i would not recommend it as its not that responsive. It often restarts on its own if u have to more den 4 applications running at the same time(not always restarts but it does sometimes). Large in size and in the first week i could feel the flip not up to standards.. u could feel loose keys and all while dialing. The qwerty keyboard keys are 2 small even for 10 year old. Im sure there are ppl who would like to point out the good side of this phone but im here to point out the bad side.... for busy buiness people this is not the phone for u check out p990i it look promising.. for people who cant find everything in one phone well u have this as ur option. wifi, bluetooth u name it, it has it.. tech freak are more at tracted towards wat it can do.. oh by the way ppl are just ripping off when it comes to softwares u wont find good softwares which are usefull for it.. all the softwares out dere are just useless n full of viruses.. i had to reset my phone twice :@
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Reviewed by SLN on 13/08/2007
has any of you READ the manual? This phone kicks butt yeah it's not for n00bs though who cares? best phone ever.
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Reviewed by Martin on 12/08/2007
What about the best piece of software, business card scanner. I think this is a masterpiece and have tgried it on numerous cards with about 80% sucess rate. Much better than 910I
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Reviewed by ron on 11/08/2007
people who doesnt know how to use phone maybe are the people who judge the phone without using it... harhahrhar...
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Reviewed by Jacob on 11/08/2007
my phone works perfect had no even one crash the thing is smart phones are for smart people they have an operating system which needs care just like your pc if it's packed with junk applications and to many applications are runnig at the same time it crashes like your pc and second thing the best software is of course generic so debrand your phone and remember to update your software from time to time and you will be happy with your phone like I am :)
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Reviewed by farooq on 09/08/2007
I am fed up off the phone it keeps hanging up.. it changes time automatically, & the worst part is it restarts on it own ..
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Reviewed by Bran on 08/08/2007
I've only had this phone for almost a month. Everything works fine for the first couple of weeks,then problem starts it crashes to often I would have to take the battery out pretty much all day so it would work again. Every time it crashes I am phone less for the entire day. It would have been a good phone if it works. Had I known about this problem before I would have not purchased this piece of junk.
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Reviewed by Raymond Hodge on 07/08/2007
Well what a dissapointment? I wish i had read this review before i bought the phone. I feel like a right prat buying this phone. I am now on my third phone, soon to be my fourth and my sevice provider (vodafone: not shy to mention their name) refuse to allow me to replace it with another phone, even though i paid �165.00 for it. It freezes, it can't keep the time up to date, the camera is always open when i take it out of my pocket and I struggle to get a decent signal, when everyone around me does. It's horrible. I have always used Nokia phones, what a regretful decision to change! Does not even deserve 1 star.
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Reviewed by Ganesh Iyer on 07/08/2007
Just in 4 month's of buying the phone from a shop, the speaker (above the screen from where we hear to the other persons voice after answering or calling that person) is not functioning (the sound is negligibly low). The ring volume is too low. The Closed flip keypad is not functioning at all. The battery only lasts for 3-4 Hrs maximum (after getting it fully charged). I gave up on my P900i and P910i to replace it for P990i and I still regret my decision for choosing this phone. The other thing, the front camera can only be used for video conferencing (3G) and not for clicking photos like other phones with Dual camera work. People think that it is an upgrade to P910i, but I think against as it is not user friendly, I can't zoom the pictures downloaded from some other phones, from my PC via bluetooth or card reader. It does not even accept a 1 GB Duo Pro memory stick. On top of all this, the shop owner did not even provide me with a warranty or guarantee card stating that these phones do not have any guarantee. This phone was a complete disaster.
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Reviewed by mai on 06/08/2007
it was nearly a week since i got this phone, unsatisfied. the design was good, features are nice especially its WiFi connection.it took me 3 days using it without having the phone manual in hand. it was a terrible headache. its too complicated to use.. some of it is just a waste of time. the screen is good, for internet use in particular. the bbattery life is bery poor. charge it today, tomorrow, everyday. its not reliable when u have long trips - u better bring the charger in your baggage. other than that, i think the phone will turn out to be just f
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Reviewed by Vuyelwa on 06/08/2007
I just don't know what's wrong with this phone, it freezes all the time.
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Reviewed by bill on 06/08/2007
great phone,not experiecing any problems!
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Reviewed by cryostasis on 05-08-2007
Phone works great havent have experience any bugs for the past 1 week of use.
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Reviewed by dave on 02/08/2007
this phone is the worst ever!! i just smashed it on the wall!! don't ever buy n73!
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Reviewed by Ayan Arya on 01/08/2007
I think this is a good phone as compared to p910. As it has two cameras,it has wifi and also 3g.
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Reviewed by aamer khan on 30/07/2007
for all you proud owners, pls. note that the system update is availabe at sony ericsson site, and the phone works incredible after the software updation. go for it.
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Reviewed by James on 28/07/2007
All you lot out there hu think dis fones rubbish cause it keeps crashin just need to debrand it because the stupid network firmware is rubbish and goes realy slow, but de se official firmware is quality. DIS FONE IS THE BEST I HAVE EVER HAD
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Reviewed by Keith on 27/07/2007
I stopped using this phone and reverted to my 750i. I don't understand the stupidity of not making a any key answer, in fact I found it was any key reject. I spent most of my time calling my customers back. Phone now in the trash bin where it belongs. Its a shame that there isn't a no stars rating
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Reviewed by Rishi on 25/07/2007
too bad people dont understand this phone.the basic firmware version is having some flaws,i bought this and updated the phone first and the phone is actually working awesome.hmm but SE is at fault because the basic firmware was rubbish.
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Reviewed by Insane on 25/07/2007
Had this phone for 2 months, the things crashes, switches off, he jog dial has broken and i am majorly disapointed in the phone, my opinion don't buy it there are better phones out there in the market
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Reviewed by Gary on 23/07/2007
I must agree with the comments made by previous reviewers. I have also owned the p800, p900 and 910i and this is certainly the worst of the family. Mine also crashes, then the touch screen went out of sync, so it was not possible to use at all, if you touched the top of the screen it would operate the bottom of the screen. It even managed to lose time, about 2 or 3 minutes a day. The phone is total rubbish and of poor build quality, not a patch on the 910i. I hope the p1i isn't such a disappointment after such a long wait. I am certainly going to wait a while and read site reviews like this before I purchase another phone.
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Reviewed by kamran on 23/07/2007
I got this fone 2 weeks back.But from the last 2-3 days, the fone is crashing a lot.after every 2-3 hours, it just freezes and then i have to get the battery out and put it again.its really very annoying.does anyone know how this problem is fixed.
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Reviewed by tony chang on 22/07/2007
the phone is so slow i get rid of it after a week, during phone call you cant access the diary??? but you can with the 910i hence me selling the p990i and keeping my 2 year old 910i
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Reviewed by Adrian on 19/07/2007
people here who view this phone as a piece of trash are not idiot, you are the ones who are idiot for buying a bugging phone. ofcourse people would like to receive a quality phone and not a buggy phone! yes it is armed with lots a weapon, but what's the sense if it crashes all the time? not people there are tech peeps, most perhaps are business man who eager to hold on to its features, but like i said, what's the worth if it hangs most of the time!
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Reviewed by Pewka on 19/07/2007
I actually like �my P990i - I replaced my older P910i to get WiFi and the business card scanner. The latter is really excellent and transfers Bus-card information to Outlook Contacts rather well, although the more innovative card designs need a little editing. My biggest disappopintment is that I still need to carry a separate WiFi Skype phone - I apparently did not do my homework before I bought the P990. The smaller screen does not bother me, but when a call arrives and I try to fish it out of a pocket or phone holder, it is difficult to avoid pressing one of the several buttons sitting on the sides of the phone. With strange effects, sometime. And no, I do not really use the keyboard - I find the virtual one with the stylus much faster to use. So for that matter, the P910i was just as good - it had a turn over keyboard, which I also rarely used.
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Reviewed by barry steenkamp on 17/07/2007
VERY VERY VERY BAD.WORST PHONE EVER.
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Reviewed by george crete greece on 15/07/2007
The most expensive paper weight i have bought. Business phone? Lost more deal using this phone than an indian would have using spoke signals. Anyway wish i had read review before i bought. Stay clear. This rating needs a 0. ! is over rated.
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Reviewed by morefire! on 15/07/2007
wow well done sony ericsson (claps) you have made a miny laptab for in your bag now if your a business person this is almost the phone for you so when your looking for a phone please consider this one
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Reviewed by Biju on 11/07/2007
P990i...All that I have read about the phone made me wonder if this phone is just an average business phone like the others claims. Thankfully, I just did'nt stop reading at just one site and got reviews from other websites and forums. Thankfully I made the right choice. I bought the P990i. Intially I thought the phone was a bit slow in responding. But after much reading came across a forum which has a thread discusing about this model at length. Agreed, the phone had problems initially when it came out in the market. But SE and Symbian came out with several patches. When installed, your SE P990i will work like a perfect new smart business phone. When I checked on my phone, it came with the latest patch alreadly installed. So I tried figuring out why my phone was still slow. After much reading I learnt that once the transition is switched off, the phone becomes much faster than before. The camera works on an instant click, contacts opens up in a sec. All the problems I had earlier were gone. Just turn off the transition. Thats it. I would not trade this but for the latest o2 sidekicks which are now a 'musthave' in Hollywood. These are great PDA's in looks and performance. But among all other PDA's...I love my SE P990i. I'm glad I bought it. The guys here who are complaining surely need to patch up their phone software, that is if they still have their SE P990i
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Reviewed by dwytzkrieg@Phils. on 10/07/2007
I can now give out comments on the P990i after having owned it for 2 weeks now (I switched from N73 to N80 and now this). I never wanted to buy it after the horrible reviews, and most were actually true. The leaking RAM issues, the sudden hangs and virtual collapse of the entire software. I already experienced "memory full" but after having learned to maximize the task manager, have avoided seeing this error message. Maybe it's the firmware? Mine already has R9 already. This fw version allows for speedy data transfers, faster menu browsing and a more useful task manager that doesn't just switch tasks but assures you that it closes each one of them, manually at least. Turning off 3G when not in use and lowering the screen brightness has lessened power consumption and typing in word has never been faster. Things are improving and I guess Sony has finally heard the calls of the loyal consumers (although I am a solid Nokia fan).
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Reviewed by JadedSEuser on 10/07/2007
After using the p800, p900, p910, I can honestly say this is a bit of a let down. Ok, it has lots of toys, but these do not a good phone make. It seems that everything innovative that SE put into its predecessors, they have decided to remove or alter. It has a smaller screen, thanks to its relocated qwerty keypad, lost some of its one handed operation, thanks to its 3 way jog dial as opposed to its 5 way, and it also crashes and freezes as it uses shared memory to store information and run tasks. Since getting my p990, in August 2006, I have had 6 relacements. Not exactly flagship phone material. What is even more bewildering is that SE will probably drag its heels on the p990's replacement. I waited for the p990 (far too long), I dont think I will beleive the hype and wait next time. I will just find a suitable Nokia instead. SE need to start innovating again and not just change things for the sake of changing them. I wonder if SE will change things next time to make them better? SE need to realise that if they are going to launch a smartphone it will not only be used by technophiles but by business men too, and for real life applications, not just bragging rites. To buisness users having a phone thats not up to task just doesn't cut it. The p990 is buggy, slow, its features aged very quickly (due to SE holding it back so long). Average at best.
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Reviewed by Peter on 10/07/2007
brought it back to the store after 2 days and using my old P900 , wiche is ways better. Do I have to say more.
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Reviewed by kramix on 10/07/2007
This is the worst phone i have had in ten years plus of mobile phone ownership. I am just sending it back to Sony Ericsson with the following faults: � Unable to synchronise with PC unless reset carried on device at regular intervals � Crash warning (Sync Scheduler) when sending first text message after turning on. I think this is connected to the previous point, however I have tried to sync before sending texts (SMS) but this does make any difference � Speaker vibration � Does not always remember (log) calls dialled or received, no obvious pattern � Battery life varies considerably, from half a day to two days without any particular reason � 3G network operation does not work most of time, with incoming calling going automatically to answer machine, outgoing dropping � Clock not accurate, looses time � Phone crashes and reboots randomly for no apparent reason DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!!!
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Reviewed by bamdamargo on 09/07/2007
This is such a good phone its the best phone ive ever had
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Reviewed by Inaam. Kabul on 09/07/2007
I am using this device for couple of months. Just like to say, If we take it as a pda / mobile, its absolutely fine. If we want it functions like latest configured laptops / pcs, its realy a waste. Job well done by Sony Ericsson!!!!
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Reviewed by similar brother 1 on 09/07/2007
stick to a 900. the 990 is not good. everything that worked now doesn't. Sorry I can't go on I'm to fed up with it. It's a bad piece of kit look elsewhere. It is rubbish. I might try to elucidate again later, but honestly don't go there I have to give it 1 star there isn't anything less.
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Reviewed by alex on 08/07/2007
is the best phone
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Reviewed by MikeR on 06/07/2007
Sorry, I tried this for 4 months as my personal piece of kit. At work I received a HTC PDA Phone at about the the same time as I received the 990i on a contract, I like to keep work and home stuff apart.. There is no comparision the P990i is rubbish. After 4 months I've given up and gone back to my old nokia mobile. The 990i is just too fiddly, it is not user friendly and it's operation is far from being intuitive. Too much of the time you are trying to find your way around screens trying to remember to do even quite basic stuff that is second nature on other products. it sits in my bedroom abandoned. It will never be used again. As for the HTC PDA Phone with Push email, now that is the cats whiskers by comparison, a seriously useful device. Don't waste your time on the 990i
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Reviewed by Adnan Shah on 04/07/2007
i love it , its a beautiful fast power machine iliked it.
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Reviewed by Murtuza Zoeb on 04/07/2007
I bought the P990i a month ago(08/06/07), and the fantastic features provided dwarf any misconception that are being talked about.
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Reviewed by Cuz on 01/07/2007
Well, I got this phone to replace my pda which has served me well and my mobile, and after two months of using it, I have now returned to my 3 year old pda and bought a cheap handset to stick my sim back in, this phone is absolute trash, even as a standalone phone it is useless but try and use anything else on it and it just freezes, so you wait five minutes for the last button press to take effect, it was poor at picking up a signal and the battery was totally unsuitable, lasting a day...just if you didnt use it too much, the only good thing I can say is the wifi was spot on, always connected and held a good signal, but otherwise, forget it
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Reviewed by baback on 01/07/2007
i love it but its hang on in procces
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Reviewed by Tim Grenville-Cleave on 01/07/2007
Took delivery in April, Yep it's a joke. I'm on my fourth one cos Vodafone insist on replacing or trying to repair the damn things. 1/ Battery life is worse than useless. 2/ Firmware still buggy even after upgrades. 3/ Speakerphone volume pathetic. 4/ Very good camera spoiled by it's ability to switch to video mode without warning, if you are not very careful. 5/ Takes all day to boot. 6/ In areas of less than 100% signal coverage I am better off shouting or using 2 baked bean cans and a bit of string!! 7/ Syncro software and phone very rarely manage to connect. 8/ I could go on and on ...it was supposed to be a phone to last me a while (extremely limited income) I cannot afford to replace it until upgrade time.
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Reviewed by lil-man on 29/06/2007
shut up everyone. Ive had this phone. ITS BRILLIANT
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Reviewed by txmrolf on 27/06/2007
Strengths: WIFI, Video Conference, 2 MegaPixels Camera, Good Signal reception, Great piece of hardware. Weakness: - Memory leakage (have to restart it depending on the use), - can not support writing long emails or else it just quit the application. - Text file above 400kb cannot be allocated. - Poor multiple processing - Speaker phone mode buzzes and need to restart the call - Now and then restarts... minimum 1 per week. My experience: I have had this P990 for 5 months and I have upgraded twice since several bugs appeared on each upgrade, and finally have got the latest, and according to SE the last one out for P990. And still have bugs. Conclusion: If you have a better option... GO AHEAD!!! Awful SE support, nevertheless software reliability... thank god Ericsson does not program airplanes software!!.
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Reviewed by pabsanch on 27/06/2007
In term of usability is extremely poor. Apparently, they team that designed the easy-to-use P800 have been fired and substituted by a bunch of uncapables. Probably they outshored the R&D team. A really sad story and one of my worst investments in technology.
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Reviewed by shuja on 26/06/2007
this is the best phone..i never had like that. thanks to sony ericsson.
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Reviewed by Jay on 25/06/2007
This phone is full of bug. It's the buggiest phone I ever had. Firmware has been updated several times and the bugs are still all over. This release took out any promise the the SE P series have. I had the P800 and thought that this phone will only improve on that model, and the other two that comes after it, the p900 and p910. Stay away from this phone.
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Reviewed by 5threeone on 24/06/2007
I bought my p910i second hand (3 years old) to temporarily replace a defunct Fujitsu T830. It is so good, I don't want the T830 back now. No problems, no hang-ups and added to that its been a pleasure to find my way through the applications and their functions... all of which have been instant and working smoothly. I am disappointed in the reviews on its successor the K990 because if it had been better reported upon then on the basis of the immediate success with this p910i I might have moved on to it. One complaint for Sony..MUCH TO long a time providing the p910i with a sync to Vista especially since all their pc's and laptops now come with Vista as almost standard.
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Reviewed by Alan Chazen on 24/06/2007
Can't understand how this phone gets 3 stars. It's a shocker. Had software upgrades but still fails to deliver. Dislike phone intensely. Want them to take it back. Symbian is also incompatible with skype and limited with certain e-readers. Switches off when it feels like it, freezes and terribly slow. Make a cup of tea waiting for the address book to load. Too many bugs to remember.
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Reviewed by kevin on 23/06/2007
my phone has never crashed remember to close unused programs properly. also have got tomtom working on it.
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Reviewed by jack on 23/06/2007
turn off 3g the battery then lasts about 4 days!
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Reviewed by ravish on 23/06/2007
the is an dissapointment as this phone is slow and hang frequently
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Reviewed by Jim on 22/06/2007
I've owned a P800, P910 and now have a P990. I loved the previous two. The P990 makes me so angry I could spend hours ranting about why it's so bad. All software related. Such a missed opportunity. I will not be buying another Sony Ericsson product, ever.
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Reviewed by Zaratustro on 21/06/2007
Piece of junk!!!! A phone that can be used for everything except as a phone!!!
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Reviewed by Peter Graham on 19/06/2007
I see only techies love this phone! My life is too short for continual firmware upgrades. Reminds me of the bad old days of Windows 95, which is why I now use a fabulous Apple Mac! The 990i is the biggest heap of rubbish I have ever had. It is my 5th SE phone, and was upgraded from a P910i - BIG mistake! I cannot believe that a company the size of SE could actually sell this as an improvement over the excellent 910i. It's going back after 5 months of continuous crashes and hangs - I just can't trust it in my daily business life. I will take another SE phone, but if it crashes, then GOODBYE SE!
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Reviewed by Eljo on 19/06/2007
Nice phone. Long battery life.. Good surfing capability.. Better than a nokia in terms of sophistication..
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Reviewed by Pooya on 17/06/2007
I've bought one, it's not that bad ... it's doesn't hang alot, but the battery life is short. it's nice and classy , girls love it, i like the fingertouch screen and conectivity with computer is perfect. pictures are good, sometimes camera remains out of focus.
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Reviewed by frustrated on 16/06/2007
This phone is the worst I have ever owned. I am on my 3rd replacement of it. The most important aspect of it, making and receiving calls, is extremely unreliable. Business phone!? This is one phone you can not rely on to carry out business with. Constantly dropping calls, not receiving calls, even when phone is switched on and displaying full signal. Having to switch off and switch back on, which takes an age. This is just down right rubbish! I am now back to my P910i as it is more reliable but is well used and long in the tooth now. My expereience with phones goes back to the mid-eighties with use primarily for business, so I know what a good phone is an should do. Once more, the P990i is the worst phone I have ever owned.
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Reviewed by Rud on 16/06/2007
Its beautiful great packaging and functionality but just cant find out how to stop it from restarting and hanging up time and again the built in memory is low the battery power is quite short it cant seem to reach the end of the day please sony ericsson do something about this cause I do truly love the phone
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Reviewed by M'nyk from Nigeria. on 14/06/2007
this phone is a bomb!i ve tried other products and phones but ve never been as satisfied as i am now...tnx to the designer.but i didnt just know what I touched and cant recieve sms messeges.how do i activate it again.my e mail is talktoemenyk@yahoo.com
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Reviewed by Ravi Ramanathan on 14/06/2007
I waited many months to own the SE P990i. Once I got it I was literally exhilerated only to be disillusioned completely in a mater of few days. This phone is released without fixing bugs and without ensuring that the firmware works. My phone freezes all the time and no one can call me. The alarm does not sound and I have to keep it on vibration mode. I have the latest firmware. R9F011, R5A01, R5A17 and R5A13. This phone has been to the SE service center at least 4 times in as many months. I have been using SE products for many years now. But with this phone and my loss SE has has lost a very good and spending customer in me. I will also never recommend SE to anybody. ramaathan05@gmail.com
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Reviewed by russell on 14/06/2007
one of the ... best!
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Reviewed by Fenner on 07/06/2007
Load of junk, I upgraded to this from my P910i, but was actually a downgrade in performance, so I demanded Vodafone return my old handset, which they reconditioned, so im happy again. How come Nokia made their communicator better but SE made the 900 series worse. I wish manafactureres would keep the same connections, so I dont have to buy new accessories. Also all the software; games, backups, data on SDCard, themes etc etc are not compatible with new ver. Dont get this phone. If you want mini PDA phone either track down an old SE P910i or go for the Nokia communicator. The only thing im missing with the old P910i is GPRS, Radio, and Wifi, but as I have already bought SE accessories Wifi is all im missing, ohh well I will have to use my laptop for surfing ehh.
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Reviewed by Phani Rajesh Mullapudi on 06/06/2007
I just bought a new P990i at a discount from Indiatimes at approx 360EUR. Loving it so far. I think QWERT keyPad is really good. I wanted to buy a P910i when news of P990i release was out in late 2005 or so. then I waited n waited n it got released mid 2006 in India at hefty 550EUR. Now I bought it at a huge discount for 360EUR, which is just enough for a PDA with 2MpX, now that we have higher resolution Camera Phones in Mkt with more Hard-disk space. The Video player is very good even in FullScreen, I was Using W810i for 1year & video was very bad on that. Call Quality is very good. I was exploring the Option to Accept the call as I Open the Flip & not able to find it. It could have had the Walkman software instead of the Outdated Music player & should have come with a 3.2MpX camera like in K790i as 790i was already in market by the time P990i came... Sony is giving place to competition in an area where it was really good with its earlier P-series phones like P800/900 & especially P910i..
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Reviewed by AdA Alcancia on 06/06/2007
I got hold of my first P990i unit last May 30, 2007. I came from a Nokia 6600, owning an SE P990i is a big jump for me. Nevertheless, i got acquainted with my unit for the next 2 days, exploring & experimenting every folders, menus, applications, etc. My first disappointmet was it's startup time, it takes about 30 secs. Secondly, every application i opened has a lag time of 10 secs. At first, i thought it was normal but when i compared it to my bf's unit which is also a new P990i it doesn't have the same problems so i just kept on exploring my unit. On the third day i experienced one of the biggest no-no's of a mobile phone. In 3 hours i wasn't getting any sms or calls, my bf called me & asked me if my mobile batt is drained which was not the case since i'm using it's FM radio that time while working. When i tried another application it hanged. Anak ng tinapa! You cannot even tell the unit is hanged because you can still use its other applications. My very expensive mobile instantly turned into a plain PDA! Or maybe it auto switched to flight mode? Arrr! It actually happened twice. Not only that, i cannot make a connection of my unit to my pc either with USB or bluetooth connection. I re-installed the software & tried every possible Help steps the mobile offers but i never had my mobile synchronized. I immediately returned it to my network where my bf works & they gave me a new unit. So i had my 2nd P990i unit, at first it was better than the previous, more faster and all. Today is the 3rd day since i got my 2nd unit, at anak ulit ng tinapa, it hanged again the same way it did from my first! Sad, bitter, disappointed, cheated, hating P990i really, really not worth my hard-earned Peso. To all potential P990i users --- BEWARE! PHONE RATING: MAJOR PESTE! CONS & some PROS: BODY - sleek metallic finish but bulky frame, not great for small female hands (asians). a bit lighter than P900. KEYPAD - buttons are too much apart as compared to Nokia handsets KEYBOARD - i can actually use it but it has too small buttons which are closely together, not good for chubby fingertips, haha (westerners)! SCREEN - i wish it retained the same size of P900 JOG DIAL - useful sometimes BATTERY LIFE - 1 & 1/2 day standby time, SE peeps are you kidding!?! SYSTEM - hangs, crashes, sucks big time MENU, SUB-MENUS & FOLDERS - too confusing but challenges your patience & intellect. some applications are incorrectly placed on some menus or folders, tsk tsk.. SIGNAL - picks up very poorly SPEAKER - P900 is way better & louder SOUNDS - has a bit more quality than P900 EQUALIZER - great RADIO - somewhat amusing CAMERA - mediocre but a far cry from P900 3G CAM - carry lang CONNECTIONS (USB/BLUETOOTH to PC)- absolutely wretched DISPLAY - pc-like, stylish, love it ICONS - cute
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Reviewed by bassam on 06/06/2007
very bad mobile down to the standard
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Reviewed by ABZ on 06/06/2007
This loaded device can be overwhelming to some, and a waste of money to others as most won't use all the features they are paying for. Stability: The latest updates were perfect and P990i doesn not crash anymore. Software compatiblity: SE did not adapt Vista fast enough which forced many owners to use backstreet tricks to mount SE PC suite on vista. Bluetooth works perfectly for synch, and the USB for managing files to and from the P990i (for those who do not have a memory slot)and for backup. SE backup forgets the sound tags of my contact every time I do a restore, which my wife complained about as I had to keep saying people's names everytime a system upgrade was done. Thanks to the latest PC suite, it works well with Outlook 2007. SE upgrade still requires an XP based machine, I used my daughter's notebook. UIQ web site has free cool themes for the P990i. I've been using the PDA for work and it's wonderful with Lotus Notes. Call and messaging management features are well integrated with the address card system and the meetings organiser. However, I had problems around the changes of number types (work/personal, land/mobile phone numbers) during backup and restore. Multimedia player works immaculately and is not a battery drainer when playing MP3. Disc2Phone supplied has a built-in converter that converts WMA to MP3. As for movies, I have used Nero recode to convert vidoes to PSP format which is played by the P990i. The radio has serious problems crashing when RDS is chosen, and from time to time it forgets station names, which I did not like at all when I kept missing the news brief from my favourite news channel. I have also used the PDF viewer and the image viewer and they did a good job with smaller files only. Big files can never be viewed even when you have the 4GB chip on. I have not used quick office ever. The p hysical and virtual keyboards are ok, but the handwriting recognistion feature often fails to recognise capital letters and symbols and keeps exiting the writing mode. I would give this gadget 3.5 out of 5 but since there are no halves, I would give it 4 out of 5.
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Reviewed by Pourya on 05/06/2007
Very good
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Reviewed by Adeel on 05/06/2007
this is the worst phone i have ever used in my life. I been using sony ericsson P series since they introduced P800. This phone has to be the worst among all the P series i have used. For a start the software is so messed up that i have to take battery out almost 10times a day or maybe sometime even more then that. battery doesn't even last for one whole day. Smaller screen. Camera which doesnt work most of the time. AVOID THIS PHONE
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Reviewed by Eneya on 05/06/2007
i'v had d p990i almost 2weeks now. i honestly think its d worst phone i ever had. it is very unreliable- no value for your money. its a nice phone though- but crazy too.
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Reviewed by ian pankhurst on 05/06/2007
i love the S/E p990i ihave had 5 p990i since Jan 07 but cant get one that WORKS Please HELP
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Reviewed by b molyneux on 30/05/2007
p910i was a far better phone and quicker to operate i cant wait to get shut and very disapionted with it please excuse spelling
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Reviewed by milad on 28/05/2007
its good
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Reviewed by david on 26/05/2007
The initial firmware was terrible, but thats been upgraded several times since then and is much much better. i would say that the phone is now in the condition it should of been released in originally. ive had this phone since october and its the best P series so far. the camera is excellant, the screen is very clear and is only marginally smaller than on the previous models, but because of the higher resolution the difference is unnoticable. i never used the 5 way jog dial on the p800,p900 or p910 so dont particuarly care thats its not on the p990. When i first heard that it had the keyboard i thought that it was a waste of time, but after using it i would say thats its just about the right size. in the 7months ive had this phone ive never used the stylus to write emails or txts, the keyboard is much easier to use and is fast and accurate. Its far superior to the effort on the p910 which was way to small and flimsy. overall i would give this phone 4 out of 5. it loses one point for the initial software and the poor battery life (altho an extended battery is meant to be available at some point) so please dont be put off by the previous bad reviews, the phone has come a long way since then and is a worthy successor to the P series
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Reviewed by Raze on 24/05/2007
I bought my p990i in April 2007. It rocks and I think I am writing this after SE released a better firmware upgrade AND I have upgraded once as well in May. Anyway I have achieved the following with ease: USB, Bluetooth connections and transfers to and from my IBM laptop. Connection to my home WLAN (surf the net in the bath lol!). Remote Desktop connection to my Home desktop (control PC over WLAN), Sat Nav (Wayfinder and Webraska with external GPS receiver), Synced the calender, contacts and emails with Lotus Notes (MS Outlook is a given)., installed a 4Gb memory card (woot! mp3 player here we come), used the native wired headset to listen to music/ take calls handsfree and legally in the car, installed various Instant Messaging clients to chat with my buddies, installed Putty, installed Brothers in Arms FPS game (wow!), oh yeah and spoken and texted my friends and family of course! So yeah, other phones have some features which singly are better but all round it is a damned good phone and definitely if you are a techie or geek and want to be able to do cool stuff with external devices then this is defo the right phone. There is tons of 3rd party SW for the phone which works right out of the box too. I have the following installed (over and above the usual SW): Idokorro Mobile Desktop Virtual Radio (Internet radio streamer) Swiss (Task) Manager Nav4All Wayfinder Navigator mig33beta (IM Client) MidpSSH putty client MG Maps (Google maps) Aqua Calendar Alon Audio Recorder (plays .ogg) Brothers in Arms FPS game
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Reviewed by NBEVF on 19/05/2007
For all of you people who are complaining about the phones problems- I had these problems. And uno what, I SENT IT FOR REPAIR AND THERE ALL GONE THE PHONE DOES EVERYTHING FINE AND FUNCTIONS EXCELLENTLY, WHY DONT YOU ALL STOP COMPLAININ AND JUS SEND IT FOR REPAIR IN A WEEK IT WILL BE WORKIN BRAND NEW NO BUGS OR ANYTHING.
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Reviewed by Mike on 19/05/2007
It's awful. Compared to P910 (which I will have to go back to) it is illogical (key operation), has low battery life, and for me - worst of all - has 'phantom alarms' which set off at any time in day or night. This means phone cannot be relied upon. It's junk.
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Reviewed by judgetedd on 19/05/2007
This is the worst phone I have ever had. I gave my wife my 810i to get this bag of rubbish. It states 400 hours stanby when i can only get 30! bluetooth doesn't work and the media player locks the phone up. i will be throwing it in the bin soon I am disgusted with it.
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Reviewed by c garret on 16/05/2007
in a word guys.... its rubbish!!
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Reviewed by Jody on 16/05/2007
Despite all the negative reviews I actually like my phone. I say like....I love it. I owned all of the previous P series and have always loved them. Where as this does have many problems....and yes some of my programs crash too....it is still a fantastic piece of technology and one of the better phones out there. Sony Ericsson have always done me proud with there products and I will continue to buy from them. This phone isnt for everyone so I do suggest having a try first....but im sure Im not the only one who loves it???
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Reviewed by Paul Bryant on 13/05/2007
It's a pile of expensive, frustrating techno- rubbish. Clock loses minutes per week Answer button cuts off callers Picture quality awful Opertaing System and software v.slow USB drivers not always recognised Changed the audio connector to non-standard Jog wheel reduced functionality from previous model Hangs periodically Battery life Behaves oddly when powered-up on car adaptor Can't get encrypted WLAN to work at all Why does phone have to be manually switched between memory stick and phone mode? Useless documentation (assumes you know it all already) Did anybody ever test this device? It didn't take more than a day or two for me to discover all these. Six months on and the latest software hasn't apparently resolved any of these issues.
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Reviewed by Neil Kuny on 12/05/2007
I wished I had read all these reviews before I bought my SE P990i , I was the proud owner of a P910i so was convinced that SE would do justice to there new flagship business phone.All I can say after reading through a few of these reviews is dito, dito ,dito. I can't believe that SE didn't use the winning formula of the 910i and improve on it. As someone sarcastically said the old designers must have left the company. On the plus side i like the bright and clear display. I like the qwerty keypad, On the minus side, I haven't got the time or the energy to go into all the irritations and problems of the phone, most of them have already been listed. What I don't understand is how come SE which is such a reputable company continues to allow this phone to flood the market with all it's problems. They are giving the company and there future PDA phones a really bad name. I feel a bit like a jilted lover, let down, I find myself uttering the words , "but I trusted you" So if there is someone from Sony Ericsson out there reading this ,please phone me and tell me " We're sorry , this was all a terrible mistake, it won't happen again , we promise" Please resore my faith in you, the faith that was nurtured over 2 years of a happy relationship with my P910i
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Reviewed by toby on 11/05/2007
just wanted to add my 2 pennies to this and add a recent review using new firmware (10.04.07) the phone is now running much better. i haven't had any crashes or problems in the 4 weeks i've owned it. with swiss manager installed, the phone runs faster than before and memory is reclaimed better than without smp installed. the phone is great, without 3g running my battery needs charging every 2-3 days. it is a little on the large side, forget putting it in your jeans pocket, jacket pocket is the way to go. call quality is the best i've had in a phone, sounds like calling on a landline. the only downside for me is the camera, which has a mind of its own.. sometimes photos look great(max 6/10 compared to 8/10 on the k800i) but sometimes they are out of focus or the focus focuses on the bkgd not the subject. (you don't have a square on the screen to focus when you take photos) another downer is the low resolution previews of photos in the gallery.. wlan and bluetooth works perfectly for me, gprs too. music mgr works fine, no problems but you have to use a headphone to get a decent sound qlty. and if the rumours on the internet are true, se are releasing a major update for this phone in june. i would give it a 7/10 now as it is an outstanding phone in it's category and uiq3 is a great platform. i am the kind of person who loves gadgets and even though i don't need half the stuff on the p990i, it's nice to have to hand. i also own a 6230i (one of the best phones i've ever had) and a k800i (fantastic camera but i get cramps in my hand using the keyboard for messaging) i hope this helps some of you with your decisions. yes there's a lot of people who had a bad experience with this phone but it finally looks like se are sorting out a lot of the problems... let's see what the p1i can do in july...
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Reviewed by Lockdoctor on 10/05/2007
I've had the p990i for about 4 months now, having previously owned a p900. There is a lot packed into this phone but its a case of jack of all trades master of none. The software is a bit buggy, freezing when texting sometimes and restarting to improve performance(never seems to make much difference though). You seem to have to go through 2 or 3 menus to get things done and it can be a pain to answer(I seem to keep putting calls to answerphone) If SE fix the buggy software it would help this phone from something you would bin, to something that would be a useful tool. Pros Good build quality Nice screen Lots of features Cons Buggy software Bad menu system Battery life short If you are looking for a phone with everything this has it all, but needs better software to make it more useable and reliable. I will be looking to the Apple iphone as my next upgrade next year
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Reviewed by Wayne H on 09/05/2007
Ok, going to keep this short. I have had all the previous phones up to and including the 990i. I use them for my work as a proper 'working tool' and use nearly every facility the phone has to offer. I'm on my 3rd 990i, from last October and I can honestly say it's the worst phone I have ever had. It locks up, refuses sometimes to sinc with the computer, turns itself off during calls and has terrible coverage. I have been loyal to Sony Ericsson for years now, but have just had enough. The list of difficulties is endless. The P910 was just a great phone, wish I had never changed. Sorry Sony, but you didn't listen to the people who use the phone for what it was supposed to be designed for (business people)...If you want extra stress in your life, then buy this phone!!!
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Reviewed by nigel t bobs on 07/05/2007
as a user of the P800, P900 and 910i I really dislike the P990. I am about to revert to the 910i as it is a far easier and more reliable handset. The 990 crashes with annoying regularity and the battery life is dire if you use either the camera of bluetooth connectivity. The worst feature, however, is the answer button that is a rocker button that all to frequently means that you reject an incoming call!!
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Reviewed by Throatwarblermangrove on 05/05/2007
P910i superb - best phone in terms of quality, usage, versatility - was our portible mini PC on our round world trip. Took knocks well and occaisonal mishaps. Worked beautifully through all programs never crashed. P990i erm frustrating. If it worked through its software without glitching every other time or needing a reboot then good - in fact I probably would not have just terminated my contract and handed it back! At the moment it is too clever for its own good. Have returned to my P910i and have just collected a Nokia 6300 - both these phones are excellent as they work and work logically without tears or tantrums. If you can try the P990i before you buy use as much of the software to check for crashing or illogical errors. It looks classy and expensive on the outside - treat it like a book.
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Reviewed by Jim on 04/05/2007
What can I say! After reading the reviews below (which I wish were there before I bought mine) I agree with almost everything � in fact I have learnt something, and now I know why sometimes when I think I am answering a call I cut it off. This is the biggest piece of junk I have ever owned. I have had the previous incarnations and been happy, but its back to Nokia next time for me � just a pity that Orange stiffed me into an 18 month deal. I have picked it up this morning to find that for the third night running it�s died on me and the battery has gone. It crashes in almost everything even though I am forever closing down applications to make sure I am not overstressing the poor dear thing. Choices on the dropdown menus disappear at will. Camera pretty iffy. Absolutely hopeless trying to write messages on screen in anything other than half light as resolution so poor. Why on earth have keyboard background grey so that picking out characters is almost impossible. And it could so easily be so much better. I�m done with Sony Ericsson and after my last experience with Orange, done with the as well.
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Reviewed by saeed on 04/05/2007
good
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Reviewed by Farid on 03/05/2007
I got my P990i 2 days ago. I like this phone, i had no problems so far. My firmware version is old, phone works perfectly. What i have to do, just close opened applications. The only what desepointed me is Sony Ericsson it self. the PC suite which came with pnone is not comlitable with Vista. I emailed Sony Ericsson, so it will be no earlyer than September. So i cant even to upgrade firmware.
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Reviewed by Elmar (UK Oxford) on 01/05/2007
I used to use Nokian N73, well to be honest im a bit disappointed with SOny Ericsson. Maybe it is a good phone also it is hard to use it. Nokias interface much easier to understand. Overall music quality is v good. many pluses in this phone as well. So ill hang on on it.
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Reviewed by Neil on 30/04/2007
Thought I could make it work but no its incredible that it actually got on to market My peace is worth more than this. Is there anyone out there who has a soft fix or can one eliminate some software that is causing the problem? my email address is n6@o2.ie
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Reviewed by Chris Murray on 30/04/2007
I am very dissapointed with this phone. After using a P910i for a couple of years, the P990 is a giant step backwards in terms of relaiability and ease of use. Don't buy it! You will be very sorry if you do. I have been very loyal to Sony Ericsson for the last 5 years and have bought their phones for all of the staff at our company. I think it is time to make a switch. These reviews below highlight most of the problems so I wont repeat them but trust me, this phone sucks.
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Reviewed by Taz Bundhoo on 30/04/2007
Most disappointed so far since buying the phone about a week ago. Unlike my Nokia 6600 which I put to rest for a while, due to my acquisition of the P990i, my OS (Vista Home Basic) is found to be inadequate for installing PC Suite. This may mean having to lay out God knows how much more to upgrade to Vista Business or similar to be able to instal PC Suite. Can anybody out there advise me how to overcome this problem. Otherwise I shall have to resurrect my respected Nokia 6600
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Reviewed by Chris on 27/04/2007
I have previously owned a p800, p900 and 910I. So I naturally thought Id go with the new 990i. What an idiot. My god, what were S-E thinking. I think the software team must of been out clubbing to often! Don't get me wrong the concept and ideas are fantastic, the feel of the phone is nice. ALthough I miss the 5 way wheel. It would just be nice if it kept working. Instead, you answer a call and it freezes, send a text, it frezes and leave iut on the side doing Sweet F All, it freezes!! Get the software sorted and I might make a mint out of my shares, otherwise don't buy it!!
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Reviewed by cho on 20/04/2007
poor
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Reviewed by Daniel Davis on 18/04/2007
p800 - excellent p900 - better p910 - excellent P990 - SUCKS and BLOWS, it's slow, error prone, NOT ENOUGH MEMORY errors all the time, it's pants... worst phone I've ever bought
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Reviewed by zakee on 17/04/2007
its nice
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Reviewed by Dean on 16/04/2007
Well, I wrote the second review on this page, way back in Oct 06 and have just popped back to see how others have got on. To be quite frank I am surprised. There must be a few lemons about in the market. That being said, I have experienced most of the problems below to some degree but an upgrade to the latest firmware last week seems to have just about sorted everything. For those who suffer from frequent hangs or crashes install Swiss Manager Pro and purge the system - works a treat as many of the problems seemed to arise from poor housekeeping and memory management by early firmware versions. I see someone below suffered the same camera focusing problems I went through. The secret? You are probably using the 'macro' setting for long distance photo's. I cursed the thing for a week before I noticed that the problem was simply me. After 5 months of use I am still happy with the phone but have returned to downgrade it to 4 stars. The slow take up on 3rd party software and lack of upgrades to excellent P910 software still rankles. I wouldn't change the phone for any other smartphone/pda I've had my hands on but I'd just like to be able to do all those useful things I did on my p910 loaded to the gunwhales with goodies.
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Reviewed by Brett Schlesinger on 16/04/2007
Waited nearly a year for this phone . It crashes often , battery life is WAY too little for a 2007 phone, jog dial is downgraded, hate the stupid logic of the text recognition software, its very very slow at searching, the menu navigation is illogical, the main button can only pressed with your nail and not your finger and you cant see the screen in sunlight at all ... This phone has made me realise Sony are not able to continue with the P900 and 910i , which really were good. I'm going back to Nokia folks and I'm certainly not waiting another year for Sonys next downgrade .
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Reviewed by ik on 15/04/2007
this phone iz splendid,i like it cuz i own it,and what i own iz neva bad.so be lyk be n own 1.am d richest african in d world
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Reviewed by Adam on 12/04/2007
What a letdown - This is by far the most frustrating phone I have ever owned. When mobile communications launched many years ago I started with the Ericsson and stayed with them (apart from a short break with Nokia for a couple of years) Well I think this is about to change, I really feel let down; apart from the numerous faults that have been documented so well above. The signal strength for this phone is "wrong" I have people sitting next to me with five year old phones that have full strength signal (same provider) and my phone no signal. My wife has taken over my old P910i and she has great signal at home with my SIM card - put in the P990i and no signal. I think what really gets to me is that I refused the free phones that I was offered with my upgrade and paid an extra �100.00 along with a 18 month contract only to find that while I am at home I need to put my card in my 5 year old Nokia 3110 so I can receive calls. (Can't get the P910 back from my wife) Sony Ericsson - You have let me down!
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Reviewed by Alex, Greece on 11/04/2007
Got this phone on an upgrade from my provider for just 4 euros so I didnt care much. I read all possible reviews before hand and since I already owned a P800 and managed to put all my office material in it, I opted to upgrade to this one and continue from where I left the p800. Up to now, 8 months after I got it, I have no real problem with it, putting asside the 1-2 times that it crashed. I did almost everything that this unit offers to do with no problem, although I agree it is slower than what I expected. Its phone features are fine by me, its database is what I need and what I'm used to, its mp3 player is decent and with a good capacity card erases the need for an ipod or similar. I worked the biult in apps in an everyday basis and I used it as a modem more than frequently. I moved in my office email settings and I am using it when I travel (and I travel a lot). Reception is so and so at some places and good to excellent at others but I cant really compare since in Greece reception is a major issue. I dont really need a bigger screen, both cameras are fine for my needs. If you want more than decent photos, get a normal camera. In some cases that I needed my camera e.g. for a car crash that I got myself into, I got all the detail I needed and I used the printouts in court. Of course, night shots are a burdain but as I said, get a normal camera for more. I have tested video calls 1-2 times with acouple of friends that have a compatible phone and the image and sound quality was fine, at least until something better and as affordable comes out. Whatever input method I used (screen or hardware) was fine by me and I have quite thick fingers. Hated the fact that the symbian upgrade prevents some of the old software from performing. To make a long story short, I would give this phone 3,5 stars just for the better mp3 and FM player, the better camera and the wi-fi. Apart from these, there is not much more that this phone does compared to the older models. Besides, as I said I paid only 4 euros to get it so my evaluation has to do with this also. I would pretty much grade it the same if I had to pay 100 Euros or so but for the regular price and since it is not that much of an upgrade a full star down is more than fair. All in all, it depends what your needs are. If you think that with any of the market phones of these days you can replace your desktop or laptop computer, well you can keep those 1 star grades coming. If you come to realise that these phones are no more than a basic solution for the average business man on the road who doesn't want to spend extra for a regular palmtop and just have everything in one devise to keep his pockets free for change, then what it is is an excellent solution. For the tech freaks out there, spend more and buy something extra-terrestrial that will manage to connect you wirelessly with your relatives in Mars. Or look into an software upgrade from SE.
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Reviewed by Lexy Clayton on 11/04/2007
This phone is absolutley rubbish, I've only had it 1 month and already had to send it back 4 times for software faults, and now the charger is broken. I have decided t0o exchange it for something different before I throw it at the wall X_X
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Reviewed by jack gilliat on 08/04/2007
Very disappointing phone though I am a sony ericcson fan of all the the previous models. The P990i has a remarkably clumsy menu system compared to its predecessors which used to be slick. You have to click several extra buttons for each task to achieve anything useful and this is so frustrating. The previously useful jogwheel is now a pointless shadow of its former self. This phone is a poor parody of its better designed earlier models. This phone must have been designed by a half blind, geriatric committee. I have gone back to the P910 and left the P990 in the drawer.
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Reviewed by Cyrus on 08/04/2007
I want to be clear here - I have been a life long S E fan and have previously owned a p800, 900, 910 and got one of the first Vodaphone supplied 990's in the country. I really tried to get on with this phone scouring the net to try and find upgrades and patches to sort out the numerous bugs with the firmware. I returned the handset twice because the first one was crashing every 5 mins - LITERALLY and the second one had huge issues with WLAN operation ( or not as the case would be) I could never get push email to work as Vodaphone had no supporting script to get it to operate. I have reasonably large hands and find the built in keyboard fundementally redundant as I simply can't press the buttons. I have always loved the handwriting recognition and use this data input method above all others. The handset still continually crashes while doing absolutely nothing at all!!!!!! I just had to get rid of this handset eventuallly and moved to an HTC Tytn (vodafone 1605) using Missing Sync with my Mac and it works faultlesly. Every single feature on this phone works brilliantly and are stable. I won't say it doesn't crash - all phones do - but it is few and far between. The keyboard is brilliant and data handling and network management are great. I cannot recommend the p990 to anyone - you are about to let yourself in for a bunch of heartache if you go for this handset - Sony, Sony, Sony..... what have you done - this phone is complete toss!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by raymond,ghana on 07/04/2007
i just got mine barely a week ago.please,the phone is not that bad as some of u guys want us to believe!is it not better than an spv 5 or m? i love it.it is ok
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Reviewed by Boy on 06/04/2007
Se should kick their engineers for spoiling p990
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Reviewed by MJ England on 04/04/2007
ok not great not bad
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Reviewed by ELmar on 31/03/2007
I got my new S/E P990i just a cpl of days ago... Completely disagree with most of reviews here.. My phone doesnt lock up.. I wouldnt say that it has got those many options as N73 does.. But so far i am happy with my choice.. Nice music player.. N73 did have a v bad Music player , v low sound.. I would recommend P990I
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Reviewed by ziad altuwijri on 31/03/2007
i was uses sont ericsson mobile phones from almost 4 years and collect p800 p900 p910 k750 and now p990i its actualy very advanced and very nice face but i thougt sony ericsson is missing some fetures it was very good and make the user comfort in using this phone lick the forworh-backword button in scrool it was very good option in 910i not available in 990i as will as the spicker in this phone is very week spichally ween used to heard the songs and the phone caals also i think the keyboard is not very important to replaced in this phone . at atime ther is a lot of nice fetures its success to put in the softwear like the busniss card prosissor and pdf files reader wireless lan generaly this phone is verr good and i like it
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Reviewed by maddy on 28/03/2007
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 p hone 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 hussam on 27/03/2007
the best
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Reviewed by griltig on 27/03/2007
I have had this phone for 3 months now and I actually like it considering all the reviews I read beforehand. Yes it does crash now and again but since I've downloaded the latest update it crashes no more than any other phone i've had. The reduced screen size at first I didn't like as I have had both the P900 and P910, but again I now prefer it as I have taken the flip off and use the keyboard mostly which I find easy to use (and the phone feels less bulky), not sure how this would be for someone with fatter fingers. I have had over the years every smartphone there is and love it or hate it this phone does everything you expect in a smartphone and I must admit uptil now this is the best there is (in my opinion) The only smartphone I would consider to replace this is the Nokia E90 which isn't out yet. This does it all and if you want it all get it. Thanks for reading.
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Reviewed by peter london on 26/03/2007
oh dear is right .....what have they done....all i wanted was a better camera on the old 910i that would have been perfect but when i received the new 990 i thought as i did previously with the 910 ..stick with it ..by the time i had woken upto the fact that this was a trully bad phone with its hang ups,and not an upgrade with real slow operation and dont push the buttons too fast as it cant keep up..it was too late to change it as vodaphone impose a 18 mth contract on it.....already on its 2nd battery and dont use the mp3 unless the charger is close to hand. im not going to get bitten twice so i think mr ericsson has lost me to blackberry
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Reviewed by Paul Dinis on 23/03/2007
I waited 11 months for this phone. Got it on 24/12/2006, (a xmas present to myself). It's now 23/03/2007 but I've actually only had my phone with me for 2 weeks !!! The rest of time it's been back at SE. The thing kept freezing up, had to remove the battery to reboot. The camera mysteriously stopped focusing. I couldn't access my messages etc etc. I eventually got the phone back a week ago and amazingly it seems cured. (touch wood) It actually seems faster. The SE technicians claim to have completely upgraded to software. Hope all you unhappy users can get the same miracle upgrade.
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Reviewed by arpit patel on 21/03/2007
sony eriction phone is very nice.and cofortable.
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Reviewed by Marcus Wood on 21/03/2007
A bitter disappointment, like many others I had a P900 which I adored for three years, after just four months of frustration with the p990 I am giving up and switching to a Blackberry. Greater minds than mine have tried and failed to make this device work properly - i still cannot recieve email from any of my three service providers. Two handsets, three software uploads and dozens of calls to customer service. Whoever allowed this unfinished piece of kit on the market needs sacking.
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Reviewed by ash on 21-03-2007
having read the negative reviews i chose to buy the phone anyway. it is amazin. aslong as it crashes and restarts for a good cause like better performance im not to bothered. had the w850i got so hacked off with it i got this on a new contract to replace it. the video is liek tele absoulry amazin. i think the new version of the phone and software is a lot better than the old. if you want any questions email me on ash.large@hotmail.co.uk
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Reviewed by Janido on 20/03/2007
This has to be the most bug infested phone I have ever owned. It crashes and says "the phone restarted to improve performance", what performance? If you buy be ready for the constant blank screens, hanging calls, and if anybody says they managed to get WLAN working they are lying. Oh to top it all sometimes when people call me, my phone can't show that , it just show a normal menu with no activity, so you would not get a missed call, voice mail, nada, zilch. Don't even think about SMS's dang the damn thing just crashes. If I could rate this 0, I would have.
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Reviewed by buddy philippines on 16/03/2007
fone has a mind of its own, small brother of HAL. 1. i set it on the table and it turns itself off, oblivious to calls and sms. solution: if fone is silent for more than two hours, yank the battery off. always wakes up and i will now have the luxury of receiving calls and messages. am losing friends because of this fone. happens almost every other day, on a bad week, daily. 2. very shy, will not communicate with my laptop. so i cannot backup contents 3. serves as a night light when i charge it. for some strange reason the screen lights up when i charge it. does this if the unit is turned off. when on, only the small pilot light is on. 4. am an ericsson person started with the R 270? flip, p800, p910, but this 990i is a disgrace. sony ericsson should recall all p990i's and replace us with a more reliable model. love it and hate it at the same time.
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Reviewed by John on 15/03/2007
Am now on my 4th phone in just over a month, this phone will also be going back as it has the same fault as the other 3. It loses time, there is no set pattern as to how much time it loses as this varies from 1 minute a dya to 5 minutes a day. its a p*** poor upgrade from the excellent p910i that i had before. ps if I could of given it less than 1 star i would of...
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Reviewed by forichi on 07/03/2007
Absolute trash, am going back to my Nokia 9500! Not even worth a single star
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Reviewed by bashville on 06/03/2007
I bought the Sony Ericsson P990i as an upgrade to my xda mini S (HTC Wizard). What a let down. The qwerty keyboard isn't very ergonomical to use; typing a text message is an awkward experience and typing an email was painful requiring a stretch of the hands afterwards. I opted to remove the phone's flip; however simple tasks such as dialing a number and putting it on speaker phone isn't very intuitive. (Windows Mobile v5 is much more intuitive with auto complete on phone numbers and a persons name and chunky interface to enable even the most fat fingered to dial without using the stylus) If you need to synchronise your phone with outlook on your desktop pc then make sure you are using the 32 bit version of Windows XP as Sony, currently, do not have any plans to support Vista or XP 64. The stability of the firmware was the final straw for me. If you are a busy business user then do not get this phone as you will be constantly wasting time rebooting the phone when it crashes. (Sony in their arrogance didnt even make rebooting an easy task) It "looks" sleeker than my xda mini s but in reality the dimensions and weight are about the same. The fm radio reception was great - but this is "just a cool feature". It was a pleasure browsing the web with 3g speeds and the clarity of the screen to read documents was excellent but subscribing to basic bbc news rss feeds caused the browser to crash. I really tried to like this phone - I upgraded to the latest firmware and downloaded memory management utilities - but after two weeks of frustrating user experience and embarrassing missed calls I've switch back to my trusty xda mini s which even with it's dated looks, poorer sound quality and slower data speeds is still a league better than the p990i so BUYER BEWARE.
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Reviewed by john cena on 22/02/2007
very good
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Reviewed by kurtz.junejo@gmail.com on 20/02/2007
hi how are u all... i like this mobile
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Reviewed by ellie on 18/02/2007
cool
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Reviewed by bgjestla on 17/02/2007
After waiting fore over 1 year fore P990i, I am very disapinted. I have now my second P990i, with the same problem. Bluetooth conection and synk problem. The P910 was a mutch better phone. From the start, I have problem wtih Bluetooth conection. I have 10 Bluetooth head set, it seems that P990i is not able to keep up the Bluetooth conction with any of them. Sony Ericsson Support tels me that there is NO problem registrated, the can not admit that P990i is a big problem phone:
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Reviewed by Azmi on 16/02/2007
I have bought a Sonyericsson P990 in November 2007 as I wanted to upgrade to a 3G smartphone. I also have XDA mini, Treo 600 and SE P800 in my possession. It was almost a perfect handphone on paper. 3G, wifi, radio, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, word & excel compatible, small form factor, sharp screen, etc, etc. BUT only on paper! I am happy to note that Contacts and Calendar can now be backed up to the memory card. 2M camera very good although camera interface poorly designed. Unfortunately sms templates is still not available in the Messages application of P990 smartphone. XDA and Treo have this time saving feature as in most lower priced "dumb" cellphones. The new Symbian UIQ 3 is so different from the previous version that I felt that I am using a new operating system. All the familiar application short cut icons at the top of the screen is gone. In combination with Handyday application I have complete access to all the application icons that I require in the P800. Sonyericsson or Symbian should provide an option for those upgrading from previous P models to switch either old interface or new interface. Major issue tiil now is synchronisation with Outlook, I realised that Contacts, Calendar and Tasks are synchronised except for Notes. The notes attached to my Contacts are also missing after synchronisation. The desktop prompted 3 times "Custom forms could not be opened. Outlook will use Outlook form instead" I have synchronised my desktop Outlook for years with XDA mini, Treo 600 and SE P800 without losing any data. I did not alter any setting in the desktop Outlook. No error prompts from Outlook during synchronisation. Notes are transferred to the SE P800 and open using the Viewer. I have also found out that Note software could not read text files which can be open using Quickoffice software. In Quickoffice you cannot open Quickword and Quicksheet separately unlike Quickoffice for Series 60. Sometimes as I work in Quicksheet , the program closed for no reason. Day to day operation like cut and paste operation you have use to go through layers of menu. No short cut! Defintely Palm OS and WM5 is faster and more user friendly. Another bug with the latest update, whenever a new message came in there would be an error message although the message can be open. In conclusion I am TRULY disappointed with the P990. I was hoping that it can replace my favorite Treo 600 as it has 3G, wi fi, radio, good camera, good display. Unfortunately the design of the keyboard nowhere near the old Treo. The software UIQ3 is not intuitive at all. Another weakness it could not read .mpg files only 3gp or mp4. It is a step backward for P990. I give a 1 star only My desktop using Windows XP SP3, Outlook 2000 SP3, Sony PC Suite ver 1.2.15. Phone firmware: Phone: R9EC001 Bluetooth: R5A01 Organizer: R4B03 CDA: R4B03
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Reviewed by fox on 15/02/2007
people.. stop cribbing.. there is something known as software update incase u did'nt know.. take the effort. The phone is smart.. so try being smart.. and stop complaining like your new toy broke.
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Reviewed by KB Mathews on 13/02/2007
I am throughly disappointed by this junk. I think of switching to Nokia. I wasted a fortune on this phone. Sorry SE, you lost a loyal fan...
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Reviewed by Ian on 12/02/2007
Well I avoided it at first due to the poor reviews and went with the HTC Tytn. What a joke, before you rate this below 3 stars live with a windows mobile device for 2 weeks. The p990i compared to the WM5 device was rock solid, even more so than the WM5 HTC Tytn.(Vodafone V1605 or VPA 3 III as they call it. The Tytn manages to fall asleep so that it does not even answer calls..! The p990i is not perfect, and without the 5 way jog dial and the same size screen with a better resolution everyone was hoping for is it not going to get 5*. However it's without doubt the best phone pda out there. Note, not pda phone. I think the form factor of the Tytn makes it a batter pda, but the OS WM5's constant crashing makes it a very poor phone.
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Reviewed by Indra M on 09/02/2007
Animated Wallpaper in P990i??? lie...
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Reviewed by Martin S. on 07/02/2007
I just bought the phone, because my daugther ate my P910i. I have to say that I was sceptical at first about "smaller screen" but its resolution is better, and therefore the screen is actually bigger. The keyboard on the phone is very good in my opinion, much better then keyboard on p910i. You can actually write with both hands, but on P910i you could use one hand for writing and other hand to support the phone. Pohne was crushing after I brought it home from shop, but then I reinstall firmware, and so far no crash. One think which bothers me is its battery life. Sometimes battery is fine, and sometime battery empty itself through the night. I think there can be some problem with power managment and I hope SE will have look at it. Another not so great think is that you can not sort contact book by the first name but only by last name. If anybody have any solution to this problem please post it in forum.
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Reviewed by Jay Smit on 07/02/2007
I used my P900 for 3 years and loved it, the perfect phone for me. So naturaly without thinking or reading reviews I upgraded to P990. DISASTER My Phone is unusable for business purposes. I received my P990 10 days ago and have returned the phone hoping to try and get it exchanged. The battery life on my phone was awful not even a full day. This without using the camera internet etc. and not many calls either. The other problem was the phone freezing up about 8 times a day. I have to remove the battery each time to get the phone to switch off.
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Reviewed by Andrew Brown on 06/02/2007
Like all of you reviewing this phone, due to ownership, I too have had similiar experiences. I was fortunate enough to keep my P910i and my previous P800i (before being nicked), both great devices, before receiving my P990i. The device has the potential to be all that it is raved out to be, were it not for clumsy physical features and the terrible software. I DO MISS THE FIVE WAY Jog dial. I am a lefty and with my left thumb I can take or make calls, while on the move (legally using a bluetooth headset in the car). I can unlock the keypad with it to dial in a program I want to use or a spreadsheet I want to view. So it blows my mind why "PUBLIC REVIEWS" would want to do away with this feature, and then SE listens and follows this in the manufacture of the device. I don't mind the change to the screen as what it loses in length it gains in width. The flip this time seems to be a total waste as it basically covers the qwerty keyboard and nothing else. They could have kept the idea of the P910's by putting the qwerty keys on the back of the flip, and then rotate the keys horizontally for easier thumb use. This should have been possible as the 990 is definitely wider than the 910. This is the only feature I hated on my P910. The flip was strong enough to hold, but the keys were vertical mounted and too small for my large thumb tips to operate. As to the software of the device I have a feeling that this is the Symbian 9 and UIQ 3 problem, as I have also just acquired the SE M600i through my co., and I have had the same crashing, program failure, and device hang as my P990i. They both have the same software and were launched almost simultaneously. What I could advise all of you is to download the firmware update software from SE's web site and do the necessary updates. I have now applied three updates to my P990 and 5 to the M600. It is definitely improving the device on each update, so before I launch them to the moon, I will hang tough to see the improvements. But a message to SE if they follow the threads on these sites. "You seriously dumped on your own doorstep this time. From providing possibly some of the best mobile devices on the planet, after mine and many others experience with your newest devices, you could find yourselves out of the running". I have to get my P990 working as this is paid for out of my own pocket, the M600 is my company's expense. Looking forward to some better times with my purchase.!!!!
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Reviewed by Robert on 05/02/2007
I have owned a P990i for over three months now and can confirm that its firmware has many bugs. The phone frequently restarts without notice, often causing loss of data, it frequently runs slowly and freezes. I find it almost impossible to call someone using the built-in loudspeaker handsfree facility which I think is a vital feature these days. It looks good and is full of features but looks and features mean little if it doesn't work. This phone is disappointingly poor for Sony, wait for the firmware update or even its successor!
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Reviewed by F Bakker on 05/02/2007
Please avoid this handset inspite of all its feature pack. I had to return it for a refund within 14 days as i wasn't impressed. It is very slow, and some times you have to try twice to switch it off, the screen size is a joke. I still prefer the P910i
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Reviewed by elias on 05/02/2007
It's a stupid mobile. I'll never buy sony ericsson ever. DO NOT buy it I sweaar to god you'll regret it. Nokia is the best untill now and it will always be. for my rating, not even one star.
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Reviewed by ATHOL on 02/02/2007
Having owned,and still got the p800,p900,910i,this was always going to be on my shopping list.Had it a week before christmas and i`ve had no problems with it except one.Why did se ship it with a 950mAh battery when the p900/p910i was shipped with a 1260mAh battery?Even the p800 had a 1000mAh battery.
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Reviewed by vcator on 01/02/2007
On a good day, I only get 2 or 3 Kernel errors (software crash). Thats probably because I'm not using the applications as much as I'd hoped to. On a bad day, I have to hard re-boot; removing the battery cover is really difficult and the plastic moulding doesn't give the impression of longevity. Sony Ericsson offer an OS update service using a FLASH V8 application. V8 Flash is no-longer available, FLASH V9 being the current version and the update service crashes with V9 Flash. How many user-interactions does it take to close an application ? . . . I don't know because I gave up counting after 3 or 4 The minor points:- - camera is out of focus - camera apeture has a mind of its own - headphones only work 1 channel - lens cover and software aren't always in sync
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Reviewed by Dennis on 30/01/2007
Well, after reading all you sometimes brilliant reviews( sometimes not) I came the the conclusion, that many of you just having it for sake. I had most of the stated problems as well on my 910i when I first got it....... So if you have got to have a smartphones and have got to have 'em as first, live with it and try to find solutions for problems rather then whinge about all day. I'm loving it.
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Reviewed by Andy Wilson on 29/01/2007
I really can't understand people who dislike this phone. I took a chance when I bought this because of the somewhat varied reviews. I have had this handset about a week, I must admit the software was a little bit fiddly at first to get your head around but after a while it becomes second nature. I have had smartphones before but this one really is the dogs swingers!! Its Fantastic. I feel that they have taken everything good about other phones and put it all into 1 handset. As long as you remember to close applications down when finished with, there really is no problem with crashing etc. It has crashed on me twice but I had a lot open at the time. The keyboard is small but how can Sony Ericsson Win? People always complain about the Bulky size of things and now people are complaining about something being too small, my advise to those people is lose some weight off yout fingers.Its fine!! There are so many different options to send a text eg number keys like standar d phones , or the qwerty keyboard or the virtual keyboard or even the jotter stylus with your own handwriting, admittedly the handwriting tool is not the best at recognizing characters but its certain fun and good to show off with!! I absolutely love this phone and If ever I have owned a boys toy/gadget before this is it. My advice to anyone thinking of owning one of these is Buy it now!! and be patient in getting to know the software. Take one step at a time and soon you'll be flying around the applications.
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Reviewed by Timk on 26/01/2007
DO NOT BUY this phone it is dreadful! I'm now on my 3rd one! And of course my provider will now let me have another type of phone until my contract expires [in 18 months] or I have been through about 10 replacements. The main PROBLEMS are; regular CRASHING, battery NOT CHARGING properly - it was on charge all night and the battery ran out at 10.30 am this morning. But it is also a really badly designed phone - I have had Sony Ericssons for ages including the P900 which I loved but this is definitely a step back both the physical design and software design are dreadful; ANSWERING the phone - I consider my self a dextrose person but always hangup on people when answering the phone, this is because the answer button is a small toggle button if you press the top it answers if you press the bottom it reject and if you press the middle it rejects the call - BAD DESIGN! When you have finished a text there is no sen option instead you must select "more" then send [when there is space over the left hand screen option button for send] There is no clock/time as screen saver option as on P900. AND MORE and MORE example that as I've already wasted so much time on this Phone - trying restart, to replace, etc I won't go on. Just to say sadly I've come to the end of the line with Sony Ericsson after 7 years of customer Loyalty you've lost mine and I'll be buying another brand from now on!
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Reviewed by Rob (UK) on 26/01/2007
I'm so sorry to say that this P990i phone has really disappointed me. For me, the positive points are the better camera resolution and the wifi capability. Other than that, it is hardly an upgrade from my previous P910i. The ergonomics and characteristics of the phone and software have really been compromised, leading to a piece of equipment that is at best, bearable. I only hope they bring out a better software release soon to remedy the bugs that are described elsewhere here in this review. I will persevere...., however, I am rather disappointed in Sony Ericcson.
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Reviewed by Keith Plumb on 25/01/2007
The firmware is definitely a problem and it needs to be sorted. I had a P900 before and the P990 is much better. Actually the screen is no smaller than the P900 and the landscape feature makes a lot of difference. I never had a P910 so I do not know about the screen size for that. The keypad has it uses but I nearly always use the hand writing recognition feature. I am trying to learn to use the keyboard more so in the end this may be faster. Once the bluetooth fold up keyboards are available with a driver I am going to get one and try this the Dataviz office. The web browsing is infinitely better than the P900, it is actually usable. The screen quality is also good. The camera is good and I find it useful having a light/flash since it is now useful for work. I have Dataviz office on it and this very useful. Pity the UIQ version is behind the Palm Pilot version. The inbuilt PDF reader is poor and it is pity that there is no Repligo reader for UIQ3. Since my phone only cost �100ish with a SIM it is much cheaper than a dedicated PDA and I would recommend one to anyone (although it is not worth the un-SIMed price). It is not perfect by a long way but is the real begining of an office in a phone. Lets hope that this shakes up Microsoft and the smartphone market has some real competition in it, so we can get real innovation and development.
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Reviewed by Mac on 25/01/2007
It is more than obvious that Sony are a fluke...I mean after the excellent model of p800 and p910i (p900 not included) they release this...Dunno how to say it. At first i see two obviuos mistakes... 1. The keypad...I mean u have p910i on one side with the qwerty keyboard on the cover,so why in GODS NAME would u want to put one on the screen and resize a perfectly shaped screen for watching DVD's???!!!! 2.The software...dunno who junkie did it but it is horrible...It's like using Kaspersky all over again (u don't wanna do anything so it wont crash) But i know why Sony made this mistakes...They are not stupid or ignorant...They just wanna make money...So faulty software and reduced screen would make a perfect explenation why they would release another phone in about six months for which u all will give 800 $
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Reviewed by Pignutts on 25/01/2007
I'm a mobile comms engineer who lusted after the P990i since I first saw he launch blurb. I got my hands on one a week ago. I used to have a P900 which was the best handset I ever used, so I was hoping for a UMTS version of the same. I didn't get it... I've just read all the reviews on this site and unfortunately have to agree with most of them. Basically I do like the hardware itself - it's much more 'integrated' in look and feel than the P900 I had - which could look a bit 'bitty-screwed-together' compared with the good design job done on this one. However, anyone with fat fingers will always hit too many buttons on the integrated keyboard! You also need eyes of a hawk to see the ALT meanings of the buttons. But all in all as a bit of kit it's in my opinion a good phone. I - like a number of previous reviewers - keep opening the camera cover though when I fish it out of my pocket, or find it in my pocket running the camera. This wouldn't be too bad apart from what everyone else has noticed - I got it off a contact in terminals testing who had it in a drawer for a while. When I first used it and stuck it on charge it told me to replace the main battery. Fair enough, thinks I - maybe it wasn't stored right (for anyone who don't know, if you're going to store a device for a while make sure it's fully charged). So I was quite expecting to have to buy it a new battery... In fact - reading what everyone else has written - the battery must be designed to be this bad! I do a lot of work with BlackBerry devices - the older B&W 6720s used to last 8 DAYS and this was consantly on 8 days for the push e-mail! Even my colour-screen 7730 can take 3 or 4 days of moderate use without much complaint! Even their latest one - the Pearl 8100 - with a full colour display using a Bluetooth headset on all the time can manage a weekend away without you having to remember to pack the charger. So until I read this site's reveiws I was going t o go on eBay and try and buy another - seems that'd be unneccessary expenditure on my part... I know 3G takes a lot of power for transmission purposes (yes folks - that's the downside of 3G - the actual radio tasks sap all the power - Code division means you have to look at the whole signal all of the time, unlike time division where you're only interested in the signal 1/30th of the time). So for me this seems like a retrograde step - even if I do understand why! They missed a trick not making the device a few mill fatter and squeezing in a fatter battery - it's been a while since I had to take the USB cable along in my bag to make sure I can power it off my laptop! I actually found no difficulty pairing it with my Bluetooth headset, but dare not use it because Bluetooth is also very power-hungry - I can imagine it not lasting the whole lenth of a conference call speaking on Bluetooth! My old AMPS phone used to last longer! My P900 managed days and days and... So if batterly life is important to you or you work for an emergency service I really wouldn't get one. See my earlier comments on if you want a long chat and get one of those! I also think the software is very slow, bulky and the menus too complex - and I've used a Samsung ZM60, which was in retrospect not that bad! And it crashes much more often than I'd want as well. So to me it's one hell of a good looking device with one hell of a nightmare interface that I seriously hope will get better sooner rather than later, and for BlackBerry functionality I'll keep my 7730 and Pearl ta! Unfortunately we'll all have to learn to live with having a 'mobile' that can't live far from a power source though - or tell people 'Keep it short I've gto a P990' - which could be a good case for business users anyway! ;)
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Reviewed by Michnus on 24/01/2007
I had the p910, very nice, the p990 is lightyears ahead and very easy to use. The battery is a total disgrace and mess up, it only last one day.
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Reviewed by P Noble on 21/01/2007
After a long it has arrived and turned out to be rubbish, the list too long to list. Here are some examples. The five way wheel has gone to be replaced by a 3 way wheel and difficult to reach back button. The screen is smaller, the camera slow and changes the defaults. It is almost impossible to go to hands free during a call or edit the dairy etc etc. The instruction manual is bad. Why after all this wait Sony have bought such as poor product remains a mystery
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Reviewed by steve on 21/01/2007
this phone had so much potential - if it did what it said it would do it would be marvellous, but it crashes all the time and is frustrating to use. the sonyericsson website isn't much help at sorting it out either. i have spent hours trying to sort out why it crashes and this is the first website that mentions that it is the software - i expected much better for a $999 phone. i would not buy this phone again unless the software was better sorted. i had a psion awhile ago and that symbian software was very stable so i expected this to be as well
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Reviewed by Dhanji Bhudia from London on 20/01/2007
I have used P800/P900 both quality product, recently upgraded to P990i hoping that it would be as good as P900 but I was very disappointed with P990i, I started to crash just few days after I received it, I did not believe at the beginning that mobile phone would crash similar to a PC, any way spoke to my phone provider O2, although by now I has the phone for just over a month O2 still agreed to replace with a new P990i. The new P990i arrived two days ago; unfortunately the new phone crashed six times on the second day of use and only way to start again is to remove battery. I sincerely hope that Sony-Ericsson sort them selves out and bring out software upgrade quickly.
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Reviewed by Steve on 20/01/2007
I have had the P990i for 3 months now. It is the worst phone I have ever had. I had about 5 sony ericssons before this phone for 1 year each and they were all fine. However, this one crashes frequently and I have to take the battery out to reset the phone. It also does not pick up reception signals well. I always have a poor signal when other Orange users have a strong signal. I am going to try to get Orange to offer a replacement.
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Reviewed by Ian Weston on 20/01/2007
Oh Dear! I bought the P990i with the intention of replacing my PDA and phone with one unit. At face value it appears that the 990i should do the job, however, the first one crashed and lost time so badly that Orange replaced it. The replacement is exactly the same. Orange tell me they haven't come across these problems before, making me think that I'm doing something wrong. When I found this site and all these negative comments I realise that they are taking the piss! Like many others my main problems are the clock losing time and the call register not recording all calls. The rest of the features could be superb, but I'll be buggered if I'm going to spend the time setting up a device that appears to be destined for the bin. Come on Sony ericsson, get your act together, and quick!
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Reviewed by Roy P on 19/01/2007
Just got the P990i yesterday from Vodafone with an 18 month contract and a 14 day cooling off period. Reading the reviews below I will be giving it some heavy use to make sure Im not stuck with a dodgey phone. May have to stick with my old P900 having read the reviews about the firmware, this has always being an issue, Ive lost count of how many times my P900 had to be reset to factory default due to dodgey firmware, I also could never and can still not use Blue Tooth on the P900 so it seems that these firmware problems are here to stay until Sony Ericcson get a new team of software developers. I was hoping the buggy firmware issue would of being fixed by now with the P990i but apparently not. Ive got 13 days to make up my mind by the looks of the reviews below, after waiting ages for this phone to be released it seems these phones are inherently buggy.
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Reviewed by Sanjay on 17/01/2007
Had a 800, 900 and 910 - loved the 910i - dont like the 990 because of the design...the large screen on the previous models was a big plus and that has been taken away with an ugly key pad that I would not even use anyway..Can they start making the 910 again - thats the phone I would take !
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Reviewed by Indigo on 17/01/2007
Great PDA Phone!!! That's all I can say y'all!!!!
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Reviewed by Phil knowlea on 16/01/2007
In a word poop, dont do it, rubbish as a phone, rubbish signal, bluetooth doesnt work, not bad as a doorstop
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Reviewed by David Hill on 15/01/2007
This Phone is rubbish.......Don't believe me, buy one. Finally given up after 3 replacements. Crashes 6 times a day. Had P910 before that served me well. Now got a Vodafone 1605 with Windows. Great phone but wish it had a real keypad for dialing numbers...my only gripe. Did I forget to mention that the P990 is Rubbish?
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Reviewed by Richard on 14/01/2007
All in all a good phone, bit slow to turn on/ boot up and when taking pictures its a bit sluggish, all in all good phone, it works well as a phone and great for web and mobile tv and playing movies from mem stick. great organiser. Extra programs loaded, word and pdf viewer. Just about to buy tom tom 5 mobile and try that.Nice mp3 player trying a few media players. The sony leather case will answer the phone for you when you get it out of your pocket. it has only crashed on me once and that was because i left lots of programs running at once, other than that is fine(update phone software if you havent already). we just need more programs for it. Please get writing in sybian software guys. Cant get wireless lan to work with my wireless router yet even un encripted, prob a setting somewhere. I like this phone i also like the keyboard i use mine with the flap still on i find it quicker to use when answering calls and texting.
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Reviewed by johnathan on 14/01/2007
wicked phone, kind of slow
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Reviewed by Gary From Scotland on 14/01/2007
I have just ordered this phone from Orange. Very mixed reviews below but it does seem that for people who have never had a smart phone before, they seem quite happy with it so as this is my first smart phone... Fingers crossed!
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Reviewed by andy efrianto on 14/01/2007
just for information, there is a new firmware update available for p990i right now, althought there is a minor bug-fix for the previous firmware, the latest firmware that i've already download (directly to the phone) is R4A13, at least my p990i is running more stable than before...keep it in mind that this is just an informations...
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Reviewed by beans on 13/01/2007
i have to agree the phone is a minor dissapointment- but the advantages over the the p910 is its easier to write text messages when driving "now i understand this is downright dangerous, but in this day and age who doesnt" i have one minor complaint and that is the fact the mp3 player goes off i your pocket, now if you have asigned a tone to a particular person, you think they are ringing you, this is offputting but the new improved music player is cool. No clock when the flip is closed and in standby, (the p910 had this),this can be annoying.The icons on the screen do not dissapear so i cant see the picture of the missus properly, no clock in the taskbar, no solitaire on the new phone... this broke my heart. To sum up i like the phone it has its moments, easy to use, same size as the p910.The camera is a good, its got a light, a lock function on the side but i do forget this sometimes and end up entering a fifty digit phone number.
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Reviewed by ghanendra on 13/01/2007
it just a phone for talking nothing else.
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Reviewed by nouro on 12/01/2007
this phone is an exillent smart phone i have p910i and i think this one is better
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Reviewed by Simon on 12/01/2007
I was a complete fan of the P800 series and P900 series until I had this one. The phone is completely RUBBISH. If you could get past the constant crashes and miniscule battery life (less than half stated in the specs) I am sure it would be a good phone, however I dare not do anything on the phone other than make calls otherwise it crashes. I still have to restart about 8 times a day !!!! Do not buy
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Reviewed by Toria on 11/01/2007
Have any of you actually learnt how to use the phone properly? You all say it crashes all the time but have you tried closing programmes when you've finished using them? This is easy using the Task Manager in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. You will find that if, for example, you look in your contacts, then go to calendar and then try to send a message etc.., you will still have 3 programmes running and it probably will crash - they are not really designed to run multipe programmes at one time - be fair. If you only have one programme running at a time, it's fine - at least, I've found that out because I used to have various programmes running at one time and it did crash - just give it a chance! The fixed keyboard I thought initially was a pain but it's actually quite good when you get used to it - fab for texting etc... The only thing I would say is that the camera is not particularly good but after all, it's a phone first and everything else second - or at least, it should be! Go on, give it another try and you'll see - if not, perhaps you've got a lemon! Any questions, email toria.mcneile@hotmail.co.uk.
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Reviewed by Francois on 10/01/2007
Junk. Hangs all the time. Can not get USB modem to work. Function logic????? Dont buy.
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Reviewed by Marty Hope on 10/01/2007
Um...Yes...well, Orange treated this like it was gold dust, as if just to own one you had to be a star. It's absolutely the worst phone I've ever owned, no doubt about it. The P900 and P910 before this one were light years ahead. Oh man, that tiny little middle button that does SO much but you can't press unless you have fingers like spaghetti. Take this pitiful product back to Japan and less of the hype PLEASE.
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Reviewed by Atte on 09/01/2007
The design itself is great (touchscreen, keyboard, camera and connections) are great but they have been completly spoiled by poor programming skills... mayby SE has hired their programmers from microsoft? I will send my P990 to repairs as many times it will start working or warranty ends. At least it will do some harm to SE because they will bill their hours from SE. DO NOT BUY!!!
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Reviewed by asni on 08/01/2007
very nice
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Reviewed by Chris D on 07/01/2007
I have read with interest all the reviews posted here and elswhere. I am now awaiting delivery of my third p990i with a firm resolve that if this one is as infuriating as the other two I will return it attached to a brick! and will not require another. I have experienced most of the issues described in the other postings here, and would take issue with one reviewer that gave it 5 stars and suggested that all the dissatisfied users needed was a brain! ... clearly his brain needs the re-set button pressing! ... T-Mobile UK do not list or supply this phone as yet, I now understand their reluctance. Despite it being too long overdue the P990i is clearly not ready for market. I have called SE tech support on numerous occasions recently, and they are almost indignant at my critisism of their current firmware, stating in one instance that 'there is nothing wrong with the software' and if I sent the phone back to them they were confident that they could fix it! My protest that the phone was just out of the box, less than a day old, and shouldn't need 'fixing' fell on disinterested and profoundly deaf ears! I too have owned all of the P series phones and looked forward to the arrival of this one, so much so that I bought it sim free when T-Mobile declined to supply it. I am dissapointed with it, and will require a refund if the next phone proves to be as shoddy. I do believe however that it shows a lot of promise, and I would be prepared to look at it again, after checking out current reviews, in about 10 months. If SE get their act together and iron out ALL the problems I will try again, until then it will be back to my 910i, It is unethical for SE to use loyal customers as beta testers and I believe it would be prudent for them to heed all these reviews and make amends as soon as possible. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!
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Reviewed by sean D on 07/01/2007
terrible terrible, day 1 the phone crashed
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Reviewed by MB on 06/01/2007
LOVED MY P910. THIS UPGRADE NEEDS A GOOD SOFTWARE UPDATE FIX! SUPPORT VIA EMAIL OR TELEPHONE FROM SONY-ER CANNOT FIGURE OUT THE PROBLEMS AND EACH TIME SUGGEST TO UPDATE THE SOFTAWARE (WHICH IS LATEST VERSION) OR TO SEND IN THE PHONE FOR REPAIR. SINCE IT WAS NEW I JUST EXCHANGED IN THE STORE FOR A NEW ONE WHICH HAD EXACT SAME PROBLEMS AS THE FIRST. WASTED MONEY ON THIS CRAZY PHONE WITH ITS OWN MIND!
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Reviewed by Toria McNeile on 06/01/2007
Well, what can I say! WOW! OK, so I had to send my original P990i back to Orange as my first one kept crashing but I got a new one and discovered that if you close applications properly using the 'Task Manager' (bottom right hand corner of screen) when you've finished using them, this stops it crashing. OK, so you should be able to use multiple programs at the same time but heh, give it a break. At first I wasn't that impressed but now I've had a chance to have a good play with it, it's fantastic. The 'fixed' keyboard is admittedly very small but you can use it and its fab for text messaging. The only thing I'd say I don't like too much about it is the active flip that closes programs in the middle of using them if you close the flip and you have to start again. Also, the camera isn't that fantastic but after all, this is a PHONE rather than a camera so I don't think reviewers should really focus on things like that. A phone, as far as I'm aware, is essentially for ta lking to people and texting them - cameras, MP3 players, wifi are all added extras! Give Sony Ericsson a break and give the phone a chance! I did and it's well worth it! Purservere and you'll see! Also, ensure you've got the most up-to-date software on the PHONE - this can be updated from the Sony Ericsson website and is easy to do - if your phone does not need to be updated, it will tell you! Also, try switching the phone off at night as this gives the software etc... a chance to 'refresh' itself. Any queries, toria.mcneile@hotmail.co.uk!
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Reviewed by P-man on 05/01/2007
I have owned a P900 in the past and it crashes sometimes to.Only the firmware updates solves anything in every phone.So you have to b pacient with P990!I WAS THE ONE WHO WAITS THIS SMARTPHONE FOR A LONG TIME AND NOW THAT I OWNED I AM NOT DISAPOINTED!After the first update P990 just working great.If you re talking about the batteries i also heard that the new NOKIA multimedia smartphones have this problems too.I love my P990
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Reviewed by Darren Blake on 03/01/2007
Well, considering the negative reviews I have seen of this phone, my experience has not been anywhere near as bad. I have the Orange version of the phone, and so far I have had absolutely zero crashes on any of the applications and although it's not exactly the most user-friendly of interfaces, it gets the job done. The battery life is pretty terrible though; very disappointing, especially since I use it so regularly. Also, the light on the charging stand is distracting at night when I'm trying to sleep!!!
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Reviewed by simon roberts on 30/12/2006
I read the reviews here, to be honset they really put be off buying this phone. However my 910i was really falling apart and I just didn't like anything else out there.So in the end I took the plunge. I have now had it three weeks and perhaps this is a bit premature. But it isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Negatives I can't get the battery cover off without a struggle. It has locked up twice. and the inside keyboard is a total waste of time and wast of a bigger screen. Positives havn't looked at the manual once got everything up and running. Excellent screen, software big improvement on 910i So I am please with it. Perhaps I have a post firmware version of this phone. Lets hope I am not writng back in a few weeks time
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Reviewed by Eddie Evans on 29/12/2006
This phone is not for people who want just a phone to call and text. this phone is for people who understand instead of writing bas reviews about it because you dont know how to use it.
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Reviewed by DirectHex on 29/12/2006
Alrighty Peeps i have decided to keep the phone. There just aren't enough niggles to justify me swapping it over for anything else. It still manages to do better than most of its rivals in most things. Ohh and it hasn't crashed. Once. It complained about my huge contacts folder but seen as it had 500 of them blasted to it over bluetooth I suppose it had a right. I video called, I browsed, I emailed, I pictured, i videod - didn't crash. This might mean by the time i got my phone Orange had been patching up the phones before they sent them out to clean up their DOA rate. In that case it must mean that with enough bug patching the phones are good - which is no excuse for useless implementation on the part of SE. Here are the things i would still like them to change, hopefully with the next iteration. - too many buttons to make up for the jog dial and reverse logic on some of the buttons - we all have had problems with the "on hold"button -get rid of the transition animations, they waste time, battery life, and generally slow you up trying to get to relevant menu functions. They also make u wait to click which means that you end up being impatient and picking the wrong option. Its learned behaviour I can fix but I shouldn't have to - Sony - the guy who designed the new UIQ Gui , line him up against a wall and have him shot. Log on to this website and others like it and listen to your users. I don't need fancy new ways of accessing the bloody sms/mms icons in the contacts book when the old one was fine. I don't need to have all things made noddy-proof to use my phone. Odds on if i buy this phone I'm a pretty knowledgeable technophile who does business - don't make my phone �ser friendly in the manner of a lego set. - The synch software is rubbish. I mean totally rubbish. The old one i could select and modify all sorts of synch options with relative ease. The new one - I have to fiddle. I don't like fiddling. It looks pretty though I suppose that sold it to the SE board. - SE and Orange are tight buggers , no free software aside from webraska which is pointless without a blue tooth GPS reciever. NO Case in the box, even a lame one like the previous leather effort from SE last time round. Give us some decent tools to download as well or at least support a UIQ community so I can start finding more stuff online. That said. I like the camera cover,I like some of the usuablity functions in the contacts book. The fonts are nice and chunky even though someone didn't get the anti-aliasing right. I like the fact it charges like a treadmill on acid. Much better than the slow jog of the P910 . Battery last well enough but I have a nagging feeling that when i start doing some real talking that bar will go down. In common with every other smart phone when you switch Wi-Fi on it pulls the plug on any power reserve and you watch the green going down quicker than a Win95 machine. In comparison to the JasJar I-mate and the Nokias it still does the business. Though Nokia OS does a bit more of a stable job it is using the phone to max ability of processor. Shame really that UIQ does such a rubbish job of utilising it the amount power available to it. The I-Mate has Win Mobile and my mate has to reboot his every day. So there you go, I'm keeping the phone. If you buy this be prepared for some effort in keeping a decent piece of kit in the right condition. It still a pretty decent smart phone let down by sad software but we know SE, hopefully thepatching and support will let us enjoy it properly. i for one am prepared to wait for that because a) I may be a muppet for being brand loyal b) i really don't find anything that matches it on the market. Though if the Psion 5Mx makes a comeback I might be gadget slut and dump the SE. Ohh and good luck finding a chuffing case. Dx
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Reviewed by David on 28/12/2006
I had the previous version of this phone. The Sony P9901 is without doubt the worst phone I have ever owned. The software crashes, I cannot access texts now...error, the lock on the side of the phone easily unlocks itself, the camera easiliy activates itself due to the fact that the lens protector moves if caught on a pocket etc. The battery life is terrible and gives you about 30 mins notice before it closes down...the phone sucks and I am going to take the sim card out and fire up my old phone. Buyers beware!!!
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Reviewed by Paul on 26/12/2006
EXCELLENT PIECE OF EQUIPMENT...TURNING THE WLAN SEEK OFF SO THAT ITS NOT SCANNING ALL THE TIME INCREASES THE BATTERY LIFE LIKE YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE....EVERY EXTRA ON A PHONE YOU COULD WANT...AND IT ALL WORKS VERY WELL...SLIGHTLY SLOWER INTERFACE THAN A STANDARD MOBILE...BUT THATS TO BE EXPECTED. I HAVE EXPERIENCED NO CRASHES FREEZE UPS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT..WHICH LEADS ME TO WONDER HOW MANY OF THE REPORTED PROBLEMS IN PREVIOUS REVIEWS ARE USER ERROR AND NOT ELECTRONIC (IF YOU TRY MOVING FROM A EG:- SAMSUNG D900 TO THIS PHONE AND EXPECT IT TO BE EASY TO USE...THEN YOU HAVE PROBLEMS)..I AM USING THE LATEST FIRMWARE AND I RECOMMEND YOU GET IT TOO FROM THE S.E WEBSITE.
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Reviewed by Ladi Soetan on 25/12/2006
The complaints about phone are mostly valid. However I found that removing the flip cures most of the problems. I also regularly use the 'task manager' function (bottom right of the phone) to close programs left open. This greatly reduces the number of crashes.
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Reviewed by andy on 23/12/2006
poor is to good a word for this phone i thougt i was upgrading moving from w800i to the p990i but i was wong to start with bat life on w800i was a easy 10days no this p990i i barly get 3days also i wanted to run sat nav on it but its not compatible with all the leading sat nav programs.if i could send it back i would.
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Reviewed by Direchex on 22/12/2006
All righty, I'm a muppet. I know. I read all yer reviews and thought maybe (maybe) Orange went and did some upgrading or SE would come up with better software on the net. I'm a previous P900 and P910 owner to boot. So I have had this thing since yesterday (22nd of Dec 2006). So far it hasn't crashed spectacularly. It refused to pick up my LAN but that was my fault for getting the WEP wrong. First comment, it feels cheaper. Materials seem lower quality and I'm terrified of breaking the battery cover because of the amount of force needed to loosen the damn thing. Nice connectors though for the power and the headset - much better than the flimsy SE two pin job. The flip doesn't click as solidly as the old one and lacks positive feedback and the jog dial is crap, feels weak and small, with less feedback than old one. i know people have complained about the loss of 5-way, and it does make a difference but the general naffness of the jog dial disappoints. On the plus the pillars round the screen are nice, the camera cover is a good thing - stops the lens getting dirty, and the feel of the keyboard is nice. SE went and redesigned the whole UIQ interface. Morons, intuitive nature of the P910 was a bonus, but no, some muppet thought it had to compete with Blackberry. So it swishes transition animations and all sorts - waste of time to be honest. Stylus on the wrong bloomin side, and no explanation for shifting all the buttons around. Too many menus to fiddle with and not enough to customise. Simple things on the old phone too hard to find, try getting speakerphone working or adjusting the volume without fiddling. Too many buttons on the front of the flip. The little square pad is naff, and doesn't make it clear when you press which button. On the good side, its a nice processor when you get it working. Souped up my contacts very quickly and went off and did its thing on the internet when required. Then went and caused a low resources failure. It was working fine, i just decided to restart it. The keypad is nice but pointless I still want my screen back. Virtual keyboard was much more useful than this but or they could have kept it on the flip. Oh and when you want to use the virtual keyboard, you cant see what your typing in until u close it - someone please shoot the design team at SE. Am i going to keep it? Unless it starts wailing like a banshee - which is quite possible considering the reviews on here - I'm prolly keeping it. bit sad though. I wish sony had bothered asking us previous 910 users what we wanted and they would have got a brilliant phone. But they got the committee to do it. Then again If you know Sony products we all know this happens - PS3 anyone. hope they come out with a P991 that correct all these problems or at least a upgrade to UIQ that does it. Enjoy people .. I'll let you know if i keep it or not.
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Reviewed by Chaswhiskey on 22/12/2006
Well, I've had the phone a whole day and had to re-charge it twice having only taken 2 calls and 3 texts in and 2 out. I'm wondering if it's secretly sending bluetooth without me knowing and running the battery down ??? Wanted something in the smart phone arena and choose this and yet to have it hang or crash and until then I reserve total condemnation judgements. However, if this battery usage thing doesn't improve, I guess it may never stay on long enough for me to find out...
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Reviewed by andy on 21/12/2006
in this review it says reduced screen size is some kind of drawback. well cant they see its wider, in sq cms just 2 mm smaller than the p910 and gives gr8 landscape view which was not possible on the 910 i was using the p 910 and now the 990 but when 910 was launched it had the same problems its only from updates were the problems were fixed.hell it used to also restart and hang till it stopped from the 3rd or 4th update as i remember.
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Reviewed by Wirral on 19/12/2006
Absolute rubbish keypad so small you must be small to use and setting it up these guys must have worked out the most difficult way possible, just sent it back get a samsung D900 instead.
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Reviewed by Bryan on 18/12/2006
The p910i was very good. What happened with the p990i? Sony Ericsson, do something - very fast.
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Reviewed by Hallvard on 16/12/2006
It's been over two months since the last firmware update. What do they pay the people working at SE for? In addition to being slow when opening opening applications, it takes _ages_ to reboot the damn brick (which, by the way, it often does on its own). I took the time it needed to go from being turned off, to being in standby mode; this turned out to be just under 90 seconds (the 3 seconds it took to enter the PIN code is insignificant). And that doesn't even include the time it takes to turn it off. With nothing running in the background, it takes almost 15 seconds before it's in "New message" mode from standby mode, and 9 seconds for the Web browser to start from pushing the Web icon. This is not the phone you bring to your anger management meeting. Oh, another annoying thing is that the camera cover sometimes opens up when I put the phone in my pocket. Fudge.
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Reviewed by Imran on 16/12/2006
Even after upgrading the phone to the latest firmware it doesn't stop crashing. And most of the time you will never know about the crash until you check it manually and you will find it dead. As the LED doesn't blink like the earlier version of P series. I would say the LED is completly of no use. As it will only flash if there is a new event on your phone or once its plugged in to charge. It doesn't flashes while in the coverage area I though they will fix it in this new firmware upgrade. The funniest thing is if you get a text message same like the earlier version it won't remind you with an audible if yo miss to read the text on the first hand. For that again you have to purchase the third party application. The worst part about this phone is that i installed different kind of applications in it and every application was installed on the memory stick but after upgrading to the latest firmware I am not able to restore the backup even with the latest version of the PC Suite installed from the Sony Ericsson Website. The backup process fails if i check the backup of memory stick as well. Hence totally unreliable phone till yet.
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Reviewed by Dan on 12/12/2006
I have had all of the p-series in the past, now I have the P990i. What a joke!!!!! I can’t believe you can make a phone so bad. I am never going to get a Sony Ericsson again.
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Reviewed by Panos on 11/12/2006
I've had the P990i for about a month, and I believe that I can safely draw some conclusions. First of all, the phone is not as bad as I have read in some reviews, regarding the software. Compared to the P800 and the P910, it is certainly slower and buggier. I have not however experienced any major problems, since I am running the latest firmware by SE which seems more stable than the previous ones. One other issue is the on board memory. If you happen to have 4 or 5 apps open at the same time, you should be prepared for hangups and why not crashes. In any case, I believe that SE may address this issue by fixing some bugs in their firmware and thus prevent some possible memory leaks. I also dislike the new QWERTY keypad, which took valuable space from the screen. Bad move SE! The signal however as well as the reception are pretty good as well as the call quality. All in all, the SE P990i is a good phone but a disappointment for the SE fans that eagerly waited for this phone.
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Reviewed by Samina on 05/12/2006
I have had the phone for 3 weeks now i was using the p910i that was good but this has everything i can't believe it how good can sony get.
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Reviewed by OJS on 04/12/2006
I am a previous P800 & P910 owner and am, as everyone else is, very disapointed with the P990. I am now on my 3rd phone the previous 2 having been replaced by Vodafone. This one is now with Sony Ericsson for them to sort. Lets see how they get one but I am not hopefull. I have had all the same issues as everyone else. Constant crashing and locking up and memeory errors. What a pile of poo it is. Specification is great on paper. How could SE release this phone so late and still with this many errors? I would urge everyone to send theirs back to their mobile phone provider or Sony Ericsson.
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Reviewed by Andy Nixon on 04/12/2006
I've been using this range sinc the p800. This is so close to being perfect but isn't. I do however have a tip that seems to improve stability and might account for better stablity in SIM free models. I'm on o2 and the o2 theme seems to promote a less than stable platform. Since installing "Snow Globe" theme found on http://www.se-uiq.com/themes-p990-eng.htm. I've not had any lockups, this theme was designed by SE and every element of the OS graphics are proportioned & displayed correctly - unlike many other themes. Feature-wise this is the best phone on the market that I've seen, if SE can resolve stability and some usability issues this would still be a winner
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Reviewed by Ben on 04/12/2006
I have been using the phone for 2 weeks. Initial problems with phone going dead and software locking. Had to reset all the settings and from then on no problems. I made sure that the previous task is closed and since then smooth sailing. The ergonomics of the phone is exellent but it has 'n serious flaw-the OS and software. Hope for a major upgrade in software! Pros: 1.Relatively small and light-better than Nokia N60,Imate and HP. 2.Screen-clear and responsive. 3.Using qwerty keyboard more and more. 4.Connects well to internet and 3G 5.Connects easily to laptop. Cons: 1.Battery life 2.OS and software. 3.Quick dial buried in menus.
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Reviewed by bob bill bryson of APU on 03/12/2006
well i thought that the phone was a bit ugly but then i looked at the technology. i disected the phone and took all the parts out of it. looked at its technological engine and motor and discovered the most awful thing that u could not send ema msgs from it. this puzzled me greatly as i like a good mystery but not one to difficult. so i took it to the mobile engine shop n they had a look at the fone so i thought ok then. so then i took it home and found out that the Sony Ericsson P990i was very good at lifting eggs off the washing line. so now my wife uses it BUY IT!!! 4 the eggs
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Reviewed by john on 03/12/2006
hi i purchased the p9901 on contract and eagerly awaited its arrival, i was pleased with the way the phone lookes and felt and was soon onto the network to set the phone up..problem number one , o2 does not have the settings to send over the air instead you use the phones own ,,internet wizard ..but after i did this i could not get on the web. send texts or anything else except make phone calls, my old works nokia 3110 can do that, after several of the famed lock ups, crashes ect i took the phone to an o2 shop ..worse than useless, it seems this phone is a pain in the side of every one, 30 hours after getting it the phone was repacked and on its way back , no time for rubbish like this even sony said ( we are having slight problems ) blimey hate to see a seriouse one i know have a nokia n91...bliss and happiness bottom line avoid, avoid, avoid
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Reviewed by Dean on 21/10/2006
Agree with the previous review. Upgrading from P910 to P990, I am a happy user since my biggest gripe with the 910 (battery life) is now history. On low useage, 3 days between charges and high use easily exceeds a day, time enough to visit the charger. BIG grin. The thing I love most about the 910 is the breadth of software support. The 990 support is growing slowly but I do miss MagicProfiles etc, get moving software houses PLEASE (my son misses Girders - lucky for him I've not sold the 910 yet). Support is growing and the pending VOIP client is top of my shopping list (OptiMobile are working on GIPS and when I e-mailed Skype they replied that are developing a version for Symbian). If only UIQ3.x/Symbian OS 9.x were backwards compatible, then the transition to 990 from 910 would be perfect. Don't listen to silliness about screen size and moans about the loss of the 5 way jog dial or the size of the key/buttonboard. The phone is well designed and works better as an integrated unit than the 910. Two thumb typing is far easier on the 990 than on the 910. The only gripe I have is that in bright sunshine, the screen visibility is very poor and unfortunately for me I live in Africa..Last comment, my unit was an early import to UK and the OS needed upgrading on day one. If you buy one then upgrade to the latest version straight away (Windows Mobile? Gates can keep it). After upgrading, any system instability I have suffered has been directly traceable dodgy J2ME software = my fault. My honest advice? Best phone about today is the P910. When the 3rd party software catches up (VOIP/GIPS with WiFi etc) the p990 will be untouchable.
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Reviewed by PAUL FOYSTON on 12/10/2006
THIS PHONE IS AWESOME - MINE IS SIM FREE AND ITS SO FAST & SMOOTH...NO LOCKUPS OR CRASHES....THE CAMERA IS EXCELLENT..SCREEN IS ALSO GREAT....BATTERY LIFE IS VERY GOOD...I CANT STRESS ENOUGH HOW GOOD THIS REALLY IS...MIGHT BE BEST GETTING A SIM FREE VERSION AS NETWORK PROVIDERS SOFTWARE USUALLY MESSES EVERYTHING UP...IF I HAD TO SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE IT WOULD BE HAVING TO WAIT FOR THE NEW SOFTWARE TO EMERGE...APART FROM THAT YOU CANT GO WRONG...THERE WILL PROBABLY BE THE USUAL PEOPLE GIVING NEGATIVE WHEN THEY DONT EVEN OWN THE PHONE, OR DONT KNOW HOW TO USE IT...BUT THATS HOW IT GOES...WOULD GIVE 10 STARS IF IT WAS POSSIBLE - OUTSTANDING!!-
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