After a little bit of a problem with DHL I finally managed to get my brand spanking new SonyEricsson P1i home and start the unboxing fun.
Continue reading after the break for a full review with photo's.
The first thing I noticed was the the amount of "stuff" which comes in the box (reminds me of the first iPod I bought, the one that included the cables, charger and a dock, meaning you didn't have to shell out extra for the stuff you actually need).
Including, surprisingly a spare stylus, a VIP support card from SonyEricsson with a helpline to get you set up (which I didn't test but could be useful for 1st time PDA users).
So, I tossed the manual aside, transferred my sim card over and fired her up.
I did notice that the startup took an unbelievably long time (thankfully subsequent startups have been much quicker). But it gave me some time to do some comparison shots with the "old" Nokia E61.
Once started up the settings from O2 where automatically sent through in a text message and I noticed that there is a light on the base which flashes when you receive a new message, strangely I hadn't seen this mentioned in any other reviews.
From here the P1i takes you through a 'setup wizard' to help you configure the basic settings of your new toy. Hear is where you begin to notice the variety of input methods available to you. The jog wheel on the side (reminiscent of the one used on the older style blackberrys) is very useful. The most frustrating thing I have found so far is the need to constantly switch between the various input methods to do almost any task. The main menu is well designed to allow you to use a thumb to navigate through and select options, however, the next level of menus are back to small writing forcing you to use the jog wheel and or the stylus for input. I think these menu's could have been better designed to allow you to navigate fully using your choice of method rather than needing to switch between (Note: after some time trying it out I have learnt a few methods which enable you to navigate through most menus or functions using just the keyboard and jog wheel, limiting the number of times you are forced to revert to the stylus).
One point to make is that the P1i's variety of inputs, while frustrating at times enables you to do a great many things easily and after using it for some time I have found that once you get used to it the combination of inputs really can work.
Also, just a quick note on the keyboard. At first I did find it slightly fiddley, once i got used to it (and stoped being afraid of hitting the wrong button) I have found it extremely easy to use.
Of course the first thing I needed to do was jump right in and get the email setup. Though it initially seemed quite simple to set up (for anyone who has set up an email client before) I did need to refer to the manual quickly to find out how to turn the 'Push Email' unction on properly, no, its not just a case of ticking the 'push email' box! (You need to go back to the initial email setup screen, under 'Email Accounts' and press 'More' and select 'Always on Push Email' - this will be useful as a quick way to disable this function if required.) Once set up this facility appears to work as advertised. I am using Google Apps for your domain, which is IMAP idle compatible, hence the ability to use the Push Email function.
Tip: useful navigational tip, the keys to ether side of the space key function as left / right arrow keys - negating the need to get the stylus out to move back and correct the mistakes.
The next step was getting all my information synced, both from the MacBook and Google calendar.
Despite what I had read the Mac bit was incredibly easy, I downloaded the iSync plugin (found here) and paired the MacBook and the phone and set it to sync the contacts. The first and second sync both failed. I had a quick look at the bluetooth settings on the P1i and tried turning the Power Saver mode off, the third sync worked without a hiccup. On the fourth sync the phone apparently updated a few contacts (the mac warned me the more than 5% of the data was changed, but I have yet to discover any changes. The sync has consistently worked from this point without (so far) any problems.
Next came the google calendar which, was a little more complicated. However, I got myself a free goosync account which, once I had registered, sent a text message to my phone to automatically configure it, and synced without any issue. I even changed events on the handset which where communicated (after a sync) back to the google calendar, perfect, or so I thought. Until 2:00 am the following morning when I was woken up by a horrible alarm noise from my phone. Little did I realise that my settings on google calendar automatically set a reminder for each event, this is of course was sync'd to the phone with an alarm, great! So, I went back to my google calendar and reset the default not to create a reminder for each new event. I was especially please to notice that it automatically removed this reminder for each existing event (and only those the had previously had an 'automatic' reminder). Then, following another sync, these reminders where removed. This to has worked since without any apparent problem.
The next thing to try out was the Wi-Fi setup. Again this was painless and straightforward. From the phones Control Panel simple select WLAN, scan and connect to your network. You are prompted to enter you password (I only tested the WPA, but this worked without problems). The next, slightly more frustrating step was to set up what are called Internet Account Groups. This allows you to specify a number of "access points" within a group and set their priority, this in tern allows you to select the group so the phones software, Email and Internet for example, will use these groups, in priority order, to connect to the internet. This means you can set up a group that will try to use available WLAN's before reverting to GPRS settings.
Software Notes:
Just a couple of additional points on the installed software. Firstly a slight frustration with the Email program. When composing an email you need to go to the address book and select the contact rather than just typing in there name, which the Nokia would auto complete for you. Though I have since found that the phone does keep a list of the last few contacts for quick access, this is a feature from the Nokia I will miss.
Something extremely useful I have discovered is the when adding a shortcut to the shortcut menu is that you have the option to specify a web link. As I use Remember the Milk as my task manager I have found this particularly useful as I have set up link to take me straight to my task list. Additionally you can customise the icon, so following a quick web search I found a good replacement icon here.
3rd Party Software:
Installed so far:
Fring
Google Maps
Opera MiniBlogger software from Sony Ericsson > fun and downloads > Software > free stuff.
I have also found a copy of Lemmings and Oh No More Lemmings for the P1i here.
Hardware notes:
I don't really have much to say, other than the fact that I love that they included a cradle!
