Sony Ericsson P800

Click for more pictures of the P800.

It has not always been plain sailing in the past year for Sony Ericsson. Rocked by losses and a largely indifferent 2002 portfolio, the company has nonetheless persisted into 2003. Now perhaps the winds of change are blowing as the London-based company introduces its flagship P800, a camera-phone-PDA that rivals the best of the Nokias and Motorolas.

A Handful
The blue-and-silver P800 has a size to match its list of functions. At 117 x 59 x 27mm, its bulk is comparable to that of the Nokia 7650. It also weighs in at a hefty 158g. While that's a quite a bit to lug around, it's significantly lighter than carrying two separate devices.

The P800 is technically a successor to Ericsson's Smartphone line, and retains the same form factor. The main body of the phone is longish and features a large touch-sensitive display. A plastic numeric pad can be placed over the bottom half of the P800 so it resembles an ordinary, if oversized, cell phone. In this position, this keypad becomes the primary input method, with the touch screen largely disabled. Here, the P800's greatest flaw is exposed: Unlike the Nokia 7650, the P800 just isn't optimized for one-handed, thumb-based manipulation.

In this mode, the menu interface is sometimes inconsistent. For instance, locking and unlocking the keypad require too different pairs of key presses. Furthermore, the buttons, which are essentially little styluses, aren't always responsive and lack key depth. Some users will also be put off by the fact that the P800 doesn't offer predictive text input. A Sony Ericsson Singapore spokesperson said the company is considering releasing predictive text as a software upgrade, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Full-Screen Mode
Thankfully, the P800's flip cover-cum-keypad can be discarded altogether so the phone can be used in pen-based mode. This way, the device's bright and sharp 4,096-color display is revealed in its entirety. While not as wide as some PDA screens, its length is comparable.

A thin, translucent stylus hangs from the side of the phone, and can be used for writing text in CIC's Jot. While Jot performs credibly in recognizing handwriting, we can imagine that some users will be able to whip out text messages more quickly by using predictive text.

In this pen-based mode, users can also access the P800's full list of applications. The interface here is not difficult to navigate, but it probably takes some time to get used to how the apps are organized. The most important programs can be marked as tabs on the main screen for easy access.

Putting It All Together
The P800 is a multimedia player, digital camera, Symbian-based PDA, and phone. It offers Bluetooth, GPRS, MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), Bluetooth, triband and wireless Java. It's one thing to lump all these features into a single device, and quite another to integrate them seamlessly. The good news is Sony Ericsson has proven itself before with the T68i and CommuniCam digital camera add-on. The P800, for the most part, also does well in this aspect.

Many users will probably be looking to surf the Web on the go with the P800. If you have a GPRS-enabled account, surfing the Net on the P800 can be as simple as popping in your SIM card, turning on the phone and opening the browser.

As for the camera, this function can be accessed from a single button on the right. The same button also releases the shutter. The P800's lens is positioned on the back of the phone. Although not covered, it is slightly recessed to prevent scratches. The image quality is average as far as phone cameras go. The maximum resolution of 640 x 480 is good enough, but the photos lack sharpness. After taking the shots, the pictures can be attached to entries in your address book so the right photo pops up whenever a friend calls.

The P800 is also capable of playing various kinds of media, including video clips. But it's the audio capabilities that phone users will enjoy. The device plays anything from MIDI to MP3 and WAV files. What's impressive is these audio files can be used as ringtones or even alarms. The downside is the speakers can be too soft in external environments.

The P800 comes with a cradle so you can sync your P800 with a notebook or desktop as you're charging it. Synchronization can also be done using infrared or Bluetooth. The software installation is a straightforward process but users should note that the PC Suite is compatible with only Windows 2000, Me and XP. Windows 98 users will have to hang on for further updates from Sony Ericsson.

While Sony Ericsson includes some applications and games on a CD-ROM, the acid test is how third-party application providers will support the software. That part seems to be coming along nicely in these early stages. Already, a version of the first-person shooter Doom has been ported over to the P800. The P800 comes with 12MB of internal memory, with more than half of this free for use out of the box. If that's not enough, it also ships with a 16MB Memory Stick Duo card.

Reception And Battery Life
Reception proved acceptable, although signal strength was poor in areas of weaker network coverage. One problem we faced was the phone occasionally failing to register the SIM card. Voice quality was average.

Battery life was decent. Rated at up to 13 hours of talktime and 400 hours on standby, the 1,000mAh Lithium-polymer battery konked out after more than two days of usage.

Conclusion
The P800 comes at a price of about S$1,188 with a two-year contract, or S$1,338 without a line. That's certainly a lot to shell out, but the P800 delivers a great deal in return, both in terms of features and accessories. Included in the box are a 16MB Memory Stick Duo card, an adapter for older Memory Stick cards, a hand strap, chic pouch, as well as three styluses. Packing in all these parts also eliminates a problem that some users have cited--a dearth of Sony Ericsson accessories on the market.

The P800 was a work in progress for a long time, but we think it's not the finished product yet. We expect Sony Ericsson to release important updates in the coming months, as it has done for the T68. Right now, the P800 falls just short of a CNET Editors' Choice. But after a year of virtual stagnancy, the P800 is a big step forward for Sony Ericsson. For power-hungry phone users, the P800--despite its interface issues--should satisfy you.

• Most Popular

• Upcoming

What's Hot