RouseWorld | Wayward Packet -- For the Week of 2/6/05

For the Week of 2/6/05

Gadget Boy
Strikes Again:
The Sony Ericsson T637

For a while now I've been a little unhappy with my cell phone, an older Sony Ericsson T68i. Through the years both the antenna and sound had gotten to were I couldn't really trust the thing to pick up calls. Initially, however, I had been really pleased. The T68i was one of the first phones that worked with Apple's iSync software, which was the software package that has most satisfied my desire for a way to keep multiple address books synchronized.

So when I went shopping for a new phone I wanted most of all compatibility with iSync (which means Bluetooth) and secondly decent reception. I wasn't really looking for a camera phone, a PDA substitute, or a way to play games.

I first looked at the Motorola Razr V3, which is a flip-phone (which I actually prefer) and very, very cool looking. It is also really, really expensive and doesn't fully support iSync (you can't iSync over Bluetooth, you have to use a cable and some people have reported problems even then). Nice wide screen though, and very posh looking.

Well, I had been pretty happy with Sony Ericsson before, so I went around to look at what my Cingular store had to offer from that company.

The store didn't have a P901i — but I did say I wasn't looking for a PDA replacement, right? The T637 looked to be what I was looking for. It had Bluetooth, better reception than the T68i (which was displaying "No Access" in the cell phone store, poor thing) and better looks than the T68i (which had this baby blue color and feminine curves).

So I got it:

So far I'm pretty pleased, both with the phone and with Cingular's attitude towards Bluetooth. Some carriers have been turning off Bluetooth functionality, apparently in an attempt to get people to use paid services instead of using Bluetooth to send and receive pictures (or ring-tones, etc.) between your phone and your computer.

But with Cingular and the T637 I can browse the phone from my computer with ease (works better than the T68i) and drag pictures, ring-tones and theme files between my computer and the phone. Nice.

As with many modern cell phones, the thing is feature packed to the gills.

The phone accepts regular midi files as polyphonic ring tones, has a ring tone editor with built-in midi loops, a calendar, to-do list, addressbook, stopwatch, calculator, can talk to AIM, ICQ and Cingular's own IM networks through a Java application and has some mini old style arcade games.

Of course there is also cHTML and WAP, and there are menus setup so you can go off and buy new ringtones and games. I don't have WAP on my service plan, so I can't comment on those features.

The UI is a nice evolutionary step up from the T68i menus. I didn't have to re-learn how to get around, but there are some nice touches like a back button, better on-screen labeling of 'soft' buttons and a clearly labled 'back' button. Certainly the addressbook is easier to navigate. There is also better (maybe just more visible) help screens for many functions. Certainly the larger screen with more vivid colors helps.

As a phone it seems to do a good job. Calls so far have been clear and the reception has been good.

Right now the only weak point is the camera. I like the design of the camera, there is a shutter release button on the side of the camera so you can hold it like a regular camera — there is even a little mirror, for when you are holding it at arm's length to take a picture of you and a friend. But the picture quality isn't so good. All of the outdoors pictures I've taken so far show very harsh JPEG encoding artifacts, poor colors and a soft image — especially in the corners. But again, I didn't buy this as a digital camera, so I'm not too upset.

Here is an example:

But if you cut the picture down by about 50%, it should be usable on a webpage.