SE T610 and Bluetooth

[Tiauguinho]

As promised here goes a review of the new Sony Ericsson T610 and the way it connects and works with the Mac.

First of all, the phone is awsome. The 65k colors screen is something that really makes it pleasant to use and the menu navigation is very but very easy (I come from nokia and always had been a nokia user). The construction quality is excelent and its something that amazed me, cause the phone has a very nice touch. The camera is a feature i wont use a lot and I never used any, so i cant compare it to any other phones.

Now, with the Mac connectivity. As soon as I turned on the phone the mac instantly recognized it. iSync worked great and all my contacts/calendars were synched without any problem at all. I downloaded Romeo( link: http://irowan.com/arboreal/ ) to start controling the mac with the phone and all i can say is that im trully amazed! Its fantastic to be 10 meters away of my mac and control it, iTunes, Mail, you name it! Just get some applescritps or make your own and start using it.

What I find very odd is that the feature that Steve once showed at a Macworld, that you could see who was calling you, only works when Address Book is open. I dont know why, but probably someone can explain me how I could enable it to always work.

So, I think that rating it all, I would give it a 9/10.

Any more questions or feature that you would like me to try, just ask!

[mactastic]

I guess you could just put your address book in the startup items and tell is to hide it. Then it's always on in the background.

[evoluzione]

Originally posted by Tiauguinho
What I find very odd is that the feature that Steve once showed at a Macworld, that you could see who was calling you, only works when Address Book is open. I dont know why, but probably someone can explain me how I could enable it to always work.

So, I think that rating it all, I would give it a 9/10.

Any more questions or feature that you would like me to try, just ask!


oooh, i forgot all about that feature, can't wait to try it when i get home. you could direct the call to voicemail if i remember rightly???
did you set up your email on it yet?? i love being notified when i have mail in my .mac account. awesome.

do you have any good sites to download ringtones, games, wallpaper etc????

i have a couple.....

www.mobiledia.com
www.esato.com
www.sep800.mine.nu

[James.Paul]

Just ordered my T610 yesterday, hopefully, it shall be here soon and I can get rid of this Motorola brick that I have!!!

[Chimaera]

http://www.myt610.com/


good site

[monkeydo_jb]

Do any of you all know when it will be coming to the US?
How much does it cost, too?


-jeff

[iJon]

yeah i was wondering how much too. i noticed att wireless doesnt have it but cant i just have them program the sim card and i can use the phone? also is this suppose to be there new best phone from SE. here is what i was looking at. I like the t68i but i do not like the p800, how does the 610 fit in with those.

also, does anyboyd have any comments they would like to shar about att wireless. i am so fed up with sprint so they can kiss my a**. GSM Towers will be ready July 1st for my area so i figured now would be a good time to get the new phones and a new service. ive heard att wireless is great.

iJon

[bellis1]

How fast is the bluetooth if you use it as a modem. Does it only handle 9600. And is there anyway to increase this. Can you use your computer modem and connect the phone through a cable. It would be nice if it was faster.

[iJon]

also, how is your service provider, i cant find this phone for sale anywhere, how much did you pay for it?

iJon

[Huked on Fonick]

I was Wrong

[iJon]

Originally posted by Huked on Fonick
Ijon beleve the 610 is only for CDMA which means it wont work with ATT or anyother carrier that uses GSM(which i think is a better standard).....
yeah i figured that much, and i am getting ready to switch to att, but I cant find this phone for sale anywhere, thats why I was asking.

iJon

[Longey Nowze]

I have this phone and it's amazing before it I had a nokia 6100 or 6110 I dont know and I dont really care it was a stupid stupid phone! it a had a colour display but it didn't have bluetooth!!!!! nokia make such stupid phones! this phone has three or four other cousins that are exactly the same! except for the shape and one is supposed to be heavy duty or something... my point is nokia sucks!

the T610 isn't SE's best but IMHO it's their second best, the P800 is amaizing i borrowed it from a friend, but it was too big for my taste, and I figured i'd get a tungstin T2 when they come out!

the T610 is by far the best phone i've seen! the most fully featured! the camera is only 0.9mp so it's not much but more than enough to take quick pics and send them to friends or put them in the address book.

it has nice games if you like to play, I like the mini golf game, lol and you can always get more lol, the ringtones sound amazing, I have metalica's enter sandman as my main ringtone got from http://www.mobiledia.com/

it's a great phone! if youre looking to buy a new phone then this is the one!

thank you
MaT

[dubweiser]

iJon, im in the same boat you are. Im with sprint right now, but my contract was up last month so now im on a month to month thing.

I tried ATT GSM. Straight up SUCKED. At first I got the Nokia 3650, AWESOME phone, ****ty reception, and bulky. So I returned it and got the T68i. It was OK, ddnt have all the features of the Nokia.
The reception was still horrible. I didnt get signal in my house, or at work. And its not like my house is an underground cave, its just a normal 2 story family home.

So needless to say I took advantage of ATT's 30day return policy.

I think im gonna wait for the T610 to come out and try it out with probably TMobile. If their reception is crappy too, ill just stay with sprint and get that new T608 (my sprint reception is AWESOME.)

Hit me up on AIM if you have any questions (vdubweiser).

[Longey Nowze]

when you are out and it's sunny, you cant see a damn thing on the screen lol! i think it's a problem with all phones with a colour screen though, i had with the sucky nokia before the T610...

thank you
MaT

[Tiauguinho]

Yep, you are right on that one. Its very difficult to see whats on the screen when you have sun light right on it. But besides that i dont see other problems with the phone.

[ZildjianKX]

When does this phone come out in the US anyways? I've seen it selling for 500 USD though... which seems kind of steep.

[Longey Nowze]

I A AM A MAC RUMORS MEMBER NOW!!!! YAY w00t w00t! YaY!!!! you all are invited to the big party someone should and will have for me! and if there's no party it's going to be worse that a mac geek at WWDC with no 970s :mad: lol

anyway the T610 is a really really good i love it, it's the best phone i ever had battery life is good you can go two days with no charging, and I was talking to someone for about 5-6 hours with out it dying, the UI is very nice and it's very easy to use... it's just nice :D

thank you
MaT

[evoluzione]

$500 is a good price for this phone, as it has yet to be released.

i got mine over a month ago now, and paid $650 for it, and this was from celluloco.com who were very good, very fast, and helpful too, so much so i'm gonna recommend them :)

I have mine on T-Mobile in NYC and and pleased, pretty much same reception as my old nokia 8910 or whatever it was.

only complaint about the T610, not enough memory. oh, and when you play games and use BT and receive a lot of email on it, the battery lasts for one day only. It did last all weekend at Geekfest though :D

[iJon]

Originally posted by ZildjianKX
When does this phone come out in the US anyways? I've seen it selling for 500 USD though... which seems kind of steep.
i did some research, it will be out in the states this year i believe with the name t616. you can still order it for various places and have it activated but the t616 will be the one you can activate along with a service and get it cheaper im assuming.

iJon

[evoluzione]

Originally posted by iJon
i did some research, it will be out in the states this year i believe with the name t616. you can still order it for various places and have it activated but the t616 will be the one you can activate along with a service and get it cheaper im assuming.

iJon


yeah, the T616 uses GSM 850 as opposed to the GSM900 that the T610 (and the rest of the world uses)


the thing with waiting for your service to carry it, is it will be locked to that specific carrier, if you bought it from T-Mobile, you cannot use it on AT&T at a later date. Buy one now, a T610, spend a little more, have the wow factor before anyone else, and be able to use it on ANY GSM network. :)

[ZildjianKX]

Originally posted by evoluzione
yeah, the T616 uses GSM 850 as opposed to the GSM900 that the T610 (and the rest of the world uses)


the thing with waiting for your service to carry it, is it will be locked to that specific carrier, if you bought it from T-Mobile, you cannot use it on AT&T at a later date. Buy one now, a T610, spend a little more, have the wow factor before anyone else, and be able to use it on ANY GSM network. :)

I can't afford $400-$500 for a phone though, lol... so I'm going to have to wait for the T616. :) So I guess Tmobile will be the provider to carry it? I'm not sure its me, but I've been to all the main providers websites and I only find that Cingular carries Sony Ericsson phones... least in my zip code.

[evoluzione]

oh, and it's basically an up-to-date T68i. it fits in the range just below the P800, which is too big in my opinion, and does everything the P800 does except all the office stuff, and play movies, and have expandable RAM (boo).

the T610 works much better with the mac than the P800 too. The T68i is much slower in comparison, less colours on the screen, only has monophonic ringtones, no camera and a smaller screen....

[evoluzione]

Originally posted by ZildjianKX
I can't afford $400-$500 for a phone though, lol... so I'm going to have to wait for the T616. :) So I guess Tmobile will be the provider to carry it? I'm not sure its me, but I've been to all the main providers websites and I only find that Cingular carries Sony Ericsson phones... least in my zip code.

it's hard to say, when i was looking at getting the nokia 3650 (glad i didn't get it now) T-Mobile rep knew nothing of it until they released it, which is kinda lame. i would hazard a guess that maybe T-Mob and Cingular would carry it before the others as they seem to be more clued in with the rest of the planet.

[monkeydo_jb]

Thanks for all the replies guys.
So, evoluzione, will the 610 function on the crappy networks in
my neck of the woods (i.e. central missouri) or does it have to be
a special type of service like T-Mobile offers (GPRS?)



--jeff

[iJon]

Originally posted by evoluzione
yeah, the T616 uses GSM 850 as opposed to the GSM900 that the T610 (and the rest of the world uses)


the thing with waiting for your service to carry it, is it will be locked to that specific carrier, if you bought it from T-Mobile, you cannot use it on AT&T at a later date. Buy one now, a T610, spend a little more, have the wow factor before anyone else, and be able to use it on ANY GSM network. :)
i thought about it but i dont care about my phone that much. i went back to att today to play with the nokia 3650. dialing numbers on it wasnt a problem and it didnt fill that big in my pocket, but after holing a smaller phone it made realize how much better smaller is. what im gonna do is get the t68i and if it sucks here in my area they will let me trade it for the 3650.

iJon

[Longey Nowze]

Originally posted by iJon
i thought about it but i dont care about my phone that much. i went back to att today to play with the nokia 3650. dialing numbers on it wasnt a problem and it didnt fill that big in my pocket, but after holing a smaller phone it made realize how much better smaller is. what im gonna do is get the t68i and if it sucks here in my area they will let me trade it for the 3650.

iJon

im glade the networks here dont force you to use there phones! I hate that idea! it's stupid! what if i want a phone they dont offer? they least they could do is ask me a what phone i want... then they get it for if they dont have it and lock to them! i dont care as long as I have the phone I want! but I'm glade they dont do that here!

oh and iJon, dont get the T68i, I had that phone when it first came out, but now I wouldn't have it, I got the nokia after it but it was horrible compared to the T68i, I hate nokia soooo much then I got back to the T68i I had them update the software for me, then they did something wrong and it started acting weird, they couldn't fix it... then they gave a supposedly 'better' nokia, which had no bluetooth no GPRS no nothing! i hated the it was soo stupid! I hated it using the UI sucks! I HATED IT! when I got the T610... I was like soooo happy! I my mood changed! i dont get mad and angry when I use my phone! using the nokia was like using windows!!!!!!!!!!! I SWEAR! it was that bad!!

thank you
MaT

[iJon]

can you tell me why you hated each phone, that will help my decision more.

iJon

[Huked on Fonick]

I like the 610 allot maybe i will have to trade my phone in for it.........

[Longey Nowze]

well... I have always had bad experience with nokia phones, I hated them a lot, they nokia produces 5 or more different phones that are basically the same phone! then they go and change the cover and the look and call it a new phone! they are always late on technology! and they are turning the phone into a game machine?! I dont like that they should work on improving battery life not shorting it!
the UI in nokia phones is really stupid! for me I had a problem when trying to send txt in my native tongue you had to change the WHOLE PHONE'S LANGUAGE! that's like going to system pref and changing the language from english to say chines then logging off and log back in to type an email then returning it to english again! that was stupid and that got on my nerves! OH SE phones have a nice little feature that will send to more than one phone number like an email, but nokia you will have to wait for the message to be send then resend it again! which is stupid! and SE has something called unsaved numbers where you can send a message to someone you called or someone who called that isn't in your phone book a really cool feature!

and I like the way SE puts the calls they have a little arrows that symbolise missed, received and outgoing calls all in one easy to reach place! if you want to see them sorted you go to the calls menu under the main menu!

for me it's like using windblows and macintosh!

if you have any other Qs just ask! if I confused you then i'm sorry..

THANK YOU
MaT

[gerror]

I checked on website of T-Mobile Netherlands. With a 1 year subscription you can get it for free!. You have to pay 30 euro for 5 hours or something. I already have a Nokia 7650 so it is no option for me but I'm sure this will be the same for the rest of the countries T-Mobile is available

[kaldestad]

just bought the t610, and the usb asante bluetooth thingy. I'm downloading ring tones, wallpapers, etc, no probs. Also using the Romeo freeware clicker. The miracles of Bluetooth! But:
After snapping pics, how do I send them to my ibook? Do I have to do something complicated with WAP, or GPRS, or what??? I'll have to go to Tmobile and see how many smackers they're going to charge me for that!
Any ideas?

[benixau]

Originally posted by kaldestad
just bought the t610, and the usb asante bluetooth thingy. I'm downloading ring tones, wallpapers, etc, no probs. Also using the Romeo freeware clicker. The miracles of Bluetooth! But:
After snapping pics, how do I send them to my ibook? Do I have to do something complicated with WAP, or GPRS, or what??? I'll have to go to Tmobile and see how many smackers they're going to charge me for that!
Any ideas?

1) go to "My Pictures"
2) choose the picture you want to send
3) select "More" (right softkey)
4) select "Send"
5) select "Via Bluetooth"*
6) select "<insert your macs name here>"
7) on your mac, accept the incoming file

all of these instructions assume that your mac and phone are already paired. good luck!

*before this you must make sure that your mac has BT discoverable set.

[kaldestad]

Thanks. I'm a bit embarrassed now that I see how logical that was.....Cheers!

[windwaves]

IJon,
I have had the T68i for now almost 2 years and have been pretty happy with it. All the sync ops work well (even though sometimes it makes you think they did not - for instance when I dial from my Mac via BT using adrs book the phone will show an error message at first but in fact will work perfectly fine). I really have enjoyed the flawless connectivity with the Mac and the syncing of stuff. For a first product in its kind (at least for sure wrt to Macs and BT) I thought it was a miracle.

For sure it has weaknesses - pretty ********g slow when you surf around their menus adn some say that its reception stinks. Yes sometimes I have to dial a number 5 times before getting a connection but I believe it is my provider's fault rather than the phone. Just make sure your provider has proven good coverage in your area(s).

Certainly the T610 is better but I would never spend that kind of money for it !

just my 2 cents

gio

[WinterMute]

I got my T610 today, upgraded an old Nokia for it, they charged me £29.95 for the phone and gave me £30 back on the old phone:D

Good old Orange:p

It took me 30 seconds to get the Bluetooth running on my 17 PB, and iSync simply did its job fine.

You can also upload photos over BT, if you select Browse Device from the menu bar menu, then select the phone from the list, and you get to look throught the pictures folder, then using the "put" button you can send pics to the phone, better make sure they're small though:D

This is an excellent phone, especially for free, even if all-day events don't show up in the calendar...;)

[windwaves]

the now way too old problem: the US is decades behind Europe when it comes to cell phones techonology, availabitlity, pricing and everything ....

Damned, this is the country that is on top of the world, are we losing the hedge to "old Europe" ?

I doubt it myself but hey take Boeing , they just lost to SUPERSUBSIDIZED Airbus in terms of airplanes supplied !

[benixau]

Originally posted by kaldestad
Thanks. I'm a bit embarrassed now that I see how logical that was.....Cheers!

np. you would be suprised how many times i embaress myself when i go to type my mums SMS's on her nokia. Anyone whose switched will know - that spacebar/key is a pain. JUST MAKE A FREAKIN STANDARD AND KEEP TO IT.

[aphexist]

Originally posted by windwaves
the now way too old problem: the US is decades behind Europe when it comes to cell phones techonology, availabitlity, pricing and everything ....

I've heard that in some parts of the US, people are still using carrier pigeons...

Come on now...decades?

[AngryAngel]

Originally posted by benixau
1) go to "My Pictures"
2) choose the picture you want to send
3) select "More" (right softkey)
4) select "Send"
5) select "Via Bluetooth"*
6) select "<insert your macs name here>"
7) on your mac, accept the incoming file


Doing that for more than one file is a complete waste of time. I can't remember exactly how (not at my computer now)- but I can browse my phone (T610), and choose the directories (My Pictures, My sounds, etc.) and then get a list of files and you just click 'get'- no comformation to check on the phone or computer, it just comes accross. Only bad thing is you can't do more than one file at a time.

Using the phone to control my Mac is very cool-especially iTunes- it shows how long the track has been playing on the phone's screen.

I got my T610 free, on a O2 contract for a year, 15GBP per month, 500 free minutes offpeak.

[lmalave]

Originally posted by AngryAngel
Doing that for more than one file is a complete waste of time. I can't remember exactly how (not at my computer now)- but I can browse my phone (T610), and choose the directories (My Pictures, My sounds, etc.) and then get a list of files and you just click 'get'- no comformation to check on the phone or computer, it just comes accross. Only bad thing is you can't do more than one file at a time.

Using the phone to control my Mac is very cool-especially iTunes- it shows how long the track has been playing on the phone's screen.

I got my T610 free, on a O2 contract for a year, 15GBP per month, 500 free minutes offpeak.

What you do is you click on the Bluetooth icon in your Apple menu. Then you select "Browse Device" from that menu. This will bring up a list of all the paired Bluetooth devices in range. In my case, that brings up a list containing the T610. I select that and it lets me browse the folders, which for now are just Pictures, Sounds, and Themes. Not only is this a great way to get pictures from the T610, it's also a great way to put pictures there.

I haven't tried it, but there's nifty third party software called PhoneAgent that lets you put games, or files of any kind on your T610:

http://www.macmedia.sk/pa.htm

[windwaves]

Originally posted by aphexist
I've heard that in some parts of the US, people are still using carrier pigeons...

Come on now...decades?

come on now....of course it is an exaggeration, but look at it as an expression, flexible interpretation, the substance is what matters, no ?

[litosclone]

Here are some of the wallpapers I've made or manipulated in Photoshop, saved for the web, Then uploaded though bluetooth. I just have so much fun with the T610!!

[litosclone]

Vegita & Apple!!!!