I was actually planning on buying the Xperia X10 when it released. I really couldn't wait for 2 months till it did, and, now, I want that too. Men..and.. gadgets..huh!
I have been using the Sony Ericsson U1i (or the Satio ) for about 4 months now. It costed me about Rs. 28K. I had read up a few reviews about it before I went to buy it. Most reviews echoed the same thoughts – Feature Loaded but buggy software. Whatever they said, I kinda liked the phone.
Specifications? Well, the Satio is really feature loaded – 12.1 MP camera with LED and Xenon flash, GPS, WiFi, WLAN, Bluetooth, 3G HSDPA (7.2 MBPS) HSUPA (3.6 MBPS), a big 3.6 inch touch screen, Web browser with Flash support, TV out etc. Like most other SE phones, the OS is based on Symbian S60 5th edition with customized UI screens. It comes preloaded with trial versions of QuickOffice and WisePilot GPS navigation system. It also comes pre-loaded with YouTube app.
I should say that the original software that came with the phone was a bit buggy. However, it didn't freeze or crash on me. There were a few rendering problems at times mainly. SE have released a couple of updates so far and my phone is up-to-date, faster and better. So, make sure you keep your Satio updated. If you are an IM/Social media user, you will need to download apps. The second software patch I received had a Facebook app. So, I didn't have to download that. I hated (and still hate) the fact that the phone comes with trial versions of QuickOffice and WisePilot. I tried buying QuickOffice online and the payment gateway kept having issues. So I uninstalled it. As for WisePilot, the software was a bit expensive for me, anyway, I found a cheaper and quicker alternative on the net and use it. So, that was another uninstall.
I like taking photos and the 12.1 MP camera is really good as expected. The Xenon Flash is not that powerful (as a regular camera), it is enough with decent lighting around. Night photos aren't that great. You could set the camera in Manual mode or auto mode. However, don't expect manual settings like on a DSLR/SLR. There are different shoot modes you could select from – Normal, Panorama, BestPic, Smile detection and Touch Capture. The thing I like here is that you could hold the phone like a digicam and shoot. The size of the phone makes it comfortable. You can also use macro mode and set white balance among a whole bunch of other typical CyberShot settings. It is a good cam whenever you don't take your DSLR out. J Once you take a pic, you can upload it directly to Picasa or blogger or even add your own webservice.
The Touch Screen is not as good as the iPhone. It is just enough to get you around. It does get a bit slow at times, especially, if you have a few apps running. I guess you could expect that with a 600Mhz processor. The menus are neat. I would have liked the Phone book shortcut on the home screen also. The phone supports handwriting and I must say that the hand writing recognition is very good! I prefer the smaller onscreen keyboard, which, could be a bit hard to use if you have stubby fingers. Luckily, the Satio has a bigger pad for it! I prefer typing with my fingers than using the stylus. The smaller keyboard (which I use) has got good sensitivity and precision.
Let's talk about Music, baby! Oh yeah! Ok, music quality is great only if you are using the walkman silence-out ear phones or attach it to a good speaker. The on-phone speaker gives a more tinny output. I love to have a bass punch and the Satio has it, inspite of the fact that it has no presets or an equalizer. You can load up the 8GB card that comes with the phone and listen to it for about 5-6hrs continuously before having to recharge the battery again. The charge doesn't last more than 2-3 hrs if you are watching video, due to the screen size and contrasts.
Normal phone features function as expected. Connectivity options are also really good. I use 3G and the speeds are really good, whether on the phone or connected to my laptop. Yeah, a lot of it depends on my service provider, but, the phone supports it and that makes me happy! The thing I wish for is an option to share my card as a drive when I am connected on WLAN. Data transfer over Bluetooth is patchy. Connection drops when you are transferring large files and especially if you are just doing a drag drop over Windows explorer rather than using the PC Suite. USB connectivity is available and is much better. If you are using PC Suite, transfer over Bluetooth is better, but it still takes a long time to transfer those biggies!
Overall, I would give the Satio a 7 out of 10. What pulls down the ratings is the Bluetooth speed (as mentioned above), Lack of free productivity software (Office), Lack of free GPS software, a bit of a buggy phone OS (freezes at times!) etc. Ideally a powerful phone like the Satio should have these traits to become a hit and I guess they need to learn that from Nokia in some ways. I am a huge SE fan and I want them to make the phone the best! J
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