Sony Ericsson P990i Review

The P990i comes with a 2-megapixel camera, a wealth of productivity apps, built-in Wi-Fi and a teeny, tiny QWERTY keypad. Philip Berne gives this would-be Treo killer the once-over.

Design

The Sony Ericsson P990i carries over the signature design of the P900 series, the flip-down keypad, and the keys themselves are far smaller than those on other smartphones we've tested. In practice, if you are using any advanced applications beyond regular calling, you'll need to open the flip, and closing the flip stops your application in its tracks and takes you back to the home screen. If the flip isn't your thing, Sony Ericsson has included -- no kidding -- a screwdriver and faceplate so you can remove it. The phone sports both a five-way button and a scrollwheel, but the OS often forces you to use the touch screen, so keep that stylus handy. The phone's UIQ (a.k.a. User Interface Quartz) interface was frustratingly oblique, and the P990i's sluggish performance made for slow, tedious navigation.

Messaging - Good

The messaging capabilities of the Sony Ericsson P990i are a mixed bag. Though it supports myriad e-mail protocols, notably BlackBerry Connect, Exchange, POP3, and IMAP4, the messaging application itself is hardly capable. Reading long messages caused the P990i to stall, resulting in jerky scrolling, and selecting text from within a message requires drilling through two levels of menus. Typing messages on the phone's tiny keys was a frustrating experience, to say the least. With careful pecking, typos will be infrequent, but one-handed typing or typing on the go (say, while crossing the street) is out of the question, as the keys require your undivided attention. We were also annoyed that while creating messages, the phone attempts to auto-complete as you type into the ''To:'' line, using plain English instead of names from your contact list.

Laptop sidekick - Good

The Sony Ericsson P990i should offer road warriors plenty of connectivity options, whether or not you feel like breaking out your laptop. Though we could not test the phone's performance on a UMTS network, it does offer tethered modem support for 3G access for your PC. The phone can act as a modem over a Bluetooth network, or find a Wi-Fi network on its own with its 802.11b capabilities. We applaud the inclusion of Wi-Fi on the phone, but the slower 802.11b protocol does keep the speed down a bit, especially compared to the 802.11g standard you'll find on Nokia's Wi-Fi-enabled phones. The included USB cable also charges the phone. If you prefer a clean aesthetic to your desktop, Sony Ericsson includes a dock with ports for the charger, USB cable, and headphones.

Multimedia - Very good


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