Sony Ericsson P990i

The Sony Ericsson P990i is the much awaited upgrade to the popular P900 and P910i business Smartphones. The phone has taken a long time to come and the list of features is a combination of ups and downs. Is it worth the high price that it’s going for? Or does the M600i offer better value for money?

Ergonomics and User Interface
The P990i is rather large and somewhat heavy to hold, but only if you aren’t already a P910i user. The screen is a little larger and proper QVGA resolution now (240x320). Keeping them side by side may lead you to believe that the P910i has a bigger screen, but that’s just an optical illusion. The screen on the P910i was placed a little lower around the center of the phone, so it just feels like it’s larger.

The QWERTY keypad has been changed in the P990i from the P910i, getting raised, individual keys and also being promoted to the main unit right under the screen. Typing on the QWERTY on the P910i was a real problem, requiring you to hold the phone only using the flip. Thankfully, the P990i is more secure this way. But the usability of the keypad hasn’t been improved too much—you’ll still need nimble and slender fingers to type on it. The P990i also includes a scroll wheel on the side, and a stylus for handwriting input.

The P990i runs Symbian OS 9.1 UIQ 3.0, the same as the M600i. The UI is slow and tedious, requiring too many steps for simple things like changing ringtones, just like the M600i. It comes with QuickOffice for viewing office documents with limited editing capabilities, but complementary services like scheduler and even the phonebook have some quirks that just don’t make for very smooth operation.

Specs and Connectivity
The P990i is a tri-band GSM/GRPS handset that also has 3G support, but even this phone doesn’t have EDGE support, just like the M600i. With 3G services being delayed in India to 2008, buying this phone means having to use slow GPRS for one whole year. Opera is available for web browsing, and a dedicated RSS feed reader as well.

Fortunately, in-office connectivity is a little bettered by the presence of WiFi, but even that is stuck at the slower 802.11b, while the Nokia Eseries zoom ahead with 802.11g. Stereo Bluetooth makes it into the P990i and it also preserves Infrared and USB. The phone can sync with Microsoft Outlook.

Speaking of Outlook, the P990i doesn’t falter on the email front: you have out-of-the-box Microsoft Exchange compatibility as well as BlackBerry Connect, in addition to regular POP3/IMAP4 email.