The new T68 from Sony Ericsson has it all – and more.
T68 may very well be representative of a new line of phones from Sony
Ericsson. The boxy look and pointed antenna are gone and the colour
display with intuitive menu has arrived.
Ease of use
The Alcatel One Touch inspired joystick from Ericsson appears for the
first time on this handset. However, we may see it again on future models
for it sure makes navigation much easier. The SIM cards slides in with no
problems and you are welcomed by the new Sony Ericsson logo. The menu is
well put together and all main categories come into view at a press of the
joystick, functioning as a navigator as well as an Enter button. The
colourful symbols in the menu make the menu system even more intuitive and
you can easily check out all the T68 menu options without referring to the
manual. WAP settings are all grouped together under one category and
setting the device up for WAP browsing is a walk in the park.
Synchronisation is equally easy to handle on the T68, which is equipped
with shortcuts to both IR and Bluetooth. When it comes to text messages
the T68 has the efficient and easy T9, which has become more or less a
required feature for those eager SMS users.
Design/style
At last, Ericsson has stuffed the antenna into the chassis. The upper part
of T68 reminds us of a Nokia edition; an enlarged version of a 6210. The
colours on the chassis are brushed gold, golden yellow, silver metallic
and clay grey. The back of the phone is a lovely piece, in dark grey
rubber for improved grip and wonderful curves that integrate the battery
perfectly with the rest of the device. And it certainly lies firm in the
palm of your hand while your thumb works that joystick. The clever
joystick looks somewhat alien in the middle of things though. It ends in a
flat top and is made of blue plastic. The other keys are curved and
metallic and this really makes the joystick stand out in an unflattering
way. The Yes and No buttons, placed on either side of the joystick are
also differentiated from the other keys and have a very shiny metallic
finish that I found slightly gaudy and tacky-looking. The T68 looks like a
full six-pointer if you cover the middle part with your finger. However, I
will give it only 5 due to the unfortunate contrasts in the Yes and No
buttons/Joystick area.
Vital statistics
System: GSM 900/1800/1900 + e-GSM
Talk time: 3-13 hrs
Standby time: 165-290 hrs
Battery: Standard Battery BST-14 (700 mAh)
Weight: 84 grams
Dimensions: 10x4.8x2cm
WAP browser 1.2.1 (can be upgraded to 2.0 once available)
HSCSD
Imaging (EMS)
Modem built-in
Infrared port
Bluetooth
GPRS
Colour display
SMS, long messages up to 960 characters
Voice control
Voice memo
WTLS Class 3 (for encryption and confidential information)
Calendar
T9
… and more …
WAP browsing
Colour display is bread and circus to the people. Even reading news via
WAP is a treat and it gives that particular www-feeling, PC or
PDA-quality. Wonderful, keep it coming Sony Ericsson! The text size can be
adjusted to three sizes; small, medium and large. The large version is
terrific if you tend to forget your glasses, and the small size is great
if you like to read news on your phone but think it is a bit annoying to
scroll the whole time. However, medium became my personal favourite. The
T68 allows for 15 bookmarks.
WAP related features
The IR port worked fine with my Toshiba Equium 2000, but there is not much
point in transferring a whole lot of files considering the lack of Office
applications in the handset. T68’s Bluetooth abilities was tested
against a colleague’s T39 and the two handsets hooked up like a dream.
However, the Bluetoth transfer was not as easy and the T68 made some
fierce noises while a sign informed us that transfer failed. IR and
Bluetooth on handsets like this are clever solutions for the business card
exchangers and eager gamers among us. Download the tennis game and imagine
you are Kournikova and your friend can be Hingis as you serve in two
player style. There are plenty of downloads for the T68 on Sony
Ericsson’s site. SMS works easy and efficiently with T9 and you can send
small pictures with the messages (EMS). The organizer is a traditional one
which is uncomplicated and useful. The phone comes in a blue velvet pouch,
just like expensive shoes come in soft pouches for quality keeping. We
love it!
Overall
Colour display is the thing – everything is more Web-like when those
colours are on the screen, and that may open users up to wireless
services. Operators need to get users to use more functionalities than
merely voice and the occasional SMS and it is devices like this that could
make it happen. The small, golden and curvy handset is a milestone for
Ericsson and introduces a new trend and an improved interface that we hope
Sony Ericsson will keep on developing.
