Prev: uk.telecom.mobile mini FAQ (weekly posting)
Next: Asda mobile voicemail from a landline.
From: alexd on 21 Feb 2010 14:51
On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:54:07 +0000, Theo Markettos wrote:

>> The torch is reasonably bright from its two LEDs. Possibly a bit too
>> easy to turn on by accident, even with the keypad locked and it doesn't
>> seem to auto power off so that might need watching.
>
> How do you turn the torch on and off? Is there a separate button?
> Could it be unwired if you don't need the torch?

I wouldn't worry about it. If they're generic 5mm white LEDs, they'll be
drawing very little current. I've got a 2 LED squeeze torch, and I've
never known it go completely off. I've only ever squeezed it to get it
brighter, not because it won't come on.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpEaTm(a)ale.cx)
19:49:38 up 6 days, 40 min, 5 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.03
DIMENSION-CONTROLLING FORT DOH HAS NOW BEEN DEMOLISHED,
AND TIME STARTED FLOWING REVERSELY
From: Theo Markettos on 2 Mar 2010 12:11
Theo Markettos <theom+news(a)chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> Can't you load in extra ringtones? I can't see a whole lot of point to
> having a flash card socket otherwise... unless for playing MP3s through the
> tiny speaker.
>
> Lack of vibrate is a bit annoying. Does it have silent/discreet/etc modes?

I've received my Sigmatel S9000 this morning, took about 10 days from
Shenzhen.

There are a few minor niggles physically and virtually:

The back cover clips on in a single place. That means if the cover breaks
it could be a problem. The cover's a bit flimsy but seems to clip on OK.
The battery (standard Nokia BL-5C size) needs something to lever it out as
it won't drop out under its own weight.

The SIM card holders are just metal slides under which you push the cards.
They have no moving parts (there's no flap or slider) so the cards are a bit
tricky to get out. The Micro SD slot uses a normal flap and is easier to
use.

There's a 4" telescopic aerial for FM. Reception with it pulled out aint
great, but it's acceptable. The aerial isn't very smooth to pull in and
out.

There's no headphone socket, so all audio uses the speaker. The speaker is
very loud, to the point of distorting, when the volume is above 50%. When
you turn the volume down, the audio quality is quite good. The speaker is
on the back, and the audio is quite directional so you probably want to
point the speaker towards you.

The phone is surprisingly light - about half the weight of my Nokia 2600.


The UI is better than I thought. The icons are obviously a knockoff from
Nokia's S40 range and I wouldn't be surprised if the menus are too. But the
UI generally works and is reasonably similar to UIs on mainstream phones.

Lack of predictive text is annoying (it seems to be patented, so I can see
why they don't include it), as is the way the text interface changes when
you press # (to change case). It goes:

abc - 123 - FR - fr - PT - pt - AR - AR123 - ABC - abc - 123 - FR - (etc)

In other words, to switch from lower to upper case you need to press hash 8
times. It doesn't automatically uppercase after a full stop.

It claims to support MIDI ringtones, but only has one available. It doesn't
recognise my PNY 8GB micro SDHC card, so it might need me to acquire a
smaller micro SD card to see if I can import MIDI or MP3. There's a menu to
import wallpaper, but I can't find one for ringtones.

There's no vibrate, but there are the usual profiles (Outdoor, Meeting,
General, can't see an option to make more). The ring volume is very loud,
but it can be turned down. The default ringtones are both very unsubtle
(and IMHO nasty).

There's a dedicated torch button, but also pressing 'down' on the joystick
at the main menu turns it on. This could be annoying. The other joystick
directions are programmable to start different apps, but not 'down'. Both
the torch button and 'down' work in keypad-locked mode, which could flatten
the battery.

In configuration there's 'UART setup' which I can set to 'SIM1' or 'SIM2'.
Any ideas what this means? There's what looks like a testpoint connector
below SIM2, but nothing below SIM1. After changing it the phone reboots,
but I can't see any differences (the phone doesn't present either SIM's menu
of services, as far as I can see).

The display completely cuts out when the phone has gone into powersaving
mode - the LCD seems to turn off as well as the backlight - and you have to
press a key to wake it up.

The FM radio is easy to turn on, but not very obvious how to turn off. It's
fine once you know how to do it.

I have yet to test it making multiple calls at once, but multiple texts seem
to be handled OK.


All in all, it's a fairly solid phone. As usual it's let down by a few
niggles, and the ringtone situation is the biggest of them. But otherwise
it's quite usable.

Theo
From: Theo Markettos on 6 Mar 2010 11:25
Theo Markettos <theom+news(a)chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> I've received my Sigmatel S9000 this morning, took about 10 days from
> Shenzhen.
>
> There are a few minor niggles physically and virtually:

One other thing I've noticed... the speaker on the back is quite magnetic
and has a habit of picking up paperclips. This might be a bad thing if you
keep it in a pocket with credit cards.

Theo
First  |  Prev  | 
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Prev: uk.telecom.mobile mini FAQ (weekly posting)
Next: Asda mobile voicemail from a landline.