My new Sony Ericsson S710a arrived yesterday, after a three week wait (oy—for anyone who’s playing along, this is the drawback for ordering mobile phone service from Amazon). I plugged it in and let it charge overnight, and started setting it up this morning. First impressions: the phone is much shorter but just about as thick as my old Nokia. The screen is better, but the keys feel more sluggish—though online forums suggest that there are firmware updates that may address the latter problem.
iSync works well, though I get a spurious message at the end of the sync that “Device memory is full.” I have all my contacts and calendar info on the phone, though, which is A Good Thing. The Bluetooth range also appears to be much better than on the old phone.
A few drawbacks. I can’t find a way to send more than one photo from the phone via Bluetooth at a time—though given how long it took me to figure out how to do it on the Nokia, I’m somewhat unconcerned about this right now. I also wish that the screen wouldn’t completely shut off in Standby mode; I have gotten used to using my mobile as a watch, since the Nokia displayed the time on the screen at all times the phone was on. To get the time I have to press a button. Not the end of the world, but less inconspicuous. I also hate the animated wallpaper and will be changing that at the earliest opportunity—ditto the startup sounds.
The real test, though, will be the reception. So far it appears that reception is better at our house, but I won’t know for sure until I start making calls.