SE P1

The P1i is the latest in Sony Ericsson’s business line, succeeding both the P990i and the M600i—bringing the functionality of the former to the form factor of the latter. Its dimensions are nearly the same as those of the M600i, and its style statement is in Chinese—the shiny plastic sides and the chrome details look downright tacky. It’s based on the same Symbian UIQ 3 platform as the P990i and M600i, with a few minor changes. The OS is definitely quicker, which is probably due to the oodles of program memory that the phone comes with—128 MB. Other than that, there’s nothing remarkably new here.

Just like the M600i, this one doesn’t feature any soft-keys, and you operate it using either the stylus or your fingers on the touchscreen. There’s also the three-way jog dial, which, thankfully, does away with the annoying protrusion featured on the previous phones. The screen itself is wonderfully vibrant and quite responsive to the touch, but is, naturally, a fingerprint magnet. We recommend slapping on a screen guard the second you open the box—the screen’s responsiveness will suffer a tad, but it’ll be worth it.

The stylus is longer and easier to write with, and its locking mechanism seems much firmer than the M600i’s flimsy setup. The QWERTY keypad is the same as that on the M600i—two letters to the key. Not too different from the M600i, but the keys do feel more tactile. The 3.2MP camera is respectable, though not exceptional—indoor photos are a bit grainy, but overall, the clarity and colour balance of the photos satisfies. There’s a second camera on the front for video calls, but you can’t take self-portraits with it. Like the P990i, this model comes with a business card scanner. The feature works just as nicely (or as badly, depending on the card) as the one on the P990i. The P1i supports 3G (but no EDGE) and Wi-Fi 802.11b. Wi-Fi speeds are decent, and battery life, thankfully, doesn’t suffer for it. The P1i isn’t really light years ahead of the P990i, but it definitely nudges it off top spot.

There’s no annoying flip top, the QWERTY keypad can actually be worked with, the audio levels are louder, and the huge program memory has you multitasking like you’ve never multitasked before. Specifications Quad-band GSM; UMTS; Wi-Fi (802.11b); Symbian v9.1 UIQ 3.0; TFT touchscreen (256 K colours); 160 MB shared internal memory; Memory Stick Micro (M2) support (1 GB included); 3.2 megapixel camera; VGA video-call camera; FM radio