Any SE P990i users here?

Mr Paul · 13 Mar 2007 at 21:08

As I'm thinking of getting one.

Alex_L · 14 Mar 2007 at 00:50

Yep, had one for six months and a p910i before that.

Personally I love it, its excellent as a pda whilst still being incredibly easy to use as a phone.

what else do you want to know?

Mr Paul · 14 Mar 2007 at 11:36

What network are you on? Generally what are the pro's and cons of the P990i?

FakeSnake · 14 Mar 2007 at 11:56

I have gone from a P900, P910i and currently have a P990. All on Orange.
Had it about 2 months now, and love it.
the keyboard looks a little quirky but is really easy to use. Screen is clear, bright and comfortable to use.

My only real issue, is its not supported by iSync (Mac) at the moment.

What else do you want to know?

Yas786 · 14 Mar 2007 at 13:13

Yup have had mine since last august and still going strong. Before that i had the p910, p900 and p800 and this one so far is the best out of the lot. Although it still has its little problems but i havent had many problems with it tbh. 2 programs to definitely get are Swiss Manager Pro which is a task manager...much better than the one built in and also Tweakpeaks which speeds up the UI of the phone.

Only niggle i have with the phone is the terrible screen especially in the sunlight...can hardly see anything but other than that its a great phone with built in WIFI and 3G which both work superbly. Plus it looks like a phone rather than a brick but still has all the PDA functions.

Mr Paul · 14 Mar 2007 at 13:42

Nice, hows the stylus for texting? Good?

Also are the O2 ones "unlocked"?

Elrein · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:21

I recently got one on vodafone, great handset

A few bugs but hey ive been using windows so long its just another thing

And it was unlocked when i got it from voda

Alex_L · 14 Mar 2007 at 22:17

The stylus is pretty good for texting, though it doesn't have full word recognition like a lot of pdas do, its just does individual letter recognition. Personally I find the qwerty keyboard so easy to use for text entry i just use that in flip open mode and the stylus for navigating.

The latest firmware is very stable for me and has fixed a lot of the bugs and quirks that it had when I got it back in September.

Overall its great, and not much i'd change with it.

Mr Paul · 15 Mar 2007 at 14:40

So regarding flashing the firmware, can you flash the firmware from SE to any "brand" P990i?

As I'm 99% going to be going with O2, and I heard that they are unbranded....

Yas786 · 15 Mar 2007 at 15:28

Mr Paul said:
So regarding flashing the firmware, can you flash the firmware from SE to any "brand" P990i?

As I'm 99% going to be going with O2, and I heard that they are unbranded....

As far as i know, you cant flash orange or voda p990i's using SE generic firmware...unless something has changed over the past few months.

Not too sure about the branding on o2 but they are definitely unlocked as far as i know.

Mr Paul · 15 Mar 2007 at 19:35

I'd guess they come with the latest firmware on anyhow... :confused:

Alex_L · 15 Mar 2007 at 22:57

I wouldn't bank on it, will all depend on when it was made. You also have the problem that network customised firmwares can (not always though) be more buggy and crash prone than the sim-free firmware.

Mr Paul · 16 Mar 2007 at 10:32

True, but there is no way I can afford a SIM fee one

The $6m Dan · 16 Mar 2007 at 11:21

If a phone has network firmware, but is then turned into a sim free phone, would that allow the hone to be flashed to the unbranded firmware? Or is it more complicated than that?

Yas786 · 16 Mar 2007 at 13:17

The $6m Dan said:
If a phone has network firmware, but is then turned into a sim free phone, would that allow the hone to be flashed to the unbranded firmware? Or is it more complicated than that?

Well with my W810 which was tmobile branded, i had it de-branded and then could flash it with the generic SE firmwares. So in theory it probably will work but for the P990i its slightly more difficult tbh as you cannot currently de-brand any P990i network branded handsets.

Mr Paul · 16 Mar 2007 at 14:47

Well spoke to Orange today and the lady said I could either use the Orange update feature or SE website update :confused:

I'm guessing she didn't know what I was on about lol

But have the phone coming on Monday, with a £30 a month contract for 800 minutes, 100 texts and unlimited land line calls. Oh and I made them throw in a free SE IV835 headset to

Alex_L · 16 Mar 2007 at 14:49

Mr Paul said:
True, but there is no way I can afford a SIM fee one

Buy from somewhere that supplies sim-free handsets on contract. I got mine from one stop phone shop on vodafone and it was a unbranded sim free model. And in general I've found CPW pretty good for supplying sim-free handsets.

exodus · 16 Mar 2007 at 16:00

Orange and Voda can't use the generic SE branded firmware. We have to wait for Voda and Orange to release their own custom branded versions of the firmware, at the moment Voda is two behind the latest. It's down to the CDA number on the phone, and just because it is unlocked does not mean you will be able to use generic firmware.

There are firms on the net now though who can debrand a p990 for you.

Mr Paul · 16 Mar 2007 at 16:05

Just spoke to SE and they say I can just use the :-

Sony Ericsson Update Service and follow the on screen instruction and download the new software on to your handset.

I replied and asked if this still applicable with an Orange branded P990i and he said :-

it wont effect the software update

So, it looks like the SE online software update will work fine

exodus · 16 Mar 2007 at 16:09

Mr Paul said:
Just spoke to SE and they say I can just use the :-

I replied and asked if this still applicable with an Orange branded P990i and he said :-

So, it looks like the SE online software update will work fine

Take a look at this forum : http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=139997

You can use SEUS, but you will only get the latest Orange branded firmware which will be several versions behind the generic Sony Ericsson firmware. Several people are sending their phones away to have them debranded so they can use the generic SE firmware without having to wait for Orange to release their own version.