Sound Quality

The audio quality of the Sony Ericsson T610 is quite good. Many of the problems with the T68i are solved in the T610, mainly the annoying hissing in the background.

Incoming and outgoing calls are clear. Audio from the earpiece was sufficiently loud, and outgoing voices were fairly clean and shielded from background noise. Overall, there isn't much to gripe about over the sound quality of the T610.

RF Performance

There have been differing RF performances between Sony Ericsson's cellular phones. The T68i was notorious for its less than stellar reception, while the P800 exceeded our expectations. So we were anxious to get our hands on the T610 and test it.

After all the tests were completed, the RF performance was definitely better than the T610 in terms of raw reception, however it was not as good as the P800 was. To put it in perspective, the T610 isn't far from the P800's reception. Although it performs slightly worse. Compared to the T68i, the T610 was in a different league.

When in small signal areas, the T610 is able to make calls very well. When a connection is made, it holds on decently too. Incoming voices are better than outgoing though. Outgoing tended to be choppier, although recognizable on the other end. Therefore, the Sony Ericsson T610 receives a reception rating of:

Phone performance can very significantly, especially when considering how well your service provider's coverage area is, landscape, multiplexing technology, or other varying conditions. The phone with the worst reception can still work well if you live under a tower. These results are just a measure of the raw RF capabilities. Factoring everything else would just be impossible to compare phones.

Pros

· Great 65,000 color display. Large 128 x 160 pixel screen. Even though the display is STN, refresh rates are high and minimal ghosts occur.

· Incredible versatility and customizability. Nothing else like Sony Ericsson. Backgrounds, ring tones, screen savers, and themes. Is there nothing this phone can't change? Oh yeah, faceplates. (Unless it's 3rd party)

· Beautiful 32 instrument polyphonic ring tones. Much improved from previous models.

· Music DJ. Now you can create your own polyphonic ring tones. Overlay 4 separate tracks to compose your perfect unique ring tone. Make heads turn with your unique ring tone.

· Downloadable games. The T610 supports both J2ME and Mophun platforms. Now you have twice the games to choose from.

· Easy navigation. The joystick gives you much more versatility. Games are more fun to play, and menus are faster to navigate through.

· MMS, SMS, EMS, chat, and email. The T610 is strong in messaging functionality. Connect with anyone through a wide range of applications.

· Connect to any accessory. With IrDA, and Bluetooth, the range of devices you can pair with or connect to are huge. Everything from network cards to headsets, the T610 lets you connect them all.

Cons

· Small 2MB memory. You'll need to delete often if you like changing the look of the T610. Not enough memory for a phone with so many customizable feature and a built-in digital camera.

· Increasing ring tones may be an inconvenience. The T610 has an increasing ring where it starts off soft and gets progressively louder the longer it rings. What this means is that if you have it buried deep in your pockets or a purse, you may not hear it until it's 1 or 2 rings from being sent to your voice mail.

· A fingerprint magnet. The slightest touch can cause the biggest smudges. Keep that cleaning cloth close by.

Conclusion

Well, as you can see from our lists of pros and cons that the T610 is a top notch phone. It's no reason everyone was buzzing when they first saw Sony Ericsson release the prototype of the T610. The main 128 x 160 pixel, 65000 color STN display is a wonderful screen. The resolution is sufficiently large, and wonderfully sharp. The T610 can hold its own against the heavyweight Samsung phones that all color screen phones are measured against.

The 32 instrument polyphonic ring tones are very melodic. However, the major addition is the Music DJ application. Create your own ring tones and alerts by overlaying up to 4 tracks. Never before have users been able to compose their own polyphonic ring tones straight on their phones.

Inside, the software has been greatly improved too. The slow menu functions of the T68i was enhanced. Messaging applications such as MMS, SMS, and email were retained and improved upon. And flexibility that Sony Ericsson has been known for was increased to create a complete multimedia package.

With all the pros the cons are far a few. Perhaps the most significant is the lack of memory. At 2MB you won't be able to add many themes, pictures, ring tones, and camera photos. If you like to change the look of your phone regularly, then be prepared to delete often.

The T610 is Sony Ericsson's answer to the continued pressure to produce top of the line cellular phones. Samsung and Nokia started with the V205 and 7250, then Panasonic came in the its GU87. Even though it comes later, the T610 is well worth the wait. After taking everything into consideration, we give the Sony Ericsson T610 an overall rating of:

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