The Sony Ericsson T616 features a built-in digital camera, Bluetooth, multimedia messaging, polyphonic ringtones, and tons of ways for you to personalize its look and feel. Quality materials and a large color display give this phone its sophisticated personality. It's the perfect complement to AT&T service.
Design
The phone features a bright, clear 128 x 160 screen with 65,536 colors. The stylish candybar form factor of the phone will turn heads and get attention, while the quick camera buttons and easy-to-use center control toggle make it a snap to operate the T616. Charging and data connectivity are provided on the bottom of the phone, while an infrared transmitter for synchronizing contacts and data is housed on the top of the device. Meanwhile, the phone's CIF-resolution (352 x 288) camera is housed on the back panel.
An onboard joystick and iconic menu make for easy navigation. |
Calling Features When you're calling, you'll enjoy essential features like redial, vibrating alert, speed dialing, and side volume keys, as well as choice extras like sleep mode, menu shortcuts, keypad lock, SIM card lock, voice control, and status view. Create your own ringtones with the built-in MusicDJ using a library of pre-loaded instruments, rhythms, and melodies. Further, the phone's 32-voice polyphonic ringtones make your incoming calls sound like music to your ears. Use the ringtones that come with your phone or download new ones from AT&T's mMode mobile Internet service. And because the T616 has Bluetooth built in, you can use a wide array of Bluetooth-compatible headsets for total wireless freedom.
Messaging, Internet and Tools
The T616 has all the bases covered when it comes to messaging. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, graphics and sound via messages. Multimedia messaging (MMS) lets you compose your messages using images, sounds and text. Sony-Ericsson's QuickShare feature, meanwhile, lets you share content with other devices, other phones, even your computer--just drag and drop pictures from your PC to your phone. Instant messaging is also supported and the phone ships with a built-in email client (AT&T messaging charges apply). T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
The T610 has a built-in camera with 2MB of onboard storage. |
Getting on the Internet is easy with the T616, as well. It supports the GPRS protocol for speedy downloads and wireless Web access. AT&T's mMode service lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get sports scores, download games and ringtones, and more.
The T616's Bluetooth capability lets you connect, wirelessly, to a laptop, a PDA, or another Bluetooth phone, and users of Apple computers can synchronize their calendars and contact information with the T616 using iSync, Apple's free synchronization software.
A number of handy tools come with the phone, including a memo pad, a calculator, business card exchange, a calendar, and a tasks list. There's also a full-featured clock, which includes a stopwatch, an alarm, and a handy timer.
Imaging and Entertainment
The camera T616's camera couldn't be easier to operate, with just one click to activate it and another to take a picture. Want to view your pictures on your computer screen? The T616 can automatically enlarge pictures to VGA size (480 x 640 pixels). Software included in the phone recalculates picture size without sacrificing quality.
Mobile gaming has never looked better than on the T616's high quality screen. Force and sound feedback guarantees full-throttle fun. The T616 comes with a variety of embedded games, including the legendary racing game V-Rally 2, and many more are available for download.
Vital Statistics
The Sony-Ericsson T616 weighs 3.26 ounces and measures 4.02 x 1.69 x 0.67 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 9 hours of digital talk time, and up to 300 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the GSM/GPRS 800/1800/1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
What's in the Box
T616 handset, SIM card, battery, charging cord, user's manual, and warranty information
1 Major pain in the you-know-where
Pros:
-Looks pretty.
Cons:
-UI lags behind button presses in every area.
-Reception sporadic, especially in cars.
-Camera is awful (even at highest resolution, images always look blurred and are sometimes unrecognizable).
-Bluetooth frequently causes phone to freeze up (must be restarted).
And most annoying of all...
-Causes interference with anything with a speaker from up to five feet away. I don't know if it's checking if I have voicemail or what, but almost anything within five or six feet that has a speaker chirps a little machine song every minute or so. I've never had this problem with a phone before and it drives me NUTS.
Either spend the extra money for the T637, or get a different phone entirely - just don't waste your time and patience on THIS.
2 For ringers, can I still use
the muwap.com site they mentioned here a while ago?
3 Beautiful
Sony's products are known for being very stylish, and this phone is no exception. Everything about it is organized, compact,and very very sleek. The menus are logical, however they take a little getting used to, but overall is very good. One thing that I like in particular is that you dont have to worry about random little things- for example if you're trying to store a number and get a call, it will handle the call, and once you hang up everything you were doing i the contact book will still be there and ready to go. Anyway, overall it is a great phone. The only problem I've experienced i the 5 months I've had it is that the joystick became slightly stuck in the past. It's not much of an issue, but somewhat annoying (although I've read that you can purchase a cheap replacement part if it's really an issue.) Overall, an excellent little piece of technology.
4 Feature Packed Phone
The feature packed t616 cell phone from sony ericsson packs so many features into such a small place that you wonder how the makers did it. With bluetooth, camera, gprs, and other key features, the t616 makes your phone fully capable of doing everything you would want it to do besides making toast. My t616 works very well however sometimes I find it hard to view the screen when I am outside because the sunlight makes it difficult. THe bluetooth is sometimes hard to use but the phone overall works fantastic.
-plsailboy
5 Desperate to upgrade.
Just one thing to clarify. Unlike what the previous reviewer said. There is 1 button voice mail retrieval with AT&T wireless. If took me quite a while to figure out... and for the life of me i don't think i could find it again. Just ask a cs rep.
Positives.
-Nice Design, compact easy to carry.
-Pleasing looks.
-Attractive Display.
-Nice standby time.
-Sturdy design. Feels solid.
Negatives.
-Slow button response and sometimes no response.
-The end call button and back button are different buttons. So when ending a call and then starting a new one or using a different function, you have to press 2 different buttons to get to the main menu. With the slight delay in button response and sometimes the buttons don't click when you think they do, it means you have to be looking at the screen otherwise you'll end up in a completely wrong menu. No easy navigation simply by getting used to the feel or buttons.
-This leads into the next and most frustrating problem. Glare. The phone is impossible to see in any sort of overcast or bright situation. And in Seattle, overcast is every day of the year. I've put away my phone in disgust many times because i simply can not read who's calling or can't see who to call or what menu i'm on. Even if you're covering the phone with one hand it's very hard to read.
-This would be less stressful if it had a true speed dial. But the only 1 button speed dial is to voicemail. All other speed dials are 2 buttons. And speed is definately not the key word. Apon starting a speed dial... it takes almost 5 seconds to even start dialing.
-A typical calling situation would be something like this. Grab the phone press 2 buttons to unlock, 2 buttons to speed dial, wait 5 seconds for it to start dialing... wait a little more... look at my phone, cover my phone with other hand and look harder at my phone... realize I still haven't even dialed because one of the buttons didn't respond or it stored a random number before it locked, then get locked out again and start over.
-Photo quality is weak. Photos will look good on screen then look awful when sent.
-Not enough memory and slow storage. If you use the camera, you will constantly be deleting text messages, photos and sounds to make room. And when you do take a picture... it will take 10-15 seconds to take the next picture.
-Poor to average reception quality. It's nice to carry an internal antenna phone, but not to talk on one. Will commonly have 1 bar less than some other phones on same service.
6 Student
I have had three phones in my life and this was, by far the most sophisticated and, by far, the worst. The camera is worthless, even in the daylight. It kept saying that I had no memory so I deleted the bad pictures that came with it. That did not help. So basically I can't receive text messages. My roommate and I both have the same service but always has a much better signal.
The worst feature is the loud cracking sound that happens about once every minute. It is much louder than the voice on the other end and acturally hurts when it happens.
The internet takes forever to load...when it works.
The sim card dislodges in the middle of a conversation.
I'm buying a new phone tomarrow after having this one for much too long.
7 Excellent phone for the buck
This phone is loaded with bells and whistles. This is one of the best phones that i have ever owned. The battery life is excellent, I charge the phone about every 3 days(usually waits until the bar is empty befor recharging) the talk time is great. Very small lightweight. I have MMode with att and i also use my phone with my laptop to access the internet at times when i am not in a hotspot. The IR on this phone works great and barely needs line of sight to make it work w/pc. Software was provided w/phone and it is very easy to sync outlook and contacts. voice support is really great also. I purchased this phone for $49 from ATT store, price was originally $199, but i printed out ad from Att website and took to the Att store and they matched the price...What a steal!!!!!!!!!!!!
8 Crummy design
I've been using this phone for nearly a year now, and have come to some conclusions. Mostly, this phone is overpriced, and not very good quality.
PROS:
-Size is fairly small
-Bluetooth capable; can sync with address book via iSync in Mac OS X
CONS:
-Makes loud cracking sounds in my ear about every minute I'm speaking (this gets old really fast)
-Reception fades in and out; often hear complaints from others that the phone gets too quiet and then too loud
-Reception on my end is shoddy
-Screen is worthless in daylight; cannot see it at all if the sun is out.
-Camera is ridiculous. The photo quality is so poor it's not worth putting on as a camera.
-I prefer flip phones; wish I could find a different phone with Bluetooth that was a flip phone.
9 Ring tone fun with t616
Lots of people here are complaining about the lack of MP3 ringtone. What they don't realize is that the T616 can also play midi files, or more specifically General Midi music files. You know all those midi songs that people used to put on their websites? Well you can use them all on you T616, and if you have a midi editor you can pick out the chunks of the songs you like. This is great as GM .mid files are free and occupy a legal grey area as to copyright if a person creates one from scratch and then gives it away. So you can legally download just about any song or fragment of a song into the phone for free. This is better than mp3 or aac in many ways.
However the camera is the worst ever!!!!!!!!
10 Pros and Cons
PROs: It is small, and it is useful for making and receiving 'phone calls. You can customize the background picture and the ring tones (but can't use tones in mp3 or AAC formats). The Bluetooth is great.
CONs: Camera function is pitifully low in quality, really a joke, so you may wish to load good quality pictures from your Mac. The Sync for addresses works, but unfortunately the formatting of the files means that businesses are listed separately from individuals, and many entries do not end up in proper alphabetical order. Advanced features like email and Internet access are essentially worthless, and cost extra; in no way can they compare with a laptop computer. Needs much more memory and reliable address-formatting. Code for making custom ring-tones is cumbersome and impractical to do on the 'phone: needs mp3 and AAC compatibility to be any real fun.
11 It's okay
With its sleek european styling and the Sony pedigree, this phone doesn't have the performance to match it's looks. I get a clear reception when I switch from the ATT Wireless network to Cingular. As a simple mobile phone, the T616 does it's job admirably. This is where the fun stops. I use the email function for the phone as much as I do making calls, and Mmode is kind of a joke. You can't save attachments, it can't decipher email from some character sets (and they are written in English!), and there is not enough low memory to even view attachments. The phone book is limited in functionality, too.
The internal bluetooth was not a problem to use, though I decided to synch with my Outlook Express at home via the web page rather than using my Outlook at work (a problem I'll have to take up with my IT person).
The camera is on par with other CAMERA PHONES. I don't see why people review the camera function on these phones as if they should have the quality of a Nikon SLR.
It's a good phone which I got for a good price when I switched from Sprint to ATT. I expected a bit more high tech from Sony to go along with the Ericsson styling, however. I'm giving it 3 stars only because I can't give it 3 1/2 which is what it really deserves.
12 great reception, cool phone, but some major setbacks
what interests me about all these reviews written is that people complain about the camera on the phone. keep in mind you bought a PHONE, not a CAMERA. what did you expect? sure, the pictures are crummy, but sheesh, did you think you were getting a 3MP camera? what people fail to remember is these are PHONES and ultimately, should be graded on reception, clarity of calls and customer service first. the rest of the junk they throw in (ringtones, wallpapers, etc.) are just things to distract from the fact that maybe your phone doesn't perform well, or reception is lousy in your area. it just seems like too many people have the attitude, "i get dropped calls all the time, but hey, i can hear "in da' club" by 50 cent when my boyfriend calls, so i guess i'm keeping it." but hey, it's your money. however, i am also a big fan of "if it's crap, take it back".
here's my specs: i live in the quad cities, which borders iowa and illinois and have at&t with GSM. i previously had their TDMA network (which was flawless, in my area) but knew they were phasing it out, so opted for the GSM network, which actually IS getting better in our area. i live in a kind of "dead area" for cell phone providers, so sprint, us cellular and verizon all lose reception in my apartment. the GSM network is fairly strong where i live (now) so no complaints there. here's my breakdown of the T616 on at&ts GSM network in bettendorf, iowa:
PROS:
* good clarity of calls, good reception. people can hear me fine and i can hear them fine. isn't this what cell phone service is supposed to be all about?
* lightweight phone, feels nice in hand.
* cool design
* seems to have enough space for pics and ringtones, should you need to store them.
CONS:
* the phone SMUDGES like crazy. always looks like some snot-nosed kid got ahold of it and wiped his nose with it. sony gives you a cleaning cloth for a reason. use it.
* battery life is nowhere near what anyone said it would be. i think sony ericsson's site said something like "up to 11 hours talk time" and at&t's site said up to 6 hours or so. hardly. i have to charge this phone every 2 days or so with moderate use. i would say the talk time, at best, is 3-4 hours if all you did was fully charge it and then get on the phone for a marathon with your mother or something.
* camera is crap. kinda neat that you can assign a picture to a caller, but yeah, grainy photo not good for much else.
* ring tones are too soft and you can't turn off the "increasing ring" option, so you tend to miss a lot of calls 'cause the first few seconds of the ring are too soft to hear.
* i've had some strange behaviour with this phone like it making calls when i wasn't even touching it. still can't seem to figure that one out. i have also had people go straight into voice mail instead of ringing first. believe me, i read the manual - all my settings are correct.
* menus are confusiing. i know, we're all used to nokia or LG menus, but the ericsson menus just don't seem to make sense. things aren't where they should be and it takes forever to figure out/remember where certain features are.
* side buttons SUCK. use your key lock! i have picked up my phone numerous time to find it surfing the net or waiting to take a picture (camera was on). be careful.
hope this helps!
13 Disappointment
If you're buying this phone for the camera, don't. As far as I've figured out, it offers you two "sizes" of pictures, which really means that one of the two is zoomed in. Either way, though, the quality is awful. I can't even tell who I have taken a picture of. I know that the camera part is not the integral part of the phone, but it should still be taken into consideration.
Also, I miss several calls every day because the phone either just doesn't ring, or it rings so low, I don't hear it even when it is sitting in my purse right next to me. I have the volume as loud as it can go, but it's barely audible even in the same room. I have tried different ring tones, hoping that perhaps a higher pitched tone will be more audible, but that hasn't worked. So, to sum that part up, if you plan on using the phone to receive important calls, don't... you won't hear the phone ring.
I'm sure that there might be some redeeming qualities about the phone, but I expected anything with the name Sony in it to be better quality than this phone is. I was wrong.
14 Small but Feature Packed
This is a good phone, not the greatest I've ever had but the service is good in Oklahoma and Texas. I've only had problems becasue I dropped the phone one too many times beyond that its a great phone. The camera on the phone does exactly what it needs to its a camera phone not a digital camera. The bluetooth in it is great with Macs and Pocket PC's enabled with bluetooth. The phones features can not be beat.
15 Good one
As far as i now this is one of the best phone from sony ericsson. Its compact and very easy to use.
Pros: It has a good battery life, I charge my Phone once in two days. You could talk for 10 hours max. The Menu is the best i have used so far and has a lot of cool feautures . The joystick navigator heps you navigate without seeing the screen. It has almost all the feautures you would want in a phone. The voice control is amazing as it could recognize all my commands but beware it sucks the battery to death in a few hours. It has got some cool themes. It also charges pretty quickly. The reception is clear on plain open grounds but looses power in buildings.
Cons; The camera is a big joke. As it is with all high resolution colour display ,its very difficult to view in sunlight. The internet Mmode button is placed in a wrong postion that triggers the net now and then, unless you lock the keyboard. The ring tones are pathetic, I could find only one that i could hear.It has an old phone ring tone which is kinda cool. You could download new tones and wallpapers in a jiffy. The reception is not that powerful. The browser is kinda diificult to get started with.
The bottomline : Buy it , its a good deal , but choose a good carrier. If i have to buy another phone , i would buy T616 again
but not with AT&T.
16 Great phone except for PC connectivity
I bought this phone for my wife (she wanted something small and cute) - she loves the phone and size. I decided to get a Nokia 6820 for PC syncing (with Outlook) capabilities.
Pros:
+ size
+ bright, crisp screen
+ bluetooth
+ camera is not bad
Cons:
+ Contact manager does NOT have addresses
+ phone ringer too low
+ syncing with PC using Sony Ericsson's software is a tough process - its a mess trying to make the phone be recognized by the software (at least for me it was and I a software engineer working in the IT field for over 7 years)
17 Best Phone for the money
I am in the same boat with other owners. Excellent phone for the money but the software that comes with it is VERY old. You hear that ATT!! Why you ship with an old software??? Because they want you to pay $$$ to upgrade through their service center.
Anyway, After reading some of the reviewers here and they recommend me to get the tool to unlock and upgrade the software easily and cheap. check it out for your self (unlockcellular.com) if you dont believe me or do like me, read the past reviews.
18 Terrible phone in NYC
This is a terrible phone in NYC (Manhattan) with AT&T service. I'm very sorry I didn't return it in the 30-day period, as my signal strength is awful nearly everywhere, and I'm unable to use it in some rooms of my apartment. I never had that problem with Sprint or T-Mobile.
19 t616
i left verizon and went to att, huge mistake, the att service is horrible, my phone usually has at the most 2 bars and often says no network,i live in in a very large city and would expect good serivce. the t616 has many good features but i know other customers who have different phones and get better service than i do. my advice look for another phone and another service provider
20 Too pricy for an outdated phone
This may be a decent phone, but with its upgraded sibling SonyEricson T637 on the market, which has a much better camera at more than 65,000 colors, a slick appearance and much beefed-up features, this phone at $200 with a plan seemed a **RIP OFF**!
Last week I've just upgraded to the T637 for $100 with an on-going promotion w/ a 2-year contract with Cingular. Right now I thoroughly enjoyed my T637. BTW, T610 is being given away for free with a contract at Cingular. Don't get me wrong, I'm a great fan of amazon, but this is got to be the most ridiculous deal I've seen in a long time. AT&T might as well just rob me!
I rate it one star for poor value, which really is an understatement.
21 solid phone
Good reception, good sound quality, and nice features. Crashes rarely, but the screen is bright, and bluetooth is an excellent feature to have. Works perfectly with an iBook (and iSync for contacts) and even can be a remote control via bluetooth.
I've not used any other next-gen phones, but this is attractive, performs well, and has a nice rounded feature set. Recommended.
22 FREE
I got this phone free with Cingular when I got a 2 year contract.
23 Neat
For the price this phone has all of the features. Sony Ericcson have never made a good phone so it does not work very well. It needs a flash on the camera. I alo think it sholud be a flip phone.
24 Glaring Omissions
Sony has a knack for making the easy things hard. My address book (synced with Outlook) has 470 entries. Sony forces me to search this list BY FIRST NAME. Note to Sony: There is a reason phone books are ordered by last name. Many other features on this phone are harder to access than they should be. I vastly prefer my Siemens M56, which, in spite of its acknowledged flaws, is just easier to use. That said, this phone has a nice display and keyboard, a marginally adequate camera, and works well with Bluetooth.
25 AT&T and Sprint...waste of time
for those of u who are complaining about the server...ever think of switching to Cingular? its what i have and i find that i get reception EVERYWHERE and its really clear (keep in mind i live in the deepest part of the south in Indiana) So cingular is probably the best server u can go for...
26 A great tiny phone with good batteries
I've had this phone since November, and been very happy with it overall. For me, the main advantages of the phone are its very small size and the very hefty battery life. I feel like I really do get several hours of actual talk time before needing to charge. I've been happy with the quality, although that has a lot to do with the carrier, as well. The rings are generally loud enough to be heard under most circumstances, and the vibrate is strong enough that I can feel it even when I'm carrying the phone in a waist pouch.
That said, I'll reiterate things such as you can't read the screen AT ALL in sunlight. And the UI design is a bit odd. It takes a lot of effort to do simple things like turn off the alarm clock before its gone off. You can't program any quick dial buttons which is annoying since I only call about three different people on a regular basis. And it does not go into lock mode if you leave one of the menus up (in fact, it leaves the screen fully powered indefinitely), or you get into M-mode (another feature you aren't allowed to de-program. I've NEVER used MMode, but I get charged a dollar or so a month from the times I've accidentally gone into it because the joystick moves that direction when the phone is in my pocket before it auto-locked.)
The camera is not a good reason to get this phone. It's not useful for anything other than the fun factor, although I do enjoy being able to assign pictures to people when they call.
If you can get this phone on a cheap we'll reimburse you for the cost of the phone if you sign up plan, go for it. For me battery life was one of the most important things, and I feel this phone shines in that department.
27 small but effective
I like this phone. I can throw it in my pocket. I can syncronize it with outlook on my computer via bluetooth. It is perfect for my needs.
I am worried that the screen can scratch easily.
28 great phone, wonderful features
i'm quite pleased with the t616 i got with my ATT GSM wireless plan. the plan itself works well, we have the usual disdain for ATT wireless' customer service, but the phone itself works well. i'm finding the ATT network to be superb stateside, and i will get to try it out globally later this year.
the phone's buttons work well for people with small fingers (i'm one of them), so keep that in mind. it fits snugly in my pocket, has stood up to many miles of travel and use, and the battery keeps a decent charge.
picture quality is pretty weak, grainy pictures and someodd colors. but that's what you get when you use a phone as a camera ...
the ringtones are annoying, luckily you can find them online for free (ie myt610.net). all i want is my old nokia basic ring!
i've been using bluetooth to move pictures and sounds around, not mMode or anything fancy. it works flawlessly with Mac OS X and random PC bluetooth adapters. i haven't used the GPRS service, so i can't comment on it. i do like the integrated task minder, i'm making heavy use of it.
for a small, clear, feature rich phone, this is a strong contender for anyone's needs.
29 i love this phone
my 3rd phone and i find it to be the best of them all...it has a large screen, the key pad isnt as bad as its being protrayed on here...im a large guy, and i can work the keys fine, the camera is a little scratchy but hey, it takes pictures, what do u want? it has some awesome ring tones, you can hear very clearly on it, it looks awesome, but it scratches way too easily. It has some great games and this is ajust a really cool phone. Anyone can use it and everyone should own it...
30 pain in the ass!
okay, I've had this phone for 6 months now though T-mobile. Thank god I bought the warranty because I've gone throught 2 replacement phones and spent probably about 5 hours at the Tmobile store trying to get the bluetooth hooked up to my G4 ibook. Bluetooth was about 1/2 the speed of a dial-up phone connection. A cool toy, but not really practical for surfing the web. Granted, I do live in a basement apartment, but the only way I get reception inside is to stand right next to the window. Also, I need to keep the phone locked at all times, because otherwise it starts calling random numbers in my phone book. I'm counting down the months until I can get a new phone.
31 Don't do it!
What ever you do - do not order ATT online. I did and even ATT customer service has been unable to help me. The first phone I got did not work - after many calls and twice as many hours I got a replacement phone, I also got a bill for the replacement phone but I am still waiting on a credit for the one that I sent back - it has been four months now. Their problems resolution department acknowledged that they owed me a credit but said that they were getting the same run around from the online division and were powerless to do anything about it! So I am out an extra $142 with no recourse. They are scum - don't waste your money.
32 phone is ok, AT&T not so great
Like the others here, I've found AT&T to be somewhat bothersome. True, they have gotten better after the Cingular thing in terms of customer service, but I'm wary still. Despite their add campaign saying that the service is better, I still don't get any signal in my office.
As for the phone, it's pretty cool. The display is pretty hard to see during the daylight, that can't be denied. I'm ok with that though. What I don't like is how, especially with the special ring tones, the phone will receive a call, light up, and then wait 5 seconds before it makes any noise or vibration. It's not a big deal if you're looking at your phone, but if it's in your pocket, it's already been ringing for 1 or 2 rings on the other person's side before you even know you've got a call. Also, it has flat out crashed on me a handful of times in the last 6 months of ownership. When I say crash, think of when computers crash - it won't do anything until I take the battery out to turn it off, but it back and then turn it back on. I've also had intermittent problems with buttons not working unless I press them at just the right angle and things like that.
Last week though, the thing went completely dead. I couldn't turn it on, it didn't light up when it was on its charger, nothing worked. After a few days, it started working again. Maybe I have a loose connection somewhere, I don't know. AT&T sent a replacement overnight to me for a twenty five dollar processing fee - although they overnighted it to the wrong address (due to a really bad customer service person on the phone) and I got it 6 days later.
Anyway, the Bluetooth is cool, it talks to my computer and transfers contacts and calendar items and pictures and all sorts of stuff. If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably get this phone again, but I'd think really long and hard about AT&T.
33 Not A Bad Little Phone. We Get Along Just Fine
I've had a good experience with this phone. I switched to AT&T earlier this year. Unlike other folks I've not had bad service. I had Sprint before and they were terrible in my area -- tons of dropped calls, didn't get my messages for hours. Sometimes a call will go straight to my voicemail and I'll get a message even though I'm sitting right there -- didn't ring! but at least I get the message right away, not like 4 hours later.
Oh yeah, the phone. Things I like:
1) small and lightweight. can put in my pocket.
2) long battery life. I only charge it every other day
3) taking pictures. i like linking photos to folks in my address book
4) blue tooth. good for sharing ring tones with friends who also have bluetooth on their phones.
5) reception is decent. not wow, but decent.
Things that bother me:
1) Can't see the screen outside in sunlight.
2) The on/off button is tiny and hard to use. I struggled for 5 minutes after my plane landed trying to get the thing to turn on. You have to use the tips of your fingernail -- the button is so small.
3) picture quality is not so great. pretty grainy, but if i really want to take a photo, I'll use my digital camera.
4) I wish it didn't always say "AT&T." Would like to customize the banner. Apparently it shows you what network you're using. Sometimes it changes to say Cingular.
5) Only records time of the call on the day of the call. After a day has passed, it only gives the day of the call.
The joystick took a while to get used to, but I can navigate pretty well now. Overall, I'm happy with this phone.
34 Great!
I bought t616 sonye-ericsson two months back and I love it.
1) Bluetooth: it's great, I bought one usb bluetooth adapter "Trendnet" $27 from amazon, installed it on my laptop and I can sink my Calender+Task+Contact information from and to my laptop.
that's great! now I do not have to enter all phone number into the new phone evertime I buy a new cell phone.
IR port is okay but I still find it very boring to send one contact information at a time.
2) Sound quality: is very good. easy to access volume key on the side.
3) picture: really easy to take picture with two click on the same key. Picture quality is okay but better than some of the camera phone I have seen ..like m515.
4) I got AT&T wireless service and right now after Cingular acquisition, it has been working great, I get signal even in the buildings. it gave me some weak signal problems in the begining.
5) Really lightwieght and sleek model. you can even keep it in your upper pocket.
6) Sound Recording: you can record the phone conversation while you are talking (You have to tell the person that you are going to record the conversation, it's US law)
7) mMode: I do not use it so no information.
Have fun
35 AT&T is a Nightmare
I never wrote a feedback about products I bought but my purchase from AT&T was the worst since I was born:
10/03/2003 I bought this phone online from AT&T
10/2003 An excellent phone but a terrible service, no coverage, they charge for SMS that was not delivered 30minutes waiting before you speak with customer service and above all they lie on you!
10/29/2003 Decided to return it called customer service.
11/20/2003-02/05/2004 Called several times as I never got a return label.
02/13/2004 I got the return label and sent it back immediately asked customer service to process my refund.
03/01/2004 Confirmed that I need a refund sent an email also they said 4-6 weeks needed for processing.
04/02/2004 Spoke with Customer serv. They said 3 weeks needed. Faxed confirmation of all my info and my request for refund.
04/28/2004 Spoke with Customer service they said 4-6 weeks needed, I reminded them that I spoke with them on 04/02/2004 they said ok then 2 more weeks need.
05/10/2004 Customer service said 4-6 weeks for processing
06/01/2004 Called again they said request was put in to cut a check on 05/24/2004 and it will take 2-4weeks
More than half a year since I am trying to close my account. I spent more than 14 hours on the phone trying to return this phone and get back my money. I have a thick pile of paper regarding my emails, faxes, calls.
I switched to T-mobile: they are wonderful never had a problem better coverage....
NEVER BACK TO AT&T. Cingular should think twice before keeping this "brand name".
36 Phone is fine AT&T is a problem
The phone has a lot of nice features that work well and it is kind of fun. The camera's picture quality leaves a lot to be desired, but is OK for everyday stuff. the problem is AT&T. They are selling a network that is not ready. I have spent as long as three hours on hold waiting for customer service to pick up. At last I managed to break my contract and am happily in the process of switching to another carrier where I can still use my T616 phone.
37 After reading all 85 reviews.....
....I would have to agree with most of them.
In the interest of saving you some time (if you choose not to read all of the reviews), the phone itself is of excellent quality, well-designed with aluminum and high-quality plastic construction.
The T616 has almost all the features you might want, probably more than you are going to use. Lacking is speakerphone capability and the ability to see the screen in bright sunlight.
One reviewer suggested getting a quality Krusell case for the phone and I agree. What nobody mentioned is that you can get free (no charge at the time this review is being written) incoming daily alerts for news, weather, sports, etc from mobile.msn.com. (Go to the web site and input your cellphone number and specify when and which alerts you want.)
Of course, no phone is any better than the network it is on, and your mileage may vary. For me, living in NYC, I get excellent reception from my 27-floor apartment building. I've also used the phone upstate and had perfect reception there in what would be called "the country".
So what's not to like?
Customer service. As you will find in some of the reviews, mostly going back a few months, ATT had embarked on a project to "upgrade" their customer service capabilities. For _months_ nothing worked right. The customer service reps couldn't find the information you needed to know and, worse, you couldn't even access the ATT web site to find something as basic as minutes used. (Yes, you can also find minutes used through the M-mode feature...and be billed for data charges.)
Now a suggestion, and I am being deadly serious, before you consider the phone and the network, I want you to make a phone call to ATT Wireless Customer Service. If you are pleased with the time that it takes to get through to a human who can answer your questions, fine. Otherwise, consider another service.
I hope this review helps in you making your decision and I thank you for reading it.
38 AT&T fine, actually, but keys on the phone stick
I see some rabid reviews of AT&T. I signed up in December, and have had no problem - quick response to billing issue (yes, they did try one on, but backed down immediately and reimbursed), and fast concerned help when my far-away daughter's phone didn't answer for three days and I was worried.
BUT - much as I like the little phone, I find the keys sometimes stick, and then I have to reboot. This is maddening when you've input a text message, and it is lost.
Other than that, and it may just be my phone, I have no beef.
39 Phone is Cool ATT is not
DO NOT BUY FROM ATT, Ive been with them for 4 months and they have yet to send me a correct bill. Their customer service Lie to you about what they can and can't do to fix your issues. I have spent 12 hours on the phone with their customer service to fix their billing issues and they will give no compinsation for my pain. Furthermore i told them they were in breach of contact and i wanted out since they have yet to give an accurrate bill. They said that would cost me 400 dollars. No Arbitaition, no customer service what so ever. They cant even be sure that they have fixed the issue. I WILL BE SWITCHING as soon as my contact is up. Look for a nice set of these phones on Ebay in about 8 months.
Craig - Sacramento CA
40 So close....
The T616 is a pretty good phone...sleek design, good phone functions, fun to have a camera included. But it has some limitations and questionable function choices. I would buy it again.
Likes:
Call quality fine.
Outlook sync works well.
Caller ID brings up picture of caller (once you assign a pic to the Contact's record in the phone book).
Nice design.
Can store lots of info about each contact.
Voice command dialing (in concept, haven't played with it enough to know if it works).
Dislikes:
Poor documentation for setting up bluetooth sync: I know computers pretty well, and although this was my first bluetooth device, it should have gone more smoothly. Too many gaps in documentation. Worse, AT&Ts website provides no help, the OEM for the sync software (Extended Systems) refers you to Sony Ericsson for help, and the Sony Ericsson help desk in Toronto was counterproductive. Their suggestion was to sync one record at a time! And they were rude when I suggested there was probably a way to sync all records at once.
Screen is very hard to read outdoors. This is probably the biggest flaw, and one which may be beyond the tolerance of many people...
2mb of memory is not enough. You can store a fair number of contacts (500-ish) but not enough pictures, even after deleting all the nonsense pics/sounds/themes they include with the phone.
The web browser function is ok on the sites formatted for the cell phone's screen.
The "Find Top Ten Best Near Me" function is hysterical. This will find the Top Ten, say, mexican restaurants near you, based on the position of the nearest cell tower, which is probably within a half mile or less. I was in Plano, TX and had it find the Top 10 mexican restaurants nearest me...there are probably 30 within 10 miles, but the closest it came up with was 15 miles away in downtown Dallas...even funnier, it was The Mansion at Turle Creek! The Mansion is easily the costliest restaurant in Dallas; it is famous for having invented "Southwest Cuisine" but it is as far from being a mexican restaurant as, say, Spago's is from being a NJ pizzaria.
Voice command - To be fair, I first programmed my voice commands in a noisy hospital waiting room. Since then, it hasn't recognized any voice command I've entered...so I need to reprogram it and try again.
Overall: [Excellent] phone with good features...and a bad screen for outdoors use.
41 Great phone once you get it set up
I purchased this phone with Cingular service two months ago and I have really liked the Bluetooth and Calendar features.
The form factor is great and easily slips in a pocket. It is smaller than my old flip phone and does not have any antenna to poke out. I'm a bit concerned that the screen will get scratched over the years.
I use Microsoft Outlook on my work ThinkPad which has built in Bluetooth. Once I figured out that you configure the bluetooth as a serial device, I can now sync my contacts, calendar and task list with my phone. This has allowed me to ditch my Palm and still have reminders for all my meetings. The phone has a distinct ring as a meeting reminder. It is a bit of a pain to add a meeting or task to the system, I'm not very fast entering text using the key pad, so I mostly use it as a read-only device.
I have configured and used the wireless internet, it was a pain to setup and Cingular was no help. I eventually found instructions on someone's personal web site. I do not see myself using the web directly through the phone more that once in a great while. The WAP browser is so limiting, every password you type takes a minute to enter via the key pad and the amount of info on the screen is tiny. But if you need to check a flight status or movie schedule, you can if you are patient.
I have a bluetooth IPAQ on order which may pair with the phone to make an acceptable browser, email platform. The main capability I want is to be able to pull up an occasional email, the phone allows this in theory but sifting through my huge volume of email (50-60 per day) to find the ones of interest on that little screen is not practical.
The reception works seems about as good as any other phone.
I don't have any problem hearing but I understand the complaints that others have, the phone is so small that when the phone is up to your ear the microphone is against your cheek.
The camera is very limited but it entertains my kids (I did not really want a camera phone so I don't care much about the quality).
I have played with voice dialing and it works but is tedious to set up and I always feel stupid talking to the machine in public but in the car it is handy to call home without searching through the menus.
One complaint is that whenever I drop the phone, it has fallen out of my shirt pocket a few times, the SIM gets dislodged and a message appears telling me that the SIM has dislodged "turn the phone off and on" but it won't let me power down the phone so I need to remove the battery to reset it. The good news is the fall does not seem to damage the phone and once I reset it, everything works as normal (no data is lost).
Some day I hope to have time wo write some JAVA utilities for the phone. I'm a software engineer by trade. Ericsson apears to be very open in allowing others to write tools for the phone. You can download all of the developers kits from their site. I beleive most other phones lock the average user out by charging for the info or by "locking" the phone to "uncertified utilities". Even if you never plan to write your own software, I would not be supprised to see a large number of free applets come out for this phone over the next year based on the open-ness of the system.
Pros:
Good form factor
Blue tooth is very handy for connecting to a computer
Syncs well with outlook
Open programmes interface
Cons:
A pain to set up for wireless data and bluetooth syncing.
Open screen may scratch
Limited web browsing support (more a function of all WAP phones)
Needs the battery removed each time you drop it.
42 Great Phone AWESOME Features
Camera takes pictures in one of 2 modes(low-res or hi-res) and quickly becomes an addictive little feature. Bluetooth compatibility is a BIG plus I love using the jabra headset with this little number. As a technophile, I'm looking forward to the virtual infrared keyboard the "chatboard" just doesn't cut it. The 2meg memory really isnt a big deal when you can email the pictures to your primary email address.. The organizer features are spartan but easy to use (even my mother can figure this out). The best feature is text messaging of course. Did I mention you can transfer your own notes, pictures, and songs onto this phone? =)
My only complaint is that downloading games and apps for this phone is a SERIOUS pain in the arse. I've tried 3 times from different indie websites (ie: handango.com) and all to no avail except via the phone itself through cingular's wap site. Are they trying to monopolize? probably.
All in all, this phone is a good alternative to expensive smart phones and makes a successful effort at bundling worthwhile features. Battery life is more than ample as well!
43 Hard to see display and hear calls
This is an ok phone, but I would not reccomend it
44 Sony=Quality, Sony-Ericsson=Nightmare
I've had this phone for 4 months now... actually, not really.
1) I had it for a month until it just stopped working out of nowhere. So I took it to ATT and then
2) They gave me the wrong number and did not properly tell me how to get it replaced. So i sent it to SONY Ericsson to get repaired and
3) It took 2 months to get it back, meanwhile, i was paying my att bill and i did not get the money back
4) on that note, att also charged me the activation fee twice, it took me an hour on the phone to convince them of what they did.... Anyways, so i get the phone back, and the phone seemed to work until i made a call...
5) the seemingly incompetent people at sony ericsson inverted the speaker and microphone on the phone, so it's pretty much unusable. If i want to get this problem fixed...
6) Sony is making me send back the phone at my expense, and it would take another month or so, or I pay ATT $30 or so for them to fix it.
SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE. THIS SEEMS LIKE A GREAT DEAL, AND ATT SEEMS LIKE A GREAT COMPANY, BUT THE PRICE IS NOT WORTH IT. I went through two samsungs when i was with sprint pcs, and they make the best phones and sprint is the best service, hands down. Good luck, and buy wisely.
45 The perfect phone for portability and to sync with your Mac
I bought this phone after having an SE T68i, and before that a Motorola StarTAC clamshell. They were both great phones for their time, and the T616 is pretty much in the same class.
As soon as I bought my PowerBook two years ago, I thought it would be neat to be able to use Address Book for my cell phone. When Apple released Bluetooth support, I bought a dongle and got the T68i. I loved it. It was small, it was sleek, it had a color screen, and there was never anything I couldn't do with it. It had one fatal flaw: A volume slider on the left hand side. Which broke off. And which was going to cost $100 to repair.
So I bought the T616, and was awestruck as soon as I got it. I'm kind of a gadget fanatic, and this phone is great for me. The screen is amazing, beautifully crisp and colorful. The body is only a tiny bit bigger than the T68i, but actually feels a little smaller. The Java games support probably strikes most people as slow and mundane, but I love the idea, and the games available for the T616 are better than I ever saw for the T68i. And of course, it can still synchronize with iCal and Address Book, something I love. The camera is kind of fun, even if the lens is awful. I have no idea what use a camera which can only take (approx.) 300x200 photos is, but hey, why not?
I can't speak to mMode because AT&T's pricing is beyond ludicrous. Although if they'd ever just get Mapquest service I might just pay for their insane $8 plan (the $3-plus-per-kilobyte plan is a major rip-off). I'm told the phone does not have the greatest WAP browsing, although having used the T68i's once or twice I can't imagine anything feeling sluggish in comparison.
The OS is actually much easier than most people think, once you get the hang of it. The trick is to remember where the icons go and to always check the contextual menus. Once you do that, you can do almost anything without thinking very hard on the T616.
There is only one thing I dislike about the phone and its design. The fact that there are two buttons which can SOMETIMES have overlapping functions ('Back' and either the left or right side top button, depending) and that the left and right side buttons don't have predefined functions drives me insane. I'm always clicking on the wrong one, with, yes, predictable hilarity resulting.
I'll give the T616 a two-thumbs-up review any day of the week. If you want to sync wirelessly with iCal and Address Book and want something that fits in your pocket, this phone is your best bet.
46 A Good Cell Phone
The Sony Ericsson T616 Cell Phone is pretty good. Not great.
However, some aspects of it are great. The display is one of the best on the market today. And as a cell phone, it's the best I've ever owned. I've never had any troubles with reception with it in Orlando, Fl; Buffalo, NY; Charlotte, NC; or the area's in Northern NJ near New York City, and lots of other places up and down the East Coast of the United States. (Save, obviously, for hill and mountain areas where no cell phones will work.)
Using it for e-mail and photo's... a little weak. But then, it's a cell phone and not a camera, and it isn't large enough to be a PDA replacement. I've gotten all the major features to work.
The other draw back is the small keypad for the phone. It takes a little getting used too and hitting buttons by accident is a regular occurrence.
But all in all, I've liked this cell phone. I've recommended it to friends and family.
47 Excellent Phone, ATT Sucks to Deal With
Had an old Nokia Digital phone with ATTWS for about the last 3 years and it wasn't working to well anymore. After being a customer wiht ATT for about 6 years I figured it should be no problem to get a new phone. Not so.
Apparently if you buy an ATT cell phone and you don't buy directly from ATT, ATT doesn't stand behind it.
If you are a new customer, ATT will give you a great price on a new phone. If you are an exisiting customer they charge you up to 3x as much for the same phone. In addition it did not appear to be possible to buy this phone from the ATT website as an existing customer.
Ended up paying over $200.00 for this phone from ATT. We'll it is a great phone but not as intuitive as past Nokias. Color screen is nice, tons of features, but as noted the screen is tough to see in the sunlight.
Don't hesitate to buy this phone, just don't buy it from ATT.
48 Sony Ericsson T616 Phone - Next Generation (AT&T
I have read the Editorial Reviews, so I wan't to buy that phones
49 Feature-Packed: Most Fun You Can Have With A Cell Phone!!!
I used to have the Sony Ericsson T68i and decided I wanted a cell phone with a built-in camera instead. The T616 is about the same size as the T68i but it has a larger display, which helps you take advantage of the brilliant wallpapers, screensavers, and themes that come with the phone. It also has much better ring tones.
It comes with 5 games - DeepAbyss, FiveStones, Minigolf, Colourbug, and Q*bert - and of course, you have the option to download more.
If you want some fun downloads, you can get many for free on Sony Ericsson's website:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/fun/index.jsp?cc=US&lang=en
The camera takes really good pictures most of the time (I suppose lighting is an issue). Bluetooth is a great feature because I use it to send the images from my phone to my iBook G4 with no problems.
The only downside to this phone is its low memory. I had to delete some wallpapers to have enough memory to take pictures. That's why I'm giving it 4 (and a half) stars.
I've also not experienced poor signal strength unless I go into a basement and I also haven't had any problems with my calls. The battery life on this phone is also much longer than other phones - I charge it only once a week (or twice if I talk a lot).
Overall, it's a good buy if you want something more than just a cell phone.
50 Superb, powerful & versatile cell phone!!!!!!
Excellent phone! Very sleek, stylish and easy to use once you fiddle around for a couple of hours. Has a plethora of options and is extremely customizable. Digital camera is a great feature, and works very easily with special effects such as sephia, black & white, negative, and night mode. Large display is vivid and clear. Last but not least, the battery life is POWERFUL for such a little phone. Only negatives I can conjure up is the fact that the keys sometimes get stuck, and also the phone does smudge easily, although very scratch-resistant. I would HIGHLY recommend this phone to anyone with AT&T carrier.
51 Nice Cute Phone & very good reception
I own this Sony Ericsson T616 Phone from last 2 months.Its very cute phone with nice features,not to forget its inbuilt camera.I have zero- dropped calls until now and the voice reception in and around Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona is excellent(Its true to say, AT&T is the wireless carrier that America Trusts on).The another feature that dragged me towards this phone is its blue-tooth anabled feature which is very helpful and sleek.The customer service of AT&T wireless is slow as to say at peek times,mostly in evening and morning business hours.Try to contact the customer service at early mornings or late nights,which I usually do.Altogether its a nice phone and a better bet against the other models in market till now.
52 Great Phone
AT&T (and everyone elses) signal out here is marginal as I am out in the country but I get a signal just fine and have had no complaints about call quality and have not had any dropped calls. The phone has bluetooth, & a good calendar and sync program (its got a camera but I just do not care about having a camera with my phone). C-net gave it (t616/t610) very high reviews, about best in class. The one thing about the phone that has been commented on on is the smudge factor, fingerprints do show up and a decent case is recomended. I bought a cheap one from CompUSA that was ok but kind of awkward, purchased a Krussell case tonight which should be a about perfect. I think there have been some firmware improvements made to improve RF/reception relative to earlier phones. I originally wanted a Nokia because they seem to have better RF/reception than Sony-Ericsson but none of their (Nokia) currently available phones matched this one on a functional basis for me at this price. Its a winner, I'm glad I selected this phone.
53 Avoid ATT Wireless
AT&T wireless GSM coverage is a joke. They will blame anything on it too: hurricane, sunspots, "It's new technology," "somebody didn't renew antenna tower contracts" (that is on Interstate 95, if you can believe it). Don't do it!!! You will eventually be very unhappy!!! If you have a brief weakness and try it out, and you get their service, and have slight problems in the first 30 days, then send the phone back IMMEDIATELY. You are, otherwise, consigning yourself to whatever they want to do to you.
DO NOT sign a contract with them. That is the only thing that has saved me is that I couldn't bring myself to sign the contract. That means that I have two phones that cost me [a lot]--because the rebate requires the contract--but at least I don't have to give them money for service that reminds me of spotty cell phone service ten years ago.
'Love the phone? Find another carrier!!!
Good luck...
54 Worst EVER BUILT!!!
The phone sometimes shuts off itself. Plus, network setting is hobbile too. However the worst of all, it is definately not the user friendly phone at all. I definately want to go back to my old Samsung so~~~ bad. Finally, AT&T Customer service was my worst nightmare. I usually had to wait for 45 minutes and they charge roaming even when you are right in the middle of downtown!! If you are extremely lonly and got lots of time to get used to the phone, plus want to talk to the free live chat, AT&T is the one you want to stick with!
55 it looks the same
this phone looks the same the only thing that change is its features man the best is the T630
56 A great phone!
I went from a Samsung N200 with Sprint service to this T616 with AT&T and am soooo much happier!
My Samsung was dropping calls, showing no signal strength, and cutting out so bad I could only hear every couple words of the conversation.
So I got this phone and what a difference! The sound is crisp and CLEAR. It sounds like a land-line phone, unlike my Samsung which made conversations sound as if the phone was buried in a snowdrift or something.
The phone aesthetically is much cuter than the picture makes it look. It is small and thin and the color display is excellent! It has more options than I need and the camera is quite decent considering it is built into a cell phone. I love that I can take a picture of someone and add it to their profile so when the call me their picture comes up on the screen.
It came with alot of ring tones, none of which I particularly enjoyed (save for the "antique telephone" ringing sound), so I downloaded one. The sound quality itself is very good.
If I had this to do all over again I would still buy this great little phone!
57 Excellent phone, but ATT not excellent
To start, the phone is a very nice phone. It comes with many features, feels solid and high quality in your hands, and it is small and stylish with a large color screen. The drawlback of the phone are that the display is hard to see in bright light. Also, it can be hard to use until you get used to all the menus and such. Overall, this phone is an excellent phone and I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.
But ATT tested my anger managment skills. They charged more than the starting price and added on all the extra cost features that I didn't ask for! They also charged 88 dollars for roaming when I went to New York! The service also isnt very good. sometimes it switches to the cingular tower or the verizon tower. It's your money, and I would go with T-mobile personally. Better yet, Verizon.
58 PHONE IS GREAT.. ATT SERVICE PATHETIC
you might think that you get the phone and you got a great deal, but the fact is that you don't, what will you do with a phone and a service that basically SUCKS...!!! REALLY, att wireless is the worst service you can ever get, you might think that I am just another reviewer but as someone who has reviewed att and trying to give it a benefit of doubt, NEVER EVER EVER TAKE ATT WIRELESS, ITS THE WORST SERVICE EVER, CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE ARE NOT THERE TO HELP, BUT TO FRUSTRATE YOU TILL YOU HANG UP..THEY ARE THE WORST IN BUSINESS..Don't take a cellphone if ATT is your only choice
59 Highly Recommended
The most important features for me were long battery life and customization. I really didnt place an emphasis on a camera-phone when purchasing.
Pros:
1. Customization - Can have distinctive ring tone and image for each person that calls you.
2. Tranfer Files - I transfer images and midi files via the infrared port on my laptop all of the time. Just change the setting of the phone to "infrared" and place near the laptop, and the laptop identifies the phone immediately. No need for cables or to pay for Internet browsing capabilities on the phone. Just browse the Internet, download files to your laptop, and then transfer them over to the phone.
3. Battery Life - The battery life on this phone is outstanding! When you aren't using the phone, it goes into standby mode that puts a minimal drain on the battery.
4. Volume - Flexibility with volume control. You can make it relatively loud or quiet.
Cons:
1. Pictures - Resolution of the pictures is not that great. The Samsungs and LG phones have better built-in cameras.
2. Exterior - The exterior of the phone is susceptible to scratches and nicks. It is difficult to keep the phone looking like new.
3. Screen Visibility - When out in daylight, it is very difficult to see the contents on the screen.
4. Keys are a bit on the small side.
5. Midi files - my only wish for this phone is that it played mp3's instead of midi files.
Please note: If you do get this phone, do not forget to enable the "key lock" feature. This is because when you place the phone in your pocket, it can make calls to other people on your phone list without you knowing of it.
Also, I deleted most of the standard ring tones and pictures so that I can make space for the tones and pictures that I like.
60 Hotness
Upgrading from the simplistic Nokia phone to the more complex Sony Erricson was the best thing that I ever experienced...phone wise. This phone has many features, some take a bit getting used to, but once mastered this phone can be a powerful tool that nobody will know what they did without it. Bluetooth, one of my favorite features connect right up to my Apple iBook through a Bluetooth USB adapter. Surfing the net from anywhere while my phone is in my pocket is great. Poly-phonic rings tones are sweet! Pictures do need significant lighting, but can be great fun. Actually talking on this phone let my ears expierence clear calls from friends and family, even better quality with the included headset. The two not so major con's are a small lack of processor speed, and picture memory which again is again fixable by sending pictures to my laptop via bluetooth. But overall this dense, however not heavy phone is a great companion to one's day to day activities.
61 A Silent Mode for the Ages
Today in class, my crotch wanted to make a phone call. I told it, "Not yet, wait till after class, you're going to be too loud! You're going to disrupt everyone." But then, the crotch told me, "Look, this phone has silent mode! I can just turn that on." Then, my teacher called on me. He was like, "Hey, Joshua. Why are you talking to your fly." I could muster no response. I hope I passed today's pop quiz.
Oh, yeah. If you guys have any questions about my phone, ask my crotch. It knows everything about it! Talk about handsfree telecommunications! (My crotch even knew what Bluetooth was! I just thought my phone was referred to that stinky guy by Wendy's!)
62 Dont get it for it's camera.
when I got the phone, it would not let me save pictures so I had to return it for a replacement. The replacement works. Everything is fine but the camera takes lousy pictures, due to relatively low resolution. The Samsung 715 takes much better pictures but is more expensive and works only with TMobile.
63 Good Phone but bad customer service, very bad...
Bought this phone with AT&T service. Its an amazing phone with all conceivable features like calendar, multi-line address book, sync'ing with other devices. So tiny in size, mighty in features, you got to love this phone. Two drawbacks - one is that the buttons are too small (can't be bigger due to the size of the phone itself), and another - very hard to see the display in day light/ sun light. Battery runs out completely in 2 days with very less i.e. 30 min talk time. They did'nt say it in the manual, but that's how it is.
Now coming back to the AT&T service, I mean disservice it is. First and foremost is that I do not get signal at some places where I used to get good reception with Sprint PCS service.
And multitude of problems with their service,
1. Billing started 3 days before the Service got activated.
2. Their customer service has so many 800 numbers, email service, etc... But had to hold on to the phone for hours to get to a person.
3. And finally the person refuse to hear the problem.
I am at least better off by taking only 1 year service. But be aware of those problems !
64 You're not dealing with AT&T
Where do I start?
AT&T sucks. From next to zero coverage to TERRIBLE customer service, you will hate this phone. I have had to wait on hold longer than an hour every time I have called "customer care". Half the time I call I am told that AT&T is unable to answer my call at this time. When I am finally connected the staff on the other end is neither helpfull or curteous. In fact, they are rude and useless. They read their script very well, but it does nothing towards solving my problems.
More than that. The fine print will be sure to more than double your plan costs.
My recomendation:
Anyone but AT&T
65 Great phone with all the gadgets
Compared to my bulky Nokia 3650, this phone is a godsend. It has all of the great features you could want in a phone: calender, contacts, camera, bluetooth enabled, polyphonic tones, etc. Sure the Nokia has these things too, but it also has about 8-10 oz on the Sony as well.
I get great reception 5 bars all the time where I'm at and high res screen looks fantastic indoors (see below).
The Bluetooth worked perfectly on this little device. No messing around with what type of "profile" does the phone support (handsfree vs. headset). I had the Motorola BT handsfree working with the phone in under 5 minutes.
Now for the not so good.
As mentioned before, the battery in this thing is not good at all. I also conditioned the battery and did an optimized charge. I am lucky to get 2 days out of it which is kind of disappointing. Another little picky thing I don't like is the battery icon. When the battery is fully charged, you see a battery icon that is green, but only half green up and down (I've let it charge for 2 days and can only achieve the half full green icon). When the power starts to deplete, you see an icon where the meter changes from left to right and then the color changes to yellow etc. What kind of goofy icon shows a full battery with a half full green icon? Just plain stupid if you ask me.
Also, don't plan on looking at the screen in sunlight. You can't read a thing on it. I was having to use my hand to provide shade just to see what the heck I was doing.
Overall, I would give this phone a 5 star rating based on what I had been using. However, the faults I've listed above bring into the 4 star category for now.
66 got robbed by AT&T
4 star for the phone and no star for AT&T. The phone itself is pretty good but buyers (purchasing the plan), beware of the "fruadulent" billing by AT&T. I was billed and paid (didn't realize this until sometime later) for a bill that was for the period before I received the phone. Even more upsetting was the fact that AT&T rep. is not willing to resolve this matter stating that I called too late. He first said, he can't do anything on something that is 90 days past. When I pointed out to him that it's been around 60 days, he changed his statement and said, he can't help me because it's been over 60 days.
In addition, I used to frequently get calls looking for the person who previously owned this number. Which obviously, used up my miuntes (for answering and checking messages that are not for me).
I am upset!
67 One Defect Can Ruin A Great Phone
This has to be the nicest cellphone I've yet seen. I don't understand the attraction of flip phones, so this tiny little gem from a consumer electronics giant is a welcome addition to a marketplace that offers the likes of Nokia 3595 (ugly!). However, I might choose another phone if given the choice.
The color screen is fairly large and very readable. The sound "system" is wholly satisfying; you can hear the sweeping grandeur of a waltz. By simply posting a midi file to an ftp server, I was able to set it as my ringtone. It was quite necessary as the factory defaults are sad, incomparable to Nokia's. The menu system is clean and easy to learn. You may be surprised at first at the tiny buttons, but you'll easily get used to them and won't have trouble with wrong keypresses except for the joystick button.
Games included on the phone are alright and you may decide to keep a few. The quality of the camera is good for the phone, but don't epect more. Samsung probably has a better alternative there.
So far, so good.
A few serious defects mar an otherwise excellent product, however. Most importantly, the maximum sound level is teeny in your average environment. Unless you spend your day at home, you'll prolly miss calls. The vibration is inadequate prolly due to the tiny size of the phone, and even in an empty pocket will only slightly alert you to an incoming call or alarm -- and I mean slightly The phone won't even vibrate when you receive a message, for which you can't set your own ringtone. The alarm sound level is audible only when you hold the phone up, a strange decision by the phone designers. These notification problems make it almost useless to find a good ringtone (cuz others can't hear it), and will most likely make you miss calls. On this alone you should prolly avoid the phone.
Also, I conditioned the battery but it runs for only one or two days with minimal usage. I've to see if I can convince Sony or AT&T Wireless (tough luck as it took them 18 days to send me my phone). The signal is great and has much improved since August 2003 and my brother has had great experience with AWE in Philly while I've greatly surprised by the service in NYC. Customer service lags, tho.
I don't know if this is a real problem, but the phone rarely shows even one out of five bars in signal strength. A Nokia 6800 (frustrating user interface) shows great signals in the same locations at the same time. If you hold your hand across the top of the phone, it'll usually show two bars...I haven't had real trouble with any noise during calls or making calls, however.
Another thing the phone misses is a real alarm system. You can only set one one-time and one recurrent alarm. You can set one-time event notifications in the calendar, but this is wholly insufficient with a phone that can run Java games. Voice control is hard to configure, while it's all too easy to move the joystick in the wrong direction while at standby mode and get connected to the internet. Over time this will cost money.
All in all, this is a great looking phone with great musical abilities that are undermined by poor sound levels, few alarm possibilities and possibly low battery life, which I'm not yet sure about.
68 Great looking but just a decent phone
Pros:
- Very stylish design
- Excellent connectivity options, including fantastic Bluetooth implementation
- Very good battery life
- Automatic timer-based keypad lock
- Highly portable
Cons:
- So-so signal reception
- Poor LCD quality -- virtually impossible to read outdoor
- No EDGE, no speakerphone
- Slipperly chassis, prone to finger prints
- Calendar lacks all-day events
- Comparatively dated UI is slow at times
- Keys can be small for larger hands
- Somewhat high radiation
T616 is AT&T's version of highly popular T610. Generally speaking, T616 is better suited for US residents than T610, which had generally worse RF reception on 1900 MHz GSM than T68i that it replaces. T616's reception should be comparable to T68i now. It is worth noting, however, T616 drops the 900 MHz GSM band popular in Europe while adding 800 MHz GSM.
While T68i wasn't exactly lauded for RF reception quality, it was adequate. In areas with good to excellent signals (3 to 5 bars), T616 should be equally capable of high quality phone conversations. But deep inside the building where 1900 MHz signals have trouble penetrating or in areas where signal is low, T616 will generally perform poorly. For instance, Nokia 3650 sounded fine in areas where T616 stuttered or dropped out entirely.
Signal quality aside, T616 is a good phone. If anything, it is arguably one of the best looking phones. While slightly larger than T68i, it is still strikingly thin and tiny. Turn the phone on, however, you may be disappointed by dim LCD output. It is virtually unusable outdoor. You must vary the angle of the phone to see anything even with backlight turned on.
The UI sports pretty icons rendered with rich color. However, it remains largely unchanged from T68i, which could be positive to former Sony Ericsson users, but disappointing for those wanting latest and greatest. Worse, rapid key strokes will cause T616 to lag quite a bit.
It would be unfair to ignore T616's greatest asset: Bluetooth. Whereas Nokia and other manufacturers add Bluetooth as a mere marketing feature (poor Bluetooth signal quality, incomplete support for many Bluetooth devices), Sony Ericsson took the time to do it right. It will sync and communicate with pretty much all applicable Bluetooth devices out there with virtually all the functionalities intact. It also syncs beautifully with Apple's iSync software.
Although built-in camera results in decent enough pictures for MMS or quick email, it will not replace standalone digital camera. Considering 99.9% of the camera phones are also poor, I will not single out T616 for this weakness.
It is worth noting that upcoming T630 will fix much of T616's ongoing issues: much brighter LCD, larger keys, less slipper body, and improved RF reception. The chassis is resigned a bit, which sort of resembles Apple's iPod look and feel.
69 The WORST service ever(still haven't received the phone)!!!
I ordered the phone on 12.17.03 and was promised receipt in 3 business days. After unsuccessfully attempting to reach a customer service rep for over a week(waiting on hold for over an hour on 12.23) I was told on 12.29 that my order was indeed submitted, there is/was no way of knowing when the phone would arrive and that my order could not be nullified.
I called again today, 01.13.14, and was given the same story.
AT&T is the absolute WORST and deserve noone's business...end of story!
70 Good phone, extremely poor service.
On 9 December, I ordered a T616 phone from amazon.com, including an AT&T service agreement. On 12 December, this phone arrived. Upon plugging it in and turning it on, I immediately called AT&T customer service, by dialing 611 from the phone, to attempt to port my old T-Mobile phone number to this new phone.
I ended up calling AT&T about 10 times, and never getting through. Twice I waited on hold for over 60 minutes, and was not connected to a representative. Both times I hung up after over an hour.
Three times, I was given a recorded message saying that "due to circumstances beyond our control," ATT was unable to answer my call.
Once I was asked for my phone number, then played a message saying that AT&T's system is down, followed by a click (hangup).
I ended up returning the phone to Amazon, and sending a letter to AT&T asking that service be canceled. I never was able to speak to a representative.
I think I will stay with my t-mobile service, thank you. I thought t-mobile's 10 minute hold times were bad, but they're nothing compared to AT&T.
I would recommend the Sony Ericsson T610 Phone (T-Mobile) instead.
- Jason Parsons
71 One of the nicest products I have seen in a long time
The phone looks amazing, and works even better. What I like most about it is the ease of use. I do not have the time to tinker with a gadget for an hour to find out how a particular thing works. With this phone, it is really easy to browse through the menu and find out what I am looking for. The PDA feature is also great. If you use your PDA strictly for business purposes, now you can easily do without it as the phone keeps track of all your appointments and phonebook just fine. The bluetooth headset I installed also works fine and if the device is on any call is transferred to the headset automatically. Overall, the phone is a good purchase but I am a little skeptical about AT&T service. From what I have seen, the coverage seems pretty limited (and if you call the customer service for any reason, expect to be on hold for a long time - about 10-20 minutes).
72 pleased overall with the phone
For the most part, I like the phone. The first problem I had with the phone was when I went to make my first call. The entire phone locked up on me - the screen froze up, and none of the keys worked - I couldn't even turn it off - it finally somehow reset itself after a few minutes, but still kept freezing up when I would go to make a call, until I turned the phone off and back on again, and then it stopped freezing up when calling someone. It did freeze up on me again when I tried selecting a WAP option from one of the menus. I also get a message periodically saying that the SIM card has been dislodged, and in order to fix that, I have to turn the phone off and back on again. Other than that, the phone has worked fairly well. The back cover is very difficult to get off, though, in order to access the battery and SIM card.
So far, I get good reception. I haven't had a call dropped yet. I've called AT&T 3 times so far. The first time was when the phone first froze up. (Yes, each time I called AT&T, I was on hold for a very very long time). The lady almost immediately said it was the phone and not AT&T's fault. She was very snotty and short with me. The 2nd time I talked w/ someone at ATT was to port my number. Surprisingly, this took only 2 days to port my old number - that was a pleasant ATT experience. The third time I called, it was about my first ATT bill, and the lady was very friendly and helpful and answered my questions with a pleasant attitude.
The phone is nice and small and almost plane, but I like that a lot. I don't like all the other goofy phone designs - they look too wierd - clam shell, crop circles, TV remote, - ick - too Star Trecky-looking for me. The graphics are very nice, the buttons aren't too small. Like everyone else said, the screen is hard to see outside when the sun is out. The battery life is much better than in my old Nokia. It takes good pictures, only if there is enough light.
I bought the cable from Sony Ericsson to download pictures to the phone - the only problem is that you can't use the cable to upload pictures from the phone to your PC using the cable (I want to send the pictures, taken using the phone camera, in email using my ISP on my PC - I could send it directly from the phone in a wireless email or MMS, but the data charges are way too expensive for me). I'll need to by a bluetoogh USB adaptor to upload pictures to my PC.
Yes, you need to get the 2-year deal with ATT instead of the one year deal in order to get the bigger rebate. I did read the small print first for both the ATT rebate and the T-mobile rebate: I wanted to get a monthly plan of $30 or less, but you couldn't get the rebate at all from T-mobile unless you bought at least a $40 monthly plan, so I went with ATT.
73 Phone fine - but AT&T service is a nightmare
So far, I'm very happy with the phone. But I'm writing this review to warn everyone of AT&T Wireless' horrible number porting service. I've had my phone since December 6th and am still waiting to get my number ported! Even though they haven't done the port in over the month, AT&T Wireless actually had the audacity to already send me a bill! So, not only can I not receive phone calls on my new phone yet (I have to carry around the old one with my still-active T-Mobile service), but I'm also being billed by both vendors! I cannot believe that AT&T is already billing me fully on half a service!
To give you an idea of my AT&T wireless nightmare: I've tried to call their PAG (Portability Administration Group) at least 20 times in the past month. Most of the time, I can't even get through and give up after 2 hours on hold. But on the 5-6 occasions that I have gotten through and explained my situation, I've always been assured that the problem would be rectified soon. Well, that has yet to be the case. As I speak, I'm on hold yet again - this time, I'm going to insist on talking to a supervisor (but I don't have much hope that this will make any difference :-( So, I'm stuck in this hell hole.
When I called customer service to find out whether I could cancel my service - they told me that I would probably be charged an early cancellation fee since the service WAS activated (despite the fact that I can't receive phone calls on AT&T WS) and that I would have to write a dispute letter when I do get charged.
In summary: AT&T Wireless may be ok for totally new activations without number porting, but they've got to have the most inept number portability group among all the major carriers (for comparison, a friend had his number ported from Cingular to T-Mobile within a couple days!)
74 Limited...
This phone operates only in limited areas throughout the U.S. Plus, prices will come down.
75 How technology is supposed to be!
I got this phone because it has Bluetooth and is compatible with iSync (the Mac OSX synchronizing software.) I wanted to have my calendar on my phone - the rest was gravy. So I plugged in my Bluetooth adapter, clicked on one control panel, it saw my phone and added it. I opened iSync, it saw my phone, I clicked on "Sync" and in less than 5 minutes TOTAL, with NO software to download/install, my calendar and contacts were on my phone. Done. No hassle. I love it! That's how technology should work!
And, for the rest - I find it intuitive to use, nice and small, and it's fun to have the camera. That was all gravy but it's good gravy!
76 Phone great ATT terrible
After HOURS on the phone trying to get assistance with ATT and getting no where but transferred and put on hold, I have cancelled my service. They could not port my number like I was told. They gave me the run around all the time, I ended up with 7 different numbers to try all the time. And many times their computers were down or the department that I needed was closed.
But the phone works great!
77 Nice Phone but ATT is JUNK
I like the phone. Cool features like Bluetooth, IR, Camera(sort of) and a colorful screen(at night).
But ATT Customer Service is HORRIBLE, JUNK, WASTE. (Cann't think of any more words worst than this). It's more than a month since I requested them to transfer my number from Sprint, but in vain. I have to carry two phones all the time. At times it has taken me more than an hour to reach a human being on the ATT customer service line. VERY RUDE & HARSH Service. NOT AT ALL HELPFUL.
AMAZON should stop selling ATT Service, otherwise they might spoil their reputation.
Hope someone from ATT reads this review.
78 Tiny package packed with goodies
My seventh mobile phone and easily one of the best. The reasonable price combined w/ the small size make this the best featured phone on the market.
Sony spared no expense in giving the the T616 both bluetooth and infrared, a camera, email client, 65k colors screen. One of the neatest and rarely mentioned features is an alarm/calendar system which can be programed to alert even when the phone is turned off. Save your juice and still get. Of course it has all the too fancy ring tones and games which only take up memory and might be better in a teen flip phone.
The design - modern, sleek and simple. I'm not a clamshell fan, so a small, solid, one-piece unit with a large color screen is right up my alley.
On the down side, AT&T's service does not allow for one-touch voicemail pick up. You must enter your password w/ evey call. A security feature, I guess, but annoying. Additionally, the screen is difficult to read in bright sunlight. My only other gripe is that there's no speaker phone. Sony was clearly going for sleek and small and for the money and size, how much more can one expect?
As for AT&T's service, keep in mind quality of service depends on the region you live in and where in the region you live. Every company has cities where their service is great and where it is lowsy. So these sweeping generalizations about AT&T's service should be taken with a grain of salt. Additionally, this phone operates on a GSM network which isn't yet as all-encompassing as TDMA/CDMA... but unlike the 'DMA's allows for international use. So, whether T-Mobile or AT&T, GSM service is GSM service. On that note, only AT&T offers both GSM and DMA, though the Ericsson is designed only for GSM.
Be ye warned, although this is a tri-band phone, it is not a world phone. World phones include 900/1800/1900 mhz frequencies. The T616 carries 850 in place of 900. 850 is a second N. American frequency at the expense of the standard 900mhz which covers Australia and New Zealand. If you're jonesing for this unit, the T610 substitutes 850 w/ the standard 900mhz.
I highly recommend this phone for style, quality and features. As for AT&T's service, it's as good as any other similar system depending on where you are.
79 Very nice phone, but AT&T service is unusable
I shopped a long time for my next cell phone hoping to get a nice phone with a decent camera to snap impromptu pictures. After much research, I chose the Sony Ericsson T616 because of it's rich feature set (camera phone, bluetooth, infrared, mMode, joystick navigation) and teensy weensy size. I had seen the model in an AT&T Wireless store, but when it arrived from Amazon I was still surprised at just how small and compact the phone really is. I immediately started exploring the phone's features and was very impressed with the beautiful LCD, polished interface and nice features and games.
Buzzkill time...when I was done playing with the non-phone features and started making calls I got complaints from the other end about poor voice quality. And that was when I actually had enough of a signal to make a call. I'm in the greater Boston area and was surprised by the lack of strong coverage. I would rarely have more than 2 out of 5 bars of signal strength any place I took this phone. Granted, this is a knock on AT&T and not the T616. Every time I looked at, and held, the phone I made up reasons to justify keeping it. Unfortunately, a nice phone with poor service is really a poor phone. The phone gets a 4 (a higher resolution camera might get it the 5th star) but the packaged AT&T service gets a 0 -- net rating: 2.
I sent mine back today and got the LG VX6000 from Verizon. Verizon's coverage is nearly perfect and the features of this phone are attractive: full VGA resolution camera, flip design, and a nice LCD screen and operating software (but not quite as nice as the T616).
POSITIVES:
- very small size
- great price from Amazon with free bluetooth headset
- excellent connectivity with bluetooth, infrared or cable
- convenient and intuitive joystick for navigation
- great LCD screen (seemed to flicker a little bit though)
- very nice looking and feeling operating software
- java support
- nice additional software and games
- IMHO, quite a good looking design
NEGATIVES:
- very poor AT&T service
- very poor AT&T service
- very poor AT&T service
- camera is low resolution and not very good (only 288 x 352 pixels)
- almost too small for calling comfort
- hard to keep clean
- did I mention the very poor AT&T service?
80 Sony Ericsson T616 @ Bytesector.com
Sony Ericsson is one of the leading manufactures in the cell phone market and has constantly produced phones that have not only met but exceeded the expectations of cell phone users. Their new, high-tech cell phone, the Sony Ericsson T616, is no exception. With its quality 65 536 color display, extensive picture sharing options, the latest messaging, built in camera, Bluetooth wireless technology, and several, several other features, it is no wonder why the T616 in my opinion is one of the best .....read more @ Bytesector.com"
81 ATT service is bad
ATT cover is bad and phone doesn't work or goes roaming after every 5 miles. If you are thinking of number portability -- don't think.... it takes 30 days or more to get it done
82 The phone is nice but AT&T service is bad
AT&T wireless as a company is not prepare to service any customer. Please try their customer support line before ordering the phone. You will be on hold for hours and at the same time the department that handles your number porting is different from the ordering derpartment which is also different from normal customer service. If there is any issue, there is no single point of help so you will end up waiting hours on hold.
The phone is nice but don't get the service from AT&T. The provider is bad.
83 beware with att if you want to transfer your number!!
If you want to tranfer your number .. This may not be the phone for you !! All phones from amazon come with a new number and the att customer service will not provide number portability from your old carrier. The quality of phone is good if you are looking for a brand new number and the jebra set works perfect. The infrared port did help me to transfer my old telephone list to the phone through my palm instead of adding them manually.
84 Amazed a Sceptic
First of all, this is a great cell phone.
The best of its features is its amazing battery life. It can be on for at least 3 days without the battery dying. Secondly, the interfaceis very user friendly and everything is a click away. The compact size of the phone also is a plus. It easily fits in my pocket, but i still know its there.
There's only two minor problems. The first, which is VERY minor is that the surface is not very smudge proof. The second of the minor problems is that sometimes reception is lacking, probably AT&T's fault, but it does happen.
Overall, a great cell phone that would satisify anyone.
85 Everything was perfect
I received my phone fully confgiured in less than 2 business days. Have not had to deal with Customer Service because everything worked perfect out fo the box.
86 ATT is sucks
The phone is good, but att service is the worst. It takes 3 weeks to get the phone.
87 AT @ T old company outdated Customer Service
I have ATT for wireless shared plan, I have a great deal of problems with the their customer service, and the plan are outdated with the competetion, they need to catch up with the other world.
88 Problematic AT & T Customer Sevrice
After I placed the order from Amazon, I called the ATT customer service to work with the phone plan. As I haven't got enough amount ($800) in my debit card account, the guy told me to go to a ATT direct store to pay the phone service deposit of $800. When I got to the store, the representative told me that I cannot pay the deposit without a phone number. And they seems do not know anything about the connection of Amazon with ATT about this phone + service plan. After several visits to that shop, I still cannot get a phone number. I finally cancelled the order from Amazon. I think the representatives in ATT do not know much about the system of their company and they really need more training before they can serve customers.
89 AT&T Really has 1 cust. ser rep answering all the calls :(
hi
amazon service is very good. got the phone in two days. It mentioned that, the phone will be automatically activated in 45 mins of charging..
made my first call to amazon to ask them what my phone no. is..they said, at&t has problems in their activation server and so i need to wait 1-3 days. waited 1-3 days, called amazon. they asked me to give a call to at&T. called them on 3 days, but phone always busy, and at times it will automatically ask me to call later and disconnect ??
finally spoke to some one and thank god, they activated my phone..but gave me a number that is a not a local number for me. told that to the rep immediately and asked for a local number. she gave me this no. 1-800-642-5383. i have called them 8 times and i have waited 87, 65,140, 45, 75 mins, with still no success.......the reason to buy this phone was to give a local number to the school, so that they will call incase of emergency to my wife. the school wont call a long distance no. the entire purpose defeated. i planned to get this phone and cancell my old one..now i am paying two monthly fees...i even suggested that AT&T should give me some credit bcos of their problem...no use..
i hate AT&T............(now i am on the phone for the last 55 mins on hold)
90 AT&T Suck
I got the phone and love it. I called AT&T 3 times trying to active my phone and port my number but all I got was waiting and waiting and waiting... What good of a phone when I can't get some one to activate it. This is really suck.
91 ATT HORRIBLE service/Cool Features/Unreadable in Daylight
First, the service: I was happy with ATT wireless GSM while I worked at an office less than 1/4 mile from Interstate 66 (15 miles west of Washington, DC), and my route to work was ON the Capital Beltway (I-495), but now I am 3 miles from Interstate 95, 16 miles from the heart of DC, and my route is NOT on the Interstate, and I *NEVER* CAN USE THE PHONE (to|at|from) work!!! I tried calling customer service repeatedly (6 times in one trip to work) and have never gotten through or stayed on long enough to get my point across. DO NOT BUY SERVICE FROM AT&T. THEY DON'T HAVE A NETWORK!!! You can be "lucky" like I was for the first month, but I GUARANTEE you that you will eventually be thinking of throwing the phone out. I was very happy with my old (non-GSM) ATT service--getting connections just about every time--but now I *NEVER* get a connection. To top it off I recently tried to call my wife from the grocery store and found that I couldn't--even after walking out into the parking lot--and the grocer is 1/2 mile from the Capital Beltway. They'll tell you that the hurricane damaged equipment, or that sunspots are interfering, and the customer service reps even say things like, "well the technology is new and it isn't perfect, and like all new technology it is going to have problems..." (That's what they told my wife today.)
Second, the Phone: The T-616 is a very nice phone, with lots of features that are quite usable as long as you don't require a connection to a network. (The only reason I carry the phone now is that I have over 300 numbers and addresses in it.) The HUGE problem with the phone is that you can't read the screen in daylight. That nixes all of those nice features and makes you wish for your old Nokia that just plain worked--all the time, day or night. The battery life is NOWHERE near the marketing promises. I can't even make calls and I am surprised how often I am charging it.
92 Phone OK, service terrible
This phone looks sexy, feels sexy, and overall is a nice piece of hardware. But it has shortcomings:
1. The camera takes fuzzy pictures with muddy tones.
2. It doesn't have nearly enough memory. I can only take 3 pictures before I run out of memory.
3. Sometimes when a call drops or another call comes in while you're on the phone, deafening noises blast into your ear.
But the phone's shortcomings pale in comparison to AT&T Wireless's:
1. They claim to be upgrading their customer service computer systems, so you might wait on hold for 10 minutes or more only to be told "I can't help you because our system is down. Call back in an hour." This has been going on since October.
2. My wife and I have identical phones and service, but can't send pictures to each other because the mMode has never worked. We've had option settings sent to our phones several times by customer service reps, to no avail. In the month we've had our phones, we've never been able to log in to mMode or surf the web. So the data portion of the plan is a total waste of time and money. And getting it fixed is difficult - see item 1.
3. AT&T's GSM voice service in the San Francisco Bay Area is far inferior to their old digital service, which worked well for me for 6 years.
Overall, my wife and I agree the phones look cool and have an intuitive interface, but we should have stuck with our old phones and the old digital service. We regret the switch.
93 sony ericsson T616
i 've never have any ericsson phone product. people said that ericsson is the good one. so i must considered and try it:D.
94 horrid reception
I have had five different phones on the AT&T GSM network. Yes, the network is weak except in urban areas. But this phone has **horrible** reception compared to other phones I have used on the same network. Siemens and Nokia are far, far superior in reception. This phone fails to dial half the time from my office and home, and routinely misses calls.
Too bad, since other than that the phone itself is pretty nice UI-wise. But steer clear of this, and the T68i -- pretty much any SonyEricsson phone. They have a lot to learn about reception.
95 Good phone - poor service
I have no problem with the phone - actually I have been using the same phone (quite happy except for the less-than stellar battery and the easily-smudged body) before I lost it and had to replace it by ordering on Amazon, the beginning of my woes. I badly needed a replacement since I give out my number at work. I passed on the free-shipping and ordered 2-day expedited shipping - on day 3 I get an e-mail informing me that the items are delayed and will ship after two days. I am making other arrangements and lo behold the phone arrives - well, cannot complaint too much there :) As per instructions, I turn on the phone and wait for 45 minutes for the phone to be automatically activated (per instruction leaflet). After a frustating 2-hour wait nothing happens and I call AT&T. After taking down my entire life history I am told that the "systems are down" - a common support-insider-statement for 'moron it is our coffee break'. I am asked to call after 2 hours, which I do; the biography dictation again; this time I am politely told that since I bought it at amazon I need to call them. Ok, I call amazon. After the mandatory questions on order number, mother's maiden name, father's height - "Oh, you want to activate a cell-phone. Well, our cell-phone dept closes at *4PM PST* - please call back tomorrow". Tomorrow dawns, I call amazon - same questions, no answers - this time it is "Oh, the AT&T systems are backed up. You could leave the phone on for a while (and between the lines "hope for the best") or I could submit your information and have the system activate your phone in 24 to 72 hours." I chose the latter - I'm still waiting ...
96 shipping delay
Just wanted to let everyone know. The time from order to shipping on this phone is over a week which means that it's probably too late to order for Xmas at this point. The TMobile T610 ships almost immediately.
The other thing to consider is that the TMobile T610 is actually cheaper than this phone since the supposed -$150 price is only for a two year contract. With a one year contract, the price is only -$75. TMobile with one year contract is -$100.
Also TMobile has better service plans.
97 Ericsson t616 - Excellent
I've had my t616 for about 5 days now, and am impressed by the quality, the clarity and features.
The camera leaves a lot to be desired, but the call quality is wonderful. I got it in part to other reviews I read and the availability of accessories for it.
I beamed over contacts from my pocket pc and palm os devices with minimum hassle, as well as being able to send and receive contacts from other bluetooth/infrared phone users.
98 Best ever
I love this phone! I mean it's got tons of cool features... small.. battery doesn't drain like all my freinds... I get better reception better then all my friends that don't have this phone.... Bluetooth is rad too. Get this phone it's worth every penny
99 AT&T Customer Service SUCKS! Great Phone.
AT&T customer service sucks. I was with Sprint PCS before, and their customer service was far better. I am regretting the move. BEWARE OF AT&T.
Great phone. Good features. But in a noisy environment you would not hear what the other party is saying. The maximum sound (both ringer and call volume) in this phone is almost equal to the minimum sound with my previous Samsung A500 Sprint phone.
Other than the issue with the audio volume I am very happy with the phone, but once again AT&T has a very bad customer service. I would not recommend anyone to come to AT&T.
100 Best phone I've had... but NOT a world phone
IMPORTANT: This phone is marketed as a world phone. It is NOT a world phone. (The European version - T610 - is a world phone.) The T616 is for the North American market. The GSM standard in The States isn't yet as far reaching so there is now an 850mhz frequency to supplement the 1900mhz. The T616 is equipped with this "filler" frequency as well as the standard N. American 1900mhz. The third band (1800) is used in Europe and other places as well. So, this is a tri-band phone, but it is not a world phone. True world phones us 900mhz instead of 850. 900mhz is used in Australia and New Zealand. If this important to you, DO NOT purchase a T616. World phones need 900/1800/1900. Keep in mind, most salespersons aren't aware of this.
That "said," the T616 has a clean, elegant design. It's very well equipped with lots of functional features. Fits anywhere. Holds a decent amount of photos, even more if you delete excess ring tones and games. Picture quality is as good as camera phone photos are. It has both bluetooth, infrared and USB connection. The phone also allows callers to conference call with up to five other parties... and even click one aside for a private while the others chat. Great feature if you need it.
The screen is hard to see in the outdoor sun light.
A speakerphone would be nice, but for the price and size, it's a VERY well equipped phone. As it is not a flip phone, it can be answered with one hand and the body integrity is solid.
Aside from the world phone lie, this is the best of the seven mobile phones I've had over the years. Because it has the additional N. American frequency, it probably gets better GSM coverage than other tri-band GSMs with only the 1900.
