Overview
Introduction
One of Sony Ericsson’s newest candy bar design phones, the T230 incorporates the features we’re finding in larger handsets in its small design. Like its brothers and sisters from the T series of Sony Ericsson phones, the T230 is a great phone for anyone in need of a small, feature packed handset that they can take full advantage of.
If you need to show someone where you are, or something has caught your eye, keep that image forever by attaching the camera (sold separately) and capturing the moment! The CommuniCam utilizes the MMS and e-mail features of the phone, with great clear images able to be sent around the world in seconds! Polyphonic ring tones like they should be; the T230 is a delight to use - and to show off! =)
New/outstanding features
So what you may ask, is new in the T230? You may think that because the T230 is small, it lacks the features we all love and have seen in the newer handsets - but you’re wrong!
My first Sony Ericsson phone ever, I was amazed at the features that I have seen in other phones that have been adopted by Sony - and utilized to their maximum potential. Long SMS messaging, GRPS, pre-installed and downloadable Mophun games, and 32 cord polyphonic ring tones are just some of the features Sony Ericsson have put into the T230.
Games, messages, photos, ring tones, and contacts can all be stored on the internal 1mB shared memory, more than some larger phones I have used. There is no external memory on the T230, but the 1mB of space in this little baby should be enough for any user.
Seen in other Sony Ericsson handsets, the T230 has a 9 icon desktop menu where the user has access to everything - games, messages, settings, photo and sound gallery, call logs and the organiser.
The T230 unfortunately doesn’t have any interchangeable covers, as only the back part comes off to reveal the battery and SIM card inserts. It’s a bit of a pity, because with a phone like this you’d want to spice up the outside to match the inside! =) You can however get the T230 in two colours, Steel Blue or Blade Gray.
Physical aspects
The T230 is what I would call a ‘cute’ phone, the blues and silvers and the yellow key backlight all compliment each other.
Like mentioned above, the T230 doesn’t have interchangeable back or front covers, but the smooth lines and sleek look make up for it. Beautifully crafted, the ‘frame’ part around the display is a dark blue which matches with the four way navigational keys surrounded by silver. The rest of the casing of the phone is a silver grey colour, except for the sides which are a plastic blue colour. On the behind of the handset is the same silver/grey colour with the Sony Ericsson logo protruding out of it. A blue gap the in middle at the top of the phone is where one can attach the wristband - a great idea considering most other manufacturers put a wristband insert on the side of the phone.
A yellow backlight on the keypad compliments the silver buttons, which are neatly separated so they’re not too close together, and not to small so you’ll hit a range of different keys at once. The T230 is one of the smallest phones I’ve ever used, but there are smaller. At only 80 grams and 101.5 x 43.5 x 19mm it fits neatly in your hand, you can cup it when holding it against your ear as well. The phone is also big enough that you can hold it with your shoulder when you need two hands elsewhere without it being uncomfortable.
Alike the T310, the T230 has a push off backing instead of one where you have to push in a button to release it. Holding down the top and sliding it off will reveal the battery where you can put in your SIM card or change the battery.
The T230 would look almost square if it didn’t have sloping sides and a rounded bottom and top. The phone can easily slip into your pants pocket or even your t-shirt pocket. The wrist strap means you could hold it in your hands instead, but be sure not to bang it against anything! =)
On the left side of the phone where it is blue, there are the up/down volume buttons which can be used during a call. These two keys are soft keys, alike with the 0-9, *, and # keys on the T230; the navigational key and selection key is a hard plastic. When the phone is idle and you press one of these buttons the phone’s details are shown (Model number etc). Pressing up twice when someone is calling will reject the call. Alike with all other Sony Ericsson phones, there is no extra on and off button, the No/Hang up button is the on/off button as well. The charging port and connector for headsets/other accessories is located at the bottom of the phone, situated in a rectangle shaped holder.
User Interface & display
The user interface of the T230 is much like what you would have seen in the T310 and earlier models.
The main ‘desktop’ of the phone shows the service providers name (YES OPTUS, Virgin, etc), then underneath that on the left the phone line is shown, and underneath that the GSM reception and GRPS reception. On the right of the reception indicator you will find the time, and then the battery level on the far right. You can tell all the vitals of the phone straight from the display.
When I received my T230 trial unit I was a bit disappointed because the screen was only very small (101 x 80 pixels), and still sitting on 4,096 colours. An upgraded screen, possibly 128 x 128 would still keep the phone small, but would make much more able to fit in the display; however the phone is normally set to use the ‘Normal’ size font, but you can change that to ‘Small’ and you will fit more on the screen. The 4,096 colours didn’t bother me that much, because 65,536 colour displays are not usually used in standard design phones. Maybe the next candy bar design phone by Sony Ericsson will have a larger screen - but still be small. ;)
A press of the silver selection key in the middle of the directional square brings up the 9 icon menu. The cursor is automatically positioned at the first selection, which is the Phonebook. The icons are in a similar order to Nokia phones like the 6610 or 7250i, so if you have used these phones before you will be able to work your way around the T230 with no problem. All icons on the T230 are easily identifiable, ie an envelope for messages, spanner for settings - but if you can’t figure out the top section of the screen will tell you as well ;). Functions of the phone are also neatly organised in vertical lists, and actually say what they mean - not like other phones with are like a maze and extremely confusing to operate. The menus are cleanly displayed and easily accessible, even the technology phobic will enjoy it!
A few keys are multi-talented, and have more than one operation. Already I spoke above about the on and off buttons, the other multi-talented key is the ‘1’ key like on other phones, you hold it down and you can automatically jump straight to your voicemail box after it has been set up in messages.
Changeable backgrounds make the T230 much more personalized, and they look great too. When the phone has been idle for about 30 seconds the key lock is enabled (if set), and the screensaver appears, which is the clock; very much like the Series 40 of Nokia phones. The white numbers are surrounded by a black display, so you can easily whip out your phone and check the time without having to adjust your eyes.
As far as using the T230 in sunny conditions, there is absolutely no problem. In the shade the backlight does its job, and when in the sun the white light makes possible viewing everything that is on screen. You’ll have no problem operating the T230 at the beach on a sunny day. You may soak up the sun, but this little handset sure doesn’t! When in extremely dark situations, the keys backlight and the lights from the screen are very bright and do their job well. I haven’t found a situation yet when I couldn’t see the display - great work Sony Ericsson!
Making and receiving calls
I had no problems using the trail unit T230 I received. Everyone could hear me properly, although the audio on my end could have been a bit louder.
The phone sits in your hand nicely when it comes to holding it, but mentioned before holding it with your shoulder shouldn’t be a problem either. Because of the shape of the phone it is comfortable to hold when talking, and if it’s comfortable and people can hear you, it gets my approval. =)
Making calls is easy, just dial in the number and press the Yes button. The call will is then connected, and it will start ringing. You can also call a person in your phonebook by pressing the down button (or up button) on the navigational key and choosing your contact then pressing the Yes button. You will go to a screen with the numbers and details connected to that name, simply select one and press the Yes button again to start the call to that number. Instead of pressing down and scrolling through all your contacts, you can instead press the first letter of the name you want on your keypad and the selection will jump to the first name with that letter as the first in the name - easy!
To pick up when someone rings, just press the Yes button. If you don’t want to accept the call, you can press the No button, or press the up volume button twice in a row to reject the call. The call will then be routed to the voicemail if it’s set up, or simply hung up on. If you’ve set up a picture for the caller who is calling, you’ll easily be able to identify them and reject the call if you don’t want to talk to that particular person! =)
The T230 doesn’t have a speakerphone, which is unfortunate if you don’t want to hold the phone. A hands free headset is the only option for using the T230 on the road.
The 32 chord polyphonic ring tones will assure that you know whose phone is ringing when you’re in a bunch of people, because yours will sound extremely real and clear. A delight to the ears, the T230’s tones are downloadable from a data-cable or from the mobile internet.
Messaging
The Sony Ericsson T230 has support for SMS, extra long SMS, EMS, MMS, internet e-mail, and SMS Chat.
Some mobile phones have support for email via MMS, but this is only sending e-mail. The T230 offers the option to set up your normal e-mail account that you may use on your home PC. The phone can connect via your GPRS settings to the internet, then connect to your mail server and download your mail. Then, you can write e-mail, and send it straight from the phone, and it will look like it’s from your normal e-mail account on your PC. The T230 supports POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP protocols for e-mail downloading and sending, so check with your provider before you set it up on your phone. Contacting people on the go has never been so easy with the T230!
Because the T230 can record voice, you can add that to your MMS messages! Instead of showing someone just add a picture and some text - add some audio and show that you really care. You can then also send that MMS message with audio, text, and pictures to an e-mail address. Considering not everyone has an MMS based handset yet, sending to e-mail is a great idea!
Along with SMS, EMS is supported on this Sony Ericsson handset. EMS is Enhanced Messaging Service, where text messages and more than just text messages. You can add subject lines, format the text size, text style, alignment, or even add paragraphs to your messages. Black and white pictures are also supported for EMS messages, just like those old picture messages you used to get!
Predictive text input, aka T9 by Tegic Communications is the way to write message quickly and without the hassle of multiple taps of a single button to get one letter. When writing a message, you simply have to tap the key that has the letter you want on it, such as 3-6-6-8 for ‘don’t’, and the phone will automatically choose which word has that combination of letters and is first alphabetically. Of course, it’s not always 100% right, and by choosing from the menu that pops up you can select the word you needed - or you can change the settings of the phone so the menu doesn’t come up, and you only have to press the down navigational key to select which work you want, which I find much easier. If the word you want isn’t in the phones dictionary, pressing the options key and selecting ‘Spell Word’ will let you type in the word and save it to your dictionary - the phone now knows this word! Accept the word and place a space after it by pressing #. Phones are pretty smart these days aren’t they! =)
The 1mb of shared memory available on the T230 includes memory for MMS, e-mail, and SMS messages, so you may have to delete some messages to receive new ones if you have heaps in your inbox. 1mB is a fair amount, so only a heavy mobile phone user would fill it up too quickly.
Connectivity
The T230 doesn’t support Bluetooth or Infra-red, but a data-cable is available from Sony Ericsson stores or no-name ones are available from other locations. It’s always better if you use the official Sony Ericsson ones, because you know they’re going to work - they’re made by the manufacturer!
Two types of data-cable are available, the serial port data-cable, and a USB version. They both do the same job; one is just for those with a USB port, and one for those with only serial ports! The USB version also lets you charge your phone while it’s plugged in so you’ll never run out of power, and is much faster.
When connected to both a computer and the phone, the data-cables can use the phones internal modem to connect to the internet while on the go, making internet access from any where (in GRPS/GSM receptive areas) possible. The cables also are able to synchronize your alerts and phone book, and exchange data like pictures and sounds - an alternate to downloading them via the WAP browser which may be very expensive.
The cables won’t cost you an arm and a leg, so if you want to personalize your phone to the max it’s probably a good investment for you. The cables work with a range of Sony Ericsson phones, so if the whole family have different Sony Ericsson models you can use the same cable. Talk about convenience!
Build quality
What could you expect from Sony Ericsson, two of the biggest telecommunications manufacturers in the world joined forces but excellent build quality?
Explained above are the details of the phone and the look of it. I didn’t find any major problems with the build quality of the phone, everything fits in its spot without extra force, and it doesn’t sound like anything is going to break off when you use it.
When the back cover is pushed down and slid off the battery is exposed and all you have to do to remove it is put your finger underneath the little tab on the battery and lift up. Once the battery is out you can then remove or insert the SIM card. It’s a bit tricky to do, probably the hardest thing to manoeuvre on the T230. You have to lift up the top of it, and then push it out at the same time - and if you’re like me with no nails it’s a bit tricky!
Place the battery back in, slide the cover on, and you’re off! You can’t take off any other parts of the phone, so there is nothing else to explain about the build quality - it’s all good.
Battery life
The T230’s Lithium-ion BST-30 670 mAh battery wasn’t everything I expected at first, but I was at fault. I had accidentally set the phone’s display to be lit at all times, which after the first full charge ripped the battery’s life up really fast. Once I figured out what was wrong and turned it off, I had no problems with the battery.
Sony Ericsson says that the standby time is up to 300 hours, and the talk time is 730 minutes - and I firmly believe that!
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Take a closer look!
Take a closer look!
Overview (Page 1)
