Digital Trends

Sony Ericsson P910a

May 17th, 2005 | by Brandon King

Testing and Use

We tested the 3 main connectivity methods: cellular quality, Bluetooth, and base station to PC. We found cellular connectivity to be excellent overall throughout our use. While this will vary between carriers and their support in your area, we were able to get 4+ bars at almost any location in the Chicago and Providence areas, with only a 1 bar drop indoors. Most locations were reachable by GPRS, as well.

We tested the Bluetooth connectivity between the Kensington Bluetooth 1.2 USB adapter, the Jabra BT800 headset, and with a Toyota Prius. We had no problems with any of the above devices. File transfers and syncing with Outlook with our desktop was simple and quick. The connection quality between the Jabra and P910a never dropped. We were somewhat concerned that the Prius connection would be difficult, since it is known to be picky about supported profiles. We were pleasantly surprised that the P910a was always automatically detected without any trouble. We noticed that the connection remained active between the two even when we were close to 15ft. from the car. Transfer of phonebook contents were smoothly from the P910 side, with just some issues of unrecognized characters on the car side. When a call comes in, the choice of connected devices appears, letting the user select which source they would like to speak over. If one is used to answer the call, that source is automatically selected.

Desktop connectivity is clearly the P910's Achilles' heel. We had a terrible time getting the desktop to recognize the P910 in the cradle. We had to uninstall Zone Alarm Pro before it would work at all. Even disabling the software was not enough. Also, it is strongly recommended that you uninstall any Sony Clie software — which isn't unrealistic, since you won't need it after you get this phone. Be warned: Sony Ericsson support will try to pass the blame to any other piece of software you have installed whether it is realistic or not. We were told that our issues with syncing the device with Outlook 2003 were:

“...related to your Outlook and your registry, you may need to contact your PC manufacturer to have this issue resolved.  If you wish to synchronize, you may want to use a different computer.”

Our computer was built in house, with a fresh copy of Outlook 2003. Because we had issues with actually having the P910a being recognized at all by the PC, once that issue was resolved, so while our issues with desktop connectivity were not common, they were not completely uncommon either — hope that makes sense. Some users of the P910a have reported success with Zone Alarm and desktop synchronizing on the first attempt. Other users have reported problems with syncing between the phone and Outlook, which we have not found. However, categories are not synchronized, so be aware that you will have to re-categorize your contacts. After the syncing issue was resolved, we had no problems at all. And we didn't have to wipe our registry or contact our ‘manufacturer'. On a lighter note, the sales department that we spoke to while placing our order was extremely friendly and helpful, and did not try to push unnecessary accessories. It was one of the best interactions we've ever had with a salesperson in recent memory.