I assume that you have already researched with specs of WT19i and familiar with Qualcomm Chipset, Scorpion 1GHz processor, Adreno GPU, 512MB RAM and Android 2.3 (Upgradeable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich). I dont want to go much in to tech specs. I just like to share you how it feels like to own this palmtop? whatever.
After receiving the hike for this year from my employer, I decided to buy an Android phone. This time I didnt do the usual web analysis. Instead I had a hands on experience with my friends’ phones. Since there are too many android phones in the market I didnt even remember the model names of some of phones I tried. Moreover I was in a rush to select a model. But one model that caught my attention was Sony Ericsson WT19i and Xperia Pro. But I loved the front camera and Walkman factor of Sony Ericsson WT19i. So without thinking any further I decided and bought it on first week of July at Univercell, Kanchipuram. Its a white coloured one.
As usual my luck worked out and the keypad light of one of the touch sensitive keys got glitchy. Though its not a big issue, its a heart-breaking behaviour for a new phone you bought just one day back. It totally spoiled my mood and I was cursing the Univercell dealers, because they said that they cant replace it and they can only fix it through authorised Sony service centers. Anyway in the meantime I just played around with it.
The phone comes with a USB charger and you can use the same to link to AC adapter. This is a great feature as I can use USB extension cables to conveniently charge my phone while I’m in bed or couch.
As soon as I connected the phone to the PC, it asked me if I need to install PC suite in my computer. This looked new to me as I dont have much of experience with Android phones. Once Sony PC Companion suite is installed it downloaded some updates. One thing I noticed is that when I opened Updated Centre from my phone it stated “Your phone already has the latest available system updates”, but as soon as I connected it to the PC, the PC suite notified that a new Software Update is available. Its nothing but Android ICS update for WT19i. I clicked OK and accepted some warnings about performance issues. I decided to go ahead and installed it.
It took sometime to download and my phone has to be switched off a couple of times. When the phone booted after the update, the Sony Ericsson splash screen turned in to Sony Walkman with a logo animation. I obviously missed the tiny green Sony Ericsson ball. After the update my phone turned in to a power hungry monster. I had to disable certain features like Facebook Inside Xperia ( which you can do with Performance Assistant). The HD video recording too got stubborn. These are known bugs reported in Sony forum. My advice will be to stick to Android Ginger Bread until some enhancements are released for ICS. Anyway I loved the fresh interface and Icons of Android ICS. Its has some advanced developer options too.
I had to protect the elegant white surface of my phone with a silicon case. I ordered nCase from Flipkart. Though it doesnt make a style statement, it turns my phone in to a military grade sturdy gadget, with handling grips on lateral sides. I like it this way better.
I ordered a scratch guard too along with the case. But I’m not going to stick it until it get serviced. As I’m not sure if they are gonna replace the screen in service center.
This being a Walkman phone, this review is incomplete without a mention about sound quality. The phone comes with a ear bud type headset. The device itself has a xLoud feature which makes your music audible well in high volumes without any distortion. As I already own a Sony Walkman NWZ A844 player I can feel a stark difference in the music quality of this phone. In short its much better than the dedicated Sony Walkman player. Unfortunately my Sony Walkman player headphone is incompatible with the phone. You could spot the physical difference in the picture below. The one in the left it is Sony Player’s headphone and the right is Sony Ericsson Phone’s headset pin.
Another picture of ear buds. Though Sony Ericsson’s headset in the left looks less complex than Sony’s headphone, the music quality is much better in WT19i because of xLoud feature.
Other than these the front camera in the phone is very useful for face to face video calls, otherwise you might need to flip the phone to show yourself in the back cam and you cannot view the callers at the same time.
The 5MP back camera makes decent shots of high quality. Some of the shots taken during daytime are here for your judgement.
So the final judgement is here. I believe that many of you might be fancying about buying an Android phone, so as to have Hollywood style device thats connected to internet 24x7 with GPS tracking always on. Talking with friends with video call in 3G. But in reality it sucks, seriously. You have to disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 2G/3G data most of the time to sustain battery. All the apps and stuffs are mere internet apps and nothing special. They are not gonna add any special functionalities to your phone. They are gonna make only your existing functionalities easily accessible. The only invisible power thats driving this craze is the internet connection. So its your internet connection that decides the usability factor of your phone. That too if you are affordable to have an unlimited 3G connection. So decide very well before buying a smartphone, whether you really need one. Within two days I felt like switching back to my Nokia C2 dual SIM phone, as I’m living in suburban interiors with poor connectivity. I can only use fast network through Wi-Fi during weekends in my parents’ home. Though I have a High Speed CDMA connection in my above said interior shady town. I cant use it with my GSM network (Note that the WCDMA & GSM network in the phone is different from CDMA network. The CDMA SIM card is incompatible with the Sony Ericsson WT19i). Anyway the music factor and the Android power still keeps me going and I love this phone very much.
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