Sony Ericsson Equinox Phone, Black (T-Mobile)

So far very pleased January 24, 2010

Reviewer:  La Marchesa  (California) -

Just bought it and have not used all the features yet. So far: sound/reception is very clear (which is what I wanted and what a phone should do). Battery life probably about 4 hours talk time, but too soon for me to be sure. Menu easy to use and can download manual from manufacturer's site. Transfer of media to PC and download very user friendly. Lots of features, though T-Mobile does not support some of them (make sure you check with your provider). The bad so far: not much memory, so you will need a memory card if planning to use the media features, whether video, music, or other. I haven't tested the quality of video and camera. Music speaker is great, considering it is only a phone. Summary: if you are looking for data/office/messaging primarily and the phone is your primary access to the web/e-mail, then this is not the best choice. This phone is a great option for those like me who are wanting an actual real phone with media (i.e. songs, radio, camera, video),internet and e-mail access, don't do tremendous amount of messaging, and everything else is a bonus. It also has a great task/organizer that is very easy to use. By the way, T-mobile has a very nice feature (web2go), which is a limited internet access, also for those who do not use the phone as a primary internet venue but want some internet capability. It is not available with most phones, where you have to buy the whole package (internet and messaging), but it is available with this phone, which makes it very affordable as you do not have to purchase the whole data package in addition to the phone. Also, the phone is just cool. Love when it lits up and the flip design is so much more convenient to hold than the sliders or data phones. Haven't used the radio yet. Hope this helps.

Good, would be better without T-Mobile messing with it February 21, 2010

Reviewer:  A Customer "customer12345657"  (USA) -

As T-Mobile's new only-SonyEricsson-model, the T717 ("Equinox") has some, but not all, very nice features which are common to most SonyEricsson phones.

"Push" email! There isn't any reason why all phones shouldn't be able to do this, but only SonyEricsson bothers to. Push email means instant email delivery to your phone, no "dial out" interval needed because it is always connected.

Runs Java applications (games, Opera Mini, etc) very well. Games run smoothly, unlike Nokia's or Motorola's mid-price offerings.

Runs multiple games/apps at once. I can simultaneously run 2 games, 2 different web browsers, and Google Maps. That's pretty impressive for a phone this price. I don't yet know what its limit is. Obviously you don't "need" to do this, but it means you can do things like check a website without closing the game you are in the middle of. Note that your experience may vary, as apps take more memory when they have been running for some time, vs. just being opened.

SonyEricsson's handy popup menu is included (the little 2-box/camera button on the keypad). This is a little popup window which has tabs for currently-running applications, a list of custom shortcuts, and some other stuff. Remember all of those applications I was running? I can push this button and see everything the phone is doing.

Reception is improved over older models, which weren't too bad either. I can use this phone in a few corners where others don't work.

As always, sound quality is just fine, and the ringer is also loud and clear.

The display is a fine resolution of 240x320 with high visibility and well-saturated color.

Any sound file can be set for any sound function. Alarms, SMS, email, and ring tones can be customized with any MP3 or MIDI you load to the phone (with simple drag-and-drop mass storage mode). The phone does not throw a fit if the MP3 is too high quality, or if the file is not in a special folder.


Now here's the lame stuff about the T717, all due to T-Mobile's meddling with what otherwise would have been the perfect model T707:

1. 2 of the 4 D-pad shortcuts are permanently set to recent calls and the phonebook. This is completely stupid, because the Send key is already a shortcut for recent calls (like every other phone in the world), and one of the softkeys below the screen is already set to the phone book! Those fascist punks at T-Mobile hijacked 2 of your shortcut keys for functions which already have dedicated buttons!

2. T-Mobile has removed Sony's awesome TrackID feature, present on most of their phones including the T707, but not the T717. TrackID records music via the microphone (e.g., playing in a restaurant or in a TV show), then connects to a server to identify the song. What is that song playing in the background of that video? Sony would tell you, but T-Mobile doesn't want you to know.

3. T-Mobile has insisted on some goofy rotating animated main menu, instead of the standard 4x3 icon grid like other Sony models (and like most other brands). Instead of 12 icons, you get 6. Everything is buried deeper than it normally would be with a normal menu, and unlike non-T-Mobile SonyEricsson models which allow different menu styles, T-Mobile will not let you change it.

4. Though T-Mobile is "nice" enough to not block Opera Mini from accessing the Internet (as they do on other phones), the phone is still hacked by T-Mobile to block unsigned games/apps. Ad-supported free games, unsigned messaging apps, and other such things won't work, even though you paid for the phone and the Internet service to use it.

5. The web softkey on the home screen is permanently set to the T-Mobile home page. You can change the web browser's homepage setting, but the web shortcut still goes to the page T-Mobile wants you to see.


Although this phone is actually less-restricted than other T-Mobile options, and has a few powerful features, it is still not a substitute for buying an unlocked, un-hacked phone outside of a carrier's offerings.


However, despite T-Mobile's evil input, this phone is actually better than their others. If you want to access your GMail account on your phone, but don't want a Blackberry or Windows phone, this is the only T-Mobile phone with instant email delivery. The large screen and strong processor (compared to other brands in the same price range) are good for running games (so long as they don't need Internet connection). For a lot of people, this is a 4-star phone. But I have to give it 3, knowing how much crippling has been done to it.



Tips:
1. If you are annoyed by the unnecessary complexity of the media menu, there is a simple file manager under the organizer menu. I have a shortcut directly to the file manager.

2. This is a great phone for Opera Mini 5 (much better than the built-in browser on any phone--go to [...] on the phone and download it), but thanks to T-Mobile it is unable to install the unsigned beta version. Either use the signed version of 4.2, or poke around on the download page for 5.0 until you get to the signed option.

3. Google maps runs just fine on this phone, but for some reason Google's download page has trouble identifying the phone and serving a working version. If this is still screwed up when you try it, go to [...] instead, and download it from them.

4. Of course T-Mobile removed SonyEricsson's links to [mostly] free games, ringers, and apps. However, you can still point the phone's browser to [...] to download a bunch of free stuff.

pretty good phone, not a PDA, but phone March 16, 2010

Reviewer:  This Guy  (L.A. (you know, Latin America)) -

It's a good phone. It's email capable and it's browsing isn't terrible. The only real drawback is that it uses M2 cards for extra memory. Not too many places you can find those these days. But other than that it is a good phone that's small and doesn't look like an ATM on you hip.

It's good, but with some issues. June 7, 2010

Reviewer:  Skogkatt  (San Francisco, Ca USA) -

I just got this phone recently after saying goodbye to AT&T. The issues I have with the phone is Sony's dumb insistence on using proprietary hardware on their phones( Memory Card and Headphones). It begs to ask the question " Why can't Sony be like other companies, and use similar HARDWARE!!! on their PHONES!!! Maybe they just want to stand out, but it still makes no sense. One day, Sony might "Get It", but I doubt it.

Disappointment May 6, 2010

Reviewer:  Stephanie "greens4life"  (Utah United States) -

There are good things about this phone, like how fast it charges, but I would not buy it again. The worst thing about it is how poorly the texting interprets the words I mean to text. For example, whenever I want to text "of", it always uses "me". It does not seems as good as my old Verizon phone, which was much better at adapting to what I mean to type. It also would not be worth it to me because I believe the company is extremely dishonest.