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Sony Ericsson T616 Phone - Next Generation (AT&T)

Sony Ericsson T616 Phone - Next Generation (AT&T)

List Price: $199.99
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Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 .. 12 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I should have bought this phone from Amazon!!
Review: I made the mistake of buying it directly from the ATT&T Wireless web site and my experience with them was horrible. I checked their web site for order status and was greeted with a message that said an email had been sent to me requesting additional information to process the order. The trouble was that no email had been sent!! Worse, when I tried to contact customer service by phone, the order status line was busy for hours at a time. When I finally got through, I was put on hold for over 20 minutes and then disconnected.....twice.

I have never had these problems with Amazon. Or any problems.

The phone, however, was delivered in an acceptable four days from the time I placed the order with ATT&T and I must say it was worth the aggravation.

If you like the way it looks (and I do), you can't help but be impressed with the build quality of this phone. All first-rate materials, with aluminum cladding on the front bottom third, aluminum covering the back bottom two-thirds and aluminum on the sides. The balance is high-density black lustrous plastic. This is a solid phone.

So how does it work? Very well. I live in New York City and I have used it all over town. I had it with me upstate and it worked fine by the side of a lake. No dropped calls. Anywhere. The sound quality emphasises the higher frequencies, which is good for these aging ears, but the sound is not quite as good as, say, the Motorola V60 which this phone has replaced.

The features packed into this phone are extraordinary and it will double as a PDA. Entries can be made either directly or via infrared or bluetooth with your computer. The camera function is good for a spontaneous snapshot, but you won't want to use it for important pictures.

Yes, the screen is a fingerprint magnet and the screen is washed out in bright sunlight. Shield it with your hand and you can see it. Before you buy it anywhere, check out the offers on the ATT&T website. The phone was offered at the same price as here, but with an instant rebate one one hundred fifty dollars, which meant I paid fifty dollars when I bought it directly from ATT&T. However, they offered me an extra one hundred anytime minutes a month for the life of the contract which works out to about two dollars a month for those extra one hundred anytime minutes over two years. IMHO, a better deal than getting the phone for free.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Sony=Quality, Sony-Ericsson=Nightmare
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Good Cell Phone
Review: 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.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Bluetooth is great, pretty, other than that... not much
Review: This was my first non-Nokia phone, and I too returned it at the end of the 30 day AT&T no-questions asked return period. I've had AT&T for years, though this was my first digital. I've always had great customer service from them ....

T616 Positives:
- Beautiful looking, small, lightweight.

- Display has great color graphics and themes.

- Bluetooth synching my contacts via isync on my mac was fantastic. See below for limitations though.

- Bluetooth for internet access: My friend uses his to access the internet via his Powerbook. When I saw that was when I wanted to buy this phone! But he has Sprint with unlimited data. AT&T doesn't offer an unlimited data plan. I imagine with AT&T internet access could get pricey.

- Fun taking my friends photos (yes, grainy, but fine for a phone) and and assigning them to their contact info so that their photo would turn up when they called.

- Good loud rings, sounds great though the first ring is softer.

- AT&T customer service and return policy.

However, other than that, this phone was pretty limited:

- It took quite a bit of manipulation to get my mac's address book fields matching (several syncs to see what went where and reorganizing the contacts on my computer that were going into the phone) and it does not store addresses. Limited length on what you can save in the Calendar or transfer from iCal. Not a PDA replacement by any means.

-The keys are so small (and this phone was the same dimensions as my last phone) I was constantly hitting the wrong ones. Forget texting or trying to enter an appointment.

- Display: Tiny display fonts very hard to read. Agree with other reviewers too that its unreadable in daylight.

- Slow response time. I like that you can press the joystick to select (rather than having to use a different key like you do on Nokias), to search for a name in a big contact list is slow... it hestiates between each step.

- You have to have it positioned exactly right on your ear to hear what the other person is saying, so each call is this moving around the phone to get it just right. Once you do that though, the sound quality is crystal... but what good is that if you aren't getting your calls or can't make them?

- Battery life. I am a very light user and had to charge it every other day at least. Other phones I've had could go many more days.

- I couldn't get the phone to send pictures to anyone. Friend on Sprint couldn't get his photos to send to me either. Couldn't figure out how to bluetooth them into my computer but didn't try too hard.

- Navigation system is counter-intuitive, though I was using this phone for 28 days and read the manual. To lock the keys if the phone has to go to sleep requires pressing a key to wake it up, then clearing what you've pressed, then pressing two more keys. Everything took more steps than my previous phones, and in the end the annoyance was too great.

- Reception was awful compared to all my previous phones. Sitting side by side with someone also on AT&T digital, their phone (Nokia 6800) got two bars and mine was red with no service. This was in LA, NY and Boston metro areas. Sometimes it would tell me I had service but then suddenly I would get three calls that had gone to voicemail, some of them from hours earlier. Never had this happen before on other phones.

....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty neat phone...
Review: ...but I don't like the AT&T service all that much. Methinks T-Mobile is much better, and less expensive, too! The stuff that came with the phone (ringers and such) are a bit campy. I found a link to http://muwap.com here on amazon (with the 10% off coupon) and downloaded everything I needed. I'd buy the phone again in a heartbeat, but I'd go with T-Mobile service this time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great!
Review: 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

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: AT&T is a Nightmare
Review: 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.

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".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I should have bought this phone from Amazon!!
Review: I made the mistake of buying it directly from the ATT&T Wireless web site and my experience with them was horrible. I checked their web site for order status and was greeted with a message that said an email had been sent to me requesting additional information to process the order. The trouble was that no email had been sent!! Worse, when I tried to contact customer service by phone, the order status line was busy for hours at a time. When I finally got through, I was put on hold for over 20 minutes and then disconnected.....twice.

I have never had these problems with Amazon. Or any problems.

The phone, however, was delivered in an acceptable four days from the time I placed the order with ATT&T and I must say it was worth the aggravation.

If you like the way it looks (and I do), you can't help but be impressed with the build quality of this phone. All first-rate materials, with aluminum cladding on the front bottom third, aluminum covering the back bottom two-thirds and aluminum on the sides. The balance is high-density black lustrous plastic. This is a solid phone.

So how does it work? Very well. I live in New York City and I have used it all over town. I had it with me upstate and it worked fine by the side of a lake. No dropped calls. Anywhere. The sound quality emphasises the higher frequencies, which is good for these aging ears, but the sound is not quite as good as, say, the Motorola V60 which this phone has replaced.

The features packed into this phone are extraordinary and it will double as a PDA. Entries can be made either directly or via infrared or bluetooth with your computer. The camera function is good for a spontaneous snapshot, but you won't want to use it for important pictures.

Yes, the screen is a fingerprint magnet and the screen is washed out in bright sunlight. Shield it with your hand and you can see it. Before you buy it anywhere, check out the offers on the ATT&T website. The phone was offered at the same price as here, but with an instant rebate one one hundred fifty dollars, which meant I paid fifty dollars when I bought it directly from ATT&T. However, they offered me an extra one hundred anytime minutes a month for the life of the contract which works out to about two dollars a month for those extra one hundred anytime minutes over two years. IMHO, a better deal than getting the phone for free.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AT&T and Sprint...waste of time
Review: 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...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great tiny phone with good batteries
Review: 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.


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