My Phonex

What things have gone wrong with the mobile phone?

I have recently acquired the phone (June ‘07)

And can say that this is even worse than my previous model (w800i), mine being the ‘upgraded’ k810i model.

This phone was fine to begin with, but recently it has developed scratches to the screen under very light use, and has also developed what can only be described as a ’smudge’ mark on the screen, which changes with colour.

T-mobile want to repair, but I want to change phones; Sony Ericssons whilst nice phones, are badly built!

General comments?

Overall the phone is quite good, the camera is top quality at 3.2 megapixel, so photos are sharp and clear; this is the best bit about the phone really.

The styling is an acquired taste; I didn’t like it at first, looked too bland and boring, however this grew on me, so I think it looks OK now.

One big word of advice if thinking of this phone is, BUY A PROTECTIVE COVER! And possibly some shrink wrap, the slightest hint of a knock or scrape will damage this phone easily, don’t believe me? Have this phone just in your pocket for a few weeks day to day, and in about 4-5 weeks there will be little scratches all over the screen! This is something that happened to my last phone as well (W800i), but the phone before that (Samsung D500) was far superior in terms of build quality and materials used.

The screen on the Samsung only got about 2 small scratches in 2 years! Not 5 weeks!

Also another point worth mentioning is the texting; whilst on the w800i it was fast, on this it is painfully slow! Which proves very frustrating when you’re in a rush and think you haven’t pressed a button, so you press it again and then the phone catches up with you, and it’s pressed twice! Arrgghhh! This makes using the phone hard; I would say use at a leisurely pace! This goes for flicking fast between menus as well; the phone can’t keep up with fast user input. This is sad really as it’s supposed to be a new model (even 6 year old Nokias don’t suffer this!)

The rest of the phone boasts good features like the top quality camera, fast WAP and so on, but the above problems really are bad downfalls for this phone, and a good camera cannot make up for them.

My next phone will definitely not be Sony Ericsson.

Screen

262k TFT Colour Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)

Imaging
3.2 Megapixel Camera
Cyber-shot™ Camera
Digital Zoom
Auto Focus
Xenon Flash
Image Stabiliser
Photo Fix
BestPic™
Picture Blogging
Red Eye Reduction
Video Call
Video Clip
Video Record
Video Stabiliser
Video Streaming
VideoDJ™
SVG Tiny 1.1
Screensaver
Themes Display
Wallpaper Animation

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Push Email
Predictive Text
Long SMS Messaging
Sound Recorder

Sound
Media Player
FM Radio RDS
Music Tones
Polyphonic Ringtones
TrackID™
PlayNow™
MusicDJ™
Bluetooth® Stereo (A2DP)
Vibrating Alert

Entertainment
3D Games
Java™ Games

Organiser
Phone Book
Alarm Clock
Stopwatch
Timer
Business Card Exchange
Calculator
Calendar
Notes
Tasks
Flight Mode
Conference Calls
Speakerphone
Vibrating Alert

Connectivity
3G
Bluetooth®
Fast Port
GPRS
Infra Red Port
Synchronisation PC
USB

Network
Tri Band Technology (GSM 900, 1800 & 1900)
UMTS 2100

Internet
Web Browser
RSS Feeds
Modem

Memory & Talk Time
64 Mbytes Memory Plus Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™)
10 Hours Talk Time
400 Hours Standby

Weight & Size
115 g
106 x 48 x 17 mm

Attention : Always back-up the files that you’re going to change and do this at your own risk

Expand SMS Memory

1. Browse to the folder /ifs/settings/messaging/ with FAR Manager
2. select pref_store.txt an hit F4
3. Just change "/smsdata" in "/tpa"
4. Save the changes
5. go back to "root" like mb-new description and shutdown the loader
6. Now restart your Phone and be happy

Set ring volume as player volume

Copy file farfield_play.apf to any folder of PC, rename it to farfield_ring.apf and copy back. So file farfield_ring.apf in phone is replaced by file with settings of farfield_play.apf. Now we have 2 same files but different names.

Killing camera sound

Go to FS/tpa/preset/system/sound and delete file camerashutter.3gp and for killing autofocus sound delete file camerafocus.3gp.

Killing MobilePrint

Go to FS/tpa/preset/system/ams and delete MOBILEPRINT.jad and MOBILEPRINT.jar and have additional 361kb free memory. Unnecessary standard games & midlets are in FS/tpa/preset/default/java and to be deleted if you wish. In FS/tpa/preset/wizard you can delete 5 biggest by size GIF files.

Change sms sounds

FS/tpa/preset/system/sound delete message alert and put new one but with same name (messagealert1, messagealert2….)

Get rid of discharge battery sound

Go to FStpapresetsystemsoundlowbattery.mid and replace it the same name file with zero size.

Shutdown Sound

Navigate to /fs/tpa/preset/system/settings
Place any mp3 in there and rename to SHUTDOWN_SOUND_SEMC.mp3 and it will play it when you shut down the phone.

Change video recording quality

Go here using FAR. FS/ifs/settings/camera
Edit the driver.
Change the video recording to:

VR_NORMAL_MODE_FR=44;
VR_NIGHT_MODE_FR=28;

Get Rid of Hissing in Music Playback (Thanks to aksd)

With the FAR plugin replace these files located at: ifs/settings/acoustic
with: Nohissing
( SEE ATTACHED FILE NO HISSING.zip ) :

Backup your jar files

Go to tpa/perset/system/ams/And copy the files in there to your computer.

Removing the SE Links in folders

Go here tpapresetsystemcustmenu, and tpapresetcustom
Removing all the files from the custmenu folder, and all the .itm files from the second custom folder success****y removed the content hooks, as well as resetting my Play Now icon to the default SE one.
itm’s are tar files with images and xml files inside. The itm sits in presetcustom and get’s unpacked to presetsystemcustmenu on master reset. So DESKTOP_HOOK_1.itm contents get unpacked to presetsystemcustmenuDESKTOP_HOOK_1 when the phone is reset.

Increasing the size of the mms that you can send

FS/system/settings/messaging/mms
edit this.
<>100
change to.
<>300

To backup & restore contact voice comands

tpa/system/voicecontrol/stby
(Voice comands still need to be manually enabled after master reset, but this is no great problem – just a reminder!)

To backup & restore contact image associations

tpa/system/pbook/image
(Theseare not the actual images, just links to the files, so make sure you don’t change the location of the files between resets!)

Change the delivery report sound

Create a midi file named notification.mid and copy it into FS/tpa/preset/system/sound

1 = Opens menu with “picture size” ready to select
4 = Toggles Macro mode (for close up photos)
7 = Toggels Night mode
* = Toggles Light (I also find this is the fastest way to use the light as a torch in the dark)
0 = While in video mode toggles length of recording.

Mute camera sounds; Before opening the lense cover hold # to toggle between silent mode easially.

Change brightness = <>

To view IMEI number
*#06#

To view Software Version enter
-> * <- <- * <- * CLR (Use with Care)
The Latest Software Version is under Phone Info.

To fine tune sound and clean up any echos, place the 388 into the car kit HF 2600.
Then close all windows, engine off and type * # * # 3. The E 388 will fine-tune itself in about a few seconds.

To activate operator lock <- * * <- (This locks the phone to one carriers SIM card – Use with lots of care)

Press Yes to lock and No to notlock. You can also use the codes below to undo this function. USE AT OWN RISK
I have tested the function Lock to SP… At least on the 337 there’s a submenu: Enter SPCK-code. There are 5 attempts, which is showed (05 attempts). At final attempt the phone beeps as a warning, ’this is the final try’, when entering the menu… Wrong code exits the menu, so you are not stuck in something… When you have tried to enter the code (wrong) all five times, the menu is deactivated, and you’ll get: ’Not allowed’ when entering <-**<-

Accessing the Service Program that is not provided with the 388.
1. Connect the 388 to Cable with RS232/TTL converter.
2. Set Comport to 9600bps, 8 data, 1 stop, no parity.
3. Power ON, wait for "2" and send "0B" to the phone. DO NOT Press ENTER.
4. R should be on screen.
5. Send TEST.BIN. (Send as a binary file)
6. 388 should answer "SP,OK".
7. R should be on screen.

DO NOT write or read from the IMEI or SPCK area! If you try that you can send the phone to service at once, because you will automatically write FE or EF to EVERY cell in the EEPROM. In other words, all the calibration values for the radio is overwritten… (NOT good)
Some commands in the ServiceProg:
eere read from eeprom
eewe write eeprom
lime xxxx xxxx xxxx xxx Learn imei no. Returns Error.
imei – Displays IMEI number

To FlashProgram a 388:
1. Connect the 388 to Cable with RS232/TTL converter.
2. Set Comport to 9600bps, 8 data, 1 stop, no parity.
3. Power ON, wait for "2" and send "OB" to the phone. DO NOT Press ENTER.
4. R should be on screen.
5. send pre_xxx.bin to the MS.
6. You should recieve a ">".
7. send "0B" again.
8. R should be on screen
9. send prodload.bin to the MS.
10. recieve ">".

Done, I don’t have the above files so please don’t ask for them.
Interesting Informating (well I thought so

The names on the files, sj…..X45 tells you a couple of things. "sj" stands for Sofia-Jane, thats the internal name for the model and x45 stands for "sub-model". The 388 is called model 4/5. The latest 337 phones is called "cr", like in Cost Reduction. They rebuilt the oscillator from a bought-in to one built up with discrete components and that was cheaper.
Programming Channel Indicator or RBS
To enable, send the following command:
EEWR 3EE 1
Wait for the OK prompt, power off* the phone and disconnect it from the interface cables. Powerup and browse through the menus.
To diasable, send the following command:
EEWR 3EE 0
Clearing Electronic Lock
To clear the electronic lock you have to clear the EEPROM address range 03CF to 03DA by sending the commands:
EEWR 3CF 00
EEWR 3D0 00
EEWR 3D1 00
EEWR 3D2 00
EEWR 3D3 00
EEWR 3D4 00
EEWR 3D5 00
EEWR 3D6 00
EEWR 3D7 00
EEWR 3D8 00
EEWR 3D9 00
EEWR 3DA 00
COOL STUFF TO DO
Set ComPort to 115200bps, 8 data, 1 stop, no parity and watch all the phone commands on the screen and so on. Make a call and see what happens as well as shutting down.
*POWER OFF
You should press the NO button a few times until Shut Down comes up on the screen, when it does press yes and this will shut down the phone properly.
Reading the Channel Info now that’s it’s enabled
|——-|——-|——-| D

| | | | I

| 1 | 2 | 3 | S

|——-|——-|——-| P

| | | | L

| 4 | 5 | 6 | A

|——-|——-|——-| Y
1. This is three different channels things depending on the phone state.
a. When the phone is idle, this shows "Bxxx". "B" stands for "Broadcast channel" (a logic GSM channel)b. When a phonecall is in progress, this shows "Sxxx". S stands for "Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel" SDCCH for short.
c. When the phoncall in up, this shows "Txxx". "T" Stands for Traffic channel. The "xxx" thing is the channel number, 1-124.

2. This shows Rx Level. The values displayed is from 0 to 63. Rx Level is a indicator on how good your reception is for the moment. 0 is a signal strength of -110dBm. 63 is approx -45 to -50dBm.RXLEV is measured in dBm in such a way that incoming signal equals -110.5+RXLEV so that a RXLEV at 50 equals an incoming signal strenght at -50.5 dBm (plus or minus max deviation 0.5dBm)

3. This shows the output power in dBm.

4. This shows the timeslot used for the moment. You can see it when making a call.

5. This shows Rx Quality. Rx Quality is a measurement of how much error correction is required to the speech. 0 indicates none and as the figure rises you hear more pings and pongs on the speech as large parts of the frame are missing. If you have more RxQ then 5, you are on good way to loose your call. RxQuality reads 0-7.RXQUAL is measured by using a table wereas the biterrorrate or BER is interesting and measured in %
RXQUAL table
0 BER < 0,2 (%)

1 0,2 < BER < 0,4

2 0,4 < BER < 0,8

3 0,8 < BER < 1,6

4 1,6 < BER < 3,2

5 3,2 < BER < 6,4

6 6,4 < BER < 12,8 (here we have lost half a burst)

7 12,8 < BER
6. This shows the timing advance. The BS tells the MS to send before it should just make sure that the MS burst is comming to the BS on the right time. The TA is measured in halfbits so the distance to the BTS can be calculated as follows=1,11*TA/2. TimingAdvance reads 0-63. Co-incidentely this tells you how far you are from the base site in 550metre chunks, up to the theoretical max of 35.2km.
Pinouts
1 In Voice

2 In +5V=External Power, 0V=Battery

3 Out Ext Speak control

4 Analog GND

5 Out Voice

6 Out +5V=POWER ON, 0V=POWER OFF

7 Out Charger control

8 Digital/DC GND

9 In 0V=normal,+5V=test, +12V=test+flash

10 In Hook

11 In TTL serial in

12 Out TTL serial out

13 In 0V for aprox 1 sec = POWER ON/OFF

14 In DC Power supply

The Sony Ericsson Z770i is a 3G mobile phone which comes in a sophisticated clamshell opening casing which oozes style & grace in appearance alone. The handset comes in three colour options which are a vogue red colour option which is a mainly silver coloured casing red accents, a graphite black colour option which is a sleek black coloured casing with silver accents & an exquisite golden colour option which is mainly silver coloured handset with gold coloured accents. The Z770i comes with an external mono type screen which allows the user to view information externally as well as internally on this sophisticated handset. The user can view the internal screen by gently flipping open the clamshell casing to reveal a 2.2 Inch colour screen on the opened section of the handset & a stunning keypad on the lower section of the handset. The keypad is beautiful to look at with its wave effect metal keys which are etched into the metal surface. The keypad is stylish, unique & useable for the user when inputting numbers & text. The Z770i is from the same family as the Sony Ericsson Z710i & the Sony Ericsson Z750i which are both members of the Z range designed by Sony Ericsson. The Z770i 3G phone comes in a compact clamshell casing which is 93mm tall by 48mm wide by 16mm deep.

The 3G HSDPA technology allows the use to enjoy high speed Internet access, fast data transfers, video streaming & multitasking skills on the Sony Ericsson Z770i. The user can connect their Z770i to a compatible personal computer, printer or laptop using a Bluetooth® wireless connection or a USB connection. The phone comes with 32 megabytes of built in memory plus a memory card slot allows the user to expand the phones memory to suit their storage needs. The phone works on a GSM tri band network & UMTS 2100 which allows the user to use the handset in Europe & in the majority of the US but the network coverage is fully dependent on the network provider. A fitted battery when fully charged can provide up to eight & a half hours of GSM talk time for the user to enjoy or up to three hundred & forty hours of standby time. A built in Access NetFront™ Web browser allows the user to enjoy a mobile Web experience on the Sony Ericsson Z770i whenever the user needs to find out information or access Web services.

An integrated 2 megapixel camera comes complete with a 2.5 x digital zoom function which allows the user to zoom in & out off their target to get the best possible picture. The integrated camera comes with useful camera settings & controls which allows the user to get the best quality picture. The camera comes with a photo fix feature which allows the user to correct the light balance & contrast after a picture has been taken. The user can simply store their pictures on the phones memory, print the pictures using the PictBridge™ printing feature or send the picture to a blog site for friends & family to view on the Internet. The Sony Ericsson Z770i comes with video capabilities which allow the user to record, play & stream video when the user feels the need for some movie entertainment.

A built in media player supporting all popular music & video formats provides the user with entertainment on the move. The user can playback videos which have been sent from other contacts or playback videos which have been recorded & stored by the user. The user can listen to all their favourite tunes which have been transferred or downloaded onto the Sony Ericsson Z770i. The media player is easily accessible via the phones menu system & comes with easy to use options & controls. A TrackID™ music recognition feature is quick & easy to use & provides the user with all the information they need for a song they like the sound of. The TrackID™ feature is simple to use just record a few second of a song you hear & within seconds the TrackID™ feature will tell you the name of the song, the artist name & the album from which the song is from. The user can also download music quickly using the PlayNow™ download feature which is the easiest & quickest method to download new music. A MegaBass™ feature allows the user to enhance the bass sound & quality of their music. The Sony Ericsson Z770i comes with a FM radio complete with radio RDS which allows the user to enjoy a totally new music listening experience on their 3G phone. The messaging services include an instant message service, SMS text message service, MMS picture message service & an email service. The user can chose a message service to suit their needs & purpose. The user can send either an email or an MMS message to any email address. The messaging services allow the user to communicate with other compatible messaging contact to make arrangements & share pictures without having to make a call. The Sony Ericsson Z770i is a sophisticated 3G phone which will keeps its user entertained & communicating with others with ease.

Screen
2.6 Inch 262k Touch Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)

Imaging
3.2 Megapixel Camera
3 x Digital Zoom
Camera Settings
Video Player
Video Record
Video Clip
Video Streaming
Video Calling
Picture Wallpaper
Wallpaper Animation

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Instant Messaging
Email
Predictive Text Input
Sound Recorder

Sound
Walkman® Music Player
Album Art
FM Radio RDS
Polyphonic Ringtones
MP3 & AAC Tones
Mega Bass™
TrackID™
PlayNow™
Bluetooth® Stereo (A2DP)

Entertainment
Java™ Games
3D Games
Embedded Games
Downloadable Games
Organiser
Phone Book
Alarm Clock
Calculator
Calendar
Tasks
Timer
Stopwatch
Notes
Flight Mode
Symbian™ OS
Document Editors
Document Readers
Handwriting Recognition
Speakerphone
Vibrating Alert

Connectivity
3G
Bluetooth®
USB
WLAN

Network
Tri Band Technology (GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)
UMTS 2100

Internet
Opera™ Web Browser
RSS Feeds

Memory & Talk Time
8 Gbytes Memory
9 Hours Talk Time
370 Hours Standby

Weight & Size
119 g
109 x 55 x 16 mm

The Sony Ericsson W890i is a mobile phone that is equipped with a 3.2 mega pixel camera and comes integrated with a walkman music player. This sleek and stylish handset offers a satisfying experience to the people interested in music and images. Moreover, the W890i is a highly capable 3G phone that boasts of the latest high-end technologies that would enable the users to stay connected in a more personalized manner.

The Sony Ericsson W890i is a powerful yet stylish multimedia device that allows the users to access multimedia capabilities to match their interests. As a matter of fact, the attractive and mind blowing music features provide outstanding entertainment to the users. The handset is backed with a walkman music player and FM radio options. This walkman phone comes with easy to control music features such as SenseMe, TrackID, MegaBass and PlayNow. Moreover, the users can listen to the music via Bluetooth A2DP wireless connections. Apart from that, the phone supports polyphonic and MP3 ringtones. With the help of 3G technology, the users can transfer the songs from the music CD to their handsets quite effortlessly.

The integrated camera comes complete with photo and video capabilities. Therefore, one can enjoy both still as well as moving footage on their digital phone camera. With the help of the multimedia messaging service, the users can share the pictures and music files with near and dear ones to the make the MMS more lively. This communication gadget comes with massive memory option of 26 MB and supports MicroM2 memory card. Therefore, according to the memory storage requirement, the owners are free to add a memory card.

Moreover, the Sony Ericsson W890i comes with 3G capabilities that ensure access to the Internet, multitasking and video calling. With the help of Bluetooth technology and USB connection, you can enjoy data file transfers at 384 KB per second. Without worrying about the battery back up, the owner can carry this device on a long journey. As a matter of fact, the fully charged battery would provide a talktime of approximately nine and half hours and three hundred sixty hours of standby time.

Mobile phones with advanced capabilities for delivering music have been the forte of Sony Ericsson. As a matter of fact, handsets from this company are well-known in the industry for some of the best options in mobile multimedia and music. The walkman series of Sony Ericsson mobile phones are much in demand.

The Sony Ericsson W980i is one of the more popular mobile handsets from this very amazing series.One look at this handset, and you would feel like you are staring at a miniature music player. As a matter of fact, in the closed position, the handset can be specially used for listening to music. It is quite easy to control the music with dedicated keys that are placed in front of the handset. A user can know more about the songs that are being played by glancing at the front screen of the W980i.

The capability to store the latest songs and chart busters is another feature that makes the W980i from Sony Ericsson special to the music lovers. After all, who would not want to carry the maximum number of their favourite songs wherever they go? The 8GB of internal memory is adequate for storing all the soulful music as well as pulsating music tracks.

Downloading of music is also very fast and hassle free – a couple of clicks and the song that you were searching frantically even a couple of minutes ago, is in your mobile phone.

This Sony Ericsson W980i mobile phone comes with an integrated 3.2 megapixel camera with 3.2x digital zoom. The captured shots can be edited at will using special features such as Photo fix. The images can then be uploaded to special sites as part of picture blogging. Streaming of videos and capability of the handset to play video clips are the other two interesting functionalities of the handset in this domain.

The connectivity options that are a part of the Sony Ericsson W980i include Bluetooth, PictBridge, and USB support. Advanced capabilities to access the web make this Sony Ericsson phones very much popular among people leading active and hectic lives.