Sony Ericsson unveil P990

Looks like a nie handset - certainly packed with features. No doubt this will be a popular attraction at the Smartphone Show. The team and I will no doubt be bringing you are first impressions and other news about the P990.

Additional pictures are available here.

I wish that P990 follows P910 keyboard design and have a bigger screen instead...

can anyone post the pictures here, i can't seem to access the sony ericsson page!

I'd really like to know if the P990 can switch itself on to ring the alarm. It's a small niggle, but I use my mobile as an alarm clock and the absence of that facility was one of the things that put me off the earlier P series models.

Well I think I've found my P900 replacement. It has just about everything you could possibly want. Now its down to the old waiting game.

It has J2ME Personal Profile support which is a good news for every java programmer but I do hope that this Personal Profile implementation will be much better than the one Nokia 9300/9500 has.

I must admit that I'm very disappointed. Whilst they've included all the technology and features that everyone has been asking for over the last eighteen months, the change in form factor seems unecessary. I can see why they've done it. They've seen the success of the Trea 650 in the US and have tried to replicate the form factor as closely as they can but, in so doing, they've lost what the P-series was all about.

It was a PDA with a flip cover that meant you could use it like a normal mobile phone. With that tiny screen it no longer qualifies as a proper PDA which is a shame. Unless one of these rumoured "alternative" P-series devices returns to more like the original form factor it looks like I'll be sticking with windows mobile for another year. Which is a shame, because I loved my P800 and P900 but this new device just doesn't offer what I'm looking for.

I will be looking elsewhere as well - V disapointed about the screen size. Personally have had no probs with the 910i keyboard so why wreck a good thing. I can see no reason to make the screen smaller at all.

I take it this phone doesn't have a stylus (can't seem to see one in the pic). Pity, as that was really the most standout feature of the P-series over their competition. Now it looks just like all the other smart phones out their.

I think there is a stylus. Look at the back of the device, near the power switch:

http://www.sonyericsson.com/downloads/P990_Camera_2.jpg

Infosync world have published a preview of the P990. They seem to really like the device and say the screen is excellent. I'm not sure of the physical size of the screen but the resolution is better than the P910 at 240 X 320 pixels as opposed to 208 X 320 so even if it is slightly smaller physically you can display more on it.

All the disappointments with regards to the screen size seems to be a bit of nonsense. According to the information on p950.cogia.net the screen is sligthly shorter, but wider leading to an equal size (in square centimeters) with an increased number of pixels. As the number of pixel lines from top to bottom will be the same it is very reasonable to expect exactly the same number of lines of text, etc. as we all have now in our Pxxx. Only difference is that we potentially could have more characters per line, but what is the problem with that?

Anyway, all relax and enjoy (and wait and wait)

Rafe, Ewan and I all played with the P990 for the best part of an hour this afternoon, at the Show. It's pretty impressive, even if the software's not ready yet. Look out for a preview (probably from Ewan) as soon as we're all back to normal!

Steve Litchfield

"Back to normal"?

We could be waiting a very long time 😃

You know, "Normal" in this place worries me....

hi rafe, i have been going through the reviews and comments and to be frank im confused about the screen size of p990i. is it really smaller than other p series phones or its just the innovative form factor that makes us feel like the screen has become smaller. i shud admit that im exited and worried at the same time. yr comments are highly recommended

The screen is marginally shorter than it's predecessors, but the quality of the display seems to have gone up quite a lot. It's the kind of difference you'd only notice with a ruler. Personally, I wasn't blown away by the keyboard on it, but that may just be from excessive Communicator use.

Seems to be some confusion between physical lcd size and number of pixels.

Flip open = 240x320 pixels
Flip closed = 240x256 pixels

So more pixels for apps. Physically the LCD slightly shorter + but wider.

Keyb:
Flip closed = normal phone keyb.
Flip open = QWERTY keyb below lcd, not on back of flip.

Thus you get best of both worlds IMHO.

Yes the screen is smaller physically, but in honesty I don't think anyone is going to be that bothered. I personally think its a big improvement. I always got slightly annoyed by the pixel size on the P Series being quite large. Now the screne is smaller, but there are more pixels, so the pixel density is higher. Thus you get a much sharper screen (it also seems to be a lot brighter too). The screen really is excellent.

The form factor is such that they keyboard becomes a whole lot more usable that it was on the flip. Personally I think the design is a great improvement (but there's no way everyone is going to be happy). The keyboard is suprisingly easy to use. Big handed people, as with other thumbkeyboards, may have problems, but it is better than it looks. A lot of testing went into according to Sony Ericsson and it really shows.

The P990 is one of those phones which is much better in person than in pictures (like the 3250, and unlike the N90!)

whats the sound like - mono or stereo? and where is the speaker....cant see a speaker grill like on the W600 - appreciate if anyone has heard the sound or speakerphone and can comment

I too was extremely dissapointed by the new smaller looking screen. Personally I would be happier with a bigger phone & a bigger screen but according to the excellent www.mobile-review.com, the screen has really lost only .04" & just changed shape:

"...Comparing with the P910 we can say the screen diagonal reduced slightly and now forms 2.76" (against 2.8" in the previous version). It's not hard to guess the dot size reduced, and now the picture became brighter and readable...."

read the full review here:

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/sonyericsson-p990-en.shtml

it would be a g8 phone if the screen was as the other pxxx series.

looks like a copy of the n70, anyways my friend loves sony ericcson, so ill show him this, personally i hate the menus and etc of sony ericsson, I LOVE MY NOKIAS!!

If you are wondering about the screen size difference between the P990 and the P910, check out this site: http://www.khvs.s5.com/p990screen.htm