Sony Ericsson P990 Reloaded
Published by Asri al-Baker at 11:26 UTC, April 23rd 2007
9 months in the making, the Sony Ericsson P990 has finally reached a stage where its firmware can start to be taken seriously. Or so Asri al-Baker writes in his illustrated report, looking below at firmware R5A17. Major improvements are in RAM handling and transitions that can be switched off, though low media volume seems to be something of a drawback. Read on...
The R5A17 (Organizer number) firmware upgrade for the P990 is what Sony Ericsson should included in the device since the very beginning, ideally. Still, it's here now. Read on....
Transition or no transition?
One of the most frequently requested feature additions in the P990 was transition effect management. It's all about that little graphic effect where everything in the system was animated. In the previous firmware revisions, there was no way this could be disabled, but it's now a relic. Users can disable it from Control Panel - Device - Transitions. Phew.
Users who are not bothered about the transition effects can still use it. But for those who want to feel the P990's real speed, just switch them off. The system is faster, scrolling contacts and reading text messages are more comfortable, applications launch in a snap and you feel that the P990 is finally behaving like its predecessor, the ultra stable P910.
Memory management
I can say that the new firmware is better in terms of stability. Most apps use less RAM compared to under previous firmwares. Multiple applications can be launched and used extensively. to It is now possible to open Messaging and Projekt together with Music Player and monitor all this using SMan. All this with Exchange ActiveSync running in the background as well. However, the web browser is still memory-hungry and it is not possible to run heavy apps like DreamConnect3 together with Opera. Since the firmware update last week, our P990 unit has never switched itself off or displayed the notorious "Phone restarted to improve performance" message - this is very good indeed.
Other improvements
The new firmware also has a couple of other improvements. Among them are the faster loading time for Java Midlets. For example, it used to take around 30 seconds to load Opera Mini but now it is only 10 seconds.
On the cosmetic side, there’s a nice pogress bar displayed under the Sony Ericsson logo when booting, showing the indicator of the startup process. It’s not a huge addition but it gives us something to look at while the device is booting up.
The camera is also improved, I noticed that the photos are clearer, sharper and colour balance is about right. Suffice to say that the quality is improved. On the multimedia side, it is now possible to play WMA and WMV files directly, although not all WMV files seem to be compatible yet.
Is that it?
Well, no. I have only talked about the good stuff and haven't touched on the bugs. Some of these were inherited from the very first public firmware, 9 months ago. For example, some options in the dropdown menus mysteriously disappear when you use other apps and then, when you get back to what you were doing, they reappear. Wierd.
Another evident bug is the speaker sound. It became very soft/quiet with this firmware. Compared to the previous firmwares, it's very low. For example, I can't rely on the alarm anymore. The multimedia volume has been adjusted to maximum but the sound is still low.
Am I satisfied?
In many ways, yes. I am very satisfied with what the P990 has become. It is now capable of doing things it was never able to do before, especially when it comes to multitasking. It is also worth mentioning that Sony Ericsson’s track record in upgrading firmware has proven to be good, if a little slow. Look at the P800. When it was first released back in 2003, the firmware did not satisfy the early adopters but Sony Ericsson released many revisions and finally the P800 became very stable. It is hoped that Sony Ericsson will continue upgrading the P990 in the same way. If R5A17 is a sign of things to come, I cant wait ;-)
Asri al-Baker - April 23rd, 2007
Categories: Hardware, Miscellaneous, Editorial Thoughts
Platforms: UIQ 3
News Discussion
But what is more exciting is that they are working in changing the Symbian/UIQ version used on those devices...symbian 9.3 will be used for the new OS, that should be released via fw upgrade around the launch of the new smartphone (P700), my guess is August/September
After reading what was published about symbian 9.3 i think its obvious why they will be using it
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/...bian_OS_93.php
Meanwhile, there should be new firmware before that, around week 24, i maybe the R6 organizer some like ajack are already testing, that should yet be another great step, acording to ajackīs own experience with that version
They (SE) blew it at start, it tool a long time, but i think now users can be satisfied
R5A17 is already good, like its said in this article. The next R6 firmware is even better, like ajack has been telling us from his tests, and should be out in June from here. Then some more months, you get to update your phone to a new OS...this is hardly something to ignore, even with new phones coming out (but none a clear P990 replacement)
| Yeah, but will you have money to invest cash on a new phone has an early buyer, or prefer to stick with a updated P990i |
| this is hardly something to ignore, even with new phones coming out (but none a clear P990 replacement) |
But you are going a bit offtopic...my point is SE is about to make something that never happened on Symbian world - provide a OS upgrade to older devices
For me, the P990i is the P series finally come of age, I didn't like the P900 or the P910. The range of functions on this phone is ntruly staggering, and in a form factor that is really capable. I love this phone.
Having said which, I still have niggles - the sync software is (by common consent it seems) truly awful, and many features of the phone lack configurability (e.g. why am I constrained to have my week agenda view going horizontally when I prefer it vertically?).
More use of this phone shows that it really shows the way for a smartphone. If SE is watching: improve the sync software to the level of MS or Palm, and add in all the configurability that EPOC used to have. Oh, and more RAM please. And a better battery life while you are at it.
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Originally Posted by ares
But you are going a bit offtopic...my point is SE is about to make something that never happened on Symbian world - provide a OS upgrade to older devices
|
Really?
I run DC 3 with Opera and/or Messaging (both consume more memory than DC 3 -- pay no attention to the useless info in SMan, it just shows the .app's size) all the time! And that's on the older Singapore firmware which is less memory efficient.
In fact, one of our goals has been to be able to run DC 3 with Opera and/or Messaging, so we measure it with large numbers of contacts (eg. 1500).
Just want to set the facts straight.
-Malcolm.
Do you have Exchange ActiveSync running as well? Because on the P990 I'm using now, I always keep DC3 running in the background with Messaging and Exchange ActiveSync. But when Opera is started, bam!!! DC3, Messaging & ActiveSync are closed. And I have not starting to browse, only launching it. In my opinion, it's not DC3's fault but it has something to do with the memory leak, especially knowing from the very beginning about Opera's hunger for RAM.
DC3 is a superb application by the way! ;-)
thanks for stepping in and explaining things.
Asri al-Baker
No, I must confess that I don't have ActiveSync running -- I just have the Messaging server's IMAP connection open all the time (but this does seem to get killed off, or hang, every so often, although I haven't figured out why).
We've managed to whittle DC 3's memory usage down a little (about to go beta for a new release), but the big problem is the switch to the new-style ARM binaries. It almost doubled the size of our binary from UIQ 2 to UIQ 3!
I think this, combined with the inability to run software in place in the flash, really caught SE by surprise, and it's taken them this long to really start to get things under control. It's good to see SE's commitment to getting these devices right.
There are lots of things to like about UIQ 3 and the P990i. I really enjoy being able to use apps in flip-closed mode as well as flip-open (and I don't expect the E90 to deliver anywhere near as good an experience).
-Malcolm.
At least SE is bothered to support the existing UIQ devices till the end of the year. They could have easily left us for dead. 9 months and I still feel the pinch from being an early adopter though... Whatever.
- Discord