[Ahmed Hamdy]

Thank you Eldar Murtazin .. great letter,

Till now I prefer my old w810i and I fall in love with it!!

We want great new phone SE .. and we know that you can do it,

You are my favorite mobile manufacture .. good luck,

[scotsboyuk]

@MoTTaFuKKa

The complaint has nothing to do with not including every feature under the sun, rather it's about the lack of innovation Sony Ericsson has shown recently. It's about the consistently poor performance of the products they do release. It's about the lack of products that they should release! Where are their mid-range smartphones? Where are their mid-range touchscreens? Why cut corners on quality control with products like the W580, W910 and C905? Why are handsets so often late to market like the X1 and the W960?

Here's a good example of what Sony Ericsson are doing wrong:

Both LG and Samsung have mid-ranged touchscreen handsets available for under £100 on PAYG that have done fantastic business.: the LG Cookie and the Samsung Tocco Lite. Neither handset is particularly high-end; both lack 3G; both lack high-end cameras and so on. Yet both handsets have sold very well. Why? Because they tapped into the zeitgeist, the penchant for touchscreen handsets that consumers have at the moment. Where is Sony Ericsson in all of this? The X1? A £500+ handset that appeals mostly to geeks and business types. Aino? Not released yet and not even a fully functional touchscreen handset. The X3? Again not released yet and probably fairly expensive.

In comparison we see LG and Samsung releasing the afore mentioned products and Nokia releasing the 5530 and the 5800. Again I ask the question, where is Sony Ericsson? Nowhere to be seen.

[photographer]

C905 sold well but it made their reputation worse than it already was because of the hardware problems... C510 is a small step forward in terms of quality/price.

The questions is, do we really want to see the once quality brand SE producing cheap touch screen phones and compete with cheap asian brands?

[MoTTaFuKKa]

scotsboyuk, on 2009-09-24 17:53, said:

@MoTTaFuKKa

The complaint has nothing to do with not including every feature under the sun, rather it's about the lack of innovation Sony Ericsson has shown recently. It's about the consistently poor performance of the products they do release. It's about the lack of products that they should release! Where are their mid-range smartphones? Where are their mid-range touchscreens? Why cut corners on quality control with products like the W580, W910 and C905? Why are handsets so often late to market like the X1 and the W960?

Here's a good example of what Sony Ericsson are doing wrong:

Both LG and Samsung have mid-ranged touchscreen handsets available for under £100 on PAYG that have done fantastic business.: the LG Cookie and the Samsung Tocco Lite. Neither handset is particularly high-end; both lack 3G; both lack high-end cameras and so on. Yet both handsets have sold very well. Why? Because they tapped into the zeitgeist, the penchant for touchscreen handsets that consumers have at the moment. Where is Sony Ericsson in all of this? The X1? A £500+ handset that appeals mostly to geeks and business types. Aino? Not released yet and not even a fully functional touchscreen handset. The X3? Again not released yet and probably fairly expensive.

In comparison we see LG and Samsung releasing the afore mentioned products and Nokia releasing the 5530 and the 5800. Again I ask the question, where is Sony Ericsson? Nowhere to be seen.

I guess im not that enthusiastic about it, only having fun modding my phone,.... but that said, i owe my thanks to ppl who really dig into this, as this makes my fun possible.
I have kinda grown into liking SE as they are quite moddable, thanx to the effort of skilled enthusiasts, and not due to any loyalty to the brand.
But i see where loyal fans might be concerned about the future of the company if not keeping up with the pace of the market/competition.

[hks_911]

now another innovation from samsung, they r goin to produce the first LiMo powered phones for vodaphone........
so looking at this making phones with different OS's is not a problem as someone somewhere said, the point is it should be perfect now samsung is proving that, they have allmost all the mobile OS's on their phones, i think their R&D is just working like hell.......
should actually throw their whole R&D team away and replace them with some new innovative guys......

[r1sh12]

I was recently of thinking of writing a letter, ive been looking at this site for a couple of years to see the reviews/ user reviews of certain phones.
I completely agree with the letter, my first phone was the W800i, then came the W850i and recently it was the C902.
I thought that with the w800 being the best phone i have ever owned, i would give them another chance since the terrible w850i.
I will not lie in saying the C902 has a very good camera, but thats all.
At one point, i couldnt even zoom into regular picture, i had to use the panoramic setting just to be able to zoom in.
until the firmware update which fixed it. The phone was very slow to respond and it got me to the point where i decided to not buy any more S.E phones.
A friend of mine has been buying sony phones before the merger with ericsson, and he is definately a sony fanboy. He recently had the G900 and that phone with all the functions was terrible, slow and would always crash.
We have both moved on to other manufacturers, hes got the samsung omnia HD, ive got the HTC hero (i know made by sony but android OS.)
many of my friends get sony ericssons because they are free, but they all have had so many problems, from the sony phones not working with some networks, to having no reception even though everyone else on the same network does.
My C902 lasts only one day (WTF), and the phone is soooo slow at auto switching between 3g and 2g.
Sometimes it takes me 5 tries before I can connect to the person im calling.
Ever since sony ericsson got onto 3G all the phones have been terrible.
I love my htc and dont think ill ever buy a sony again.
I was a sony ericsson fanboy, but no longer, lack of support.
Why cant we get ear plugs with the camera phones?
People still like to listen to music on camera phones.
Samsung are moving in very big strides to get great phones out, and everyone likes them.
Its a shame sony just assume people will continue to buy these terrible phones, no wonder why sony are making record losses in every department.
They have cheaped out on TV screens so the TV's suck now, phones, PS3 has lack of support (great console and am waiting to buy one) with the YLOD, sound systems. the list is endless, ive looked at the latest co-orperate info and they wonder why they are hemorrhaging money.
One one word comes to mind IDIOTS!

P.S sorry for the long rant but i wanted to hear everyones thoughts on my comments.

This post has been edited by r1sh12: 25 September 2009 - 10:56 AM

[scotsboyuk]

I think the general consensus is that we all like Sony Ericsson and still want to like them, but they make it so hard for us to support them. For loyal customers the difficulty is in the lack of decent handsets for different market levels and the handsets that are released have so often been buggy lately. For bloggers and journalists there is an added difficulty, Sony Ericsson just don't seem to be able, or perhaps want to, connect with us properly. I won't go into details, but suffice to say Sony Ericsson is not an easy company to have a relationship with as a blogger/journalist. You feel as if you're hitting your head against a brick wall half the time.

[r1sh12]

scotsboyuk, on 2009-09-25 15:06, said:

I think the general consensus is that we all like Sony Ericsson and still want to like them, but they make it so hard for us to support them. For loyal customers the difficulty is in the lack of decent handsets for different market levels and the handsets that are released have so often been buggy lately. For bloggers and journalists there is an added difficulty, Sony Ericsson just don't seem to be able, or perhaps want to, connect with us properly. I won't go into details, but suffice to say Sony Ericsson is not an easy company to have a relationship with as a blogger/journalist. You feel as if you're hitting your head against a brick wall half the time.

^^^^^^Exactly
Its a shame really because sony have made some good phones. Although i think they are struggling with the concept of 3G, im not sure if its just the phones ive had, but as soon as they made phones compatible with 3G, the handsets became very unresponsive and slow. I gave sony 36 months in which i had 2 phones the W850i and the c902 and both were terrible.
very slow, and quite annoying to use. Some friends of mine all had other S.E models and they all had problems.
The very cheap ones work fine, the mid range are always garbage
With other phones, such as blackberry and samsung, everyone seems to get along with the handsets and can use them with ease. I dont think i can buy any more sony phones.
HTC HERO lets see how it goes.

[MrMojo]

I started with P1i then w890i and now have the w995, which may be my last SE phone!

SE phones are still priced at a premium (i.e. Expensive) while the technology IS lagging behind their competitors!

Thank goodness I'm not the only one that feels this way!

SE puts Style first before quality and expects people to pay for it! Their phone quality, IMHO, has dropped significantly over the years (as I've compared SE phones with relatives that have different models than mine also).

It's ridiculous that SE REFUSES to listen to their customers and still market so-so phones!

Examples...
Good Walkman phones but why the mediocre camera?
Good Cameraphone but why the mediocre media player?
Why insist on using Fastport when the Majority of people HATE it?
Why REFUSE to include 3.5mm port on almost every phone that has media player?
Why NO good media software? Media Manager is Finally gone (outside Japan) but Media GO really S*CKS!!
(Sony can NOT make media software for their mp3 players/SE phones to save itself!)
Why buggy firmware when it SHOULD HAVE been tested BEFOREHAND before public release?
So on, so on.....

Sony Ericsson has gotten TOO Arrogant and greedy and needs to be Humbled!

As I stated earlier, the w995 may be my last SE phone!
It's a "decent" phone but still has it's quirks (I really hate drag n drop and Media Go since I love album art and playlists and MUST have media software. Please do NOT mention WMP)!

I'm really hoping that Rachel does well because I "may" just buy that phone so it may become the last SE phone I own, if I do!

[Memzee]

scotsboyuk, on 2009-09-22 18:59, said:

@MR

I think you could be right. For a long time SE have been able to trade on their reputation, even when their handsets have been below par. However, how long can that seriously continue?

Sony have been doing it for YEARS! Their BRAVIA LCD's are a pile of sh*t yet they still sell because Sony made a name for themselves in the 80's and 90's.

My parents are now the only people in my immediate family that have SE phones (both C905's) and all I hear are complaints.

I share your sentiments exactly, many new faces on here, most probably won't know of me, but I realised SE were going in the wrong direction when I got the K850i.

Three iPhones down the line I have absolutely no regrets, and only wish Apple started producing phones earlier!

I honestly can't see SE going anywhere but down I'm afraid. They seem to be completely oblivious to the rest of the market, very stubborn and not aggressive AT ALL in their strategy and product development. Where before I would be staying up at night eagerly awaiting the next press release (HAHA) and discussing rumours etc, I've completely lost interest. Now I see only gimicks occasionally appearing on tech sites, and no real substance.

They seem to be trapped in their own little world, just kidding themselves. I don't know if they read sites like this anymore, but even if they do I doubt it'll make any difference until Sony shuts them down all together.

Sad but true.. especially for those that remember the humble beginnings with the T68i and T300. *shudders*

Anyway - nice to see you're still doing a good job with the site. Nice one.

[/rant]

This post has been edited by Memzee: 28 September 2009 - 09:06 PM

[Memzee]

Oh, and to the people that say they need to innovate and push boundaries - you're wrong.

That's exactly the thing they don't need to do, and it's doing that (or trying to do that) that has got them to what they are now. They've tried so hard to introduce silly new features that they think will impress the younger generation that they've lost sight of what they really need to provide to users.

What they need to do is get back to basics, strip out all the crap, and concentrate on the fundamentals of usability and reliability. Until then, it's a lost cause.

I might be wrong, but a couple of weeks ago I seem to remember scanning through an article that mentioned a new phone being developed where the screen background constantly showed a feed from the camera to give the illusion of transparency or something?

Most retarded thing I've ever seen. It would keep me interested for all of 5 seconds, until I realised that it's provides no real use, does not improve my user experience in the slightest, and will just suck the battery, processor and RAM dry faster than a two dollar hoe.

This post has been edited by Memzee: 28 September 2009 - 09:19 PM

[scotsboyuk]

@Memzee

Good to see you again Mem!

It's an interesting point you raise actually. The whole problem with SE is this 'innovation' thing, they keep saying they are innovating, but you're spot on, they're kidding themselves. Cheap gimmicks and 'shiny' features don't cut the mustard. Look at the iPhone ... the feature list isn't actually all that advanced e.g. lowish camera, no memory expansion, etc, but you know what? It was innovative when it came out because it focused on the user experience, which no one had really been paying serious attention to with smartphones. Look how well the iPhone has done; look how well the App Store has done; look how much hype there's been, and look how desirable the iPhone still is.

What do Sony Ericsson answer with? Phones with transparent screens, another WinMo device, and motion controlled headphones! Great gimmicks chaps, but they aren't going to make people say 'wow!'. It's that 'wow' factor that is sorely lacking.

To sum it up, and to paraphrase the Emperor Augustus, 'Sony Ericsson, give me back my phones!'

[five46]

"Wow" for the letter Scotsboyok.
They should pin up this letter enlarged in their R&D centers.
SE should go back into the memory lane into the K750/W800/W810 days and take a relook at their line of thought they used then.

A little OT, their ICE (In Car Entertainment) systems sell the most in our parts, but, I for one ask people not to consider it even as an option. Their SQ is so crap! How long does Sony wish to bask on it's brand name? Todays world isn't brand loyal anymore. I can understand about Sony which surely is innovating only gimmicks, but what happened to Ericsson? Are they sleeping too? Or is it entirely on Sony to pluck rotten fruits from the tree?

[Graz]

This is coming from a fan, much like Eldar, so please understand I'm trying to help SE here.

Firstly, I think Eldar was wrong about the W995 review: I personally very much like the W995. This is the only time I've seriously disagreed with him. It is a nice handset, though could have been a bit less expensive, but it is the best phone I've ever used.

But I do agree with him about the Sony Ericsson situation in general. Here are my thoughts:

SE must stop doing these silly marketing gimmicks: They probably paid a fortune to Maria Sharpanova for example, with those photos of her looking uncomfortable holding SE phones. This was totally unnessecary in my view and had zero impact on anything except make SE look silly and cost them mega-money in PR. Another such example is their promise to "change music forever"- ... with a wireless Bluetooth headset. I mean come on, this is an embarrasement, SE. Build hype and then ruin your reputation further with some big announcement that was, in fact, a total sham. They should fire all those responsible for this and focus on boasting the speed and performance of their phones.

This is controversial but I don't believe the Fifa World Cup sponsorship is neccesary. At all. Football has nothing to do with phones. Handset prices could be cut if this never happened, and of course doing this more would be sold. SE must understand that marketing stick is less important than the phones themselves. This brings me on to my next point.

They also overprice their handsets. Take a look at the T707 flip. At the moment is is (and will stay) unknown. Shave 100 € from the price by ditching the marketing trash and it would be an instant hit in stores throughout the world. People these days are looking for affordability and performance, and won't pay a load of money for what is in reality an average phone. What they should be doing is, for example, releasing AFFORDABLE phones. with GOOD specifications. I'm not talking about low-end T303 , for example, I mean mid-range with decent features people want. It is why the C510 was so sucessful. It is affordable and popular, with good performance. I even feel the price could be cut even further. SE, REDUCE your prices. Short term profits may be affected, but in the end isn't the number of handsets sold more important?

Finally, stop investing their time and crazy money in niche phones that no-one will buy like that XPERIA one with the see through screen and the Dolce&Gabana(?) flip. Totally pointless and a further example of being very out of touch. This reminds me of the Samsung Bang&Olufsen phones that were a total flop.

I hope someone from SE reads this and understands the point I'm trying to make too.
From a happy W995 owner