This is my first SE phone. Really liking it so far. Coming from a nexus s on which I broke the screen. Also coming from an iphone 3gs, captivate, motorola milestone, acer liquid E, and many more. Yeah, I like phones.
For $350 buying outright from Fido, this phone is awesome. Fido still sells the nexus s for $500 but the SE is better spec'd in almost every way and I like the fm radio built in. The screen is 3.7 vs 4 on the nexus but that is no biggie to me. I wasn't sure if I would like the physical keyboard(and the bit of added thickness) since my last several phones have been keyboardless. My only other option there I hadn't tried was the LG optimus 2x but I've heard it is really slow(slower than most single core handsets navigating homescreens etc.) and the software isn't adapted well to it. Plus, I liked the idea of a bit smaller phone and the physical keyboard. The LG was a bit bigger than my old nexus for the same size screen.
Battery life is average. With moderate use I'm down to about 40% at the end of the day. Probably better than the nexus.
The phone looks great in my opinion. I've always liked the SE styling. It is shiny black plastic which attracts finger prints but most phones do these days. The back cover is plastic and snaps into place but there is no fingernail indent to remove the cover. It's not hard to get off though if you open the HDMI out cover and pull from there. It is well built and feels nice despite being platic. The slide machanism is also well built, sturdy and works nicely. I find the power/sleep/wake button a bit hard to press though because of it's small size and location but I'm getting used to it.
The phone seems to run quite smooth compared to my nexus, but maybe that's because it's new and not as bogged down with apps etc. Not sure. Either way, it is at least as quick if not faster.
Wifi is stronger than my nexus or captivate ever was. 3G seems about the same. I've never used a smartphone that had better 3G reception than the iphone 3gs though. Not promoting iphone, just a fact. I NEVER once lost 3g at my workplace anywhere with the 3gs but there are areas that no android I've ever had receives 3g. Not sure about bluetooth as I rarely use it.
The reality display is really nice. Surprisingly as good or better, in my opinion, than the nexus sAMOLED. It has slightly higher resolution and a slightly smaller screen so it is crisper. And with the Bravia engine, the colors of pictures and video is amazing. Granted the samoled had more brilliant colors and deeper blacks, as all amoleds do, they were almost always too over saturated and unrealistic on the nexus and my old captivate while on the SE colors are very accurate. View in direct sunlight is decent. Far better than any samoled I've used.
The camera is amazing for a cell phone. I haven't taken tons of pics but they are way better than any other cell phone camera I have used. Haven't tried much video yet but it does record in 720p and looks great on the phone. HDMI out is there as well.
My only gripe so far is that there is no option to shut off auto dimming of the screen for low light condidions. However, it is a minor gripe because it is calibrated quite well. Usually I find the auto dimming too bright/dim on most phones, but it seems to adapt quite well. In fact, it's one of the first phones I've had where I hardly notice it is on.
I'm not a huge fan of SEs icons for phone, mail etc, over stock android as they are a bit bland. But again no big deal.
I am also having a problem that just started this morning where my market force closes every time I go into "my apps" where I have two updates. I'm pretty confident though that it is solely an issue with one of the updates causing a problem or the market itself, not the handset.
Overall, I am very happy with this phone so far. I am liking it more than I expected since i often buy the "top end" phones at the time. THis being a midrange SE I kind of expected to be a bit let down but quite the opposite. For $350 this is an AMAZING phone with great specs. Sure, it's not dual core wiht a giant screen, but who cares what runs under the hood if the phone runs smooth. And for me, I'd never want a phone over 4" screen. I don't want a damn tablet in my pocket. I kind of like the smaller screen.
I'll update if I find any issues popping up.
For $350 buying outright from Fido, this phone is awesome. Fido still sells the nexus s for $500 but the SE is better spec'd in almost every way and I like the fm radio built in. The screen is 3.7 vs 4 on the nexus but that is no biggie to me. I wasn't sure if I would like the physical keyboard(and the bit of added thickness) since my last several phones have been keyboardless. My only other option there I hadn't tried was the LG optimus 2x but I've heard it is really slow(slower than most single core handsets navigating homescreens etc.) and the software isn't adapted well to it. Plus, I liked the idea of a bit smaller phone and the physical keyboard. The LG was a bit bigger than my old nexus for the same size screen.
Battery life is average. With moderate use I'm down to about 40% at the end of the day. Probably better than the nexus.
The phone looks great in my opinion. I've always liked the SE styling. It is shiny black plastic which attracts finger prints but most phones do these days. The back cover is plastic and snaps into place but there is no fingernail indent to remove the cover. It's not hard to get off though if you open the HDMI out cover and pull from there. It is well built and feels nice despite being platic. The slide machanism is also well built, sturdy and works nicely. I find the power/sleep/wake button a bit hard to press though because of it's small size and location but I'm getting used to it.
The phone seems to run quite smooth compared to my nexus, but maybe that's because it's new and not as bogged down with apps etc. Not sure. Either way, it is at least as quick if not faster.
Wifi is stronger than my nexus or captivate ever was. 3G seems about the same. I've never used a smartphone that had better 3G reception than the iphone 3gs though. Not promoting iphone, just a fact. I NEVER once lost 3g at my workplace anywhere with the 3gs but there are areas that no android I've ever had receives 3g. Not sure about bluetooth as I rarely use it.
The reality display is really nice. Surprisingly as good or better, in my opinion, than the nexus sAMOLED. It has slightly higher resolution and a slightly smaller screen so it is crisper. And with the Bravia engine, the colors of pictures and video is amazing. Granted the samoled had more brilliant colors and deeper blacks, as all amoleds do, they were almost always too over saturated and unrealistic on the nexus and my old captivate while on the SE colors are very accurate. View in direct sunlight is decent. Far better than any samoled I've used.
The camera is amazing for a cell phone. I haven't taken tons of pics but they are way better than any other cell phone camera I have used. Haven't tried much video yet but it does record in 720p and looks great on the phone. HDMI out is there as well.
My only gripe so far is that there is no option to shut off auto dimming of the screen for low light condidions. However, it is a minor gripe because it is calibrated quite well. Usually I find the auto dimming too bright/dim on most phones, but it seems to adapt quite well. In fact, it's one of the first phones I've had where I hardly notice it is on.
I'm not a huge fan of SEs icons for phone, mail etc, over stock android as they are a bit bland. But again no big deal.
I am also having a problem that just started this morning where my market force closes every time I go into "my apps" where I have two updates. I'm pretty confident though that it is solely an issue with one of the updates causing a problem or the market itself, not the handset.
Overall, I am very happy with this phone so far. I am liking it more than I expected since i often buy the "top end" phones at the time. THis being a midrange SE I kind of expected to be a bit let down but quite the opposite. For $350 this is an AMAZING phone with great specs. Sure, it's not dual core wiht a giant screen, but who cares what runs under the hood if the phone runs smooth. And for me, I'd never want a phone over 4" screen. I don't want a damn tablet in my pocket. I kind of like the smaller screen.
I'll update if I find any issues popping up.
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