Originally posted by rmongold:
I just got my K700 last night and went looking for the same thing. I found this website for themes which seems pretty good (and there are quite a few really neat themes - including a working Tiger):

http://www.mobile9.com/4images/categories.php?cat_id=94

As for ringtones, I'm just making them myself using Quicktime and any MP3 I want.

Am I right in that I can not assign new ringtones to incoming messages but only the preinstalled ones? This sucks ass, I tell you.

Steve

[rmongold]

Originally posted by Landos Mustache:
Oh dear god, one of those people that thinks everyone wants to hear your sony blast out a distorted version of Big Pimping overtime someone calls.

Actually, I figured most people would want to hear that. Do you mean to tell me they don't? Crap... I'm gonna go home and rethink my life.

[Eug Wanker]

The K700i also understand AAC files made in iTunes (non-DRM'd). To save space you can use the 64 kbps mono setting.

To use AAC files though you need change the file extension, from .m4a to .mp4. You can seem to use these files as ringtones though, for whatever reason. Maybe it's a good thing, because I can't stand musical ringtones.

[rmongold]

Here's the important question: Now that I have my K700 and am loving it so very much, how do I go about getting the firmware upgraded from 2A to 2L? I don't believe there are any service centers around Gainesville, FL, but don't know how to verify that. I suppose I can always wait until the online update goes live and get a DSS-25.

Any thoughts?

Originally posted by rmongold:
Here's the important question: Now that I have my K700 and am loving it so very much, how do I go about getting the firmware upgraded from 2A to 2L? I don't believe there are any service centers around Gainesville, FL, but don't know how to verify that. I suppose I can always wait until the online update goes live and get a DSS-25.

Any thoughts?

Three questions: What is a DSS-25? Why do you need the new firmware? How can I check which firmware and OS is installed on the phone?

Steve

[rmongold]

Originally posted by SteveJobs:
Three questions: What is a DSS-25? Why do you need the new firmware? How can I check which firmware and OS is installed on the phone?

Steve

1) The DSS-25 is a USB base-station (with a travel power adapter, it can be a desktop charger as well) that will allow you to flash your phone over the internet when said website goes live. You can find it here.

2) The new firmware supposedly (according to Eug) does some magic with the battery life (or perhaps just the way the phone reports the battery life). Eug may be able to better explain. Perhaps a fitting corrolation would be to say "Why do you need to download 10.3.5?" Because it fixes bugs in 10.3.4 and may offer a couple new minor features. Or something. Maybe it's just because I like being a techno-geek and having the latest and greatest.

3) -> * <- <- * <- * and then select Service Info, then Software Info. Your firmware version is the first line of text (for the K700i, R2A041 on my phone).

[teknik]

Does anyone else have trouble with their phonebook contacts that have a picture? My entries won't sync up with addressbook at all if they have a picture for the appropriate contact.

Help?!?

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like I just had to go through the phonebook manually and reassign the picture through there instead of assigning it through the camera.

[bookofjames]

heard from some users that they sometimes experience a sudden "reboot" when the reception goes down to nothing... any of you guys experience this so far?

Those who have this fone, pls give some comments and reviews on it? I've been drooling over this phone but deciding whether to take the plunge or not.

thanks

[rmongold]

Originally posted by bookofjames:
heard from some users that they sometimes experience a sudden "reboot" when the reception goes down to nothing... any of you guys experience this so far?

Those who have this fone, pls give some comments and reviews on it? I've been drooling over this phone but deciding whether to take the plunge or not.

thanks

Well, I've only had the phone for two days, but my initial impressions are all positive... mostly. The only issue I've had thus far is with a Bluetooth headset (Motorola 810). The phone lost the connection to the headset and wouldn't return to normal operation until after a reboot. That is to say, there was no audio coming from the handset - it was almost as if the phone was still transmitting to the headset (which wasn't there).

Other than that, the Bluetooth works superbly. Transferred my contacts via iSync like a dream, sent a few rings and themes over without a hitch and with Salling's Clicker freebees, I can control iTunes, DVD Player, Powerpoint and Keynote with the phone via Bluetooth (very cool party trick). The camera is pretty decent (there are some sample pics around here somewhere, I believe.

You'll probably hear that battery life is not that grand. I'm on two full days with a good amount of Bluetooth usage and moderate talking. Still have a charge. I think the problem is more in how the phone's battery meter displays the charge than in how it drains the battery. But the most recent firmware update should correct that (Eug - chime in if I'm wrong).

The phone part of it works great. Clear reception, decent phonebook. I wish there were an "End" key on there that would bring you back to your "desktop" from whatever point in the menus system you find yourself rather than having to click back however many times, but that's just a minor annoyance.

The display is bright and vibrant. The OS is faily intuitive. The keypad is a little tight (small), but certainly not unusable by any stretch of the imagination. The buttons click firmly (you know you've pressed it) with the exception of the Power button, but if the phone goes off, chances are you pressed it correctly.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. It's certainly the best phone I've ever owned and may just make me a staunch believer in Sony Ericsson equipment. I'll post more if I think of anything else important. In the meantime, hopefully someone whose had the phone for more than 5 minutes (like Eug) can speak a little better to any of the issues I've mentioned.

Wow - that was my longest post to date! And probably the most disjointed :-)

[Raining Down in Texas]

Originally posted by rmongold:
I wish there were an "End" key on there that would bring you back to your "desktop" from whatever point in the menus system you find yourself rather than having to click back however many times, but that's just a minor annoyance.

On my T68i, holding the "No" key down for a couple seconds takes you back to the main screen no matter how deep you are in the menu system.

[bookofjames]

Originally posted by Raining Down in Texas:
On my T68i, holding the "No" key down for a couple seconds takes you back to the main screen no matter how deep you are in the menu system.

For my T610 holding down the "back" key for a few secs does the same thing.

[maxintosh]

Originally posted by bookofjames:
For my T610 holding down the "back" key for a few secs does the same thing.

Yes, and I can't imagine it works any differently on the K700.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by bookofjames:
heard from some users that they sometimes experience a sudden "reboot" when the reception goes down to nothing... any of you guys experience this so far?

Weird rebooting behaviour is a problem with R2A, especially with Bluetooth usage for some people.

Originally posted by rmongold:
Well, I've only had the phone for two days, but my initial impressions are all positive... mostly. The only issue I've had thus far is with a Bluetooth headset (Motorola 810). The phone lost the connection to the headset and wouldn't return to normal operation until after a reboot. That is to say, there was no audio coming from the handset - it was almost as if the phone was still transmitting to the headset (which wasn't there).

R2L corrects most Bluetooth problems. I dunno about Motorola headsets though, since everyone seems to get SE or Jabra headsets.

You'll probably hear that battery life is not that grand. I'm on two full days with a good amount of Bluetooth usage and moderate talking. Still have a charge. I think the problem is more in how the phone's battery meter displays the charge than in how it drains the battery. But the most recent firmware update should correct that (Eug - chime in if I'm wrong).

Yup. I'm at 3.5 days now on R2L, with light usage, and I still have quite a bit of battery life left. I suspect I'll get 5+ days, and that's with my 700 mAh battery. I just got a new dual phone + battery desktop charger, with a SE 770 mAh battery, for US$16 shipped.

The phone part of it works great. Clear reception, decent phonebook. I wish there were an "End" key on there that would bring you back to your "desktop" from whatever point in the menus system you find yourself rather than having to click back however many times, but that's just a minor annoyance.

As others have send, just hold down the return key.

[rmongold]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:


Yup. I'm at 3.5 days now on R2L, with light usage, and I still have quite a bit of battery life left. I suspect I'll get 5+ days, and that's with my 700 mAh battery. I just got a new dual phone + battery desktop charger, with a SE 770 mAh battery, for US$16 shipped.

Where did you find that deal?!?! Might have to do the same myself.

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:

As others have send, just hold down the return key.

Yeah, I found that out last night after I posted. Funny thing about instruction manuals... they actually tell you how to operate whatever it is they pertain to. Never would have guessed.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by rmongold:
Where did you find that deal?!?! Might have to do the same myself.

It was just some eB@y BuyItNow. $7... but $9 shipping. I saw other places with it too, but they didn't show a SE battery. It was a 3rd party one, and it was similarly priced. The guy I ordered from showed an actual SE battery, but didn't actually say it was an SE, but I decided to go with him anyway and happily I did get a real SE battery. YMMV. BTW he has his own eB@y store.

The desktop charger itself is just a thing that plugs into the adapter that comes with the phone. (It doesn't come with its own power adapter.) It holds a battery and the phone and charges both at the same time. The only problem is that the connection for the phone ain't the greatest. If you bump it the connection for the phone can lose contact. Not that I really care though, since the real reason I bought it is to charge the battery separately without having to swap the battery into the phone first.




EDIT:

Hmmm... Looking at his ad now, it doesn't look like he has a SE battery pictured any more, just a generic one. I guess I lucked out.

[Turias]

So when is this thing coming out in the states? Does SE have a timeframe of international->US that they usually stick to?

[rmongold]

Originally posted by Turias:
So when is this thing coming out in the states? Does SE have a timeframe of international->US that they usually stick to?

When? It's already here! I don't think any of the service providers offer it, so you have to buy the unlocked version at full retail price (or thereabouts - but you can get it in the mid-to-high $300's). Just look around online.

[Turias]

Originally posted by rmongold:
When? It's already here! I don't think any of the service providers offer it, so you have to buy the unlocked version at full retail price (or thereabouts - but you can get it in the mid-to-high $300's). Just look around online.

Hmmm, but do they use the 850 GSM band? I know that the K700i doesn't, and AT&T is the major provider in my area (plus I get a nice discount through work).

[JHromadka]

Originally posted by SteveJobs:
Am I right in that I can not assign new ringtones to incoming messages but only the preinstalled ones? This sucks ass, I tell you.

Yes, that is correct, and it does suck.

Originally posted by JHromadka:
Yes, that is correct, and it does suck.

I really wonder: Which programmer can come up with such a dumb idea? This is just mad! Especially with a phone that has 41 MB in size.

Steve

[rozwado1]

Did SE ever change the action of the +/- buttons on the side? I never understood why they brought up the service info when in standby on the t610...

[rmongold]

Originally posted by rozwado1:
Did SE ever change the action of the +/- buttons on the side? I never understood why they brought up the service info when in standby on the t610...

Not that I can tell... I would have hoped it would change the volume of a call during a call (which it does) and the volume of the ringer any other time (which it doesn't). That does strike me as bizarre as well.

By the way - love your signature image! "Make friends with Kerek."

[rozwado1]

Originally posted by rmongold:
By the way - love your signature image! "Make friends with Kerek."

"Slaughter Baby."

[hardcat1970]

i just got my k700i last week and the firmware version is R2A041.

It is a great looking phone compared to my old t68i but i find the battery life is not that great, i don't know if it is the incorrect battery indicator or the actual battery life is that worse. My battery indicator downs to half in 2 days despite i only talked for a total of 20 mins. I turned on my phone only from 6 am to 10 pm in those 2 days. my old t68i had last more days than this k700i.

Also i find the navigation menu sometimes stalls in 2-3 seconds after pressing a key, is this normal? i heard that the newest firmware version solves this problem, where can i find a us service center? these seems to be none in NYC listed on sony-ericsson home page?

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by hardcat1970:
i just got my k700i last week and the firmware version is R2A041.

It is a great looking phone compared to my old t68i but i find the battery life is not that great, i don't know if it is the incorrect battery indicator or the actual battery life is that worse. My battery indicator downs to half in 2 days despite i only talked for a total of 20 mins. I turned on my phone only from 6 am to 10 pm in those 2 days. my old t68i had last more days than this k700i.

My phone battery just ran out of juice... after about 110 hours (4.5 days). During that time it's only seen light usage, but it has been on 24 hours a day. This is on the R2L firmware. It took about 4 days for the phone to say it was close to empty. It used to take about 2.5 days for the same level, on R2A. It's of note though that at least one guy out there said he got 3 days of light usage of it close to empty, which suggests that the battery gauge of the older firmware may simply be wonky.

Also i find the navigation menu sometimes stalls in 2-3 seconds after pressing a key, is this normal? i heard that the newest firmware version solves this problem, where can i find a us service center? these seems to be none in NYC listed on sony-ericsson home page?

Yeah, that's a reported problem with R2A. Sorry, I dunno where in NYC to take it.

[rmongold]

My battery was showing no charge at all today (after about 2.75 days on with light usage) but was still on. Who knows how much longer it would have lasted had I not decided I'd just plug it in. But, in my opinion, 2.75 days on a charge ain't half bad. I'm not usually away from a wall with a plug for more than one day.

[hardcat1970]

Originally posted by rmongold:
My battery was showing no charge at all today (after about 2.75 days on with light usage) but was still on. Who knows how much longer it would have lasted had I not decided I'd just plug it in. But, in my opinion, 2.75 days on a charge ain't half bad. I'm not usually away from a wall with a plug for more than one day.

i always thought the battery indicator is not reporting accurately. But like you, i don't take any chance at all, i charge it when it is half empty.

[rmongold]

Originally posted by hardcat1970:
i always thought the battery indicator is not reporting accurately. But like you, i don't take any chance at all, i charge it when it is half empty.

One of these days perhaps I'll be brave enough to see how far below "E" it will go ["Oh, it broke of a LOOOOONG time ago!"], but I'm one of the mindset "Have outlet will charge." Call me crazy.

That being said, I would still be interested to see if the newest firmware (2L) actually fixes a problem with battery consumption, or it it just fixes the way the charge remaining is reported. I mean, if the reports that it will last for a couple days while indicating it's empty are true... Hmmm.

[Eug Wanker]

This is the K700i desktop charger with my phone and the extra battery in it.

[rmongold]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
This is the K700i desktop charger with my phone and the extra battery in it.

Eug - looks almost like the battery is another 700 maH... is that right?

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by rmongold:
Eug - looks almost like the battery is another 700 maH... is that right?

You have good eyes, but the 700 mAh battery is what came with the phone. The charger came with a 770 mAh, but that's in the phone at the moment.

However, all the ads for the charger + battery combo I've seen on eB@y lately don't have real SE batteries. They all are noname brand batteries. I got lucky this time... (After soon as I bought that charger + battery, the seller changed his pics too for new ads.)

[rmongold]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
You have good eyes, but the 700 mAh battery is what came with the phone. The charger came with a 770 mAh, but that's in the phone at the moment.

However, all the ads for the charger + battery combo I've seen on eB@y lately don't have real SE batteries. They all are noname brand batteries. I got lucky this time... (After soon as I bought that charger + battery, the seller changed his pics too for new ads.)

Have you found significant issues with generic vs. actual SE batteries? Or is it more a preference issue (I'll be the first to admit, I often have those... but for the price I could easily handle a generic).

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by rmongold:
Have you found significant issues with generic vs. actual SE batteries? Or is it more a preference issue (I'll be the first to admit, I often have those... but for the price I could easily handle a generic).

In the Nokia's it is the generic ones that end up blowing up.

[Stradlater]

What's the process on switching phones and activating your new one if you don't buy through your provider? Can you reset your old phone and sell it?

I'm thinking of getting a K700i off eBay... that is, if it works on AT&T wireless.

[Rickster]

Most providers can give you a SIM card and set you up with service for an elsewhere-purchased phone, assuming it's unlocked. I'd recommend against getting the K700i for AT&T, though -- their service is 850/1800/1900 MHz (mostly 850), and the K700 is 900/1800/1900 MHz, so you'll get poor signal coverage in most areas.

The only national provider in the US with 900 MHz service is T-Mobile.

[Stradlater]

Originally posted by Rickster:
Most providers can give you a SIM card and set you up with service for an elsewhere-purchased phone, assuming it's unlocked. I'd recommend against getting the K700i for AT&T, though -- their service is 850/1800/1900 MHz (mostly 850), and the K700 is 900/1800/1900 MHz, so you'll get poor signal coverage in most areas.

The only national provider in the US with 900 MHz service is T-Mobile.

I have been told that AT&T and T-Mobile both primarily use the 1900 band, although some AT&T areas are 850-preferred.

[Eug Wanker]

The K700i now supports iTunes .m4a files natively.

Before it would work, but you had to rename the files to .m4p. DRM'd files still don't work though of course.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
The K700i now supports iTunes .m4a files natively.

Before it would work, but you had to rename the files to .m4p. DRM'd files still don't work though of course.

In other words you can store all of 2 songs now?

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
In other words you can store all of 2 songs now?

Yep.

It does radio, okay.

But mp3/aac on a phone with non-expandable memory is NOT a feature; it's an annoyance.

[TommyLeeRoth]

It is for ringtones.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:

But mp3/aac on a phone with non-expandable memory is NOT a feature; it's an annoyance.

But you know every k700 owner will store one song on it just to show it to their friend to say it plays songs

[WJMoore]

It isn't that bad. I have 5 full length, stereo, 128kbit AAC files (straight from iTunes) on mine and still have about 12Mb free. There is enough room on there to have a few of your favourite songs handy if you want to hear them for whatever reason. Of course reducing the quality a bit would yield quite a bit more room.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by WJMoore:
It isn't that bad. I have 5 full length, stereo, 128kbit AAC files (straight from iTunes) on mine and still have about 12Mb free. There is enough room on there to have a few of your favourite songs handy if you want to hear them for whatever reason. Of course reducing the quality a bit would yield quite a bit more room.

five songs.

whoooooooooooooooooooooooo.

oo.

o.


um.

I'm sorry, but that qualifies as "useless" in my book. As in, not worth carrying around headphones for.

But hey, whatever floats your boat, I guess.

[MacMcMacintosh]

We've managed to get my tiger teme to work now (note new tabs that look really good) if you want to try it its here:
Click here to download the theme.
Also there is now a pro styled theme
Click here to download the theme.


If you like it please leave some feedback

(thanks to joolsG4 on the esato forum for optomisation and the tabs!)

[WJMoore]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
five songs.

whoooooooooooooooooooooooo.

oo.

o.


um.

I'm sorry, but that qualifies as "useless" in my book. As in, not worth carrying around headphones for.

But hey, whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Well you seemed to miss my point, which was that you can hold a lot more than 2 especially if you reduce the quality and convert to mono (for playing through the built in speaker). I have an iPod so I don't carry around headphones for the phone.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Actually according to this the 710a is the best phone ever.

http://gigaom.com/2005/01/12/new-def...ricsson-s710a/

[Le Flaneur]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
Actually according to this the 710a is the best phone ever.

http://gigaom.com/2005/01/12/new-def...ricsson-s710a/

Seems like a pain not to have the keyboard always accessible!

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by WJMoore:
Well you seemed to miss my point, which was that you can hold a lot more than 2 especially if you reduce the quality and convert to mono (for playing through the built in speaker).

Yes, and if you download monophonic ringtone versions of the songs, it can hold THOUSANDS!

Whoopee!

I'm sold!

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Le Flaneur:
Seems like a pain not to have the keyboard always accessible!

slidephones are inherently crap.

[Le Flaneur]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
slidephones are inherently crap.

Techically, it's a swivel phone, i.e. the keyboard pivots out.