Made available in June 2008, the Sony Ericsson G900 is the flagship model in Sony Ericsson’s G-series line of mobile phones. It may have enticing features such as 5-megapixel camera and touchscreen, but is it as good as what is shown on paper?
1
SMS Blows
The SMS application crashes consistently. Sometimes you get no notification of incoming messages at all. No ringtone, no icon. A restart of the phone is required to get it working again. It is extremely frustrating when you realize that you've just missed dozens of messages that went quietly to your inbox.
0
2
Mediocre Camera
As professional photographers would tell you, megapixels don't equate to quality. If you think that the G900's 5-megapixel would give you beautiful pictures, think again. Due to its poor lens and sensor, some say its pictures are worst than some 2-megapixel camera.
3
Tiny Screen
The screen may be large enough for viewing purposes. But for touchscreen usage, I find it way too small. Pecking with the stylus is a chore, struggling to keep your hands steady to click on those tiny icons. And if you are going to be using your fingernails, I say good luck unless you are amazingly dexterous.
4
Poor Finishing on Side Buttons
There's something about the chrome side buttons that has this cheap and poorly finished look to it.
5
False Advertising
It leads you to think that you can use the touchscreen like an iPhone, using your fingertip to do smooth scrolls. But the G900 is really made only for stylus usage, thus it will usually work only with your fingernail rather than fingertip. And the iPhone-like photo scrolling you see? That's a fake too. Or at least it's my unit that just can't seem to scroll more than one photo at a time.
The Sony Ericsson G900 is a decent phone for non-power users who wants to try out something more similar to a PDA-phone, without sacrificing the familiar candybar form factor. But for power users and shutterbugs, I suggest you look elsewhere.
I am a simple end user, but even I can see that this article is designed to create controversy to attract more people to the site for more advertising revenue.
Please do not click the ads. This article is a blatant lie.
1. SMS app has never crashed on me.
The only applications that have crashed on my phone are games that I were not specifically designed for my phone.
The phone that this person was testing probably had mobile provider software installed. I have had problems with this in the past. Solution: Buy from Sony Ericsson.
2. It is a phone camera.
I would suggest that if someone looking for a 5MP camera equivalent to a dedicated camera bought this they get all they deserve.
It is a PHONE CAMERA. No, it is not as good as my new pansonic lumix turned down to 5mp, but it is certainly at least 3x as good as my old 2MP SE K-610i.
If you can find a better phone camera during ideal (Sunny, still day) conditions I will eat my hat!
3. The screen is Huge.
This phone is a compromise between a normal phone and a smart phone. I bought this phone because I don’t want to hold a slice of toast (Blackberry) to the side of my head when I talk on the phone. Plus I love T9 Predictive text. It is the fastest way to input info. For a standard form (candybar) phone with numeric buttons the screen is huge. Yes it is small to select some things like the task manager or scrolling, but I can usually do that with my finger tip, and you should too if you have not had 6 or so beers.
4. Side buttons???
This author has obviously not actually used this phone, because the phone buttons are the best feature of this phone. The keypad buttons are sloped and cascade down the phone, look and feel beautiful. the jog and select is not a joystick, hence it will keep working as the phone gets older.
As for the side buttons, the chrome side buttons look striking on the black model that I bought. If the author of the article was silly enough to buy a red model, well….
Also there is a very useful lock/unlock key button on the side of the phone, and also the side camera button works like a normal camera. Full press is focus and shoot, Half press to focus on the spot you select with your finger (Just like in the ‘False Advertising’ video).
5. False Advertising.
I actually do all those things on my phone. You can scroll documents or menus with your finger very fast. You can scroll through your photos, slower but like on the video, you can focus the camera with your finger!
Where is the false advertising?
This phone is not like the iPhone, it is better!
Just like Sony Ericsson has been subtly better than Nokia equivalents for many years!
In summary. This post is simply to drum up business for the website. Please don’t buy into it and click the advertising links. Just go out and buy the phone. You will never regret it.
Through my work I use this phone for taking professional document photos, reading and editing documents and PDF files sent to me via email. Accessed through the bluetooth connect supplied software.
I strongly suggest this phone to anyone!!!
Sony Ericsson G900 – * * * * * Five Stars
– My name is Michael Wheatland. I live in Nhulunbuy Australia. I have no association with Sony Ericsson or any retailer what so ever. I am a process engineer at an alumina refinery. You can trust my opinion on this phone, as I am not a tech reviewer, simply a user who got pissed off at seeing lies on the internet about the best phone I ever bought.
Hi Michael. Thanks for commenting here. But no, this site is not meant to create controversy, but instead it aims to show everyone what the downsides might be when they purchase a particular gadget.
1. Sadly, you are wrong, I do have the phone. Maybe you are lucky, or maybe I’ve got an unit from the very first batches of G900, but the SMS indeed gave me a lot of problems.
2. As for the point on its camera, perhaps I should have said 2-megapixel camera phone. Refer to this forum thread, you’ll find many comments on the camera being worse than other 2-megapixel camera phones. And after using it, I totally agree.
3. As I said, yes the screen is large enough for viewing. But for touchscreen purposes, it’s just too small. As you said so yourself, it’s a compromise. And an important one, for people out there who prefers touchscreen over T9.
4. Red or black, why should it matter? Both models should have equally nice side buttons. That is why consumers deserves the right to know that the red model has really ugly side buttons if they decide to go for it. And it’s not very nice to be calling people silly, since many like me bought from places which cannot show you the physical units as they are all boxed up.
5. Maybe you should read again what I wrote. Yes you could do all those, but not with your fingertip (you can, with fingernail), and it can’t scroll through multiple photos like in the video. It does so one by one. That, is the false advertising my friend.
Advertisements are but means to keep the site up. Sorry if the G900 is your favorite phone now. But many of these points are objective and facts. Some are personal opinions, which I think consumers deserve to know too.
I only agree with the false advert. point other wise there is no grounds
for god sakes my 8 MP nikon’s pictures are very comparable
buttons are awsome
screen size is obvious 2.4 is the most common among smart phones
and I have no problem with SMS
I also agree with the camera problem. Sony ericson 3.2 camera is far better than G900. G900 use poor lens. I have given twice to repair the camera But after repairng also the canmera is the same as before. From Axion telecom, the staff told me that All G900 series coming with this defect.
The camera isn’t bad for a phone camera, check some samples on the net. If you want really good phone camera shots, buy a Nokia N series or a Sony Ericsson Cybershot branded phone.
I also do have problems for incoming calls.
it seems like at sometimes, i can receive those calls and most of the time i can’t receive it.
does anyone have the solution for this?
I’ve had this phone for 4 months and it has turned out extremely disappointing.
-> Yes, the SMS app crashes constantly for no reason.
-> The lag is shameful.
-> No icons to differentiate read from unread messages.
-> Extremely slow flipping thru pictures.
-> Very bad signal reception
-> Horrific usability oversights
-> Flimsy battery cover
Pff…I could just keep going. I can’t believe I paid for this thing.
This is my 7th SE phone in the last 10 years and will be my last…
I have a g900 and it is the worst ph I have ever bought. The sms takes about 10 secs to open and the touchscreen constanly freezes!!! I miss calls cos I cant touch the screen to ans the call!!!! Also sometimes the backlight stays on and the ph discharges itself.
Honestly I am horrified by this phone. I thought I would fork out for something decent only to be extremely frustrated!
The phone has some great features however these problems I have faced lead me to say this is a shit ph.
my phone is 7 months old now and my problem is i can’t receive txt messages anymore.i tried to turn off my phone several times but still i cant receive messages.can u pls help me..plz..plz.plz..would apprecieate any help.Thanks
SOny Ericsson G900 Sucks big time. I bought his phone 20 days back and display started feeding, no sufficient battery backup, restarts automatically, hungs up regularly, dosent sync with Outlook after few days and OS is so slow when compared to even oldest of the computers.
I am big fan of Sony ericsson and this is been very disappointing to me. Lets see if they can replace and give me the phone.
I use SE G900. I havent found any of the problem the author says. Infact you can scroll the photos too. I believe the author hasnt seen the phone even once. Limited side buttons are good.
Multimedia is best when you compare other smart phones.
Camera picture qualituy is good when u see the pictures in your picture in PC or lappie.
As pete says the battery cover is filmsy.
Signal reception is bit poor compared to other SE.
May be, few users are experiencing problem which is in other way in other mobiles.
A small request, dont post any comment without testing the products.
Hi Hemanth, perhaps it was you who didn’t watch the video. I did tested the phone and while it does scroll it’s nowhere near the smoothness as shown in the video. Nowhere like how smoothly an iPhone does it.
Hellp Leon, I believe the above comment posted by you is supposed to be for SRI. Anyway…. No advertisement in the world shows the reality of the product and they exagrate a bit. Even your favourite iPhone doent works 100% perfect show in advertisement.Is your iPhone Navigates GPS the same way as they show in their advertisement. Smart peoples dont rely on advertisement.
If iPhone is better than G900 in on scrolling photos, there lies the cost difference between the two. My friends iPhone which was offered along with Airtel (GSM-India) had problem with its speaker and on the 3rd day the phone speaker didnt work.
Any way, check G900 user guide change the settings to scroll your images as shown in the advertisement.
my phone realy sucks it doen’t save any thing on the ms and if it did it wont show it … i updated it sevral times but nothing changed can any budy plz help me .
Hi. I’m using G900 and this review is seriously wrong.
I text way faster than my friends do with this phone and it never crashed. Maybe the phone you bought wasn’t the genuine one.
The camera quality is as good as my normal camera. Maybe you can’t take picture that well. Cause when I uploaded the pictures, my friends thought it was taken from my Sony camera which is 10.2 mp.
The screen size is great. I have troubles using other smartphones but none with this. Sometimes I use my fingertip to open an app or whichever. And for the ones like checking the box, I’ll use my fingernails. I guess I’m blessed with small fingers.
The side bar is awesome.. I’m using the maple red one and it looks stylish. Love the lock and unlock button which never fails to amaze people.
And the ad might not be 100% true.. Yet can you tell me an ad from any company on phones which are true?
Not being biassed here. I have an iPhone and I used blackberry once. I would say that this phone is one of the best thing. iPhone speaker sucks. And sometimes when people call me, it won’t ring. Besides that, there’s alot of problems with it. And I’m using iPhone 3G S which supposed to be their best version of iPhone.
And while my friends are complaining how sucks their C905 are or some other nokia or samsung phones, maybe my brother screams at his iPhone, I’ll just smile at them and say that I have a great phone here. And some of them who once advised me not to get this phone, regretted not having it.
I am using this phone for about 6 months. My problem started from the day 2 (as on day 1 “ITS TOUCH DID NOT WORK, WHEN I WAS BACK HOME”)…the shop people gave a brand new one (Thanks to the Shop Owner and never to SE).
I have changed my display screen twice ! And lost the side button colors. Video or Image is damn bad ! 5MP or .5MP ?
The phone was always getting stuck until i ve upgraded with the new firmware. Now I need to press the right corner hard to the body so as to make the touch work !
Its my 23rd SE phone ! Friends, trust me this one really hurt me a lot ! Sound is good, Display brightness is good, motion video is good, even battery is good…but overall i would rate it on a 4/10.
Its just a board of chips for my blackberry mail service. (I did not choose a blackberry phone for mail service; i wanted a SE phone itself; that much passionate was me on SE phones)
Sorry SE ! After a long 8 Year of various SE phones; this was a total dissapointment for me!
i love SE from the first sight.. i ever have 26 se phone n i always change the newest. but i’am very dissapointed when i use se g900. its a suck phone.. i’ve change the LCD twice but still hang-up n restart. i am realy disapointed with sony. . . . . can i get back my true love to sony product?
I’ve been using SE phones for so long now and my experience with the g900 was horrific! I still have the phone somewhere in my cupboard completely dead and unrepairable (even by Sony Ericsson approved shops). The bloody thing never fell of my hand once, never had contact with water or anything! It just hangs everytime I attempt to put it on and never turns up now. A waste of money!! The worst experience I ever had to endure from a mobile device! I completely agree with this article as regards “THIS PHONE” and i’m puzzled by some of the guys defending and disputing “FACTS” by the writer. Well, I hope some of you who argue that this indeed is a good phone remember to correct themselves when indeed this phone shows you its true colours!! Still an ardent SE user though because I just cant find myself using another product. (Maybe I could try htc & their androids next).
fuck u g900…i own this phone from last 10 months…my message problem is also there …camera quality is worst as i have ever seen …my earlier N73 was best in camera quality with 3.2mp …now my left touch key is also creating problem some time work or sum time dnt…i just want to sell this phone.. if any body wish to buy please contact me ..my email is “kapildevshrm@yahoo.com”"
actually, i was impressed by this phone on the first few months that i’ve used it. Then the phone’s top panel cover(where the earpiece at videocall camera is situated)started to loosen and eventually peeled off. Then after few months again, the bottom touch panel(calls,menu,more)started to sometimes not react while the other portions of the screen is ok. Then it died… I don’t know if i’m gonna ask for a repair or just gonna buy a new one. I just went back to my old phone for now.
I am a simple end user, but even I can see that this article is designed to create controversy to attract more people to the site for more advertising revenue.
Please do not click the ads. This article is a blatant lie.
1. SMS app has never crashed on me.
The only applications that have crashed on my phone are games that I were not specifically designed for my phone.
The phone that this person was testing probably had mobile provider software installed. I have had problems with this in the past. Solution: Buy from Sony Ericsson.
2. It is a phone camera.
I would suggest that if someone looking for a 5MP camera equivalent to a dedicated camera bought this they get all they deserve.
It is a PHONE CAMERA. No, it is not as good as my new pansonic lumix turned down to 5mp, but it is certainly at least 3x as good as my old 2MP SE K-610i.
If you can find a better phone camera during ideal (Sunny, still day) conditions I will eat my hat!
3. The screen is Huge.
This phone is a compromise between a normal phone and a smart phone. I bought this phone because I don’t want to hold a slice of toast (Blackberry) to the side of my head when I talk on the phone. Plus I love T9 Predictive text. It is the fastest way to input info. For a standard form (candybar) phone with numeric buttons the screen is huge. Yes it is small to select some things like the task manager or scrolling, but I can usually do that with my finger tip, and you should too if you have not had 6 or so beers.
4. Side buttons???
This author has obviously not actually used this phone, because the phone buttons are the best feature of this phone. The keypad buttons are sloped and cascade down the phone, look and feel beautiful. the jog and select is not a joystick, hence it will keep working as the phone gets older.
As for the side buttons, the chrome side buttons look striking on the black model that I bought. If the author of the article was silly enough to buy a red model, well….
Also there is a very useful lock/unlock key button on the side of the phone, and also the side camera button works like a normal camera. Full press is focus and shoot, Half press to focus on the spot you select with your finger (Just like in the ‘False Advertising’ video).
5. False Advertising.
I actually do all those things on my phone. You can scroll documents or menus with your finger very fast. You can scroll through your photos, slower but like on the video, you can focus the camera with your finger!
Where is the false advertising?
This phone is not like the iPhone, it is better!
Just like Sony Ericsson has been subtly better than Nokia equivalents for many years!
In summary. This post is simply to drum up business for the website. Please don’t buy into it and click the advertising links. Just go out and buy the phone. You will never regret it.
Through my work I use this phone for taking professional document photos, reading and editing documents and PDF files sent to me via email. Accessed through the bluetooth connect supplied software.
I strongly suggest this phone to anyone!!!
Sony Ericsson G900 – * * * * * Five Stars
– My name is Michael Wheatland. I live in Nhulunbuy Australia. I have no association with Sony Ericsson or any retailer what so ever. I am a process engineer at an alumina refinery. You can trust my opinion on this phone, as I am not a tech reviewer, simply a user who got pissed off at seeing lies on the internet about the best phone I ever bought.
Hi Michael. Thanks for commenting here. But no, this site is not meant to create controversy, but instead it aims to show everyone what the downsides might be when they purchase a particular gadget.
1. Sadly, you are wrong, I do have the phone. Maybe you are lucky, or maybe I’ve got an unit from the very first batches of G900, but the SMS indeed gave me a lot of problems.
2. As for the point on its camera, perhaps I should have said 2-megapixel camera phone. Refer to this forum thread, you’ll find many comments on the camera being worse than other 2-megapixel camera phones. And after using it, I totally agree.
3. As I said, yes the screen is large enough for viewing. But for touchscreen purposes, it’s just too small. As you said so yourself, it’s a compromise. And an important one, for people out there who prefers touchscreen over T9.
4. Red or black, why should it matter? Both models should have equally nice side buttons. That is why consumers deserves the right to know that the red model has really ugly side buttons if they decide to go for it. And it’s not very nice to be calling people silly, since many like me bought from places which cannot show you the physical units as they are all boxed up.
5. Maybe you should read again what I wrote. Yes you could do all those, but not with your fingertip (you can, with fingernail), and it can’t scroll through multiple photos like in the video. It does so one by one. That, is the false advertising my friend.
Advertisements are but means to keep the site up. Sorry if the G900 is your favorite phone now. But many of these points are objective and facts. Some are personal opinions, which I think consumers deserve to know too.
I only agree with the false advert. point other wise there is no grounds
for god sakes my 8 MP nikon’s pictures are very comparable
buttons are awsome
screen size is obvious 2.4 is the most common among smart phones
and I have no problem with SMS
I also agree with the camera problem. Sony ericson 3.2 camera is far better than G900. G900 use poor lens. I have given twice to repair the camera But after repairng also the canmera is the same as before. From Axion telecom, the staff told me that All G900 series coming with this defect.
I also have the problem with the sms application. Is there a solvation except restarting your phone?
The phone is perfect! The things you wrote sucks.
Do the latest update, and I’m sure most of those gripes will be gone.
As for the false advertising…its true. My unit doesn’t spill photos out when I place on a table either
The camera isn’t bad for a phone camera, check some samples on the net. If you want really good phone camera shots, buy a Nokia N series or a Sony Ericsson Cybershot branded phone.
I also do have problems for incoming calls.
it seems like at sometimes, i can receive those calls and most of the time i can’t receive it.
does anyone have the solution for this?
i agreee with the sms blow..i just get problem with sms.cannot received sms…need to turn off the phone first each time to get new sms…it is suck…
I’ve had this phone for 4 months and it has turned out extremely disappointing.
-> Yes, the SMS app crashes constantly for no reason.
-> The lag is shameful.
-> No icons to differentiate read from unread messages.
-> Extremely slow flipping thru pictures.
-> Very bad signal reception
-> Horrific usability oversights
-> Flimsy battery cover
Pff…I could just keep going. I can’t believe I paid for this thing.
This is my 7th SE phone in the last 10 years and will be my last…
Here’s a fix for updating the firmware, which they say fixes the problems:
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=176580
Let us know how it works
I have a g900 and it is the worst ph I have ever bought. The sms takes about 10 secs to open and the touchscreen constanly freezes!!! I miss calls cos I cant touch the screen to ans the call!!!! Also sometimes the backlight stays on and the ph discharges itself.
Honestly I am horrified by this phone. I thought I would fork out for something decent only to be extremely frustrated!
The phone has some great features however these problems I have faced lead me to say this is a shit ph.
Spewing
Steve
my phone is 7 months old now and my problem is i can’t receive txt messages anymore.i tried to turn off my phone several times but still i cant receive messages.can u pls help me..plz..plz.plz..would apprecieate any help.Thanks
Hi,
SOny Ericsson G900 Sucks big time. I bought his phone 20 days back and display started feeding, no sufficient battery backup, restarts automatically, hungs up regularly, dosent sync with Outlook after few days and OS is so slow when compared to even oldest of the computers.
I am big fan of Sony ericsson and this is been very disappointing to me. Lets see if they can replace and give me the phone.
I use SE G900. I havent found any of the problem the author says. Infact you can scroll the photos too. I believe the author hasnt seen the phone even once. Limited side buttons are good.
Multimedia is best when you compare other smart phones.
Camera picture qualituy is good when u see the pictures in your picture in PC or lappie.
As pete says the battery cover is filmsy.
Signal reception is bit poor compared to other SE.
May be, few users are experiencing problem which is in other way in other mobiles.
A small request, dont post any comment without testing the products.
Hi Hemanth, perhaps it was you who didn’t watch the video. I did tested the phone and while it does scroll it’s nowhere near the smoothness as shown in the video. Nowhere like how smoothly an iPhone does it.
Hellp Leon, I believe the above comment posted by you is supposed to be for SRI. Anyway…. No advertisement in the world shows the reality of the product and they exagrate a bit. Even your favourite iPhone doent works 100% perfect show in advertisement.Is your iPhone Navigates GPS the same way as they show in their advertisement. Smart peoples dont rely on advertisement.
If iPhone is better than G900 in on scrolling photos, there lies the cost difference between the two. My friends iPhone which was offered along with Airtel (GSM-India) had problem with its speaker and on the 3rd day the phone speaker didnt work.
Any way, check G900 user guide change the settings to scroll your images as shown in the advertisement.
as this phone is for business use , so wad so important about the photo scrolling…
my phone realy sucks it doen’t save any thing on the ms and if it did it wont show it … i updated it sevral times but nothing changed can any budy plz help me .
Hi. I’m using G900 and this review is seriously wrong.
I text way faster than my friends do with this phone and it never crashed. Maybe the phone you bought wasn’t the genuine one.
The camera quality is as good as my normal camera. Maybe you can’t take picture that well. Cause when I uploaded the pictures, my friends thought it was taken from my Sony camera which is 10.2 mp.
The screen size is great. I have troubles using other smartphones but none with this. Sometimes I use my fingertip to open an app or whichever. And for the ones like checking the box, I’ll use my fingernails. I guess I’m blessed with small fingers.
The side bar is awesome.. I’m using the maple red one and it looks stylish. Love the lock and unlock button which never fails to amaze people.
And the ad might not be 100% true.. Yet can you tell me an ad from any company on phones which are true?
Not being biassed here. I have an iPhone and I used blackberry once. I would say that this phone is one of the best thing. iPhone speaker sucks. And sometimes when people call me, it won’t ring. Besides that, there’s alot of problems with it. And I’m using iPhone 3G S which supposed to be their best version of iPhone.
And while my friends are complaining how sucks their C905 are or some other nokia or samsung phones, maybe my brother screams at his iPhone, I’ll just smile at them and say that I have a great phone here. And some of them who once advised me not to get this phone, regretted not having it.
Hi !
I am using this phone for about 6 months. My problem started from the day 2 (as on day 1 “ITS TOUCH DID NOT WORK, WHEN I WAS BACK HOME”)…the shop people gave a brand new one (Thanks to the Shop Owner and never to SE).
I have changed my display screen twice ! And lost the side button colors. Video or Image is damn bad ! 5MP or .5MP ?
The phone was always getting stuck until i ve upgraded with the new firmware. Now I need to press the right corner hard to the body so as to make the touch work !
Its my 23rd SE phone ! Friends, trust me this one really hurt me a lot ! Sound is good, Display brightness is good, motion video is good, even battery is good…but overall i would rate it on a 4/10.
Its just a board of chips for my blackberry mail service. (I did not choose a blackberry phone for mail service; i wanted a SE phone itself; that much passionate was me on SE phones)
i love SE from the first sight.. i ever have 26 se phone n i always change the newest. but i’am very dissapointed when i use se g900. its a suck phone.. i’ve change the LCD twice but still hang-up n restart. i am realy disapointed with sony. . . . . can i get back my true love to sony product?
hi i have the same model.
1.camera is worst.
2.i have system connector issue and there is loose connection there.
I’ve been using SE phones for so long now and my experience with the g900 was horrific! I still have the phone somewhere in my cupboard completely dead and unrepairable (even by Sony Ericsson approved shops). The bloody thing never fell of my hand once, never had contact with water or anything! It just hangs everytime I attempt to put it on and never turns up now. A waste of money!! The worst experience I ever had to endure from a mobile device! I completely agree with this article as regards “THIS PHONE” and i’m puzzled by some of the guys defending and disputing “FACTS” by the writer. Well, I hope some of you who argue that this indeed is a good phone remember to correct themselves when indeed this phone shows you its true colours!! Still an ardent SE user though because I just cant find myself using another product. (Maybe I could try htc & their androids next).
fuck u g900…i own this phone from last 10 months…my message problem is also there …camera quality is worst as i have ever seen …my earlier N73 was best in camera quality with 3.2mp …now my left touch key is also creating problem some time work or sum time dnt…i just want to sell this phone.. if any body wish to buy please contact me ..my email is “kapildevshrm@yahoo.com”"
actually, i was impressed by this phone on the first few months that i’ve used it. Then the phone’s top panel cover(where the earpiece at videocall camera is situated)started to loosen and eventually peeled off. Then after few months again, the bottom touch panel(calls,menu,more)started to sometimes not react while the other portions of the screen is ok. Then it died… I don’t know if i’m gonna ask for a repair or just gonna buy a new one. I just went back to my old phone for now.