Moving on to greener cellular pastures

In the first of a new How To series, Gadget unearths all you need to know before you take that leap over to a new phone brand. This issue covers what you need to know when moving from a Nokia to a Sony/Ericsson. We don’t have anything against Nokia, so look out for upcoming articles on migrating to and from other cellular brands. By Sean Bacher.

It’s that time of the year: you are up for contract renewal and are tired of the boring old Nokia handset. That old saying about familiarity has also been upgraded, and now familiarity breeds discontent.

While perusing your local cellular retail window a delightfully savvy looking Sony/Ericsson T630 catches your eye. You think about changing brands, but trepidation strikes you like a lightning bolt: just what are the implications of changing a from a Nokia 6310i to a Sony/Ericsson T630?

Well, changing from one cellphone to another is not that big a deal in reality. Your biggest problem will be getting used to the different menu layout and different shortcut keys. Other than that, cellphones all basically perform the same functions, although your new phone will sport a couple of extra features. This statement holds true for every single phone, and no less so when migrating from a Nokia 6310i to a Sony/Ericsson T630. The T630 is one of Sony/Ericsson’s latest additions to their already extensive range, and one we felt was better geared to the business user, much like the Nokia 6310i.

Let’s start:

Before you remove your SIM card from your Nokia, make sure all your contacts are copied onto the card. The reason is that the minute you switch your Sony/Ericsson on and enter your PIN, it’s going to ask if you want to copy your contacts to the phone’s memory. This is a definite must as it makes browsing your contacts much quicker and, instead of having multiple entries for a single contact, the phone’s memory will let you have multiple numbers linked to a single contact entry.

Your second step is to set up the date and time. Unlike the Nokia, where you would press the Menu button and scroll to your settings, the Sony/Ericsson uses a GUI, or graphic user interface, which is controlled via a four-way joystick. It’s really easy to use and, if you’ve ever used a mouse, you’ll have no problem whatsoever. Just depress it to enter the menu and move it around until you find the Settings icon. Click on it and scroll down to the Time and Date option.

In effect you are browsing your phone, since the main menu looks and feels rather similar to a web page. By now you should have a rough idea of what the T630’s menu structure looks like and would be eager to find out more. Ok, its time to check that your SMS settings are correct. To access these, once again depress the joystick and browse to the Messaging option. Click on it and scroll to the Text menu item. Incidentally, all other message services, such as e-mail, area broadcasts, MMS and the like are also accessed and changed in this menu. Once in your Text option, select Service Centres and input the correct number. Your cellular provider will be able to help you out with these numbers if you don’t know them. You are now ready to send and receive messages.

MMS messages are a little trickier to set up. However, here is a tip: To get all the settings input into their correct place first time round, give your service provider a call, tell them the make and model of your phone and ask them to send you an over the air (OTA) message. Once this arrives on your cellphone, just select the save option and your MMS settings are set up and ready to go.

You’ll notice the Sony/Ericsson does not have dedicated answer or reject buttons. Instead, the menu buttons serve as answer and reject buttons when in ‚Call Mode’ and can be customised to perform practically any other function when in Standby mode.

Oh yes, one last thing before we go: probably the most important and most difficult operation to get used to is the key-lock. Unlike the Nokia, which uses the left menu button and Star key in quick succession to lock the keypad, the Sony/Ericsson uses the right menu button and Star key in quick succession. Probably the most frustrating of all is ‚locking’ my phone the Nokia way, only to find that, once its in my pocket, I made 20 calls to the poor sod who was first in my phone book. There is always the auto-keylock function offered by Sony/Ericsson though.

In summary, moving from a Nokia 6310i to a Sony/Ericsson T630 is a piece of cake. The T630 offers as much as the Nokia, if not more, and makes a great change.

For more information on the Sony/Ericsson T630, visit their site at http://www.sonyericsson.co.za

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