Getting Jiggly with It

Yawn. Would you believe that I actually didn't get any sleep from the moment I got home after our Saturday Night Out until about... oh... seven or so in the morning? Yep, the darn P910i kept me up, fiddling with it and actually seeing me WAIT through the whole recommended 4 hours of initial charging.
Unfortunately, there seems to be something wrong with the battery- there's a noticeable tick from the full energy bar after several minutes after using it for some Bluetooth and media usage... which is alarming for a device that's supposed to have a standby time of 400 hours on paper. Even 200 hours would be great though...

Anyway, that aside, the phone works pretty great. The first thing I bought with the phone was a screen protector, which should keep the lovely face of the device from unsightly bruises and blemishes that may occur. Those tiny rectangles of clear plastic cost several hundred pesos (GAH!!!) but really, if you're ready to spend forty thousand plus for the world's spiffiest phone, you SHOULD spend a little extra to keep it spiffy-looking. As with any new phone on the block, technicians and sales girls weren't too keen on touching it, so I had to apply the clear sticker myself. No problem though.
The P910i looks deceptively large- well, it is, but not as big as you'd think. Despite being chunkier and wider than my previous 7610, it actually fits in my old beltclip, which is great. The whole device feels very snug, compact and solid, which is great. The grey, gun metal finish just looks so unbelievably cool. The whole thing fits snugly in my hand... well, I have big hands... and I can handle the inputs quite effectively.

Flipping Out
Texting with the Flip closed is easier than I thought. The larger keys feel solid and are very easy to use- I just have to get used to the Sony Ericsson format for texting again, after using the Nokia for a while. Complementing the various inputs is the phone's answer to joysticks- The Jog Dial, which lets you scroll easily and steadily to various items. It's intuitive and a pretty brilliant piece of controller design, I have to say.

Finding your Type
Using the QWERTY keypad on the back of the Flip is tricky. I do NOT recommend using it as the marketing has shown- with both thumbs on the keyboard, your hands basically holding the whole phone's weight up by the Flip. Despite Sony Ericsson saying that the Flip is sturdy, I don't think it's wise to do this, unless you have attached the accompanying wrist strap and have it twirled around your hand. IMO, the best way to use the QWERTY is with one hand doing the typing, and the other supporting the back of the phone. That said, using the keyboard is quite effective- the convex-shaped keys are small but easily hit and are quite responsive. The only thing is that I actually found myself tapping keys twice or thrice several times since I'm so used to regular texting.

Blacklisted
So far I've been able to install Smartmovie into the phone (which I had to pay through a German merchant since the US distributor won't accept my order since The Philippines has been placed on the U.S. Watch List for Exports. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT? My money not good enough for ya, Uncle Sam??! FEH. Anyway. The larger screen is a world away from the relatively smaller screen I had with the Nokia Symbian phones. It's just unreal. However, I have to say that the 7610 played videos smoother. Still, the sheer size of the video screen just erases any cons. Lovely. For now though I have to make do with the measly 96 MB of combined internal and external memory available. But once I have the means, I'll see about getting that 1 gigabye Memory Stick Pro with my name on it. Heh.
Finally, I seem to have a problem with using the phone's PC Suite. My PC just can't seem to detect the phone. This really doesn't bother me too much- I can still transfer files via Bluetooth, and the only thing I really miss is the supposedly excellent version of V-Rally for the phone. Oh well.

So far, despite the issues with the battery and the non-functioning PC Suite, I am pretty happy so far with my new gizmo. There are tons of things to study and tinker with, so it's really a treat to have. Furthermore, the P910i so far works excellently as a PHONE- texting is fast and easy and sending SMS is pretty quick. Calling is pretty good too, and the speakerphone option is easy to use and pretty loud and clear.

One day old and I'm still very much in a ga-ga that I have this new toy. I am having so much fun with it, I actually don't feel so bad about the still-delayed Dead or Alive Ultimate game! If only for that, my new mobile is worth every cent I paid for it. Heheh.