Sony Ericsson T608s available from Sprint

I posted most of the following over at Prius-2G, but thought others might find it useful:

T608s are available directly from Sprint.

I recently got a message from someone posted on this
group about selling T608s and that there was a limited run of only 10,000.

So, I went to my local Sprint store in Columbia, MD. They looked it up in
their database and said that I had to go online to order one from the
SprintPCS.com site. I did that and they were not available there, but
there was a toll-free number to call, which I did.

They didn't seem to have any shortage of phones for sale.
But maybe you have to have an existing Sprint account.
The number I called was: 888-253-1315.

I spoke with Jackie in telesales. She quoted me a price of
$199 plus $5 shipping plus $10 tax, for a total of about $215.
This is much cheaper than those selling on ebay, some of
which have been posted for over $300.

As I wasn't sure that I wanted to buy the phone the first
time I called, she told me to call her back on 877-778-7040
and ask for her, which I did. The phone arrived two days
later, though she said to expect it in a week.

I am an existing Sprint customer. There are no discounts or
rebates on this phone, but it works very well with the
service. It took me a few times to get it conncected, but it
automatically connects now every time I get into the car
with it on.

Phone book transferred fine; it only transfers the first
number associated with a name, so set up the phone book
on your phone first with only one number - the one you
want to appear in the car, then transfer the book (called
business cards in the phone) and then go back to the
phone and add additional numbers under each name.
At least this is the way I did it.

I really like this phone, even though it is not a flip phone, which I would
have preferred. It has voice dialing built in, so you don't need to pay
extra to Sprint to subscribe to voice dialing for those times you are away
from your car making calls. It also has a speakerphone function that you
can activate in the middle of a call. If you get a PocketPC or Palm device
with Bluetooth, you should also be able to exchange phonebooks with
your phone. I haven't tried that yet, as I don't have a Bluetooth enabled
handheld.

I also went to

http://www.cellphoneshop.net/cellphoneshop/

and ordered some extra
batteries for $12 and a couple of charger cords for the car ($6)
and an adapter that allows the car charger cord to be
plugged into a wall outlet ($6). I got a couple of these, too. I
keep the combo in my travel bag. That way I don't have to
take my original cord on trips; just the one and the AC
adapter. They came in about a week from Hong Kong, and
work well.

Hope this isn't too much information!

Paul

 

I like mine quite a bit. As I said, I would've preferred a flip phone, but since I got a leather case for it, it's okay. I keep it in the car most of the time as I can't get service in my basement office. So I use it mostly in the car.

Otherwise, the screen is a bit small and hard to read for these older eyes. I did set the font to the largest size possible, but those tiny icons that pop up on the sides are nearly indecipherable.

I do like the speakerphone function, but wish it could be set as a default rather than having to toggle it on in the middle of a call.

Did you download the PDF manual from the Sprint site? Not the one you get with the phone, there's another one, more comprehensive that really tells you all the neat stuff the phone is capable of. T9 text entry, for instance. It should be available to you online, when you first log on, under documentation for your phone. If you can't find it, let me know and I will send you the PDF.

I'm curious as to what quirks you found with the phone....

 

1. I haven't yet tried to re-submit the phonebook. I only did it once. Took me a couple of tries, but did successfully transfer when I told it to send business cards...

2. Mine rings through the car speaker. There may be a setting in the phone that tells it to ring the phone or the bluetooth device. Check the menus.

3. Mine doesn't work that way. All calls come through the car, first, last and middle! Again, I think there may be a setting in the phone for this.

4. I agree about turning on/off. It sometimes takes about 5-10 seconds of pressing the on/off button to get it to work. That is an annoyance.

I recommend that you download the PDF of the larger manual and go through it. There's a lot this phone does that's not immediately obvious.

 

I agree with Evan; If you are going to stay with Sprint or have a long contract, I would spring for the phone. The display is small and hard to read, but, if like me, you are going to be using it mostly in the car, you won't see the screen anyway.

It's an easy phone to get used to and if you can find out how to unlock it if you should like to switch providers, it wouldn't be a total loss.

I happen to like Sprint and this phone is much clearer and more dependable than my old Moto Startac.

Worth it? Only you can determine that. It's kind of like the Prius itself. It's cool, and if that's worth something to you, then it IS worth it. If your object is to save money and your present phone is working, then probably not. I didn't get this phone as soon as I got the car as my Startac was working fine. Then it cracked and started dropping calls and not even picking them up. I would've preferred to get a phone for free, but that wasn't an option for this phone and there are no other Bluetooth phones from Sprint.

See previous posts about likes/dislikes.

 

Hey--
No, you don't have to have the PCS Vision service. They gave it to me for two months for free, to try. I don't find it useful at all. It's great if you want to download new ringtones (the phone comes with about 20-30 already and I'm not into today's popular music) or if you want to be able to send and recieve email or surf the web or send pictures back and forth. I have to call to cancel in about two weeks. It's cool, but unnecessary.

Aside from the small, hard-to-read screen, I like the phone very much. It connects with the car with no problems. If the phone is not on when you first start the car, when you do turn on the phone, the bluetooth connects automagically, without having to do anything else. Takes about 10-15 seconds, but always connects. The phone mutes the stereo if it is on and rings through the speakers of the car.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

 

Re: Thank you!

I read that someone else said that the sound quality at the other end of the conversation was not good. I have not experienced that at all; everyone I talk to using the car has said it sounds just fine, even with the windows open.

If you are keeping the phone in the car on a charger, it should be fine. In the Bluetooth setup, if you leave it "On" instead of "Automatic", it does deplete the battery faster. But since it's being charged as you drive, it's not a problem. I sometimes forget to turn it off at the end of the day when I leave it in the car. Now, I just take it out of the car and if need be, attach it to the wall charger.

I do like the phone. I find that when I have it in my pocket with other stuff, it will dial numbers if you don't put "KeyLock" on.

You definitely don't need PCS Vision for Bluetooth to work. That's built into the phone, independent of whatever service you might have. Steve Goldberg even switched to Verizon for service and kept the Bluetooth enabled. So, it's a load of BS. I don't know if they still offer the two free months of Vision, but I happen to have this phone with a plan that was grand-fathered in from about 8 years ago, if you can believe it. It's only $15 a month and of course, they don't offer it anymore. If I were to change plans, I could never get it back. I don't have any contract, either. I got the phone to work without Vision, and had to beg them to let me try it for the two months for free, which they did.