HTC TyTN vs Sony Ericsson P990i

// December 30th, 2006 // Tech // 18,988 views

Funny how something like a blog actually captures exactly what you felt and thought in the past (guess that’s the reason we blog, to create a journal of sorts?). Anyhow, it’s almost two years to the day that I had to decide on which new cellphone to choose for my contract renewal. So here I am again, trying to decide which of the new phones I will be stuck with for the next 24-months.

This process obviously began months ago (June in fact), with the news of the new Sony Ericsson P990i due for our shores. Feverishly, many have been anticipating it’s arrival and release to the various cellphone shops around the country and finally being able to hold and see it up close and personal.

I thought my mind was made up. How wrong I was.

Enter stage left, the HTC TyTN, which by the looks of the advertising and hype is bound to take the market by storm. It certainly has the credentials, having won a handfull of smartphone of the year awards. That means something, right?

It sports almost every type of connectivity one could possibly need:
GPRS Class 10 – 32 – 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10 – 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA – 1.8 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi – 802.11b/g
Bluetooth – Yes
Infrared – Yes
USB – Yes

Importantly it also has a touchscreen, QWERTY-keyboard and 2-Megapixel camera – all non-negotiable features as a miminum for me.

On the downside, probably the only thing I could find that really bugged me was battery life – Stand-by up to 200 hours and talk time up to 5 hours. In comparison with the P990i, it was the only one of two things that the Sony Ericsson had better stats on – Stand-by up to 400 hours and talk time up to 9 hours. But these things will probably stand in a cradle during the day – so a charge shouldn’t be such a big problem (right?).

I double-checked online comparisons from GSMArena, All About Symbian and Bengalboy‘s very thorough ‘shootout’ between the two.

So who really needs a RDS Radio and HSCSD connectivity (SE P990i) when you have EDGE, Wifi in 802.11 b and g and a 4-times faster HSDPA (TyTN)?

Reviews (see previous links) mention that the P990i sucks a bit in the memory department with frequent “spontaneous” restarts, while the TyTN gets a thumbs-down for not including memory (those dinky microSD cards) in the box.

Bollocks, damn, damn, damn. Now what do I choose? HELP!

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23 Responses to “HTC TyTN vs Sony Ericsson P990i”

Rich...! says:

2006/12/31 at 14:26

Dude,

Having gone through a tonne of smartphones I can tell you that the biggest bug with the HTC (I had the imate k-jam) is the fact that there’s no tactile feedback when you dial, dialing on the touch screen sucks big balls, I hated it.

I’m currently using the the Nokia E61; no camera, but a kick-ass phone nonetheless, Sonyerricson has a similar contender.

I thought the lack of camera would bother me but it really doesn’t as I always have a dSLR in my car and a compact in my bag.

Anither consideration is the Treo, I’m a big fan of that. It rocks out the box but it’s the range of really cool software that rocks my world.

Seriously dude, thumbing out numbers on a touch screen is horrible, mark my words…!
Aquila says:

2007/01/01 at 13:12

I noticed you were using the E61 the other day. I like the keyboard, but Im not too sure about the internet capabilities, possible lack of a touchscreen for web surfing and other applications and now that you’ve mentioned it the camera.
Although I also have a camera or two in the car, the ability to snap and post or snap and mail is still something I’m quite used to do.

I must agree that the tactile feedback on the screen for punching numbers does blow. My p910 has a few sticky keys after repeated knocks, so I have to use thumb and stylus nowdays. It does suck…that and trying to fire off a quick sms response, almost impossible without spelling like a loser.

More investigation required I guess. They should actually give you one for a week to test before you buy.
victoire says:

2007/01/04 at 13:05

htc tytn… *drool* that’s the one i’m getting. don’t care what you say… my phone finally come up for upgrade in october, but i’m hanging on so that i can port over to mtn and get the tytn at the same time. just hope that i won’t have to pay in too much…

i think its most notable pro’s are the hsdpa and wifi… that combined with both a touch screen and a keyboard. and it’s so pretty. and it runs windoze apps. i’m sold.
Aquila says:

2007/01/04 at 15:04

Lol Victoire – marry me – a that’s exactly why I want to go for the TyTN too…

Why you want to port to MTN? I’m currently on Vodacom, but I want to port from VSP to Nashua – increased Save Tru Spend benefits you see.

Problem is, that phone – even on a Talk 500s contract – will still cost you in the region of R2k at the moment. My upgrade is due 26th of this month. Looks like I have to wait for a month or three till the price on this puppy drops a bit.

The anticipation is killing me….
angel says:

2007/01/04 at 18:22

i do like the tytn… but i don’t qualify for it on my contract… i think i’m going to go for the moto krzr instead.
victoire says:

2007/01/04 at 21:17

well… i hardly know you aquila…

mtn have those mychoice packages, i’m looking at the mychoice300 at present, which is about R315 per month but that includes airtime to the value of R300. And you can spend that on calls or sms or data. which would really solve my home internet problem.

i’m with vodacom at present, have been happy until my calls started skyrocketing… their packages just don’t seem that attractive to me right now.

and yes, i am planning on spending some of my december bonus on the tytn. but i reckon it’s worth it considering you can buy it without the contract for R8k. and i’ve been waiting long enough for a kick-ass phone ok!
Aquila says:

2007/01/05 at 08:10

Angel: The moto krzr is a cool phone – it’s light, it’s thin, it’s oh so stylish.

victoire: haha – that challenge we can solve – as for the phone – I’ve been on the Talk 500s package for going on 6 years now. The least they can do is give me a damn phone for free. I’ve spent way more than these things actually cost. Envy is such a bad sin….so when you getting it? I’d like to hear your first hand experience.
victoire says:

2007/01/05 at 10:33

hey aquila… i’m looking to get it sometime in january… will definitely let you know when i do. i’ll probably post something about it on my blog and invite you into the mix. so exciting… a new toy!
Aquila says:

2007/01/05 at 13:53

That’ll be great. hehe I love it when girls get excited about new toys.
victoire says:

2007/03/07 at 14:04

ha ha ha…

well aquila today is the big day… i got the tytn! woo hoo! and i’m giddy with excitement…

we’ll have to compare notes sometime, once i’ve figured out how to get this baby fired up…
Aquila says:

2007/03/07 at 18:18

fab…I think you’ll agree with me it’s a nice phone, once you get the hang of it…

let me know when you’re done tinkering…there’s some software I need to point you to, to get this baby even better…

Nice post by the way…I never had time to get a shot of the box..that thing was ripped open at the store already.
Leonidus says:

2007/04/09 at 19:24

I had to decide between a sony ericsson P990I and a Imate K-Jam.I chose the the sony for various reasons, but what do you guys think?
Aquila says:

2007/04/10 at 06:51

Leonidus…between the sony and K-Jam I’d probably go with the Sony.

The main thing to consider is what do you want from the device…A pda with phone capabilities (K-Jam/ tytn) or a phone with pda capabilities (Sony Ericsson). I think it’ll make your decision a lot easier.

Good luck though.
Mark says:

2007/05/10 at 18:48

As a Nokia fan having had My last 4 phones being Nokia I decided two months ago to give the Sony Ericsson P990i a GO I’ve Concluded it would make a very nice GOLF BALL The worste phone I have ever used Bad battery if sun screen touches the paint it peels It hangs every time you try web browse It has a battery life of a used duracell bunny that got run over and even the shop at vodaworld don’t know how it works In summary Buy a golf ball and hit it a lot cheaper than a P990i which you will want to throw against the wall or every time you see a patch of lawn imagine placing it and smacking it with a one wood
beard says:

2007/05/16 at 17:19

i will be getting the p990i soon, have ordered one and will let you guys know how it goes. ps mark i have had my worst phone experiences with nokia handsets.
Aquila says:

2007/05/17 at 12:11

Mark: that’s quite sad dude. I know that the SEP990 had memory issues, but a ROM upgrade fixed that afaik… Maybe you need to take it to your nearest service centre.

Beard: Having been an old Nokia fan and moving to the P910 earlier I can say it’s definitely a step up (from a phone to a PDA). Good luck and let us know how it’s going.
AJ says:

2007/06/09 at 00:20

Stay away from the SE990i. It is crap. It is bad. It is less useful, less robust (software and memory wise) than the P910i (which I though was a product from hell).

I should have paid another grand and gone with the Tytn, or even the Nokia E61i. The SE hangs, reboots, does what it wants. I cannot understand (search the web for issues with P990i) how SE could even have released this phone.

When they released the 910i last year or the year before it was off the market within weeks due to it’s nonesence. The 990i better have a decent software / firmware upgrade soon. I should really have stayed with a reliable brand.

Get the 990i entirely at your own risk.
Aquila says:

2007/06/09 at 05:27

HI AJ, there have been many issues around the P990, but I believe from people who have them that most bugs have been sorted out with the free firmware/software upgrade. Have you taken yours back to your service provider for a flash upgrade?
Carel says:

2008/03/18 at 12:00

Hi. I’m a Nokia fan using a N80, due to upgrade soon. Been eyeing the HTC’s, though still tempted to remain with Nokia. Any suggestions?
Aquila says:

2008/03/19 at 20:47

Hey Carel – My previous response got lost in the load-shedding…

Anyway, as I was saying, I would definitely go with the HTC – TyTn II no less. The TyTn II is a great update to the TyTn mentioned in the article.

I’ve never looked back since moving over. You may however find a bit of a learning curve with the windows mobile operating system and touch-screen if you’ve never used it before. But once you get the hang of it, it really is a pleasure. Besides, with the Windows OS, syncing with your laptop is a breeze, and there’s great support for office mobile word, powerpoint and excel.

The HTC also now comes with free navigation software, so that makes route planning pretty easy.

I wish everyone could test phones before we buy – so I’d say if you can, pop into a Vodacom/MTN store – hold it in your hand. The TyTn is quite something.

Go HTC dude…
aamir says:

2008/03/30 at 01:13

i use tytn ii last two years i have no problem with it. active sync work fine, wifi exelent, great display, all fuction work smooth, although its very nice phone,
i don’t know why other people have problem, may be thay not use it properly,
this phone not for dooods….
TYTN II ROCKS….

Pros: good keyboard, sound good, exelent display, wifi, quick, great multimedia capability .

Cons: nothing
aamir says:

2008/03/30 at 01:15

i use kjam last two years i have no problem with it. active sync work fine, wifi exelent, great display, all fuction work smooth, although its very nice phone,
i don’t know why other people have problem, may be thay not use it properly,
this phone not for dooods….
K-JAM ROCKS….

Pros: good keyboard, sound good, exelent display, wifi, quick, great multimedia capability .

Cons: nothing