Ah the T68i … my favourite handset. Why discuss a seven year old handset, I hear you ask? Why not? The T68i was a pioneer in its day, introducing some of the features we now take for granted, and as a result it was ahead of its time. Even today the T68i is still a viable choice as a handset in my opinion.

From a technical standpoint the T68i was a trailblazer in its day. Not only was it the first handset to sport a colour screen (unless you count the Ericsson T68), it was also the king of connectivity. Not only did it have the standard features of its day; IrDA and WAP, it also supported Bluetooth, GPRS, e-mail, and, despite not having an inbuilt camera, MMS. That might not sound like an impressive feature list in 2008, but in 2001 that was rather impressive. The T68 had been advertised as a games playing mobile and the T68i kept that feature. The games look dated now, but in its heyday the T68i could boast games that were controlled using a joystick on a colour screen. An attachable camera was released for the T68i - a big step in those days given that mobile phones were, in general, still very much in the ‘talk and text’ stage.

In terms of design, the handset was an Ericsson handset and bears little resemblance to present day Sony Ericsson handsets. The design is elegant, yet simple; gently curving lines and an absence of ‘trendy’ design elements that afflict some modern handsets. I’m not sure whether it was the metallic blue surrounding the screen or the small size of the handset (it was considered small in 2001), but there was a certain feeling of advanced technological capability from the T68i. It didn’t look like a handset that was designed for just calls and texts.

The T68i’s biggest weakness was its slow UI. Simply put, the UI was fine as long as one went through it at a normal pace, but if you were trying to get something done in a hurry it could get frustrating. It’s somewhat ironic that some recent complaints about UIQ, the UI Sony Ericsson uses for its smartphones, have centred around the same issue.

When I compare the T68i with some of today’s handsets I can’t help but choose the T68i. Of course it is completely outclassed, in terms of features, by even today’s mid-range handsets, let alone high-end handsets, but despite that it still offers enough, even after seven years, for me to consider using it as my main handset. It might not do everything my N95 (… and yet he writes for a Sony Ericsson blog, Michell) does, but there is something about the T68i that I find enduring. It might have lost its technological superiority to other handsets, but, like a fine wine, it gets better with age. It’s contemporary simplicity, far from being a drawback, is an advantage in my opinion. It retains just enough to be technically useful whilst lacking just enough to make it appealing to those looking for something that reminds them of a simpler time.

Filed under: Article, Rants, T series

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