Comments on: Equinox Goes Official

By: Chris Cardinal

Chris Cardinal — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:12:01 +0000

I just spent about an hour with the Equinox at the store, since I have a Bluetooth caller id watch from SE that I really like and it’s not yet compatible with Android. (Though some of the XDE folks are working on it.)

The phone was a bit disappointing for someone coming from a k800i. The menu is sluggish and circular, which is annoying. The light effect is hardly visible, at least in the store. The external display is a bit hard to read since it has some weird depth to it. Not sure if that’s just how the OLED was integrated on this device or if it’s relatively common, but it’s serviceable I suppose.

My biggest problem was that SE took a big step backwards with the basic OS with notifications. When I get a text message on my phone, it shows from who and the first few words. The Equinox says “YOU JUST GOT A TEXT MESSAGE DO YOU WANT TO SEE IT NOW WELL DO YA?” Why not just preview it for me? It’s insanely valuable to have it just tell me who and give the first few words, since tons of messages are short enough that I don’t even need to unlock the phone. This obfuscates all of that.

Likewise with missed calls. There’s a specific setting on my phone to turn this on or off–notifications is the option name, and there’s “activity” and “popup” as the options. The equinox doesn’t have this.

The build quality is a bit weird too. I dislike flip phones as a general rule and this really didn’t do anything to convince me otherwise. I like candybars for the most part.

Finally, yes, you can run Google Maps. In fact, the TMO store I was at had it, but it was buried under localization services. Kind of annoying.

Was really hoping for the CS8, but now I’ll just wait for an Android 2.0 phone. Around the time that comes out, my watch should be working with the OS then.

Disappointing overall, but a good starter phone in that it has 3G and YouTube and Google Maps integration. I just really wish they hadn’t kneecapped some of the SE OS features, though an FW update might help there…

By: rudeboy

rudeboy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:31:40 +0000

Anyone know if this phone can run Google maps? I tried downloading it to a demo at the TMo store and it gave an invalid app error, what gives? The phone has built in GPS so why disable the phone from running Google maps? C’mon Tmo!

By: XProflmfao

XProflmfao — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:20:57 +0000

My second choice for a Christmas present if the first one doesn’t work out!!! Pretty cool mid-level device with a lot of high-end features…

By: sikkboy626

sikkboy626 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:19:24 +0000

two questions: a) will it tether? b) will it blend?

By: acsteffy87

acsteffy87 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:13:43 +0000

ya once you’ve had a smartphone its near impossible to cope with a feature-phone, if i had never bought the Mytouch3G i would be considering this one, its very sexy i think, too bad it just doesnt do what my Mytouch3G does.

By: NiteWalker

NiteWalker — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:47:29 +0000

It’s nice but I like the w508 a lot better. Comes in grey and blue; my colors. And with generic FW too.

By: akil

akil — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:28:17 +0000

if its not a smartphone then it must be a dumb choice……only if you’ve had a smartphone b4 though lol

By: Kennypu

Kennypu — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:01:30 +0000

I would get it; it looks nice, has 3g, etc. But the non-standardized cable, and m2 stick turns me off

By: abi

abi — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:25:15 +0000

its a really cool looking simple phone. Not bad like the color thing. But I won’t be getting it iam sticking to smartphones

By: Puv

Puv — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:48:39 +0000

That sideways external screen is odd! This would be nice, IF you can tether on it – which I doubt you can out of the box. Need to find out if there is a generic firmware available like there is for the TM506.