RSS Feeds
Phones
Lighting Review: Sony Ericsson TM506, T-Mobile's First 3G Phone
Posted by John Mahoney at 2:30 AM on August 30, 2008
The Gadget: Sony Eriscsson's TM506 is the first phone to be sold by T-Mobile that supports its still-rolling-out HSDPA network on the 1700/2100 MHz band.
The Price: Still not official, but T-Mobile says it will be less than US$100 with contract when it drops in early September.
The Verdict: Solid, everyman 3G for the masses.
If you didn't know it going in, you might not even realise the TM506 was 3G-capable. There's no big "3G" connection icon like on the iPhone, and nary a mention in the phone's settings. And most surprisingly, the phone ships only with T-Mo and Sony Eric's shitty t-zones browser--which is only a few steps past WAP.
So the first thing anyone with this phone should do is grab Opera Mini--and after doing so, all of the Google apps for Maps and Gmail (the built-in email client is equally miserable). It's smart in many ways to downplay the phone's HSDPA capabilities, since T-Mobile's rollout is still in progress. But the lack of a solid browser built-in is puzzling.
And here's the kicker--at the moment, this thing is lightning fast. I tested it in several locations in NYC, one of T-Mobile's first 3G cities, and we're talking near Wi-Fi speeds on T-Mobile's 1700/2100 MHz HSDPA network. I got a crazy average of 5037kbps using DSL Reports' smartphone speed test, where the iPhone 3G, in the same location at the same time, managed an average of 545kbps. Now before you get too excited, keep in mind that T-Mobile's 3G network is practically empty at the moment--when more 3G subscribers start piling on, speeds will certainly come down to the 600-1000kbps range that T-Mobile says will be the norm. But for now, 3G T-Mobilers will be living the sweet life. Pages load almost instantly with Opera Mini--it's awesome. And when you tether to your laptop (which T-Mobile is fine with)--it's still blazing, which is a great bonus.
Rounding out the rest of the package is everything you'd expect on a mid-range Sony Ericsson piece--A-GPS, 2MP camera with video recording, Bluetooth 2.0, Memory Stick Micro slot, a barebones media player, and all the rest in a light but solid feeling flip form factor (but I could do without the green). In the end, it's not for smartphone people, or worth leaving another network for, but if you're already on T-Mobile and it's time for an upgrade, you could do a lot worse for your money.
And until the network starts to fill up, you'll be putting your iPhone-toting friends to shame.
UPDATE: To clarify some confusion in the comments, all previous phones with 3G support sold by T-Mobile (Nokia 6263, Samsung t639, Samsung t819, Nokia 3555) are UMTS only, which means they'll only get speeds of around 200-300kbps says the T-Mo folks. The TM506 is the first high-speed HSDPA phone for the new network, which should get between 600-1000kbps.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
xphyle
Posted 3:16 AM 30/8/08
So what about a Sidekick 2008 that's 3G capable?
xphyle
timp123
Posted 3:09 AM 30/8/08
Seriously how come america is so far behind on the whole 3G thing??
timp123
daftrok
Posted 3:04 AM 30/8/08
Every 3G phone except for the iPhone can tether to laptops.
daftrok
cptskippy
Posted 3:02 AM 30/8/08
The Samsung t819 is a 1700mhz 3G compatible and it's been out since January. I've already called and confirmed that when they roll out 3G in Atlanta it will be able to access the network. And yes it tethers.
cptskippy
mricyfire
Posted 3:01 AM 30/8/08
@blitzkrieg999:
lol x2
mricyfire
thetickler
Posted 3:01 AM 30/8/08
I used to have that phone...in 1992.
thetickler
blitzkrieg999
Posted 2:44 AM 30/8/08
@TendoMentis: So apparently you missed that part where he says "And when you tether to your laptop (which T-Mobile is fine with)-it's still blazing, which is a great bonus."
blitzkrieg999
TendoMentis
Posted 2:38 AM 30/8/08
But will it tether?
TendoMentis
Nickbee
Posted 3:36 AM 30/8/08
Protip: invest in a tripod
Nickbee
timp123
Posted 3:36 AM 30/8/08
It's really quite a shame that people talk about it like its brand new when to me its been around for ages..
Also I agree that this does seem more of a lightning review, I can't see anything about lighting :/
timp123
jonathan.
Posted 3:33 AM 30/8/08
I think this is a sweet phone, and the speeds plus Opera Mini probably make it a beast. I'd get it if I didn't leave T-Mobile a long time ago. When the 3G slows down...that's gonna suck, having lived this life.
And why compare the speeds to iPhone 3G, one of the slowest 3G phones? That's barely a useful comparison.
jonathan.
jspeed04
Posted 3:32 AM 30/8/08
@timp123:
I'd say due mostly to the size of the country. So many different cities and metropolitan areas where many many people live, but nevertheless, people still live in desert and rural areas where its really tough to get signals to. Then I'd say am/fm radio and analogue television for using up so much of the vital spectrum needed to provide 3G coverage over all of the aforementioned areas. That is why the US is so adamant about getting all television broadcasts to digital (seriously if you've seen a map for the US frequency chart TV takes up SO MUCH).
Then, I'd say competition from different companies. If you remember how the government made Bell split up all those years ago, Bell had the landlines on lock, and those companies ended up being VZW, and AT&T, not Sprint because they were PCS, or T-Mobile because they were brought here in the 90's. Look at Europe and other countries on the other hand. The Continent is mainly run by Vodafone, O2, Orange, and Deutsche Telecom (AKA T-Mobile). Japan, NTTDOCOMO. China, China Wireless. So it's much easier for them to get their technology on board throughout the continent.
Oh, and they were smarter because they chose frequencies that they all pretty much shared throughout the eastern world, the 900/2100 MHz.
That, and some other reasons that I don't know, in a nutshell.
jspeed04
jonesjohnson
Posted 3:28 AM 30/8/08
Wait... I thought this was a lighting review. Seems more like a lightning review!
jonesjohnson
tande04
Posted 3:20 AM 30/8/08
@cptskippy: I'm trying to figure out what they mean by 1st 3G phone too...
There are three that came out before they even had the network up.
[gizmodo.com]
tande04
dcdttu
Posted 3:16 AM 30/8/08
timp123:
Because American consumers don't know any better and don't realize what's out there in other countries. We're the perfect consumer for pre-packaged crap.
...smartphones aside, I WISH this was AT&T's first 3G phone way back. I'd take that any day over an LG or Samsung craptastic 3G phone piece of shit.
...and unlike my iPhone, I bet it can get a signal!
dcdttu
erikislame
Posted 4:02 AM 30/8/08
@jonathan.:
Pretty useful info when upwards of 90% of all mobile internet activity is coming from iPhones.
[www.engadget.com]
erikislame
taking_this_easy
Posted 4:00 AM 30/8/08
@timp123: because new technology is often given to asia/japan to beta test, then rolled out to Europe, then given to USA
when AT&T offers a decent Nokia smartphone for under $200 for 2 yr contract, then i'll consider america in the technological zone...
taking_this_easy
John Mahoney
Posted 3:49 AM 30/8/08
The other T-Mobile 3G phones you guys are mentioning are UMTS only-which will only hit 200-300kbps on T-Mobile's network according to the T-Mo folks. This is the first phone to take full advantage of their new high-speed HSDPA network @ 600-1000kbps.
John Mahoney
Barry99705
Posted 5:05 AM 30/8/08
@timp123: Because our phone companies suck! When I was over in Oman, all the locals had cell phones that kicked our phones ass. It's cheaper for them to throw up cell towers than run phone cable, so every one has one.
Barry99705
Kricket
Posted 5:36 AM 30/8/08
was opera mini used to test the speed? because if so, that information gets compressed on opera's servers - so youre really getting the speed result from opera's end, not the phones...
to get an accurate result, you need to use the built in browser
Kricket
ArrogantAce
Posted 5:54 AM 30/8/08
im just waiting for the HTC Dream
ArrogantAce
brutek
Posted 5:51 AM 30/8/08
@thetickler: That was before the Motorola StarTac! I think you mean 2002.
brutek
jonathan.
Posted 6:25 AM 30/8/08
@erikislame: It being popular is nice, but when comparing this new phone's speed, I think it should be compared to another speedy phone. You wouldn't compare a fast car to a Honda Fit just because Honda Fits sell a lot. There are a lot of much faster phones on the market than the iPhone 3G. To compare it's speed only to the iPhone 3G, as I said before, isn't the most sensical comparison.
jonathan.
adrianblack
Posted 7:20 AM 30/8/08
Screenshot of speed test
I snapped a picture of my phone after doing that speed test. Repeat tests are within 100kbs of this.
adrianblack
adrianblack
Posted 7:15 AM 30/8/08
That speed test doesn't work properly. I just ran it on my Motorola V3xx using Opera Mini 4.1 and I got 5661kbps with 115ms average latency. This is on AT&T in Hollywood, CA and it is NOT that fast.
[dslreports.com] using a 1mb file size results in 1826kbit/sec which is the normal speeds I get with this phone on 3G. (Same speeds when tethered over a USB connection too.)
For all your iPhone 3G people out there -- the iPhone has slow 3G... I can be sitting next to a 3G iPhone owner and we'll both run the speed test and I usually get at least 2x speeds.
adrianblack
Kricket
Posted 7:34 AM 30/8/08
^ yeah - thats because of the way opera works - it processes and generates all of the information on its servers - then just pushes the results through to the handset (this is a part of what makes it such a speedy browser - everything is done on opera's servers)
hence - youre getting speed results of opera's servers rather than of the phone itself
Kricket
SneakerFiend
Posted 9:48 AM 30/8/08
Aww man i want something lifechanging to come to t-mobile already. I was already planning on the 2.5G iphone and im still gonna get it but when a crazy good smartphone comes out for t-mo best believe im getting it.
I dont think too many people are gonna be on t-mo's 3G service anytime soon for the simple fact that they havent announced it on the phone itself and they dont have too many smartphones. Hopefully we get a kickass smartphone sometime soon. And no i dont want the BB Bold anymore so im not getting it.
SneakerFiend