I worked with the development of these phones from 2000 to 2012. A very interesting journey. Before Android we had all competence in house for these products.
Sony Ericsson Walkman phones - unbeatable with last model of Live with Walkman... (Turn off that speaker... What speaker it's a phone...) Phone had loudest speakers in 2011
@@matsv201 Yes Lund. I worked as Module Key Responsible with the development of the Phonebook on the T39 in the year 2000. But in in 2001 Sony got involved as the company became Sony Ericsson. In 2012 Sony took over completely. Today there is nothing left in Lund. Only some colleagues left working in Malmö. Moved to Japan?
@@rogercarlsson8679 Thank you very much for developing Sony Ericsson t610, it was one of the best! Did you y work on the T610? Can you tell me something interesting that you can? Is it true that the t610 was created on the platform from the t68 and had partially similar software? It’s just that many amateurs and enthusiasts say so, and I also saw a photo of an early firmware from the t610 and there in the properties "Phone status" of the t68i it was written. What processor did the t610 have if you remember of course and it won’t make it difficult to say? True, there was ARM7 with a clock speed of 40 MHz, how much RAM and ROM did the t610 have? True, one of the z200 models had partially similar software from t610, although it was changed, because there graphic elements in the interface are very similar to t610 and the themes engine is similar to t610, fans and enthusiasts say, despite this, that new themes cannot be installed, but the themes engine itself is similar.
I still remember the first day I watched the Ericsson T68, as a millennial born in '91, that day remains as one of the most important moments of my life related to technology history. My uncle was working at Ericsson back at that time (Mid 2002), he had one of the early models, (the first version). I remember how he turned it on, a pretty short animation of the space, like the earth getting light from the sun showed up. I know, for today standards, the T68 had a super tiny display and pretty bad color, but back in 2002, seeing something like that in a mobile phone was stunning. Not to mention all the connectivity and multimedia features. I've always thought the T68 has been such an underrated phone, when people think about iconic phones in mobile phone history, some people will think about the iPhone, the Nokia 6600 and 3310, or the Motorola Startac/Razr, and yes, they're important pieces of history, but the T68 played a huge role in mobile development. Super Great video by the way!!!
I also think that t68, t300, t310, t610 and similar phones are very legendary and underrated. I really like these phone models and they are one of the best in my opinion.
@@JanusCycle I also have Sony Ericsson T610 and it's one of my favourite phones as well as t68, t300, t310, K750. By the way, t610 can also be modified. I heard that enthusiasts put a screen in it from t630 TFT instead of STN and also firmware from T630, and more. The t630 and t610 have a lot in common. And the board from the T630 fits into the case from the T610. Another theme from T610 classical.thm which I like better than T630 is also compatible with T630.
The T68is was my second phone. What a machine. Productivity, battery for a week, ir dial up modem, and I had a motorola bluetooth headset. If you hit the volume slider while locked it would tell you remaining battery in days and hours instead of percentage
Wow, I'm thoroughly impressed with the quality of photo from a 2001 phone. This looks like photos from 2007-08 phone cameras. A CMOS sensor being that advanced on a phone is insane.
I went on holiday to America when I had my T68. All the Americans were so impressed as they had old flip phones. Then i met up with some Japanese guys and their phones we really fancy, with built in cameras and much bigger colour screens.
I remember seeing this first in a Vodafone shop in my home town. The advert said "Bluetooth" and I didn't know what it was. I noticed the blue colour on the selector stick and wondered if it came off, like a blue tooth. I'd honestly never heard the word before and had no idea what it meant.
I really miss these times of ever evolving and changing everyday technology. I remember being so excited for a lot of different products, not least the release of new mobile phones. It's kinda hard, at least in my opinion, to be as exciting nowadays about a new phone when it's gonna be more or less the same as what came out the previous few years but with some minor alterations.
I agree with you totally, but we are really at the peak of smartphone industry right now. More or less we are using phones in the same way as we did 5 years ago. So it's just a refining that experience. Plus, it's easy to find video review of the phones you're interested and in the start you already know what are you going to have. Which is a good and a bad thing at the same time.
Oh man, I had a W580, modded the hell out of that phone. Elfs where amazing and I couldn't believe all the stuff that the community did for these SE phones.
Pointing out that the T68m was so ahead of its time, that 8 months later Sony Ericsson simply re-launched it as the current flagship, just with some new software toys. Oh yeah also, in England you were able to take the phone to something like Carphone Warehouse and they would update the software, you just left it with them for 45 minutes. It was supposed to cost like £30 but they just did it for free most of the time, regardless.
That era of rapidly evolving technology in the mobile sector, blink and you miss it... from one line monochrome LCD to full color LCD, speech-only to GPRS + Bluetooth, pixel-"art" to photo-capable in just a couple years. Between a certain point in time with several different phones from Motorola, Nokia and Sony and the Motorola Milestone (my first Android device) there was only Sony Ericsson, starting with the T610 - it was amazing what happened almost over night, there was new technology all the time and you could get in in your pocket so easily. Ericsson felt like the Volvo of phones, reliable, cutting-edge inventions, build to survive a nuclear war :D Great video!
I remember the Sony Ericsson K and C series. They had a proper camera on board with a Carl Zeiss lens and actual Xenon flash. You never saw that ever again after that, even today. I had the K800i and then the C905. I still have these laying around somewhere.
my first phone, i still have it, because my father bought it for me as my birthday present when i turned 18, just a few weeks before he died. everytime i look at that phone my eyes fill with tears, and ad that time that phone was about 600 dollars over here. after that i had many sonyericsson phones up to the experia and then i moved to samsung when sony stoped inovating
I was born in mid 90s but I remember vividly phones from that era. My father used to have Sony phones and my uncle had Ericsson phones. Also remember that my father first Sony phone was big like cordless home phones, I don't know how they call that phones nowadays, and it had big menu button in the center. Since he was carrying his phone in special belt pocket, eveytime he went to sleep after work I would sneak and took the phone out of that pocket and went under the table just to press menu button couple times lol. But I liked more Ericsson phone from my uncle as the screen on that phone had cool blue backlight. I also remember one Ericsson phone that had small horizontal screen like the calculator one and it had a small cover for keyboard and small antena. Later on when Sony and Ericsson merged they went with Nokia. 2000s was so exciting period for me. Everytime when I got to try new phone it was learning totally new stuff all over again. Though Nokia did some kind of recylcing software as I some my family who used to buy different Nokia phones, essentially had the same software. Only exterior was different.
3 of maybe even 4 years before that "first color screen mobile phone" was released, I was rocking my freshly released Siemens S10 mobile phone with a color screen.. 😉
First time in my life I seen photos from Sony Ericsson I have seen this phone 23 years ago as kid and I was mesmerized but it was so rare and then it disappeared
I had a T68i it was so small that your hand hide it while using. Technically speaking the T68i was the first (i for Internet) by Sony Ericson the design of T68i was a little more streamlined more curved on the shoulders and more beautiful. It was not available in all countries though. It was the first phone with a blue LED that I saw.
1:54 I really like the look of that. It reminds me of two things. One, the cameras on the nintendo 3DS, but two, the swirly out of focus areas at the edges are almost like a helios lens.
Hi there! I just watched your video on the Ericsson T68m. I’ve got a T68m as well, but sadly it’s updated to the R5 software version. What hardware (such as cables…) and which software did you use to perform the downgrade on yours? Also, where did you find the flashable firmware file required for the downgrade?
In this video I used a Twister box. But I do think there is free software and a basic service cable that can do this. It's been a long time since I did this and I will have to refresh my memory. Do you use Discord?
I had the gray T68m and upgraded the firmware to T68i. I remember missing the Tetris. It was my favorite game. It broke later under warranty and they gave me the beautiful white T68i. I was so happy
I bought a T68i.... and a year later... i replace its case for the gold one which was gorgeous !!! I had also the T28 and T39.... And other Sony Ericssons, before buying my first smartphone... nokia 3230. which was great.... Later on some great devices arrived at home... N8, L1020... L950...
Sony Ericsson was my favourite brand. I've had T610, W810 and my absolute favourite phone of all times was C905 with it's sliding body and superb camera. Miss the time when phones were functional yet design accessory... Or maybe I just wish being in my 20's again 🙂
Seems like a mistake at the time, that phones were not made modular. There were a few experiments with add-ons, but that was it. Nowadays, many phone components are so good, that it should be possible to retain them for as long as possible, and then swap them as needed: the radios, the SIM card tray/s, the display, storage, the computing unit, etc.
@@indigomizumi Well, not quite a concept, though not fully realized. Motorola had a series of semimodular Android smartphones called Moto Z and several Moto Mods to accompany the main devices as plug-ins. Jolla had a smartphone in the form of Jolla Phone and The Other Half add-ons via I2C connectivity. The phone runs on Sailfish OS, which is based on MeeGo.
Ohh man I remember having one of these phone back in the day. It was a nice transition I had from the Nokia 3310, seeing a lit colored screen and being able to play games etc. This was a nice phone back in the day but unfortunately very hard to repair as it wasn't as well known here in our area here in South East Asia, I literally had to go thru ton of repair shops before someone managed to fix it. Overall it was a great phone for it's time.
I remember getting this phone… it’s still kicking around in the attic somewhere, including the camera (which i had around the neck when i was out and about, it came with a leather sleeve in matching color and lanyard)
I remember when I was like 14 years old and I told my dad that I wanted to move to Japan or at least import all the newest phones from there because I seen all the high tech gadgets that they had way before us. I got one of the very first phones that played MP3 and I had to order the hands-free cord from Japan on eBay I felt so cool back in the early 2000s with my phone playing music and answering phone calls in my vehicle like a boss.
Hmm, my Siemens S25 although not really making use of it - has 4 colour screen. And it's not first Siemens colour screen device as S10 was true first one ever to have it in 1997, waaaay before Ericsson T68. On the other hand - T68 was making hell use of it at its time.
You make a good point, the S10 did have the first colour screen. I think we can also say the T68m had the first full colour screen :) I think the S10 and S25 were probably using the technique I explored in the 'Weird Colour LCD' video I made. I'm keen to confirm if that's correct.
I bought one of these to tinker with J2me and the "mascot capsule" 3d api. Was pretty easy to get something up and running (point sprites + 3d landscape was easy to write) main annoyance is the joystick broke so ended up being kind of useless.
A very interesting and cool phone. What about modifying old Sony Ericsson and Ericsson phones, both hardware and software, including firmware, adding new games, etc.? Enthusiasts haven't found a way to modify these Ericsson and Sony Ericsson phones yet, as is the case with Nokia?
When this phone was first released in UK I bought for GPRS and bluetooth, a market first (USD 1200). I used a Compaq IPAQ (USD 3000) with the battery/PC Card sleeve accessory (USD 500) and a Bluetooth PC Card (250) to connect with the Ericsson's GPRS connection. Then I went to Michelin's website to access their interactive map and cross reference with physical landmarks/signs, so that i could find my way around the Ardennes and their picturesque, trout stream laden hills...
I have one of them, not long after i got it, sony ericsson came into being and offered everyone in the uk a software upgrade to the sony ericsson t68i!
Late to this video, but damn a blue led in 2001 was pretty ahead of the curve. That was some damned new tech at that time, until we worked out how to do it cheaper and suddenly everything had blinding blue leds
I believe t68 came in trio, t65 and t66. I remember saw it in local magazine and advertized as camera capable phone, t65 displayed greyscale photograph with early mca 10. It was amazing technology so much ahead than nokia, siemens and samsung. I had t68i and experienced the early internet with GPRS and wap browser. Later I studied how to made WML webpage and become programmer until today
The software also were different between T68 & T68i. T68 had easter eggs for ex. And I kept mine (still have) with the original software :). There was even a post-it feature that you leave a note on the screen. This phone was an amazing addition to mobile world, everyone is talking about Nokia but Ericsson was much better and the 3310 is indestructible? Check the 688, that is the indestructible phone, not 3310 which is a plastic toy compared to 688.
I remember seeing one of these in late 2002. I really wanted one of those but few months later Nokia 7650 arrived and not too long after I had one. Anyway those times were amazing with different styles of phones: clamshells, flips, sliders and other convertibles. These days everything is bland not only in technology
Fantastic review - subbed! I had a stroke of nostalgia last night and bought a t68i locked to Orange UK. Would you know what is the best/easiest way to get it unlocked? Perhaps I could talk to EE? Thanks PS. The gold t68m was one of the most beautiful phones ever!
Contact EE first and see if they still have the unlock code in their database. Otherwise it may be difficult to find someone with old unlocking hardware. Try asking phone repair shops that have been in business since the early 2000's. There are claims that online unlock code sites can get codes but that can be expensive and it's hard to know which sites are genuine, if any. The gold T68m is great, but so rare these days, especially in good condition.
Btw, what cable to do you recommend I should buy if I want to flash the phone? I saw on esato.com that it is possible to alter a data cable into a service one. Would either of DRS-10/11 or DCU-10/11 work? Do you recommend any one in particular?
@@VV-wl8gb Either cable would be ok since you really only need the connector. I recommend also getting a USB to TTL serial adapter. See my video on 'The Mystery of Tetris...' for how to make a service cable. Or you could just modify a DCU-10/11 since it already has a TTL serial adapter. But you will need the Sony Ericsson cable drivers, and those drivers must provide a COM port in Windows Device Manager, and that COM port has to work with the unlock software such as 'SEMC Tool'. Yes that could work.
Here is some T68 firmware version information. I think the camera will work with any T68 running later firmware. www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/13615-T68-firmware-information
I remember as a student becoming friends with engineers at a trade show. The following years i was able to trade swiss chocolate for replacement joysticks
The boot animation is very similar to the shutdown animation which is included near the end of this video. If you think it needs to be seen then there are more Ericsson videos to be made in the future which can include it. For example the important story of the Ericsson GH337 evolving into the Ericsson T28 could include the T68 starting up at the end. That would work well.
I paid over $1000 for this from the Telstra shop in Wagga Wagga when on a weekend off from Kapooka in 2002. The staff were really suss that a 18yo could afford it. I got the camera for it too. Was well pissed off when it took 2 years before any of my friends had phones good enough to send/receive pics. That camera module you have in this video is the second revision for sure. The original took the photos blind and had to be transferred if I recall correctly. I used to send my T68 off to Ericsson/SE to install new firmwares I read about on Esato forums. They were happy to obligue! And that turned my Ericsson T68 into a T68mei I think at the end.
The picture quality is extremely impressive for the time...
I love how it looks too
Indeed
Absolutely, it looks way ahead of its time. I remember older and cheaper Androids having the same picture quality many years later.
Yeah the camera photo was way better than I was expecting too.
It was better than T610 and T630, maybe on par with K700i so impressive indeed
I worked with the development of these phones from 2000 to 2012. A very interesting journey. Before Android we had all competence in house for these products.
You made some wonderful phones. The T610 was beautiful, the K750 was amazing.
Did you work at the Lund site? I have two friends that worked there to. A friend of mine worked on the Z1010, he was let go when they moved to Japan.
Sony Ericsson Walkman phones - unbeatable with last model of Live with Walkman... (Turn off that speaker... What speaker it's a phone...) Phone had loudest speakers in 2011
@@matsv201 Yes Lund. I worked as Module Key Responsible with the development of the Phonebook on the T39 in the year 2000. But in in 2001 Sony got involved as the company became Sony Ericsson. In 2012 Sony took over completely. Today there is nothing left in Lund. Only some colleagues left working in Malmö.
Moved to Japan?
@@rogercarlsson8679 Thank you very much for developing Sony Ericsson t610, it was one of the best! Did you y work on the T610? Can you tell me something interesting that you can? Is it true that the t610 was created on the platform from the t68 and had partially similar software? It’s just that many amateurs and enthusiasts say so, and I also saw a photo of an early firmware from the t610 and there in the properties "Phone status" of the t68i it was written. What processor did the t610 have if you remember of course and it won’t make it difficult to say? True, there was ARM7 with a clock speed of 40 MHz, how much RAM and ROM did the t610 have? True, one of the z200 models had partially similar software from t610, although it was changed, because there graphic elements in the interface are very similar to t610 and the themes engine is similar to t610, fans and enthusiasts say, despite this, that new themes cannot be installed, but the themes engine itself is similar.
I still remember the first day I watched the Ericsson T68, as a millennial born in '91, that day remains as one of the most important moments of my life related to technology history. My uncle was working at Ericsson back at that time (Mid 2002), he had one of the early models, (the first version). I remember how he turned it on, a pretty short animation of the space, like the earth getting light from the sun showed up. I know, for today standards, the T68 had a super tiny display and pretty bad color, but back in 2002, seeing something like that in a mobile phone was stunning. Not to mention all the connectivity and multimedia features. I've always thought the T68 has been such an underrated phone, when people think about iconic phones in mobile phone history, some people will think about the iPhone, the Nokia 6600 and 3310, or the Motorola Startac/Razr, and yes, they're important pieces of history, but the T68 played a huge role in mobile development. Super Great video by the way!!!
I really enjoyed your description of seeing this phone for the first time, thanks for sharing.
I also think that t68, t300, t310, t610 and similar phones are very legendary and underrated. I really like these phone models and they are one of the best in my opinion.
@@hypercube2417 I also have a T610 and it's one of my favourites, it deserves it's own video one day.
@@JanusCycle I also have Sony Ericsson T610 and it's one of my favourite phones as well as t68, t300, t310, K750. By the way, t610 can also be modified. I heard that enthusiasts put a screen in it from t630 TFT instead of STN and also firmware from T630, and more. The t630 and t610 have a lot in common. And the board from the T630 fits into the case from the T610. Another theme from T610 classical.thm which I like better than T630 is also compatible with T630.
The T68is was my second phone. What a machine. Productivity, battery for a week, ir dial up modem, and I had a motorola bluetooth headset. If you hit the volume slider while locked it would tell you remaining battery in days and hours instead of percentage
Wow, I'm thoroughly impressed with the quality of photo from a 2001 phone. This looks like photos from 2007-08 phone cameras. A CMOS sensor being that advanced on a phone is insane.
I went on holiday to America when I had my T68. All the Americans were so impressed as they had old flip phones. Then i met up with some Japanese guys and their phones we really fancy, with built in cameras and much bigger colour screens.
I loved my T68i. I used it for connecting my Palm Tungsten T to the internet via bluetooth and GPRS.
I remember seeing this first in a Vodafone shop in my home town. The advert said "Bluetooth" and I didn't know what it was. I noticed the blue colour on the selector stick and wondered if it came off, like a blue tooth. I'd honestly never heard the word before and had no idea what it meant.
I really miss these times of ever evolving and changing everyday technology. I remember being so excited for a lot of different products, not least the release of new mobile phones. It's kinda hard, at least in my opinion, to be as exciting nowadays about a new phone when it's gonna be more or less the same as what came out the previous few years but with some minor alterations.
I agree with you totally, but we are really at the peak of smartphone industry right now. More or less we are using phones in the same way as we did 5 years ago. So it's just a refining that experience. Plus, it's easy to find video review of the phones you're interested and in the start you already know what are you going to have. Which is a good and a bad thing at the same time.
Oh man, I had a W580, modded the hell out of that phone. Elfs where amazing and I couldn't believe all the stuff that the community did for these SE phones.
I was also modding with Elfs on a K750 and W910, one day I'll be making a video about that, not soon but one day.
@@JanusCycle soon enough?
Wow I almost forgot about Elfs on SE. Didn’t remember what I installed but I sure had fun modding them 😄
I had a t68i, was such a great phone... very fond memories.
I used the phone as a bluetooth modem with my laptop.. was extremely slow, but did work.
Pointing out that the T68m was so ahead of its time, that 8 months later Sony Ericsson simply re-launched it as the current flagship, just with some new software toys.
Oh yeah also, in England you were able to take the phone to something like Carphone Warehouse and they would update the software, you just left it with them for 45 minutes. It was supposed to cost like £30 but they just did it for free most of the time, regardless.
And just look at those glorious colours..
I was owner of Ericsson t68 about 20 years ago. That was a very good phone. I loved it's design and menu
Nice, I love hearing from T68 owners. Such a fascinating phone.
SonyEricsson T68i first with bluetooth and colours screen GREAT PHONE 👍🏻
Sony Ericsson Phones were ahead of it's time and i like to remember how proud i was when i got my Sony Ericsson Aino Phone 🥰
That era of rapidly evolving technology in the mobile sector, blink and you miss it... from one line monochrome LCD to full color LCD, speech-only to GPRS + Bluetooth, pixel-"art" to photo-capable in just a couple years. Between a certain point in time with several different phones from Motorola, Nokia and Sony and the Motorola Milestone (my first Android device) there was only Sony Ericsson, starting with the T610 - it was amazing what happened almost over night, there was new technology all the time and you could get in in your pocket so easily. Ericsson felt like the Volvo of phones, reliable, cutting-edge inventions, build to survive a nuclear war :D Great video!
I remember the Sony Ericsson K and C series.
They had a proper camera on board with a Carl Zeiss lens and actual Xenon flash.
You never saw that ever again after that, even today.
I had the K800i and then the C905.
I still have these laying around somewhere.
That's right!, the K800i did have a xenon flash. I didn't realise it was so unique for a phone.
@@JanusCycle nokia n82 was better ^^
I had both the T68 and T68i, they featured in the film Die Another Day as T68i was Jinx phone/ Bomb and the Sony Ericsson P800.
my first phone, i still have it, because my father bought it for me as my birthday present when i turned 18, just a few weeks before he died.
everytime i look at that phone my eyes fill with tears, and ad that time that phone was about 600 dollars over here.
after that i had many sonyericsson phones up to the experia and then i moved to samsung when sony stoped inovating
Wow, that phone must mean more to you than I can possibly imagine. Thank you for sharing this story.
i LOVED and still love the design of these early Ericsson and sony mobile phones. Good times.
I was born in mid 90s but I remember vividly phones from that era. My father used to have Sony phones and my uncle had Ericsson phones. Also remember that my father first Sony phone was big like cordless home phones, I don't know how they call that phones nowadays, and it had big menu button in the center. Since he was carrying his phone in special belt pocket, eveytime he went to sleep after work I would sneak and took the phone out of that pocket and went under the table just to press menu button couple times lol. But I liked more Ericsson phone from my uncle as the screen on that phone had cool blue backlight. I also remember one Ericsson phone that had small horizontal screen like the calculator one and it had a small cover for keyboard and small antena. Later on when Sony and Ericsson merged they went with Nokia. 2000s was so exciting period for me. Everytime when I got to try new phone it was learning totally new stuff all over again. Though Nokia did some kind of recylcing software as I some my family who used to buy different Nokia phones, essentially had the same software. Only exterior was different.
2003 life was good
Back when erricson wasnt owned by sony.
Thoes were the good days.
3 of maybe even 4 years before that "first color screen mobile phone" was released, I was rocking my freshly released Siemens S10 mobile phone with a color screen.. 😉
The Siemens S10 is a very cool phone with a special colour screen that generates it's colour using a very 'weird' and intriguing method :)
@@JanusCycle You're absolutely right about that :)
First time in my life I seen photos from Sony Ericsson I have seen this phone 23 years ago as kid and I was mesmerized but it was so rare and then it disappeared
I think the resolution is the same as the 6510 LCD, but that is a small sized screen as well.
I had a T68i it was so small that your hand hide it while using. Technically speaking the T68i was the first (i for Internet) by Sony Ericson the design of T68i was a little more streamlined more curved on the shoulders and more beautiful. It was not available in all countries though. It was the first phone with a blue LED that I saw.
I loved my T68i back then. Awesome phone and made me happily get the P800 later.
My mum had one extremely poor battery life
101 pixels wide? What an odd number (literally).
1:54
I really like the look of that. It reminds me of two things. One, the cameras on the nintendo 3DS, but two, the swirly out of focus areas at the edges are almost like a helios lens.
My T68i had a disco trick... awsome! leds went crazy and the vibrate motor made it walk .. loved it !!! Still got it
more nostalgia, love the nostalgia
This was my first phone. I really enjoyed it.
Hi there!
I just watched your video on the Ericsson T68m. I’ve got a T68m as well, but sadly it’s updated to the R5 software version. What hardware (such as cables…) and which software did you use to perform the downgrade on yours? Also, where did you find the flashable firmware file required for the downgrade?
In this video I used a Twister box. But I do think there is free software and a basic service cable that can do this. It's been a long time since I did this and I will have to refresh my memory. Do you use Discord?
this was truly a gem back in the days
I had the gray T68m and upgraded the firmware to T68i. I remember missing the Tetris. It was my favorite game. It broke later under warranty and they gave me the beautiful white T68i. I was so happy
With all the firmware upgrades done. I can't imaging there are many versions left with Tetris.
I bought a T68i.... and a year later... i replace its case for the gold one which was gorgeous !!! I had also the T28 and T39.... And other Sony Ericssons, before buying my first smartphone... nokia 3230. which was great.... Later on some great devices arrived at home... N8, L1020... L950...
The gold model was the best, some nice phones you had there.
I loved my t68 phone back in the days 😍
I had and miss this beauty .
Good to hear from a T68 owner
Sony Ericsson was my favourite brand. I've had T610, W810 and my absolute favourite phone of all times was C905 with it's sliding body and superb camera. Miss the time when phones were functional yet design accessory... Or maybe I just wish being in my 20's again 🙂
Nice, some great Sony Ericsson models there. I want to try a W810 soon.
I was a manager at the first AT&T wireless in the US out of San Diego, CA and I purchased the 3rd T68 in the country.
Perfect for tethering to my Palm Tungsten T3!
Oh my god, those 00-s phones were computer miracles!
What I wish was possible is if you could mod older phones to make them compatible with newer gen mobile networks.
Seems like a mistake at the time, that phones were not made modular. There were a few experiments with add-ons, but that was it.
Nowadays, many phone components are so good, that it should be possible to retain them for as long as possible, and then swap them as needed: the radios, the SIM card tray/s, the display, storage, the computing unit, etc.
@@mardus_ee I have to assume that was a concept that they just never considered at the time.
@@indigomizumi Well, not quite a concept, though not fully realized. Motorola had a series of semimodular Android smartphones called Moto Z and several Moto Mods to accompany the main devices as plug-ins.
Jolla had a smartphone in the form of Jolla Phone and The Other Half add-ons via I2C connectivity. The phone runs on Sailfish OS, which is based on MeeGo.
Ohh man I remember having one of these phone back in the day. It was a nice transition I had from the Nokia 3310, seeing a lit colored screen and being able to play games etc. This was a nice phone back in the day but unfortunately very hard to repair as it wasn't as well known here in our area here in South East Asia, I literally had to go thru ton of repair shops before someone managed to fix it. Overall it was a great phone for it's time.
I remember getting this phone… it’s still kicking around in the attic somewhere, including the camera (which i had around the neck when i was out and about, it came with a leather sleeve in matching color and lanyard)
Awesome video many thanks for the upload.
Cheers
Had this one for a very short time, just after this the Sony Ericsson T610 came out, which was a much more fun phone.
I remember when I was like 14 years old and I told my dad that I wanted to move to Japan or at least import all the newest phones from there because I seen all the high tech gadgets that they had way before us. I got one of the very first phones that played MP3 and I had to order the hands-free cord from Japan on eBay I felt so cool back in the early 2000s with my phone playing music and answering phone calls in my vehicle like a boss.
I had this, amazing phone. Colour was epoch moment for phones.
Nice! it must have been amazing to have a colour screen back then.
Hmm, my Siemens S25 although not really making use of it - has 4 colour screen. And it's not first Siemens colour screen device as S10 was true first one ever to have it in 1997, waaaay before Ericsson T68. On the other hand - T68 was making hell use of it at its time.
You make a good point, the S10 did have the first colour screen. I think we can also say the T68m had the first full colour screen :)
I think the S10 and S25 were probably using the technique I explored in the 'Weird Colour LCD' video I made. I'm keen to confirm if that's correct.
@@JanusCycle Same type of screen , STN.
@@antyKNP nope it was graphic with 4 colors.
I remember those old cellphones
The first colour screen phone was the Siemens S10, not the Ericsson T68.
The S10 was first! Maybe we can the the T68 was the first 'full colour screen' phone.
4:47 Made In Malaysia, nice
we are old
Sony Ericsson made the best phones out there. Stylish, nice menu, great end diverse design.
Goddam I bloody loved this phone!!
Another great video.
I had a T68 and when T68i launched I heard about the software update but was unable to find a store that could update the firmware unfortunately.
The first colors screen phone I had before this was a Seimens slider. It had 5 colors.
the siemens s10 was the first colour mobile
the siemens s10 could indeed display 4 colours, while not a full colour display it was technically the first with colour.
I bought one of these to tinker with J2me and the "mascot capsule" 3d api. Was pretty easy to get something up and running (point sprites + 3d landscape was easy to write) main annoyance is the joystick broke so ended up being kind of useless.
A very interesting and cool phone. What about modifying old Sony Ericsson and Ericsson phones, both hardware and software, including firmware, adding new games, etc.? Enthusiasts haven't found a way to modify these Ericsson and Sony Ericsson phones yet, as is the case with Nokia?
The K750 and some later models have some interesting firmware modding possible. This is going to be in an upcoming video.
When this phone was first released in UK I bought for GPRS and bluetooth, a market first (USD 1200). I used a Compaq IPAQ (USD 3000) with the battery/PC Card sleeve accessory (USD 500) and a Bluetooth PC Card (250) to connect with the Ericsson's GPRS connection. Then I went to Michelin's website to access their interactive map and cross reference with physical landmarks/signs, so that i could find my way around the Ardennes and their picturesque, trout stream laden hills...
Wow, you had some amazing portable tech for the time. Glad you got some amazing experiences out of it as well.
@@JanusCycle just pointing out it costs just a few bucks to do that now + GPS
Nice history lesson there, really informative keep em coming
I had T310, indestructible thing
I have one of them, not long after i got it, sony ericsson came into being and offered everyone in the uk a software upgrade to the sony ericsson t68i!
Late to this video, but damn a blue led in 2001 was pretty ahead of the curve. That was some damned new tech at that time, until we worked out how to do it cheaper and suddenly everything had blinding blue leds
In 1998, Siemens had s10, it had 3 colors, i still hve it, and it still works
I remembered having one of these
My first color screen phone was a kyocera. It had tetris as a game
my first phone very nostalgic. The navigation joystick always break I only scroll on the volume slider
I had a Simmons phone that looked like that Erickson one but unlocked for voicestream which later became t mobile oh the good old days
My first cell Phone ;)
My first phone! ohh.... that was 2004 or 2005 year. Great times.
Thank you for my exploded ears!
I apologise for that. I've been learning more about proper audio levelling recently.
I believe t68 came in trio, t65 and t66. I remember saw it in local magazine and advertized as camera capable phone, t65 displayed greyscale photograph with early mca 10. It was amazing technology so much ahead than nokia, siemens and samsung.
I had t68i and experienced the early internet with GPRS and wap browser. Later I studied how to made WML webpage and become programmer until today
That is a cool story, I love that the T68 was an early inspiration to you!
Good Stuff.
Very informative info!
The software also were different between T68 & T68i. T68 had easter eggs for ex. And I kept mine (still have) with the original software :). There was even a post-it feature that you leave a note on the screen. This phone was an amazing addition to mobile world, everyone is talking about Nokia but Ericsson was much better and the 3310 is indestructible? Check the 688, that is the indestructible phone, not 3310 which is a plastic toy compared to 688.
I have a GH688! it will always have s a special place in my heart.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is a pretty neat design.
apparently it was in the movie Die Another Day.
I'd like to see that!
@@JanusCycle unfortunately it was used as a bomb detonator and not by Bond himself.
I have almost 0 models of Ericsson and SE...
First phone to have a Bluetoothe was the T39m ;)
Actually the first company to make a phone with color screen would be SIEMENS and the phone was S10. This was happening in 1998.
I had S10, what was actually the first color screen phone. Had whopping 4 colors (red, green, blue, white).
Btw i had the T68i and i loved it
I remember seeing one of these in late 2002. I really wanted one of those but few months later Nokia 7650 arrived and not too long after I had one. Anyway those times were amazing with different styles of phones: clamshells, flips, sliders and other convertibles. These days everything is bland not only in technology
My first ever phone
Fantastic review - subbed! I had a stroke of nostalgia last night and bought a t68i locked to Orange UK. Would you know what is the best/easiest way to get it unlocked? Perhaps I could talk to EE? Thanks
PS.
The gold t68m was one of the most beautiful phones ever!
Contact EE first and see if they still have the unlock code in their database. Otherwise it may be difficult to find someone with old unlocking hardware. Try asking phone repair shops that have been in business since the early 2000's.
There are claims that online unlock code sites can get codes but that can be expensive and it's hard to know which sites are genuine, if any.
The gold T68m is great, but so rare these days, especially in good condition.
@@JanusCycle Thanks for the reply!
Btw, what cable to do you recommend I should buy if I want to flash the phone? I saw on esato.com that it is possible to alter a data cable into a service one. Would either of DRS-10/11 or DCU-10/11 work? Do you recommend any one in particular?
@@VV-wl8gb Either cable would be ok since you really only need the connector. I recommend also getting a USB to TTL serial adapter. See my video on 'The Mystery of Tetris...' for how to make a service cable.
Or you could just modify a DCU-10/11 since it already has a TTL serial adapter. But you will need the Sony Ericsson cable drivers, and those drivers must provide a COM port in Windows Device Manager, and that COM port has to work with the unlock software such as 'SEMC Tool'. Yes that could work.
@@JanusCycle Good idea. Do you have any links to where one could find software and firmware for T68 and others?
I think the comunicam cameras are compatible for the t68
Another thing is that i need to know is SE firmware version released in 2002
Here is some T68 firmware version information. I think the camera will work with any T68 running later firmware.
www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/13615-T68-firmware-information
@@JanusCycle interesting thanks for telling me
Remember it came in gold.
The first colour screen phone was probably also the Samsung T100.
What does next 20yrs Hold??
3:52 colour is spelled the correct Canadian way with a “u”
I remember as a student becoming friends with engineers at a trade show. The following years i was able to trade swiss chocolate for replacement joysticks
Sweden had Ericsson, Finland NOKIA, and nothing could ever go wrong 😭😭😭
EricsSony.
How could they miss that opportunity?
How about boot animation of original T68? (not SE firmware)
The boot animation is very similar to the shutdown animation which is included near the end of this video. If you think it needs to be seen then there are more Ericsson videos to be made in the future which can include it. For example the important story of the Ericsson GH337 evolving into the Ericsson T28 could include the T68 starting up at the end. That would work well.
I paid over $1000 for this from the Telstra shop in Wagga Wagga when on a weekend off from Kapooka in 2002. The staff were really suss that a 18yo could afford it. I got the camera for it too. Was well pissed off when it took 2 years before any of my friends had phones good enough to send/receive pics. That camera module you have in this video is the second revision for sure. The original took the photos blind and had to be transferred if I recall correctly. I used to send my T68 off to Ericsson/SE to install new firmwares I read about on Esato forums. They were happy to obligue! And that turned my Ericsson T68 into a T68mei I think at the end.
Upgrading firmware in these was huge. I bet there are none with original firmware left except this one that I downgraded. Great story, thanks.
@@JanusCycle Pretty sure we're ran in the same circles when it came to DCT3 stuff though.
I’ve never seen a tests pattern on a cell phone before
4:30 You destroyed me haha