Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
(Part of original text from jj's Stormpages FAQ)


Q: Should I buy a J5?
A: The J5/ is great value for money, very light and about as small as I'd want a phone to be. It has many interesting features and advantages over other phones, but it is not practical enough. Don't buy the phone if you want it to vibrate strongly, ring and vibrate at the same time, respond to alarms when it is turned off or if you want the phone to be heard in very noisy places.


Q: What about the J6/J7/J70/Z7?
A: The J6 is simply a black J5. It's not sold as widely as the J5. The J7 and J70 are different coloured versions of a slightly improved phone. They are a bit heavier because of the larger battery. There is no external antenna or side-switch. The speaker is said to be improved and the games are different. The Z7 is a J7/J70 in a Z5 case. The functionality is almost the same, but the size is smaller and the LEDs are orange.


Q: What is the SAR Rating of the J5?
A: An unregistered member (MoeDeE) has posted a figure of 0.702 on Syllas forums. According to this, the J5 is a bit over the average of other phones. Anyway, you cannot compare these figures with others as there was no internationally agreed standard when these tests were carried out.


Q: How can I change the wallpapers/ringtones on my J5/J6/J7/J70/Z7?
A: Unfortunately, wallpapers are ringtones cannot be sent via SMS like Nokia/Samsung/Sagem..etc. Therefore, a cable & and a software suite are necessary. Sony promised to release the data software suite (QN-3DS) for the J5/J6 in early adverstisements (Q4 2000), moved the release date back and back, and eventually cancelled it because of communication problems in early firmware versions. This suite appeared again for the J7/J70/Z7, but few people have actually bought it because of the high price (80 euros).

However, you can change the wallpapers on your phone without it, but it's not a job for beginners. This involves reflashing the whole firmware. See 'Changing Wallpapers' & 'Flashing the J5/J6/J7/J70/Z7'. As for ringtones, their format hasn't been resolved yet, so there is still no way of changing them like wallpapers. The only thing you can do is recording them using a real microphone, but you still won't get the desired high quality.


Q: Why does my phone vibrate so weakly?
A:  The speaker, not a separate motor, generates the vibrate. This also explains why the phone doesn’t vibrate AND ring at the same time. It may be possible to make it vibrate stronger by including a very low frequency in a recorded ringtone, but getting that into the phone is still an unknown, as audio recording doesn't have enough frequency response.


Q: What is firmware?
A: It is the 'operating system' of the phone. The first batch of phones launched on mainland Europe had firmware numbers starting 3.x. These were reported to suffer from crashing and dropping calls. Apart from a few random occurrences phones with firmware 4.x are reliable. Some people are of the opinion that later versions of the firmware offer better earpiece volume and display contrast, but it is much more likely down to manufacturing tolerances as phones with the same firmware have been reported to vary.

Currently, the latest reported firmware for the J5 is 5.1.4. For the J6 it is 5.4.2. For the J7/J70 it is 3.1.1., and for the Z7 it is 4.4.1. You can view the version of your firmware by typing *#release#. My own phone displays this:

SW: 5.4.2./1
SAT* C50
BR:r024.3ue+w6

5.4.2. is the firmware version. 1 is the language pack number. The next number, SAT is the SIM application toolkit. This varies between networks and SIM card manufacturers, therefore higher numbers don't mean newer. SIM cards with an application toolkit show an asterisk (*). The last number is the browser version for WAP.


Q: My battery gives bad performance. What's wrong?
A:  The J5/J6/J7/J70/Z7 use a Li-Ion battery, and these behave differently to the NiCd or NiMH batteries most people are used to. A regular post to the forum used to be "Have I got a duff battery?", because the first couple of charge cycles don't often give the performance quoted by Sony, but then you should get the quoted figures unless you are in a very poor signal area. A Li-Ion battery doesn't suffer from "memory effect" so you shouldn't do long term harm by putting it on charge before it is exhaused or taking it off before fully charged.

If you are charging the the phone with it turned on, it hasn't finished charging until the battery meter stops flashing. When turned off the same applies to the animation screen. Some people claim that there is no benefit from leaving the phone on charger after that as the overcharging protection circuit has come into play, although some people's real life experiences (including mine) challenge this.


Q: How many messages can I store in my phone?
A: In Messaging/Settings/Memory Class screen, you can select where SMS messages are stored (SIM card or phone memory). The storage capacity vaires greatly between different SIM cards. Some of them can store 10 messages, while others can hold as many as 60. The phone memory can store 20 messages, but there is one big catch. They are lost if you turn the phone off! Therefore, I prefer storing them in the SIM card.

There is a third option, which is 'Screen'. If you select it, you'll be sending flash SMS messages. These appear on the receipient's screen directly, but they are lost if he/she doesn't save them.


Q: I need a data cable. Where can I get one from?
A: Sony sells 2 types of cables : Serial (QN-3RS) and USB (QN-3USB). Both are expensive, and the USB cable doesn't work correctly under all operating systems. You should only buy it if your system has no serial port like most Sony laptops.

You can buy a cheaper third party cable, but be careful - the only ones reported to work are the ones supplied by PC-Mobile.net. You can make your own cable as well, but it will cost you a little less - not worth the work & time. Service cables are almost the same, and you can modify data cables to work in service mode. For more information, see this page.


Q: What is flashing, and how risky is it?
A: 'Flash' is a technology made by Intel. It allows erasing the data stored on Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) chips and 'writing' different data on them. This process is used for copying firmware & user data files to the phone. In normal circumstances, the worst you can get from a bad firmware flashing process is a phone that does not power on, but can be repaired easily. If you have a reliable cable and a good firmware file, the risk is low. If flashing should fail at any point, simply reflash the phone.

Frequent flashing isn't very healthy for the phone in fact. Estimates are that the J5/J6/J7/J70/Z7's EEPROM chip can last for 500 flashes, and then it will die. I don't think anyone could reach this number, but caution is still needed.


More Q&A's coming soon...