Talking Tough: First look at the Telstra Tough T90
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Wanted:
A phone that is easy to use, must work equally well in both remote areas of the country and the city, be built to last, and cope with whatever the Australian elements have to offer.
Compromised features NOT welcome.
Car kit optional, but desired.
If this is you… CALL ME… PLEASE.
Ok, maybe the brief was not that simple, but I do know the amount of work the product teams at Telstra and ZTE put in to design the new Telstra Tough T90.
This is a truly ruggedized handset featuring big buttons, an enhanced screen that copes well in both sun and shade, and actually looks the part – without resembling a Transformer. Being water and dust resistant, the T90 is perfect if you lead an active lifestyle, and its anti-shock casing protects it from the usual drops and bumps that might render another phone useless.
Road test:
Using the T90 today, I was really excited to see that this phone was not lacking in power or features. The speakerphone was clear – I could hear and be heard clearly. The T90 can provide audible key tones when making a call – a nice feature that will appeal to some users.
Mobile Scan Codes, BigPond TV and 31 Mobile Foxtel from Telstra channels all worked well.
A great feature on this phone is the Help File. Accessed via the My Place screen, you can find out information on Making Calls, Personalise Your Phone, Messages, Photos/Videos, Use With Hearing Aides.
The User Guide is well set out – and I found the Menu Quick Reference Guide a handy checklist when evaluating the T90.
Physical Design:
From the outset let me state that I do drop phones. Sometimes intentionally, mostly not. The Tough T90 is a serial phone dropper’s delight. Designed for tough workplaces or your weekend adventures, it is rated IP54 for water and dust protection, and drop tested for shock resistant reliability. With all that – it still only weighs 130grams. The screw at the base of the back cover adds that extra peace of mind that it really is tightly sealed when closed.
The direct connect RF port at the back of the handset is a fairly rare sight these days. Its good to see the design team took on board consumer needs for a car kit. With a Blue Tick rating from Telstra, the Tough T90 will be popular with rural customers, and the soon to be available in-car kit is keenly anticipated.
The FM Radio, MP3 player , 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, expandable memory (up to 8GB) and A-GPS round out the Tough T90 as feature rich, yet affordable handset.
Exclusive to Telstra, the Tough T90 is a refreshing experience – whether your needs are work or play.
| Specifications | |
| Network | UMTS 850/1900/2100MHz |
| GSM: | 850/1800/1900 MHz |
| HSDPA | 3.6Mbps peak downlink rating (Typical speeds 550kbps – 1.5Mbps) |
| Dimensions | 115 x 51.5 x 18.6mm |
| Weight | 130g |
| Talk Time | Up to 180 minutes |
| Standby Time | Up to 200 hours |
| In Box | Handset, Battery (1000mAh), AC Charger, USB data cable, Stereo PHF, User manual and software |
| Coverage Rating | Blue Tick |
thinking of getting a t90, whats the listening volume like, without using the speakerphone, i operate in a mining enviroment and my current motorolla is useless, even on speakerphone.
does the t90 have an inbuilt calculator?
giving the t90 serious thought, just one question can i have the time shown as a full screen.
yes to all 3, bought one 2 weeks ago and quite happy with it, speaker phone is quite loud, has cal, currency converter, and even an inbuilt GPS (though I cant get this to work correctly as yet
max
If you are after a Tough phone the T90 is for you, I work in the mining industry and have the need for most of the options this phone has.its been dropped covered in grease followed by dirt and lots of dust. it has a great sound through the speakerphone it is crisp and clear and loud.Bout time Telstra brought out a phone for those not sitting in an Office.
I went to a Telstra Shop and asked whether or not the Telstra tradies phone would work with the Bluetooth system in my 2005 BMW. I was told that it would, so I signed up. The salesman couldn,t get it to work and blamed my Bluetooth system in my car. I went to BMW and it was tested and found to be working fine. After more investigating and research, I found thet the T90 phone is not compatible with BMW systems thus making it useless to me. I do feel a bit screwed.
My sins with mobiles are dropping them and losing them to water. How water resistant is the Telstra Tough T90?
Please explain the GPS system on the T90. Are maps available or is it displaying simple lat & long locations.
Brian,
The T90 handset provides GPS location details as Latitude, Longitude and Altitude in a format that can be read by the user or sent to another mobile device as a SMS. There are currently no mapping applications available for the T90.
got my t90 used it for six days the microphone quit working took it back… three weeks later still havent got a repaired phone back or a replacement. im not happy with telstra, they can get the bill to me okay just cant seem to provide what im paying for.
Can the T90 be set up to say the persons name that is ringing you. If so how do you do this.
Hi Peter. This would be a great feature, but unfortunately not one that is provided with the T90. I have passed this on to the product team with a request they consider it in future models.
Interesting to see if this is published. I own a T90, the first one had to be returned straight away as when on speaker phone the recipient only heard their own voice as an echo. That was replaced two weeks ago. The alarm doesnt work now, the so called easy to read screen for sunny conditions cant be read with polorised glasses on. The car battery charger is faulty, and the button lock/unlock system impossible to live with.The coverage shows no improvement over my previous non blue tick 3g phone. Im taking it back today and swapping for a sensible phone,I hope.
the best phones of that calibre are the Sonim brand the latest being Sonim XP3 Enduro
If u r thinking of the t90 dont not user friendly bad standby time (not as published) give it a miss best buying the old nokia tradesmen ph
After reading the comments I wont be getting a t90.
Next on my list is a Sonim XP2 If i Can Find one
Les H
The T90 is the worst phone I have ever owned. To be sold as a tradies phone is a joke. The ring volume is way too quite to be heard on any building site. The screen is practically unreadable in the daylight and the lock/ unlock is that frustrating. Stick to Nokia. Unfortunately Telstra will charge a fortune to get out of contract to get a decent phone. Better off going to ANY other provider.
Received my T90 today, it’s the third ZTe I’ve owned and absolutely love the brand!
Bit disappointed it didn’t come with a pouch/holder and I do hope I can source one.
Especially like the big keypad, makes for light work with stubby fingers.
All in all, a great new model……….well done Telstra!
How do you get photos from, my picture, to computer?
Have hooked up usb lead provided, but picasa3 is not picking up hardware.
thanks
Just bought the Telstra T90 mobile as I really needed a tougher phone. Always had Nokia in the past. Problem is the bluetooth connection keeps disconnecting in my vehicle. I had the Nokia E51 and never had a problem with the Ford Ute hands free car kit. Now it works one minute and not the next. Off to see Telstra shop today.
Just got back from telstra shop told me they cannot give me a new phone even though this one is 3 days old it will have to be sent away for repairs!!! I will be telling everyone not to bother with this phone.
Any news on my ‘photos to computer’ question re: T90 ?
thanks Shane
owned one 1 month and the back camera has stopped working… grrr. If i only my nokia 5140 had a better battery i would have never changed. reception with car mounted antenna is perfect everywhere i have been 600km’s out of perth. but if the camera breaks without ever being dropped what good is it for a tradesman? gonna raise hell monday if they dont replace it. telstra charge you for 2 sms’s if the words fill more than one screen….
i have been on the zte forum they have a poor blue tooth compatibility lots of complaints very small fonts no updates or downloads to fix and they reply it is set up to telstra strict guide lines only telstra can change so buggy blue tooth and small fonts
and not much add ons to download will remain the list of usable bluetooth is a loot small then one’s that do
Are you able to turn off the annoying voice that calls out the numbers when you are dialling? Have looked everywhere in teh settings but can’t find it…..
Hi Victorpc,
You have read their forum right?? There is only a couple of devices that don’t work , and a larger list of known (tested) that do work.
The fonts are small and so is the screen.
My Nokia N95 doesnt work with one of the devices they listed either- some devices do and some dont.
It would have been nicer if there was a slider cover on the RF port, instead of the rubber bung, and louder would be good. Other than those I haven’t got any more complaints. The phones pretty good, and I recommend.
is there a trick to opening back cover? have rotated screw but reluctant to go too far
Re Tammy: How to turn off voice when dialling.
Menu -> Settings -> Profiles -> Edit -> Keypad Sounds then Modify
T90 Blue Tooth doesnt work.
There are already a number of comments above stating this.
(hence what brought me here)
The T90 will keep on dissconnecting when used with Blue Tooth. We have 3 here at work and they all do the same thing. Tested the GPS Units with other phones and they work fine.
The T90 will not stay connected.
After 2 weeks one of the phones has a very bad scratch on the screen and its up button must be forced to work.
Nothing more than a cheao and nasty phone in my opinion.
Hi Uncle Bob,
we have a several T90s that we have been using with Blue Tooth handsfree and carkits with no connection problems. Recently been using Blueant supertooth carkits and have heard no complaints, and have used headsets with no problems either.
What Blue Tooth device are you using?
Our T90 keeps disconecting from bluetooth after every call, this never happened with our nokia, screen is impossible to see in sunlight,& key pad lock is another frustrating item of this phone, just how durable it is under extreme conditions only time will tell. I would not consider purchasing another T90 as I consider this model not user friendly.
yes the t90 has a lot of problems with blue tooth but you won’t get any help from telstra or zte as it all in our imagination
I noticed that there was a “Car kit” option in the menu. I thought that it might have a setting that is causing the BlueTooth to not work.
“Forbidden”
Is all I get when selecting it.
ZTE have their won forum that says what devices work and dont work which I found handy.
Havent had any issues with the T90 Bluetooth so I must be lucky. My old Nokia N95 doesnt work on my wife’s Toyota either so no loss.
I have now also noticed the the 3G reception on the T90 is crap. I use a Nokia E51 and we have some crapy old Nokia’s as well, no idea what they are.
We can be using the Nokia’s with fine reception. (SA)
Yet the guys standing right next to you with the T90’s…
Their T90’s are out of range.
Do yourself a favour and stay away from them.
i have one of these phones i bought from nz its the same phone but callerd a R90 i can get the settings 2 so i can send pitcher mesages. can any one help please!!!!!
Hi Adam,
I have the same phone from NZ and changed my phone settings for Australia…go to the ZTE FAQs
http://www.zte.com.au/main/faqs.htm
look under FAQ1 – General Questions….
“How do I set up my phone to receive MMS & browse the Internet for an alternate Service Provider?”
Havent had any reception issues used in rural Vic. Good coverage and have dropped phone many times. Very happy with mine.
This is the worst mobile I have ever owned!!!!! Or should I say tryed to own!!!
I have now had 3 that have not worked in 3 weeks.
The 1st and 2nd ones the microphones didn’t work and the 3rd one just decided to freeze totally!!!
USELESS MOBILE!!!
Avoid like the plague!!!
Just got a T90 and I have bluetooth problems too. It randomly disconnects/reconnects to my in car handsfree, previous Nokias worked fine.
Anyone got a solution to this?
I had connection issues with connecting my T90 to my bluetooth handsfree (factory fitted).
I found out that there will software upgrade available for users on the ZTE web site sometime next week, solving Blutooth connection problems. Yeay!
Yes,new software version for customers coming real soon they told me with Blutooth improvements. Will be looking out for it.
New T90 software upgrade is now available on ZTE website:
http://www.zte.com.au/main/Product_Downloads/T90_downloads.htm
This phone is not user friendly, it feels ‘half arsed’. Also, to add to the eternal frustration of owning this phone, the bluetooth will not work with my computer! I tried with one of my older phones and it’s nothing to do with the computer! it is this stupid phone. I FEEL VERY RIPPED OFF!
the 25mb update seems to have fixed the bluetooth connection problems.
But the volume is still way to low to bother with it.
Hi Joe,
The default connection mode on the T90 is USB.
You have to select Bluetooth mode from Pc connection mode on the phone. Go to Settings> Handset> PC Connection , and select Bluetooth.
I had the same problem until I read about the connection mode in the manual
I have been connecting to my PC using Bluetooth with no probs.
Hey Uncle Bob,
Are you using your phone with T90 Telstra carkit or other carkit?
The T90 carkit has volume control on the cradle.
My volume on the handset is actually louder after upgrading phone.
Hi Joe,
The handset is set to USB PC connection mode by default.
Go to Settings then PC Connection and then select Bluetooth mode.
Had the same prob and looked through manual
using gps for hands free. Max volume on both.
Hi Uncle Bob
What is with the charger saying no battery? Same thing happens when plugged to the USB.
Please help anyone.