T610 voice dialing

I recently bought a Sony Ericsson T610 phone - I've been back to the
Carphone Warehouse shop twice over a voice dialing issue but the
suppliers and Vodafone (Ireland) say there is no problem.

If the phone is in standby [unlit clock on display] and auto keylock
is enabled then I must do
C * {unlock keypad}
hold either volume key for 1 second

CPW say I must disable auto-keypad lock

If phone is in standby and auto-keypad lock is disabled then I must do
hit ANY keypad key
hold either volume key for 1 second

CPW and Vodafone (IE) say the volume keys will not work in power save
mode hence the need to hit a keypad key to 'wake up' the fone .. this
sounds like technobabble to me but I have no way of testing other T610
phones.

Can anyone confirm if I can do as the manual says (page 31) and from
standby mode with or without auto keypad lock enabled go directly to
the voice dial beep by holding a volume key for 1 second.

Note Standby mode = unlit clock on display. CPW staff tell me standby
means a fully lit display which I do not believe.