Mobile Phone Reviews

Archive for the ‘Sony Ericsson’ Category

The Sony Ericsson Yari is one of the latest mobile phones from Sony and features gesture-controlled gaming.
The phone is a slider phone with touch screen capabilities as well as a keypad. The screen is a nice-sized 2.4 inches and offers crisp, clear viewing. It also auto-rotates when you turn the phone.

The phone includes a good five megapixel camera, with features like smile detection to enhance picture quality. Sharing photos is also made easy with uploading to Facebook or sending by MMS, email, or Bluetooth almost as simple as a single click.

The music player is lacking, but this could be because the phone is designed for gamers. You’re also forced to stay with Sony’s proprietary headset, which is a negative. Other down points include Sony’s complicated button controls, slow loading of intensive applications, and lack of customisable options via add-ons and apps. Also, this isn’t the best phone for web browsing.

But this phone is about gaming and gesture-controlled gaming on the Yari is fun. It works a couple of ways; 1) moving the entire handset, much like a Wii remote or 2) using your hands and fingers to indicate moves. The phone comes with plenty of games already installed, including some traditional keypad games for those times when you’re in public and moving your arms about wildly isn’t ideal.

When it comes to Sony Ericsson mobile phones, the Yari is one of their best. For those interested, most major UK networks are offering Yari mobile phone deals on contract.

One of the latest mobile phones from Sony Ericsson to hit the market, arriving in July 2010, this little monster is deliberately more compact than its older brother, the fabulous X10. But the Mini Pro sports most of its features and comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, too. And, amazingly, this addition has expanded the phone’s girth by a barely detectable 1 mm only. Some good mobile phone deals are already appearing, and you should be able to pick it up for around £200 on pay as you go or about £250 SIM-free. If contract mobile phones are more in line with your preferences, you’ll find it going free with £20-a-month, two year contracts.

It can’t compete with the X10’s colossal 4 inch screen, of course, but that doesn’t mean it has nothing to brag about. The X10’s 8.1 megapixel camera is downscaled to a 5 megapixel for the Mini Pro, but you’ll find the same digital focus, flash, autofocus and face recognition. And the phone has a veritable behemoth of a processor – the Qualcomm 1 GHz Snapdragon. Like the X10, it’s an Android phone, although an old version of Google’s OS is being used, which Sony Ericsson is promising to update by the autumn. The Mini Pro also shares with the X10 a delightfully responsive capacitative touch screen and whilst the QWERTY keyboard is a little unexciting, it’s well spaced and the keys are a good size.

The Sony Ericsson X10 Mini has excellent connectivity with HSPA and Wi-Fi, and aGPS means that you get access to Google Maps, too. You can also expand the memory by a further 16 GB with a micro-SD card, and the music player’s seriously good; thankfully, there’s a 3.5 mm standard jack for conventional headphones. Add to that the super-endurance battery, and you’ve got an especially fine phone in the palm of your hands.

Green Heart is a line of Sony Ericsson mobile phones that aims to be more environmentally friendly.  The Naite is one of the latest mobile phones in the Green Heart Collection.

Pros

True to its name, the Naite is rather green, using less packaging and energy.  Power consumption initially seems to be on par with other new mobile phones but may provide more benefit over time.

One of the best features of the Naite is that users can change the menu layout from standard grid to the more stylish and updated rotating menu. 

Messaging is well-supported, and the inbox stores text messages in threads for easy reference.  Users can also access standard email inboxes and Facebook messages.

Even though it’s one of Sony Ericsson’s cheap mobile phones, the Naite still packs a punch with the manufacturer’s high-tech media player.

Cons

The Naite is not well-suited to rapid texters, as there’s no QWERTY keyboard.  The camera is also fairly slow, and photo quality is poor at just 2 megapixels.  Though it claims to run 3G, connection is slow and frustrating.  Also, there’s no Wi-Fi capability to switch to.  The handset does have a USB port, but a USB cable is inexplicably absent from the product packaging and needs to be purchased separately.

Conclusion

The Sony Ericsson Naite falls somewhere in the middle of the road between the most basic mobile phones and the high-end smartphones.  Its main drawback is annoying slow speed, but it does live up to its eco-friendly promise.

If the Sony Ericsson Naite is your phone of choice and you are looking for the best deal available for contract mobile phones then there are plenty of choices available. Depending on your usual or expected usage cheap mobile phones are a real possibility.

One example is for only 10.00 per month on an 18 month contract with 3.  They are offering a free handset with 75 minutes of free talk time and unlimited text messages. For low usage customers this could be a good option.

The 3 Network are also offering the Sony Ericsson Naite on their Flext 300 price plan.  It is an 18 month contract complete with free handset and included is 300 free minutes of talk time and 300 free text messages. This deal is only £15.00 per month.

One that may appeal more to the ladies is an offer currently available from O2; for £20.00 per month on an 18 month contract you can get a free Sony Ericsson Naite handset with 100 minutes free talk time and 3000 text messages included, but the deciding factor may be the free gift on offer – GHD Hair Straighteners.

It shows that just by shopping around you can get any kind of deal suitable for you, and even some of the cheapest mobile phone deals can yield surprising offers. There are so many internet sites that offer deals and many of them have mobile phone reviews so you can get honest opinions of the phones from people who have actually used them.

The Sony Ericsson Spiro is part of the Sony Ericsson Walkman range of mobile handsets designed for music lovers. The phone, set to be released later this year, is designed to appeal to the lovers of cheap mobile phones, without compromising on features.

Visually, the Spiro features a 2.2 inch 240 x 320 pixel QVGA TFT display on a slide up handset. Dimensions for the phone are 48 by 92 by 17 mm, with a weight of 90 grams. According to Sony Ericsson, the battery life is up to four and a half hours of talk time and 476 hours of standby.

Music features include the Walkman 4.0 player and instant access to TrackID. Also included are Bluetooth stereo for wired and wireless speaker capability, FM radio, and a proper 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack. The phone’s 5 MB of onboard memory can be expanded to 16 GB via a microSD card.

Social networking features include Facebook and Twitter applications and SMS chat with easy-to-read conversation bubbles.  Non music-related features include a 2 megapixel camera (no flash) with video camera capability, email capability, and web browsing. The Spiro is dual band and does not include 3G, HSDPA, or Wi-Fi.

The phone will be available in ‘Stealth Black’, ‘Contrast Black’, ‘Sunset Pink’, and ‘Spring Green’.

If we compare mobile phones, the Sony Ericsson Spiro is comparable to the LG GS290 Cookie Fresh, with similar look and size, features and functionality.

The phone is set to be released in the UK in late 2010.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz, the successor to the Satio, features a delightful ergonomic design, with an 8.1 megapixel camera and a proper 3.5 mm headphone jack to take advantage of the Sony Walkman audio we love so much. For consumers looking for the latest mobile phones, this mid-range offering stands up well against its competitors.

We will start with the camera – it is an easy-to-use 8.1 megapixels with separate buttons to launch video and still photo options. Onscreen icons clearly guide you through changing settings, and there are plenty of them to choose from.

The HD video camera function is also simple to use and the phone comes with an 8 GB memory card to facilitate HD video recording. Or you can set the phone to lower res VGA or QVGA, although after experiencing HD, it is a bit of a letdown.

Gone from this phone is the proprietary FastPort connector, replaced by a microUSB port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Needless to say, the sound quality was vastly improved with the ability to use proper headphones. As with most of Sony’s phones, the music interface was easy to use with extra features like album artwork and playlist creation.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz has an ergonomic design that feels nice when held. The TFT screen is also lovely and sharp but has the resistive touch screen we find frustrating to use. Menus, however, are nicely laid out.

For consumers looking for deals on contract mobile phones, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is available on most networks.

Those looking for Sony Ericsson mobile phones with strong camera capabilities are sure to be pleased with the C903.

Pros

The camera features on the C903 are quite a bit more advanced than those of cheap mobile phones, with useful editing functions and the handy BestPic system that begins saving images before the shutter is released and holds up to nine shots to allow users to choose the best one.  There’s also a very good zoom and nice video recording capabilities.

The bright screen displays colours beautifully, as evidenced by the fun wallpaper photo slideshow that comes preloaded on the C903.  There’s a clever GPS system with Google Maps and NearMe, a programme that pinpoints nearby restaurants, cinemas, shops, businesses, and more.

Cons

The C903 is available in black or red, but the glossy case looks decidedly plastic and less sophisticated than some competitors’ latest mobile phones.  Because it is so small, the phone may present problems for some users, and the keypad is rather cramped.  There’s no space between individual number buttons and not much travel in the keys, both of which impeded fast and easy dialling.

The C903 is not Wi-Fi enabled so pictures and video have to be transferred over a mobile signal.  Also, there’s no 3.5 mm headphone jack so users are resigned to the in-ear headset that’s packaged with the phone.

Conclusion

The C903 is a compact mobile phone with great camera function and an intuitive GPS.  The drawbacks are mere annoyances when compared to the many benefits of this smart, pocket-sized handset.

The Sony Ericsson C901 Greenheart was the first release in the Greenheart range of Sony Ericsson mobile phones. Greenheart is the series of phones from Sony that deliver top-of-the-range mobile phone technology in an eco-conscious package. What this means is that, not only is the packaging minimal, the phone itself is mostly made from recycled materials and uses waterborne paint (versus traditional and harmful solvent-based paints).

In essence, the Sony Ericsson C901 is a traditional candy bar phone with a five megapixel camera complete with Xenon flash, auto focus, 16x digital zoom, and smile detection. The music player features MegaBass and TrackID with memory that is expandable to 8 GB using an M2 memory card.  However, as with most Sony Ericsson phones, the headphone jack is proprietary (versus the preferred 3.5 mm headphone jack).

Whereas some of the newer Sony Ericsson mobile phones feature Windows Mobile OS, the C901 Greenheart uses the standard Sony Ericsson proprietary software.  The phone is quad coverage with 3G and GPRS; however, there are no HSDPA or Wi-Fi capabilities. Internal memory is 120 MB. Connectivity is via USB and Bluetooth. This is not a touch screen handset.

Physical dimensions for the phone are 45 by 105 by 13 mm and it weighs 107 grams. To compare mobile phones, the Sony Ericsson C901 closely resembles the Samsung S7350 in specifications, size, and weight.

The phone comes in Ocean White and is not yet available in the UK.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz features a smart new ergonomic body and HD video capabilities, both exciting new additions.  The 8.1 megapixel camera is a winner, and the 3.5 mm headphone jack sets it apart from most other Sony Ericsson mobile phones.

Pros

The strongest feature of the Vivaz is the extremely user friendly 8.1 megapixel camera.  There are dedicated buttons for video and stills, and on-screen icons and menus that clearly show the camera’s current settings and available options.  An 8 GB memory card is included in the produce packaging, as the HD video tends to use up a lot of internal memory.

Another strong aspect of the Vivaz is the addition of both a mini USB port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.  The music player itself is intuitive and feature-rich – users can view album artwork and create instant playlists.

Other positive features include good video playback, convenient shortcuts to YouTube and iPlayer, a preloaded Facebook app, comfortable design, fine call quality, and a really sharp TFT screen. 

Cons

Like previous Sony Ericsson mobile phones, the Vivaz has a frustrating resistive touch-screen, though it’s admittedly one of the best of its kind.  There is a stylus but no QWERTY keyboard so messaging can be difficult.

Powering the Vivaz on and off is sluggish, and the camera is slow to load.  Locking and unlocking the screen presents a real challenge, as the lock button is also the power button; pushing too hard will turn off the phone. 

Conclusion

For recreational users, this is a fine smartphone.  Users looking for great camera features and media playback would be wise to check out the latest Vivaz mobile phone deals.

The Sony Ericsson Satio is a smartphone with a number of functions that will suit most users.  It has a black plastic casing which looks good and the screen has a lock switch which helps to prevent touch screens from appearing when you do not need them.  The touch screen is resistive which does not make for ease of use, and the small keyboard and pressure-sensitive screen occasionally make texting tiresome, although a stylus is supplied as an alternative.

The music functions on the Satio are excellent, with good sound quality and an easy to use interface.  However, there is no headphone jack but an adaptor is supplied. 

The phone has a 12-megapixel camera which produces good quality images, but has no optical zoom, though the shutter lag is not as evident as on other camera phones.  The flash also makes it easy to take photographs in poor light.   The phone also has a video function and the play back facility is clear on the excellent screen. 

The screen offers sharp images and different pages can be easily accessed from the home page.  Google Maps is pre-installed and the internet page offers instant links to news sites, social networking sites and entertainment sites.  Wi-Fi access is available and there are a number of applications which can be downloaded to make the phone easy to use. 

This smartphone is an excellent choice for those who are looking for their first phone that does more than text and make calls.