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Introduction:

During the MWC 2008 show in Barcelona, Sony Ericsson announced three new classes for its devices: camera-oriented phones now will belong the the "C", "X" comes for "ultimate user xperience" and "G" - the line of the phone we will present here. G-series are advertised as easy to use phones, for the average customer, yet with enough organizer options. They are touted for the option to draw something in a note and send it to another person – for example a St. Valentine’s card to your beloved, or reminder memos one would usually put on the refrigerator. Overall, these devices should be accepted as phones intended for the normal user and the smart phone OS is only integrated here, in order for the touch-screen to be controlled (SE already has experience in this field) and to manage the extended organizer options.

Subject to this preview is the current flagship model of the G series – G900.

Design:

There is nothing impressive about the appearance of the phone - a standard, slim candybar with dimensions of 4.2 x 1.9 x 0.5 inch (106 x 49 x 13) and weighing at 3.5 oz (99g), which reminds us to a great extend to the old M600 (without QWERTY keyboard). In other words, this is a clean, pocket friendly phone, it is not ugly, but it would have been nice if there was some bling-bling added (transparent materials, extraordinary colors, big golden dice etc.).
The 2.4” TFT display occupies the top half of the front face; it has a 240x320 pixel resolution and supports up to 262k colors. The video calling camera is positioned over it and the functionality buttons are below.

Here are situated the 5-way D-pad and two couples of keys: notes and messaging shortcuts in the upper row and back and clear keys below. The two shortcuts hint about the key features of the phone (notes with option for drawing, etc) but are something some won’t really use often. Those two keys are where ordinary the soft keys are situated. As such are actually missing in this model, it is taking some time to get used to the fact that one must press the bottom part of the touch screen. Below it there are three dots, trying to remind you of this fact.
Somewhat forgotten by the manufacturer in its last devices, the back button is back, which will be a nice surprise for the hardcore fans of the brand. The numeric keypad is also old fashioned – three columns of standard keys with a lot of space between them.
In the silver trim on the right side, are located three keys: volume rocker, locking key and camera shutter. The keyboard/display lock is one of the few things, which remind us that the phone is not a regular candybar, but it disposes of a touchscreen. The charger connector and the M2 Memory Card slot are on the left, but in order to get access to the latter you need to remove the entire back lid. This is quite strange, since in the lower-level G700, which has the same size, it is brought to the outside.

As expected, the 5-megapixel camera is on the back. It has autofocus as it suits a hi-end model, but unfortunately just a regular LED flash instead of Xenon or ‘photo flash’.


Post by Mobile Review

Labels: sony ericsson

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