Mini review of Sony Ericsson Z710i

Design

This phone is the exact same size as the w300i which is slight larger than the z520. Same thickness when folded up. Funny thing is that I thought all new phones would be using the BST-33 battery instead of the BST-37. The BST-33 is a little thinner but wider. But the W300 uses the BST-33 while the z710 uses the BST-37. Both are 900 mah.

Build Quality

This is truly one of the strongest assets of the phone. No creaks, very solid open and close of flip unlike my w810. There is the familiar click sound when opening and closing of the phone just like the z600 and z520 unlike the w300 I have which opens and closes with no feedback. The fit and finish of this though its not the final production product but I would assume the final product to be just as good if not better.

Reception

There is limited time with this so far as I picked up the phone yesterday afternoon. I used it until the battery died however I am not worried about the reception. It appears to be as reliable as any of the other quad band fones I've used from SE in the past year (z520, w600, w810, w300) I have used them all in my company elevator which are able to maintain the call without any breakage or loss of quality. I can't say the same with the sammy d600.

Sound Quality

The sound quailty of the z710 seems very natural better than the w600 and w810. Actually so far.. I think the w300 is the most natural sounding one of them all. I would rank the k790a and z710 second then finally the w810 and w600. I haven't been able to ask how the outgoing sound quality is.

Camera

I have yet to test out the camera but I would rate it similar as the w600 range. No auto-focus but is at 2MP. The menu is also different from all the other w and sorry I don't remember how the z520 camera menu is like. But the Right soft key activates the options and there is no light assist which means you can only take pictures where there is adquate light.

Video

Both this z710 and the k790 have a separate media player. The normal walkman/music application usually in the 6 position of the main menu, but the new interface does not support music. But instead you have to go to the Games menu and the 2nd option is a Video Player. The only comments so far is that I noticed that even in landscape mode, it didn't take up the whole screen like all the other phones.

Screen

The screen is the familar 176*220 resolution which is adquately bright but not as bright as the w810. Both k790 and z710 are similar, but the w810 takes the cake for screen bightness. Maybe its the font or themes built-in. But it seems a bit more painted like s7xx series. I have try other themes first but not sure if it supports the beautiful flash themes found in the w810.

The external screen is nice and large mono color which is visible in light or dark.

Battery Life

The battery life is rated for 10 hr talk time. In the past few phones.. the batteries seem quite efficient once conditioned where it could last about 4-5 days on light use or 2-3 days heavy use. I will update on this later.

Keypad

There is are a lot of keys on this phone.

Enternal: there is a fast fwd/rewind, play pause and menu button on the sides of the screen. On the right side is a lock for the external buttons which is either put in the up or down position unlike the s700 or w600 slide lock. On the right side is the camera button and up/down vol keys.

Internal: There is the left right soft keys keys, with internet, shortcut and power key. However other than the normal numbers and dpad, there is one new key with an envelope. This brings up the messaging menu item which is quite convient.

Memory

My unit is not final or fully customized yet so there is still 18mbs left and a slot for the M2 memory card.

That's all for now. Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them. Pictures to come.

kv

30.07.2006. 18:59