Sony Ericsson G705 Review

Written on 5/28/2009 12:19:00 PM by poison_ivy

So what makes a smartphone? Does a phone necessarily have to have WiFi, Document viewers, desktop browsing capabilities, email capabilities, etc. to make it a smartphone? That's the question that I've been asking myself since I got the Sony Ericsson G705 since I don't know where to put it in a specific phone category.

Design

Most smartphones are bar types with QWERTY keypads, the Sony Ericsson G705 is a slider phone. There's not much I can say about the design except that the front of the device is a total finger print magnet while the back has a soft touch finish. What I like about the Sony Ericsson G705 is that unlike the Sony Ericsson W595, it has a more solid feel to it. With the W595, when the phone pad is slid out, the screen part seems precarious or “rocky”. Anyways, another thing I like over the W595 is the battery cover. There's a lock mechanism at the bottom so taking out the battery cover is a breeze. There's also a quick play button on top of the device that calls up the music player.

Features and Performance

Like many Sony Ericsson phones, the G705 has animated themes and screen savers which makes use of a flash interface. Browsing the device is faster than the W595. There's also an accelerometer on this device that is more responsive. I had fun playing the light saber application which can be downloaded for free from Sony Ericsson's website but I wish more games and applications would come out that would make use of the accelerometer.

I was told that Sony Ericsson phones have some sort of smart dialing. There doesn't seem to be one on the G705 as I tried to type the number “666” to bring up “mom”, it didn't work. Like I said, I'm a bit confused whether I want to put the G705 in the smartphone category. On one hand, it has WiFi which can be very useful as well as a GPS application, which, unlike the Tocco Ultra Touch, actually works though there's no turn by turn GPS application, only Google Maps and Wayfinder.

The built-in browser is actually pretty useable. There's an arrow pointer and it's capable of full desktop browsing though I still prefer the Opera Mini, which can render pages much faster.

Messaging-wise, the G705 supports email though I was only able to use my gmail account and you have to use your regular data plan when retrieving email. I wasn't able to try out if Pop mail or SMTP mail works. As for SMS/MMS messaging, the G705 offers a new shortcut at the bottom of the screen. You just have to press down twice in order to bring up the shortcut for attaching pictures, sounds, or videos. The keypad is a bit cramped and I always find myself pressing two buttons at the same time (talk about fat fingers).

Media-wise, the Sony Ericsson G705 also has that playstation-like interface that is common to most new Sony Ericsson phones. The YouTube application doesn't seem to be working, either that or YouTube mobile's servers are always busy. Audio quality using the speakers are okay but sounds tinny when in high volume. Audio through the included speakers is not bad but I don't know about the Bluetooth A2DP. I usually get a rich sound when using my Stereo Bluetooth headset, which incidentally, is also from Sony but when I tried that on the G705, the sounds are too quiet. I don't know whether it's the G705's problem or if my Stereo headset was just running out of battery.

The calendar application is almost comparable with those found on Windows Mobile devices. You can set reminders for appointments, set the duration of the appointment and even set recurring appointments.

The Sony Ericsson G705 has a 3.2 megapixel camera, it's actually standard but since Samsung has been churning out a lot of 8 and 5 megapixel phones, 3.2 megapixel cameras are slowly going to the bottom tier of camera phone standards. Picture quality is okay though zooming in on your PC reveals a lot of noise. There’s no autofocus so be sure you have a steady hand to avoid blurry pictures.

The only thing that’s keeping me from saying that the Sony Ericsson G705 is a smartphone is that it lacks any document viewer.

Conclusion

What’s in a name, right? It doesn’t matter if the Sony Ericsson G705 is a smartphone or not. Having WiFi and GPS on a mid-range phone is something that would make you want to buy the G705. Although the camera quality and audio quality leaves something to be desired, it’s still a good value for your money.

Posted in Sony Ericsson |