Welcome to the future today (Sony Ericsson S700i)

Member Name: triplecthegame

Product:	Sony Ericsson S700i
Date:	23/07/05 (1202 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Features-a-plenty

Disadvantages: Quite Chunky

The world of mobile phones is an ever-changing one - just think, a couple of years ago the Nokia 3510i was a top of the range handset (I should know - I took a contract out to get one), nowadays though if a new handset is released without a Video Camera, a decent Internet connection and an F.M. radio then there’s a strong possibility that it won’t sell well at all, thankfully the Sony-Ericsson S700i has all that, and then some.

** Phone Features **

Rather than just do a mini-blurb on the features, I’m going to give you a list of the features and then afterwards a piece on each one as there’s just too many to write a single paragraph on, so here goes:

1.3 Mega pixel Camera

Video Camera

MP3 Player

WAP 2.0

Bluetooth

Memory Stick

Real tones

Downloadable Games

Other Stuff

- 1.3 Mega pixel Camera

Before I got my S700i I’d never really bothered with the Camera on my previous phones, but this camera is a bit special, as it states - its a 1.3 megapixel camera so its not as if you’re going to end up with a small grainy picture on your screen - every picture you take is going to be clear and crisp. Also you have a huge screen to play with so everything comes out as clear as you could expect, more on the Screen later.

You can also use a variety of different effects on your pictures, including Sepia, Negative and many others - but they’re just for a bit of fun with pictures and nothing to shout home about.

- Video Camera

A little bit of a smaller picture than that of the photo-camera, but you can take up to 30 minutes worth of video footage with the camera. Picture quality-wise it is a little bit grainy and the sound is sometimes a bit hard to hear but then it is only a phone you’re recording off and if you wanted to take a proper video - then there's got to be a lot of better tools than a mobile phone camera.

** Extra Part **

One feature that sits very nicely with me about both camera’s is the lens - instead of it being sat there exposed for the world to dust up and/or scratch there's a tiny switch on the side of the lens that control a small shutter, which covers the lens up, and even better you’re not allowed to use the camera when the covers shut.

- MP3 Player

The first disappointment with the MP3 Player is the fact that you don’t get any tools for uploading MP3’s when you buy the phone - you need to go out and buy either an MP3 cable (usually around £10-20) or a ‘dongle’ (usually around £40-50). Now I’ve got the dongle myself (a small box-type thing that you can plug into your PC’s USB Port and copy MP3’s to then plug into your phone and upload them that way), and it works pretty easily on a plug and play style basis, just plug it into your computer and drag things across to the external drive it creates, then when you plug it into your phone it asks you straight away if you want to upload the songs.

(Note here the dongle/cable aren’t just for MP3 transfer - you can use it for pictures and videos as well - but I wouldn’t bother with Videos, as they’ll still have quite a small screen and its just embarrassing to have a video’s audio from the S700i play through your computers speakers).

The Player itself is done via a Media Player style program that has all the standards - i.e. shuffle of songs, play in a certain order, play one/some songs only, and repeat, the audio is exceptionally clear and it’s rare that you’ll ever encounter errors with it at all.

- WAP 2.0

I remember when I had the Samsung A300 and got excited because it had monochrome internet screens, as with computer games I’m embarrassed that I was impressed with such old technology compared to what you can get now, especially the S700i’s internet.

With Nokia phones I’ve noticed that the screen actually shrinks when you go online, with the S700i your whole screen is filled with a small browser that is usually quick and responsive, to visit a site simply go via the options menu and type in the address the same way you’d type a text and you’re away, and if there's ever any problems then it’ll tell you exactly what it is and who if anyone you need to contact.

- Blue tooth

You know when your friends got a picture or ringtone on their phone that you really want? Well if they’ve got Blue tooth as well then there’s no need for expensive Multi-Media messaging to get one for yourself, all you need to be is within 10-20 feet of their phone and you can blue tooth it to each other.

What exactly is Blue tooth I hear you ask? Well its a small technology that if 2 phones have it turned on you can send files back and forth without having to send them in a message. Also you can use your phone’s blue tooth to use equipment like wireless headsets and even small remote control cars (I kid ye not), so it is a BIG advancement in handset’s at the moment.

- Memory Stick

I’ll keep this short and sweet, your phone comes complete with a 32 Megabyte Memory Card (if you want you can upgrade it to a 64 Megabyte card) which can store items such as MP3’s, Games and Ringtones. Now this is handy because if you ever have to have your phone replaced under a warranty or repaired you don’t lose any important downloads that you want to keep.

The reason I’ve called it a Memory Stick is because you get a small applicator, which makes the Memory Card a bit bigger but more importantly means you can use it in the photo machines in places like Boots. What all that means is that you can take a picture with the camera, save it to your Memory Stick, put the stick in one of the machines and then for a small fee you can get a print-out of that picture - handy eh?

- Real Tones

Remember when Ring tones were just a series of beeps that somehow imitated the latest ‘chart smash’, then we got polyphonic which was a bit better but really a series of more complicated beeps - well Real Tones means the death of this, quite literally the Ring Tone you’ll get is a clip from the actual song, and sounds thousands of times better than the old polyphonic beepings. However as with always some companies have chosen to exploit this and you can now get annoying ringtones such as to name a few: Crazy Frog, Quotes from Little Britain, and your phone calling you fat - I suppose with great technology comes a price eh?

- Downloadable Games

The S700i as with many phone’s before it uses Java to control their games - my own personal handset came with Fivestones and a Platform game called Dragon Island, and you can download more if you want, games such as Worms, Giani Sisters, A multitude of Poker style games and many many more - and to be honest to have a game you enjoy playing on your phone is perfect if you’ve got a journey ahead of you.

- Other Stuff

As with any other phone you get many other features as well, all of which are just standard hence my not giving them a proper write up, they include the following: Calculator, Alarm Clock, Calendar, Timer, Minute Countdown and a Notebook, all handy but nothing really to shout home about.

** Storage **

I love the way the S700i stores files, especially Pictures and Videos, you can set up different folders for different types of Pictures/Videos, and then view them either singularly or as a slide-show which is a nifty little feature if you’re wanting to embarrass friends with a timeline of pictures from a night out going from sober to drunk (like I so often do).

Then there’s the phone book, you can store up to 5 phone numbers, a picture, a specific ringtone, an e- mail address, a home address, a voice dial (I’ll explain that later) and a note against any name so you can have a world of information about anyone in your phone-book. As always you’ll also find that you can store people alphabetically or in order of when you added their number to your phone, and you can add them to your sim-card, your phone’s memory or both. Finally there’s the standard feature of speed-dials for up to 10 different numbers.

** Design of the phone **

I’ll warn you, unlike a lot of phone’s being released recently, this one isn’t small - in fact its quite big and bulky, which to be honest I prefer as at least you’ll always know you’ve got it in your pocket where-as when I had a Motorola T720i I was always checking my pocket to make sure it hadn’t been stolen as it was so small and light,

The actual look of the phone when you first see it is that of a personal assistant - there's a huge screen and a couple of buttons underneath it, from these buttons you can access the internet and your phone book only, but what aficionado's will note is that there’s no numbers - reason being that its a swivel-phone, turn it 180 degrees around and you’ve got a full keypad to tap away with the numbers - which in my eyes is very handy.

Then there’s the keylock - it took a while to get used to but instead of having to press Menu * # or something similar, its a small switch on the side of the phone, not dissimilar to that of a Personal CD players Hold control - and once you get used to it you’ll wonder how you ever put up with the key pressing of other phones.

- Usability on basics

Basics such as calls and texts, any way its really simple - to get to your text-messaging screen is just 2 button-presses away, and you can either use predictive text or the traditional way of spelling everything, plus there's a handy selection of pre-written text openings.

Calls-wise, again its easy, either type in the number you want to call and hit one of the option buttons or again a quick key-press gets you into your phone-book, and even better, your phone doesn't need to be open for you to make/recieve a call!!! However when you make/recieve a call on the closed phone it is kinda hard for the other person to hear you.

** Battery Time **

A Big reason for people to buy phones is what sort of battery time you’ll get, well this is what the blurb states:

Stand-by: Up to 300 hours (which works out at 12 and a half days)

Talk-time: Up to 7 hours

Well as with most times that’s completely wrong, in my experience its actually:

Stand-by: Up to 4 or 5 days

Talk-time: About 3-4 hours.

Now I can imagine that if you’re someone who’s on the road a lot and needs their phone for a point of contact that this isn’t going to be great, however for the casual user like myself its perfectly acceptable, however one thing I have noted is that playing a game on your phone will drain the battery EXTREMELY quickly, but to be fair to charge the battery up to full again is only about 23 hours long, and if you insist on taking it on the road with you, you can always buy an in-car charger or second battery, without a problem.

** Last bits **

By now if you’re still interested you’re probably wanting to know how much the phone is going to cost you - well it depends on how you’re wanting the phone. I’ve seen it in O2 Stores on offer as Sim-Free (able to accept any networks sim-card) for £300, and in both O2 and Vodafone store’s on Pay as you go for £250, but if you take it out on a contract you can expect it for anything from £70 to absolutely free depending on what contract you take. Personally I got mine as a free upgrade after I’d bartered with a Vodafone Call Centre Agent, and now I’m tied into an 18 month contract for £22 a month but what I’d say is shop around before committing to anything but be warned: The handset is only available on O2 or Vodafone - no-one else.

Finally do I recommend it? Hell yes I do, its head and shoulders above any other handset I’ve ever used and even with all the advances that are still happening (2 Megapixel camera’s and Video calling to be but 2) I can’t see myself changing my handset for a long, long time.

Summary: Easy to use, Feature-tastic phone

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