Sony Ericsson C702i Review

By Author: Darren Smith
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Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has introduced a new series name for its Cybershot branded mobile phones with the launch of two great handsets C902i and C702i. Both are quite distinct in the range of audience they cater.

The C702i is a Cybershot branded cameraphone in bar form factor. The handset runs on second-generation Cybershot platform based on A200, which was first seen on K850i. The handset has a 3.2 megapixel sensor and is being advertised as being splash and dust proof. This would find usefulness with people who are into adventures, but could not think of buying a multimedia-based phone due to harsh usage environment. Though, the phone is made for rugged and most extreme of usage environments, still it doesn't compromise on any of the features. The phone is available in two colors: speedy Black and cool cyan, though the later is not that cool, as its name seems to be! The phone is quad band with support for HSDPA (3.6 Mbps). The best thing to talk about the phone is its build quality, which is top notch and ensures that the phone remains protected from the accidental splashes and dust getting inside it, when ...
... you take it with you, next time you go on African Safari. The phone has rubbery finish, which will give best possible gripping as well as the body is fingerprint resistant. The keys have been ergonomically designed and fitted so that there is no spacing in between the body and the D-pad for navigation above the alphanumeric keys also snuggly fits into the rest of the body. The phone has the traditional "back" key absent which is replaced by dedicated call accept and end keys.

Let's talk about the camera which is the focus of this mobile phone. The phone has 3.2-megapixel sensor, which seems underpowered, when you think of most of the handsets coming in market these days are having 5megapixel sensors. But, the quality of pictures it takes, thanks to features like autofocus, face detection and dual LED flash light, will amaze you to think again. The interface of the camera is similar to one featured in K850i, but the button shortcuts to the options in the camera are put on the alphanumeric keypad, which are illuminated distinctly, when you switch on the camera so that you can choose the different modes and settings easily and quickly, rather than toggling different modes through the D-pad. The quality of pictures taken by it is superb, thanks to the face detection technology, which can, with a good accuracy recognize faces and then focus on faces rather than on the background objects. It seems that day by day, the camera phones are evolving and becoming similar to digital cameras. The active lens cover at the back protects the sensor lens from being damaged while operating in harsh conditions. The phone comes with a GPS receiver, which can be used for geo tagging of pictures with the location parameters into the EXIF data.

Besides camera, the phone comes with a very good media player, which plays almost all the popular audio formats and features the famous megabass equalizer preset. The phone with even single speaker is one of the loudest available in the market. The media in the phone is managed by the media centre which is very similar to the Playstation portable's media centre and takes care of all the videos, audio and photographs. The video player in the phone is delight to use. The inbuilt acceleratometer changes the orientation of the video when the phone is rotated to view video in landscape orientation. Photos are very well managed through the media centre, with the facility of searching the pictures through various tags you could apply to them. The transition effects when you maximize or change the picture are also very soothing.

The handset comes with Google Maps pre-installed, which finds its use with gps built inside the phone. The handset is expected to be launched in summer this year.