T707

Sony Ericsson T707

After my Motorola V9 was Killed in Action. I decided to buy another slim flip phone. The only problem is that Philippines no longer distribute Motorola in the country. Thus, decided to check my other favourite mobile brand. Sony Ericsson.
This is a short "review" of the Sony Ericsson T707. In this review, I only wrote what I find important and what  I usually use on the phone.


IN THE BOX

After 4 agonizing long weeks of waiting and many days of wondering if I bought from a legitimate ebayer. I finally have it! My new flip phone. Sony Ericsson T707 from HongKong.

The Sony Ericsson T707 in a zip lock plastic in the box. I doubt that a Brand new Sony Ericsson would be sent in a zip lock plastic, but I don't care. As long as it works and it looks brand new, I'm good. In fact everything inside was in zip lock. 

What's in the box

     - A pair of extra ear set rubbers

     - 920/900 mah Battery

     - Sony Ericsson mini CD

     - A Guide Paper

     - Usb Cable

     - Headset

     - Charger

     - and the mobile phone itself.

On the back under the battery cover. There is a Sim card slot and a proprietory Sony Ericsson M2 memory stick slot. 

DESIGN

Compared to my previous mobile, The Motorola V9 and V3, it feels a bit less Solid. It's all plastic and I feel like it would break easily if it falls. That said, it is less heavy compared to the V9 which was aluminum. And the weight itself, for me justifies it's plastic construction. I love the glossy look of the front. It's all shiny and it looks sleek without the lights turned on. Compared to the V3 or V9, I like this best. 

On the back is a vertical Sony Ericsson logo and name. I like the feel of the rubbery back, but when my hands are dry, it doesn't give me any grip. I think, it helps if one is wearing leather gloves as oppose to leather against plastic.

On another issue, I feel as though it will peel off. will find out months from now, when I am no longer careful. 

Proprietary port located on the left side of the phone. I don't really care much about proprietary ports. but I do prefer what they did to newer Sony Ericsson, such as the Cedar which has the micro USB female socket. The port supports all the connection. from USB cable to Ear Set to the Charger. In other words, you can't listen to music with the Ear Set when charging or in USB connection.

(Right side) Two volume rocker. It controls a few functions. 

    +Functions when closed

          - silence a call

          - drop a call

          - snoozes an alarm

          - stops a timer alarm

    +Functions when open

          - Shows the phone status

          - increases and decreases volume

Design of the phone when opened looks great, but the design makes it uncomfortable to hold when texting. 

Size Comparison

The T707 compared with my previous and current phone. The Nokia 1280 and Nokia C3. On an aerial view the N1280 is the smallest then the SET707 then NC3.

Compared to the N1280, and NC3, The T707 is the fattest among the three. But the difference is so Slim that It would not matter.

INTERFACE

At Start-up. The user is always asked to Select between Normal, and Flight mode.

The menu is like all the other Sony Ericsson Symbian phones. On the Menu you will find PlayNow, Internet Services, Entertainment, Camera, Messaging, Media, Alarms, Contacts, Radio, Calls, Organizer, and Setting.

One of my favourite Sony Ericsson feature is the quick access to contacts from the homescreen. No more having to go through Contacts. Just type the name according to the keypad and you have the choices.

Homescreen and Shortcuts

In the homescreen, there are three main shortcuts that cannot be customized. Media, Menu and Search. I find the search option to be useless and wish it could be customized.

Another feature of the phone is the shortcut directional button. Which lets you customize the left, right, up and down buttons in homescreen. 

Another favourite function of mine is the Shortcuts button. located below the Call Button, the button let's you access My Shortcuts. With this feature you can add any apps and as many as you want. 

Pressing the left and right button will also show the New Events (!), Running apps(icon with the coloured boxes), and Internet (globe Icon).

ENTERTAINMENT

Out of the box, there are two Games pre-installed. Bubble Town and Real Football 2008.

Another app that I like is the MusicDJ. It is a fun pre-installed app on this phone. It lets you create music using different melody already in the program by combining it and connecting it. Music is saved as .MID.

LIGHTS AND GESTURE CONTROL

On the front cover of the Sony Ericsson T707 is a small LED screen that displays network signal, 3G signal, time and battery life. Also displays Bluetooth when turned on, and a misscall sign.

During a call the rainbow shaped light, a small circle (red light) and a led light near the camera will light up. The small circle can be customized according to preference. This will indicate who the caller is. In this foto, I set the colour to red when I, Raphael Sun calls. It can be changed to Green, Blue, Purple, red, and white. 

The larger semi circle light has only one colour and it glows from inner to outer like a ripple created when throwing a pebble in a pond. This is probably the best feature of the phone in my opinion.

Gesture Control on this phone uses the camera and thus the led light lits up to help it see. During a call you can silence a call by hovering your hand over the camera back and fourth. In my case, It's hit and miss. Sometimes, I have to hover my hand again and again and again just to get it to silence. Sometimes, It silences even before I make the gesture, not because it malfunctioned, but because it may have sensed the object in-front of the camera when I moved the camera towards me. Though it was fun at first, I much prefer using the volume rocker to silence the phone.

Keypads lights up from top to bottom. The brightness is mediocre. The screen on the other hand is bright but it does take more power when in full brightness. For that reason, I changed the brightness to 50% which is the lowest available choice.

MESSAGING AND CALLING

When my Motorola V9 died. There was one other thing I wanted other than the battery power that I wanted. And that is the Conversations option. The ability to check a conversation between the contact and you.

Because of the protruding upper part of the phone and the awkwardly placed space bar button (# button), I decided to hold this phone in an awkward position. Left foto showing my pointing finger above the hinge. Essentially just the pointing and middle finger is holding the camera, while my two other fingers support the body when I press a button with my thumb.

Sound quality is O.K. and the microphone seems a bit less sensitive than what I had originally expected. Having to raise my voice on occasions is a bit of a hassle and wished it were more sensitive like the Nokia C3. Making loudspeaker useless.

The problem may be hardware or I may have a defective unit. But since I do not own any other T707, I cannot tell if it is broken or the T707 just doesn't have a very good microphone.

CAMERA

The image quality under indoor lighting condition is ok for a 3mp phone camera. nothing surprising here.(above foto)

Outdoor picture quality under a shade is better than indoor lighting. (right foto) 

100% cropped foto. Image quality compared to the Nokia C3. T707 is 3mp and Nokia C3 is 2mp. The T707 seems to be softer and purple fringing is very obvious. 

100% cropped foto compared to the newer Cedar. Cedar is also 2mp. In the foto it shows that T707 is also softer and has less contrast compared to the Cedar

more fotos taken with the T707. click foto to view larger size...

VIDEO

Video and sound quality is ok for a camera phone. Wabbles when the video is panned. Don't think this matters though since I don't use it.

BATTERY LIFE

Battery is a 900/920mah

Charging time is only 1hr and 40sec. The T707, like the cedar will not pop-up a 'charge full' signal. Instead you have to check for battery life in the phone Status (can be accessed pressing the volume rocker). When the battery power reaches 100% the phone automatically stops charging and when it becomes less than 95% it will recharge again.

The battery life is OK. With my current use, playing games, sending files through bluetooth and taking fotos, battery life is less than a day. In normal use, it takes one and a half day to drain with LCD brightness set in full. 50% LCD brightness, maybe 2 to 3 days normal use. By normal use I mean, mostly messaging and calling, and only a few uses of other features such as the camera, bluetooth, or games. 

What I like...

  - Design

  - Interface

  - Conversation Message
  - Shortcuts

  - Cool lights

  - Compact and Slim size

What I don't like..

  - Space bar is located on the lower right corner of the keypad (# button)

What I would have liked it to do...

  - the ability to use the led light as a torch light

Despite everyone buying a mobile phone for it's touch screen features, and high Pixel camera, I still prefer the less featured flip/ clamshell mobile phones. In texting and dialing, I prefer buttons compared to touchscreens. For 115 USD, It's well worth it.