By The Technews Lab Rats
One of the ways to keep ourselves fit and healthy is to do early morning jogging around the subdivision or village where you live. Another is taking a quiet stroll around nature’s places like the reserved parks. And lastly, going to your favorite gym hangout and take time working out on the treadmill.
As the consumers become more and more active living a healthy lifestyle, it’s now going to the trend of being "sport-centric". That is why Sony Ericsson, a global provider of mobile multimedia devices, has introduced a newcomer in their successful Walkman phone line of products. This is the Sony Ericsson W710i mobile phone.
When it came over to the Technews Lab for review, we got the impression that the W710i is a sport-centric device that packs music capabilities and motion sensor in a clamshell shaped casing. Although it’s similar to the W300i, there are big differences between the two, in terms of functionality and features.
The W710i has a dimension of 88 x 48 x 24.5 millimeters and weighs about 101 grams. This quadband (GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) phone has a primary 262K TFT colored screen with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels, and second external orange on black monochrome STN display with a resolution of 128 x 128 pixels.
The clamshell form factor of the W710i has a physical structure made up of thick layers of plastic with rubberized framings, a strengthened loop-antenna’s fastening, and a unique loudspeaker’s grill that prevents water from sipping inside. We had, in several occasions, slight hammerings or accidental falls, but the W710i withstood it quite well.
With well demarcated medium-sized numeric keypads, all buttons are lit in dim orange that are well visible even in a dark room. The Walkman button has its own fast access button on the keypad, while the metal-made four-way navigation button with "OK" key is on the top of the numeric keypads.
On the right side of the W710i, it has an Infrared port and a key lock switch, while the bottom part has a standard Fast Port connector, for charging and headset connection. At the front of the phone is the 2 MegaPixel CMOS camera, encircled with a metallic ring. The W710i’s camera doesn’t have auto-focus capability.
The camera shoots photos in three sizes (2MP, 1MP, and 640 x 480 VGA) and has a PhotoDJ application. Although the W710i doesn’t have an integrated flash, it has other options including a 5X zoom, two quality settings, white balance, brightness adjustments, color effects, night mode, 12 fun frames, and four shutter sounds (no silent mode). It also has a self-timer, a multi-shot mode, and panoramic shots option.
The W710i’s camcorder takes clips with sound and offers sets of editing options like the camera. Video clips lasts at more than a minute (for MMS) or depending on the available memory. Picture (JPEG format) and video (3GP format) quality were good, with acceptable colors and little blurriness. It has a VideoDJ that allows the user to merge together video clips to makes a smooth video sequence which can be enhanced with sound. And by the way, the W710i is also an MPEG4 player.
Being a sport-centric mobile phone, the W710i has an integrated fitness feature with pedometer and motion sensor. It allows the user to calculate number of steps, distance traveled, and calories burned. A user has to put first his/her basic personal data that includes age, sex, weight, and height which is essential to evaluate amount of calories spent.
When the W710i is in open mode, it doesn’t carry out any calculations. But as you fold it, th
e handset begins fulfilling its pedometer function. All your steps are constantly counted during a light day, while the screen displays corresponding numbers. At the struck of midnight, this data is automatically reset, so that counting starts over again.
Aside from the fitness feature, the W710i has a radio tuner wherein a user can tune into their preferred 20 radio stations with the use of the built in FM radio. It also comes with a MusicDJ feature which provides the user with all the instrumental sounds & rhythms for the user to create their own ringing tone. Moreso, you can select ringing tones in either polyphonic, MP3 or ACC format.
For data transfer capabilities, the W710i has GPRS Class 10, EDGE Class 10, Bluetooth 2.0, and USB 2.0. Browsing features for the W710i include WAP 2.0/HTML and RSS reader. The phone has two built-in Java games namely Alpha Wing2 (space arcade) and WTA Tour (tennis game).
Although the phone has only a 10MB internal memory, it has a bundled 512MB Memory Stick Micro (M2) when you buy the package. The W710i is powered by a Lithium Ion 900 mAh battery that has a charging time of less than 2 hours, standby time of 7 days, and talktime of 4 to 5 hours.
Indeed, the Sony Ericsson W710i is a stylish, sports-centric, and versatile clamshell mobile phone. It has an attractive, user-friendly design and good call quality, and a solid addition to Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phone series. And by the way, it comes in non-changeable cover colors, Performance Graphite and Hatha Violet, which shows that the Sony Ericsson W710i is recommended for fitness enthusiasts and music lovers.
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