Sony Ericsson G700

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Features

Even though the G700 is a touchscreen phone, its touch UI is positioned as an option. Sony Ericsson has kept the left/right softkeys, which we think is a great move. This will help capture a group of users previously reluctant (or skeptical) about adopting touch interfaces, preferring the precise tactility of conventional buttons. Unlike the K850i Cyber-shot, the three dashes below the display serve only as markers and are not touch keys.

The G700 is a full-fledged smart phone in disguise. It runs on the Symbian UIQ platform with 128MB of RAM. That puts it on par with the W960i Walkman and the P1i, but with a much sexier design. In reality, that would give something for everyone, from the average Joe looking for a smart phone that's not over the top, to the business user who wants something that doesn't look too serious.

On the default Home screen is a row of touch menus nested on the bottom edge. These are large enough to be used with our fingers, and swiping it left or right does the job of scrolling to the next option. There are only four shortcuts to commonly used applications, but more can be added from the settings. Once you've done a proper configuration, there's a high chance you won't ever need to go into the phone's menu. Calling up the task manager immediately shows the list of opened programs and provides an option to quit the application to free up memory resources.

Previously, when we wrote about the G700, the HTC Touch Diamond hadn't been announced yet, much less a chance to see the TouchFLO 3D in action. Now that the Diamond is a reality and we've spent a considerable amount of time with it, we feel Sony Ericsson still has some ways to go for touchscreen displays. The iPhone proved that interface is king and the Touch Diamond serves to cement that point. We aren't saying the interface isn't good on the G700. In fact, we think it's great for a mass-market phone, providing the touchscreen option without making it the sole input method. However, when put alongside its competitors, the G700 touch properties pale in comparison.

The G700 obviously isn't Sony Ericsson's first attempt at the UIQ interface and it has done much to improve this over the years. The upgraded Note application is a result of the upgrade. This comes with its own dedicated hard button on the phone's control bar. We could scribble, type or draw on the note, change the background color, file them according to different categories, and send them directly to a blog or to another person via Bluetooth or MMS. Although decent, we won't consider it a killer feature that would make you rush out and buy the G700 just for this.

Other features of the handset include tri-band GSM with 3G connectivity, Bluetooth stereo A2DP and FM radio with RDS. Pity there's no Wi-Fi, which would have made the G700 an all-rounded smart phone. The media interface is similar to many of the current Sony Ericsson models we've talked about, so we won't delve into that.

It's another regret that the camera module doesn't come with autofocus capability, so we don't recommend going too close to your subject when shooting. Otherwise, we like the punchy colors of the pictures taken with this 3.2-megapixel camera and the onboard LED lights lit up evenly during our tests. In addition, the phone's display holds up well under bright sunlight, typical of Sony Ericsson phones.

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