07/04/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051199,42689975p,00.htm

The Sony Ericsson G900 is part of the Japanese-Swedish company's series of Web-enabled phones and was announced at this year's Mobile World Congress. We got to spend a couple of days with this touchscreen Symbian UIQ smart phone. Here's what we think. Do note that this preview highlights the main differences between the G900 and G700.

Design

Side by side, the G900 and G700 may look like identical models, but there are subtle differences between the two. The most noticeable is the patterned silver metallic strip that runs on the edges of the G900.

On first impressions, the G900 seems to sport a top row of touch-sensitive softkeys, much like the K850i. But in actual fact, the keys are buttons on touchscreen LCD. These were fairly responsive when in use, we somehow missed having actual buttons for navigation. Just below the touch-sensitive keys are two dedicated buttons for Notes and Messaging. The G700 also has dedicated buttons for the same two functions, but these are featured less prominently as secondary nubs. The G900's numeric keypad, though similar in size to the one on the G700, seems to offer less tactility. As this is still a technical set, we'll reserve our judgment for the time being.

Next, although the M2 expansion card slot is still stacked below the proprietary port, it's now hidden behind the battery cover which requires some prying to open. This wouldn't be a major issue unless you swap the flash media often. The dedicated keylock button has also been relocated to the right edge of the phone to favor right-handers.

Whereas G700 comes in only Silk Bronze, G900 users have Dark Red and Dark Brown shades to choose from. Our prototype unit came in Dark Brown, though we thought it looked more like black instead. Somehow, we felt the G900 didn't feel as good as the G700, though it should appeal to users who prefer conservative colors.

Features
In our preview of the G700, we talked about several user interface enhancements of the UIQ smart phone and gave two thumbs up for its ease of use matched with an excellent design. For more details, click here. The G900 is essentially all that, but ups the ante with a higher-resolution 5-megapixel autofocus camera and Wi-Fi connectivity.

A unique feature of the G900 is the touch focus function of the camera. This allows users to set the focus area of the picture simply by touching the point on the screen. Unfortunately, we weren't able to test out the touch focus function, along with other touch-related features such as browsing of the photo album and editing. But knowing there're such functions available will certainly make the G900 stand out against the rest of the camera-phones in the market. We'll have an in-depth look at this when we have a commercial review set.

Outlook
Besides the higher-res camera, the inclusion of Wi-Fi is probably enough to make some people consider the G900 over the G700. That said, the G900 does pale a little in comparison with the G700 on the ergonomics front.