A solid all rounder

Rating:

There is one thing that Sony Ericsson having been doing for years; producing great all round phones.
Sounds like a silly thing to say, but in the modern mobile phone market there is so much buzz around iPhone’s, Blackberry’s, Palms and whatever, that the old boys sometimes get forgotten about.

Well just to let us know they are still here, the T715 follows the SE rule to the letter. It has that great familiarity of understated design that its stable is so good at producing, with a solid up-to-date set of features that we expect of today’s handsets.

Anyone who has used a Sony Ericsson phone before will hit the road running. The phones software is the same as they have been using for a time now on many of the mid to low end phones. Very easy to get the hang of and it doesn’t take to many buttons presses to text or phone someone!

With such a heritage in digital imaging, Sony take great pride in implementing many of the lessons they have learned in the standalone camera market in their phones. Although not in the same realm as their specialist Cybershot phones like the 12 megapixel Satio, the T715 certainly benefits from this gene pool. It has a 3.2-megapixel image sensor which offers panoramic, burst-shoot and video modes making it a good backup should you forget your proper camera at your kids nativity.

Drawing from the Walkman side of the family tree, it’s possible to listen to MP3 and AAC files and tune into FM radio just as you can with W995 but many of the extended audio features are missing. There’s no one-click playback or mood-themed-playlist mode, for example. However, sound quality isn’t bad at all and album art is supported.

 

The build quality of the phones lives up to the marketing hype “adding a little luxury to your life” whether you meaning of luxury is in outrageous pink or a slightly more classical black and silver. The only fiddly bit is adding extra memory which requires popping the back off.

The Sony Ericsson T715 happily sits in-between the Walkman and the Cyber-shot handset, borrowing a bit from either camp. But there is not confusing the T715. Sleek and sophisticated its a great all round phone.