Running the tape around the Sony Ericsson Z710 shows a clamshell design measuring 88 x 48 x 24.5 mm and weighing just one gram over 100. Available in black or a metallic sandy colour this is Sony's latest attempt at a flip phone after a recent spat of of multimedia units and business models. This model is styled nicely with a large external (1.5") mono screen which shows either phone status or that of the inbuilt media player / radio.

Open the flip and a blue glow greets you as both the keypad and screen are set with a deep blue colour, although the screen is a full colour 1.9" 176 x 220 pixel model which is capable of displaying almost any image. The keypad feels good to the touch and the flip feels strong enough to withstand even the kids deciding to play with it. Away from the acres of moulded plastic with metallic effect lies a Quad band GMS phone that hangs on to calls like the terrier dog that used to hang onto the flip in the old moto adverts. This also enables GPRS and Edge data transfers allowing Sony Ericsson to make bold claims about its suitability for business.

Memory is limited to 10mb on board (which isn't much) but Sony have wheeled out Memory stick micro, yet another format for us to deal with and yet more fiddly stick converters to allow these small cards to work in older phones or Sony laptops. Generosity is also lacking in that the Z710 only ships with a 64mb stick. You'll be wanting to upgrade that if you intend to utilise the SE Z710's multimedia features which are really quite good. Firstly there is a very competent MP3 audio player, which handles MP3 and is also iPod friendly playing AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+. Controls are simple and effective with the phone coming with a set of earbuds, just as well as you cannot use your 3.5mm jack headphones and will need to use those provided or perhaps Bluetooth, more on that later.

The MP3 player works a treat and the large outer screen shows the track details when the flip is closed making the whole package very cool to use. The inbuilt FM radio with RDS also works well and uses the screen on the outside of the flip to good effect, it does need the earphones attached as they act as aerial for the radio signal. What is nice is that all the features of RDS make it onto the Sony and there is also a 20 preset memory for keeping your favourite stations to hand.

However there is also a wireless option that builds upon the Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, the Z710 supports A2DP a profile that allows for accurate and high quality transmission over Bluetooth, of stereo audio. This is a great addition and one that is starting to appear as standard on more and more phones, it enables a new breed of Bluetooth headsets to work in a more Walkman like way.

The claims from SE that this is a business capable mobile are a little thin on the ground, sure there is a web browser and the email client supports push email (although not blackberry). However the screen is just too small to make use of either and the lack of a full keypad limits it to short messages only. The ability to sync with a PC is provided over Nokias pop port USB connection or over the air with Bluetooth.

All of these functions can be a real drain on a battery and the clamshell of the Z710 houses a 900 mAh Lithium Polymer battery that claimed a massive 350 hours standby time and 10 hours talk time. In reality we managed to get 2 full days use and about halfway through the third with around 1 hours worth of calls a day a little use of the audio player.

The last feature we tested was the 2 mega pixel camera which is built into the front flip, the images are more than impressive for the pixel depth despite there being models on the market with 3.0 mega pixels available. The gallery application makes it easy for you to find your images and to edit them or move them off the phone as an MMS or via the various connection options. The only bad point is the digital zoom which is fairly naff and is more likely to ruin your images than help you see a section more clearly.

One extra that we did like is the inbuilt RSS reader which allows you to collect RSS feeds and to update them via the data connection on demand, this worked really well and enabled us to keep up to date with news from the gadget world and manufacturers during the review period.

Overall the Sony Ericsson Z710 does just enough to make it worthy of a second look, it claims to be a style phone but lacks that killer look, it is neither slim or innovative in design yet outside screen lifts the model above the hum drum. Plus as with most SE phones it actually works with a good loud ring tone speaker, RF performance, phone book and audio player. It isn't going to win any awards but it is easy on the eye and won't have you cursing that the battery doesn't last or that it is too tricky to operate. What is the world coming too when a phone gets good marks for being ok?

Published - 08/10/2006

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