Sony Ericsson G705
Discontinued 9th September 2008
The Sony Ericsson G705 is an
HSDPA capable 3.5G slider phone with GPS, a 3.2 megapixel
camera and built-in WiFi, due for general release during
Q4 2008.
It's not a top-of-the-range handset,
but the presence of GPS marks it out as being something
other than a midrange device. Perhaps what Sony Ericsson
are trying to achieve is a mass market GPS phone, and
certainly it seems to meet all the requirements.. except
for one.
You see, the problem with the G705 (and
indeed some other recent Sony Ericsson releases) is
that it's quite dull. Although it's a tidily designed
handset, it's hardly sexy. And Sony Ericsson's
new naming convention is awfully unmemorable. G705?
Try to remember the handset model tomorrow without looking
it up. If this was an LG or Samsung handset then you
can bet that they would have thought of some snazzy marketing
name for it.
There are a few different variants of
the G705, but the standard European one is a quad-band
GSM phone with UMTS 2100, GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA data,
plus WiFi, stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity. The
G705 has a 3.2 megapixel camera with a photo/video light
(it appears to be fixed focus), there's a video calling
camera too. Video clips and stills photos can be uploaded
directly to a blog. The G705 can automatically geotag
photographs with the current GPS coordinates.
The
display is a 2.4" QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) panel
in 262,000 colours. Unlike some other G-Series phones,
the display is not touch-sensitive, which is a shame
because that would be a useful thing to have with the
G705's built in Wayfinder satellite navigation application.
The G705 supports Google Maps too.
There's a media player plus an FM radio,
and all the usual Sony Ericsson multimedia enhancements
that you would expect. Usefully, the G705 comes with
a 1GB memory card in the standard sales package.
The web browser is a little bit more
sophisticated than usual, with one click access to Google
and the ability to sense the orientation of the display
and automatically swap between wide and tall formats.
The G705 also has an email client, and can support Microsoft
ActiveSync and instant messaging. There are a number
of other personal information management applications
too.
There are a couple of variants of the
Sony Ericsson G705 - the G705u incorporates UMA
support to allow VOIP (i.e. Internet telephone calls),
and this will be exclusive to Orange. There is also
an American version of the G705 which has UMTS 800 /
1900 / 2100 MHz and HSUPA which allows for high-speed
uploads, this will be available during Q1 2009. In Sony
Ericsson's old naming system, this would have been called
the G705a.
The Sony Ericsson G705 weighs just 98
grams and has up to 4 hours talktime and 14 days standby
time on 3G, 10 hours talktime and 16 days standby time
on GSM. Standard colours are "Silky Gold"
and "Majestic Black". The G705u will
be available in "Luminous Black".
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Sony
Ericsson G705 at a glance
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Available:
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Q4
2008 (Europe) / Q1 2009 (US)
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Network:
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GSM
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
+ UMTS 2100 or
850 / 1900 /2100 (US)
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Data:
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GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ WiFi + HSUPA (US only)
|
Screen:
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240
x 320 pixels, 262k colours
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Camera:
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3.2
megapixels
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Size:
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Medium
slider 95 x 47 x 14mm
/ 98 grams
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Bluetooth:
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Yes
|
Memory
card:
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Memory
Stick Micro (M2)
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Infra-red:
|
No
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Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Yes
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GPS:
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Yes
(A-GPS)
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Battery
life:
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4
hours talk / 14 days standby
(3G) 10 hours talk /
16 days standby (GSM)
|
|
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