Planet Technology: Sony Ericsson G705 review: Slide-o-matic

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Sony Ericsson G705 review: Slide-o-matic

One of a kind is the last thing to call Sony Ericsson G705 upon as much as a glimpse. But conceited scoffs may be bitterly regretted. Wi-Fi, GPS and lightning fast data are likely to turn the snooty sneer into an embarrassed smirk.

Now, one of a kind may be not precisely right but the G705 is pretty darn close. The handset is only the second feature phone in the Sony Ericsson Generation Web lineup. To narrow it down even further, the G705 is only the company's second feature phone to sport both WLAN and GPS. And since the other one is proudly perched at the top of the Cybershot tree, the G705 has the midrange all to itself. What a cheeky chap!.

Sony Ericcson G705 official photos

Key features:

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA 7.2 Mbps/tri-band HSDPA for US version
Built-in GPS with A-GPS function, Wayfinder Navigator software, geotagging
Wi-Fi b/g with DLNA and SIP support, Bluetooth (with A2DP), USB v2.0
2.4" 256K-color TFT display
3.2 MP camera with LED flash,
Enhanced user interface with basic multi-tasking
Illuminated Web shortcut keys
Dedicated Play/Pause music key
Media Center, Smart search, Manage Messages
FM radio with RDS and TrackID
YouTube client
120 MB built-in memory, M2 card support, 1GB included

Main disadvantages:

Cheapo looking materials
No office document viewer
Video recording limited to QVGA resolution at 15fps
M2 card slot is under the battery cover

Sony Ericsson G705

A feature phone with no gaps in the spec sheet, Sony Ericsson G705 finds itself in quite a predicament. One, it's good enough to mess with the big boys (yep, that's smartphones), but second, it's cocky enough for the big boys to start messing with it.

At this point, the G705 has virtually no competition among non-OS phones. Check out our comparative table below for the kind of smartphone track the G705 will be running on. A couple of Symbian-powered Nokia devices are there for a taster of what our Sony Ericsson handset is up against.

More Sony Ericsson G705 photos