Sony Ericsson Cedar mobile phone

Sony Ericsson's Cedar is an entry-level 3G mobile phone with green credentials. Manufactured from recyclable materials, shipping without a physical user guide and featuring a charger that minimises power consumption, the Cedar is part of Sony Ericsson's 'GreenHeart' range.

Check out other top Sony Ericsson phones.

The Sony Ericsson Cedar mobile phone looks like a blast from the past; it has a comfortable and tactile numeric keypad and a small, non-touchscreen display, and it is housed in a compact body with soft curves. The phone is both compact and lightweight, and is made from at least 50 per cent recycled plastic.

The Sony Ericsson Cedar's controls are well designed and provide good tactility, while the screen is sharp and clear. The display's viewing angles are poor however, and it is difficult to see the screen in direct sunlight.

Sony Ericsson's choice of packaging continues the green theme: the Cedar's retail box is tiny and made from recycled cardboard, there is no paper user manual included, and both the important information guide and FCC statement are printed on recycled paper. The Sony Ericsson Cedar also ships with a charger that only consumes 0.3Kw per hour when left plugged into a power point without the phone connected.

Once you get past the Cedar's green credentials, this is a very basic mobile phone. Its best feature is 3G connectivity; combined with the included Facebook, Twitter and YouTube apps, the Cedar makes a decent fist of social networking. The Facebook home screen widget is particularly good, allowing you to update your status straight from the home screen. Though useable, the Sony Ericsson Cedar's browser takes an age to load pages and the small screen makes for an overall poor mobile Web experience.

The Sony Ericsson Cedar has an intuitive media menu, a basic 2-megapixel camera, an FM radio, and a microSD card slot for extra storage. The Cedar also comes with two, preinstalled green-centric Java apps — GreenCalculator and EcoMate. GreenCalculator calculates greenhouse emissions caused by your daily lifestyle, while EcoMate aims to educate users on issues like conserving water and power.

The Sony Ericsson Cedar is available in Australia through Telstra prepaid for $79.

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