Sony Ericsson T707 mobile phone

Sony Ericsson's T707 mobile phone is a mid-range, 3G-capable flip handset endorsed by tennis star Maria Sharapova. Underneath all the flashy lights and colours, though, the T707 mobile phone doesn't offer anything new or exciting.

The Sony Ericsson T707 has a stylish gloss finish on the front that hides an external display that only appears when you close the phone or when a new call, text message or other notification is displayed. The glossy finish is a fingerprint magnet and is difficult to keep clean. Our review unit came in a "mysterious black" colour, but the T707 is also available in "spring rose" and "lucid blue" designs.

The T707 is thin for a flip mobile phone. The plastic design feels rather flimsy and the top half of the flip wiggles slightly from side to side. The phone is difficult to open with one hand; there is no place to slide your thumb in order to nudge the flip, and the opening mechanism isn't very smooth. The display has good viewing angles and is sharp and clear, but the glossy black plastic surrounding it reflects light and the screen can be hard to see in direct sunlight.

The Sony Ericsson T707's keypad and controls look a little different to the norm, as they are round and have etched patterns surrounding them. The buttons are flat but provide decent tactility; a minor complaint is that the space between each row of keys means you have to stretch your fingers a little further than normal to type accurately.

The Sony Ericsson T707's feature set and interface are all too familiar. That's not to say it’s a bad phone, just that its competitors seem to be moving forward — particularly when it comes to new and exciting user interfaces. The T707 does have a couple of quirky features, including a pulsating light on the front that can be altered to suit different contacts, and gesture controls that allow you to mute incoming calls or snooze the alarm by swiping your hand across the front of the phone. Neither is a groundbreaking addition.

The Sony Ericsson T707 is a 3G-capable handset that also boasts A2DP Bluetooth, a 3.2-megapixel camera, FM radio and a Memory Stick Micro (M2) card slot for extra storage. The lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack hinders the T707's use as a music player and there is no adapter included in the sales package, as this isn't a Walkman-branded phone.

TrackID is once again available, allowing you to record a few seconds of any song you wish using the external microphone. The recording is then sent to a music database and if the song is recognised, the title, album and artist name are sent back to you.

Other features include a video player and games, as well as some of Sony Ericsson's proprietary applications such as VideoDJ, PhotoDJ and MusicDJ. The camera is fair and doubles as a video recorder, though no flash means night-time photography is out of the question. The T707 also includes remote control and sound recording functions and a number of PIM features such as calendar, tasks, notes, alarms, calculator, synchronisation, timer and stopwatch applications.

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