Sony Ericsson C510 Review

Software:

We figure we may have been drumming this into the ears of our more regular readers, but let´s go over it once again – Sony Ericsson´s interface is really pleasing, likeable, colorful and funny (especially with a properly picked theme), but the best is it looks one and the same on both their high-end and budget phones. There are certain differences due to varying hardware, say the Sony Ericsson C510 lacks navigation software since it doesn´t have a built-in GPS, but as a whole it´s pretty much the same as the one on Sony Ericsson´s top camera phone, the Sony Ericsson C905. That´s why we are not getting into details here, we just need to point out that the home screen shortcuts corresponding to the function keys of the latter device have been replaced. The one on your right gets you to a Google search panel, while the one on the left opens the multimedia menu.



If you think you will be able to watch HD videos of play PS3 games on this device, you´re in for a major disappointment. You do have a good music player at your disposal (unfortunately it only shows small sized album covers) and decent sound playback quality, especially if the phone is not set onto a flat surface with its back downwards (the built-in loudspeaker is there). The video player is also quite good, but it only supports the now antediluvian MPEG4/H.263 video format that just cannot offer proper image quality. The option to watch YouTube video makes for a sweet extra feature though.



As a whole, surfing the web on the Sony Ericsson C510 feels good, since the browser (we have to repeat ourselves) is one of the best running on feature phones, plus HSDPA 3.6Mbit/s provides faster page load times even when it comes to websites with lots of content. Unfortunately, the phone only supports 3G bands for Europe and Asia.



Camera:

The Sony Ericsson C510 has caused quite a stir with its ability to detect smiling faces and is the first device of the company that is capable of this. It is not that the feature is something unheard of, but it makes for a nice function and was missing in the Cyber-shot lineup. We made several tests shots and found out it worked great, no matter whether or not the person was grinning ear to ear like the Joker in the latest Batman movie. The other extra camera features are well known from the Sony Ericsson C905 – presets with beautiful pictures, white balance, various effects, face focusing mode, macro mode, geographical tagging (not really accurate since it uses information from carrier cells and not a GPS) etc.


Picture quality is satisfactory, colors look realistic and pleasing, but we noticed traces of noise even in pictures taken in great lighting conditions. Indoor pictures are even noisier and the built-in flash is not powerful enough to provide proper lighting of objects that are not in the vicinity. As a whole, picture quality is pretty the same alongside of what the Sony Ericsson K800 delivers, that´s a three year old device now, but was among the best camera phones in its time. In other words snapshot quality is passable in case you´ve forgotten to bring along your digital camera. The same goes to video capture as well – QVGA resolution, 30 frames per second and quality that suits YouTube uploaders.