Sony Ericsson S302 Review

Interface and Features:

As we mentioned at the beginning of the review, everything about the Sony Ericsson S302 is design squared and functionality has taken a severe blow. Interface of the phone is pretty much the same like what most new, lower end phones of the manufacturer (Sony Ericsson W302, W395 and F305) come with, but in this particular case it´s a far cry from going with the overall look and appeal of the phone. Still, it is easy and pleasing to use.

Things seem much better in terms of camera interface and we do like the option to share all your snapshots and videos (maximum resolution of 176x144 at 15 frames per second) with your Blogger buddies. Not that it would have been bad if Flickr, Facebook or MySpace blogging was possible. Unfortunately, snapshot quality is as far from impressive as it gets and all told, pretty mediocre. To say pictures lack enough details would be a major understatement, objects are all blurry and the only acceptable thing here is colors. So, are pictures any good for blogging then? Well, this totally depends on your own taste, but we believe the only thing this camera is any good for is “old-time spy photos”.




Music player and FM radio both fail to impress in terms of overall look and design, but at least work exactly the way they are supposed to. The button on the side of the phone that turns audio playback on/off makes your life a bit easier, since you don´t need to rummage among the menus. The boxed earphones perform below par, while the built-in speaker is appalling. It produces lots of crackling sounds, audio is muffled and weak. In-call quality, way too important for any cell phone, is pretty good though. Voices are audible and clear on both ends, even if somewhat monotonous. Battery lasts quite long indeed - provides about 7 hours of continuous talk time and over 300 hours in standby mode.



Conclusion:

The overall performance of the Sony Ericsson S302, paired with its shiny front side, compact size and simplified interface makes the phone suitable to people who need a head-turning, appealing phone that will, above all, be used for calls. There is a variety of other devices available that you can get for about the same money. Even if a bit older, most are better performing, such as the Nokia 7310 Supernova, the slider Samsung U600, the Samsung Soulb U800, Motorola U9 and a bunch of other phones.

Sony Ericsson S302 Video Review: