Sony Ericsson Yari Review

Introduction and Design:

We have to admit that Sony does have quite a lot of experience in making game-oriented devices. After all this is the company we should thank for one of the most successful gaming consoles of all times – the Sony Playstation series. However, the manufacturer doesn’t have such a brilliant device in its mobile gaming cell phone range. We have already reviewed one of handsets in it, the Sony Ericsson F305 - it´s funny and amusing indeed, although the titles for it proved to be rather simplified. What we are about to review today is the Sony Ericsson Yari, the next step in the development of the same concept. Aside from its slightly odd name (that means “spear” in Japanese), it comes with buttons and accelerometer that can be used as game controls and the interesting option to use the phone camera as a motion detection device that tracks the moves of the player. To allow you to better utilize the latter option, the manufacturer ships the phone with a stand and you´re supposed to set the handset on it before getting down to jumping, waving and wriggling. The Sony Ericsson Yari also comes with an USB cable, charger, 1GB microSD card and user guide. And with nice youthful design, of course.

The motley version we´ve got in our hands seems better suited for the intended audience than the black and white prototype we had. Moreover, many young ladies will certainly find the former more appealing.



You can compare the Sony Ericsson Yari with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.



We are pleasantly impressed by the 2.4-inch screen with QVGA resolution. It offers high image quality with really saturated colors and remains totally usable in direct sunlight. In other words, you will be able to play games even on the sunniest days at the beach.



We didn’t have any problems with the buttons on the front side, because they have proper travel. Those above the screen are used to call up the game menu and as game controls. Unfortunately, some of them require that you use the keyboard and its keys are almost flush with the surface, so you can easily press the wrong one.

We are by no means pleased at the camera shutter – it´s annoyingly small and hard to press, which prevents you from getting nice pictures.



The Sony Ericsson Yari has an overall design that will surely appeal to many youngsters, so let´s move on and see if it´s any good at games.

Interface and games:

The Sony Ericsson Yari utilizes the manufacturer´s standard interface for feature phones. It´s motley, amusing and easily personalized with various themes. One of the cool options of its latest edition is threaded messaging. Moreover, the handset offers automated email setup for accounts registered with popular service providers to allow you to get down to composing emails as soon as possible.



The so-called Game Carousel is another novelty feature that can be activated in the games menu. It provides access to all titles directly from the home screen of the Sony Ericsson Yari. You move between icons with the D-Pad or the built-in accelerometer that sports proper sensitivity and can be used to control the gameplay in several titles. Naturally, this is something we have already seen with other models of the manufacturer. One of our favourite games (Loco Roco) comes preinstalled on the Sony Ericsson Yari and managed to eat up a good part of the time we spent on the current review.



Unfortunately, the games that can be controlled via the video call camera are just two – Fitness (tells you how to do squats, yoga exercises and sidesteps) and Tennis (you can control the racket strokes, but not your movement across the court). As a whole, the idea is most interesting indeed, but you would have to deeply focus and get engrossed in the gameplay to get a proper kick out of it. Moreover, both games are bound to get you bored quite soon, due to the lack of a decent challenge.



Another shortcoming of the device is the limited number of games preinstalled on the Sony Ericsson Yari – only 9 with our handset. Compare this to the abundance of 61 titles on the F305 – anyone is certain to find at least a few to their liking. You can get more from PlayNow Arena, but they are not free, not to mention the service is not available in certain countries yet. On the other hand, the price tags are rather steep for what you get - say Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 will set you back with nearly $7 which we believe is unjustified, because the in-game graphics is really simplified alongside of, say, FIFA 2010 for the iPhone and you can get the latter for $9.99. As a whole, the games you can play using the Sony Ericsson Yari are amusing, but quite simple as of today´s standards.



Camera and Multimedia:

The phone is equipped with 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and small LED flash. Its interface offers ample options like face and smile detection, effects, white balance and various presets. The snapshot quality is surprisingly good for a phone that is totally unpretending with this respect – they have enough details and colors appear saturated and eye-pleasing.





You can capture videos at VGA resolution and 24 frames per second. Their colors are rather thin, but as a whole the clips are totally usable, because they play smoothly.

Sony Ericsson Yari sample video at 640x480 pixels resolution

The Sony Ericsson Yari is good at audio playback as well, despite the lack of 3.5mm jack, which means you will have to make do with the boxed headset or connect the phone to wireless earphone pair thanks to the stereo Bluetooth support. The boxed set offers proper sound quality provided the player is not going at full blast. It´s slightly odd that the equalizer settings are not grouped by relevant style as it is with all other recent cell phones of the manufacturer.



The Yari sports a built-in GPS and preinstalled navigational software – Wisepilot. The application is snappy indeed and utilizes NAVTEQ maps that come in pretty handy if you need guidance finding your way in unknown areas. Unfortunately, you would have to buy the program if you like it once the trial has ended.

Performance and Conclusion:

The Sony Ericsson Yari delivers decent in-call quality. Voices sounded somewhat unclear and unreal on our end of the line, but were loud enough. As a whole, we didn’t have any problems understanding our callers. They didn’t happen to have any major gripes either, but said they’ve heard much better and rated us 7/10.

Similarly to most Sony Ericsson feature phones, the Yari is equipped with quite a robust battery that provides about 10 hours of continuous calls (over 2G networks) and up to 19 days in standby.

As a whole, the Sony Ericsson Yari is a likeable slider with cool design and proper functionality. The games it comes with are decent, but by no means superior to what´s available for rivalling handsets. Owners of Nokia cell phones with support for N-Gage (Nokia N81, N85, 5320 XpressMusic etc) can get similar titles easily and the portal allows for downloads of trial versions, something that´s not possible with PlayNow Arena. The iPhone is another cup of tea and light years ahead – much better graphics, more complex games and smashing diversity at AppStore. If you are on the lookout for a cell phone that you intend to predominantly use for games, the Yari doesn´t stand out with anything in particular, but is a good all-rounder that would appeal to young people, especially given its affordable price.

Sony Ericsson Yari Video Review: