Sony Ericsson Aspen review: Tree-hugging business
Introduction
The Aspen may well be the phone you’re least likely to expect from Sony Ericsson. To begin with, it’s a PocketPC but shuns comparison to the XPERIA line. On a second thought though – it’s a concept that can be traced way back in the Sony Ericsson portfolio. The mythical P series were at one point the place to look for the ultimate smartphone. Symbian UIQ even extended to include the G series and the M series. Those of you paying attention might as well remember a couple of touchscreen Walkman phones too.
But this is no time for a crash course in Sony Ericsson history. The Aspen is about to hit the shelves and we guess you are busy doing your homework.
Touchscreen, D-pad and a full QWERTY keyboard – the Sony Ericsson Aspen is a gadget designed to put you in control. But where some will see endless possibilities of interacting with the device, others will be right to question the usability of the whole thing. Too many buttons leave little room for the display – a small and low-res touchscreen is one compromise Aspen’s users will have to be prepared to conside
Key features
- Four-row QWERTY keyboard, D-pad navigation
- 2.4" 65K-color resistive touchscreen of 320 x 240 pixel resolution
- Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional with XPERIA panels
- 256MB RAM, 265MB ROM, 100MB user storage
- Quad-band GSM support and 3G with HSDPA 7.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps support
- Wi-Fi b/g
- GPS with A-GPS support
- DivX, XviD video support
- microSD card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB card in the box)
- 3.15 megapixel fixed-focus camera, geotagging, VGA video recording @ 15fps
- Office document viewer
- Web browser has Flash support
- Stereo FM Radio with RDS; TrackID
- microUSB and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Made of recycled materials, comes with waterborne paint
Main disadvantages
- Small and low-res touchscreen display
- Fairly customized but inconsistent UI
- No proximity sensor for in-call screen auto locking
- No secondary video-call camera
- Memory card slot under the battery cover
- Poor still imaging and video, no flash
- Video playing limited to QVGA
- Poor task switching
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