Sony Ericsson G705 Disadvantages

One of a kind is the last thing to call Sony Ericsson G705 upon as much as a glimpse. But conceited scoffs may be bitterly regretted. Wi-Fi, GPS and lightning fast data are likely to turn the snooty sneer into an embarrassed smirk.

Now, one of a kind may be not precisely right but the G705 is pretty darn close. The handset is only the second feature phone in the Sony Ericsson Generation Web lineup. To narrow it down even further, the G705 is only the company's second feature phone to sport both WLAN and GPS. And since the other one is proudly perched at the top of the Cybershot tree, the G705 has the midrange all to itself. What a cheeky chap!.

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA 7.2 Mbps/tri-band HSDPA for US version
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS function, Wayfinder Navigator software, geotagging
• Wi-Fi b/g with DLNA and SIP support, Bluetooth (with A2DP), USB v2.0
• 2.4" 256K-color TFT display
• 3.2 MP camera with LED flash,
• Enhanced user interface with basic multi-tasking
• Illuminated Web shortcut keys
• Dedicated Play/Pause music key
• Media Center, Smart search, Manage Messages
• FM radio with RDS and TrackID
• YouTube client
• 120 MB built-in memory, M2 card support, 1GB included

Main disadvantages:

• Cheapo looking materials
• No office document viewer
• Video recording limited to QVGA resolution at 15fps
• M2 card slot is under the battery cover

A feature phone with no gaps in the spec sheet, Sony Ericsson G705 finds itself in quite a predicament. One, it's good enough to mess with the big boys (yep, that's smartphones), but second, it's cocky enough for the big boys to start messing with it.

At this point, the G705 has virtually no competition among non-OS phones. Check out our comparative table below for the kind of smartphone track the G705 will be running on. A couple of Symbian-powered Nokia devices are there for a taster of what our Sony Ericsson handset is up against.

We've got a bunch of sliders there, with Wi-Fi, GPS and FM radio not even mentioned in the table, as all of them are available across the sample. Nokia E66 and Nokia N95 are all-in-one Symbian phones that, business or multimedia spin aside, easily match the main point of G705 - web browsing and connectivity. The now elderly Nokia N95 manages to even match its price tag.

Nokia 6260 slide is bigger and heavier but that's probably quite worth it, given the higher-res screen, better camera, stereo speakers and the great web browser borrowed from S60 UI. But it would be a few months before it hits the market while Sony Ericsson G705 will be enjoying a good headstart - and sets to make the best of the Christmas shopping spree. What's more, the G705 sounds notably easier on the wallet than the yet-to-be-released Nokia 6260 slide.