A separate article on our site is devoted to the peculiarities of implementation of the UIQ platform base functionality, so please refer to it in order to find out more facts about the UIQ native messaging system, phonebook, PIM and similar generic features. This short article will mainly touch upon the main differences between G700 and G900, for those are really few, the rest of the details are available in the review of G900.

	Main specifications of Sony Ericsson G700
Supported networks:	GSM 900/1800/1900, UMTS 2100
Memory:	160 Mb of user memory, M2 expansion slot, no card bundled
Screen:	2,4" , QVGA (240х320), 262K, touchscreen
Connectivity:	USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, A2DP supported
Camera:	3 Mp (up to 1536x2048), double LED flash, no auto-focusing
Battery:	BST-33 3.7V 950 mAh up to 12 hours of talktime up to 380 hours of standby
Size:	106 x 49 x 13 mm
Weight:	99 g
Guiding price:	€300

Design and Ergonomics

In a fashion similar to G900, the G700 model utilizes the candy bar form factor, the size and weight fully coinciding with those of the senior model. The keyboard of G700 is slightly more convenient; the buttons are a bit bulging, but that hardly makes a serious advantage. Sony Ericsson G700 has a few hardware soft-buttons, which makes it very similar to A200-based mobile gadgets. G900 has virtual soft buttons instead, appearing as three small dots below the screen. That isn’t a critical difference either. Both products bear dedicated buttons serving to access the messaging and reminder menus.

The quality of materials and assembly of G700 is slightly lower than in the senior model, the only available color variant being a bright beige plastic. The side pieces have a soft-touch coating which prevents the handset from slipping away from the hand. The battery bay lock, the stylus holder and the rest of similar details share the same construction with G900. The both models feature a standard, average-sized stylus with a plastic tip. The memory card slot is found above the Fast Port slot, though you don’t have to remove the battery bay cover in order to reach it like in G900 – in G700 it’s simply protected with a plastic flap.

The right side surface houses a two-position volume button, also sharing the functions of a camera launch and shoot button, neighbored by a screen / keyboard block button; so you no longer need the “asterisk + right functional button” combination. On the left edge, a firmware Fast Port slot is located; a bit below you will find a light indicator and a small eye for fastening the wristband. The side position of the slot is something we weren’t happy to discover, that’s the only but quite remarkable downside in the handsets’ ergonomics. It’s hard to handle the numerical keyboard with a cable plugged in, the headset jack gets twice as annoying while in your pocket. The only control element positioned on the top edge is the power button.

The back panel hosts the 3 Mp camera lens and a double LED flash accompanied by a polyphonic speaker that has a rather good quality. A BST-33, 950 mAh battery is found beneath the back cover. You can refer to the Sony Ericsson A200 review to see the battery lifetime tests. The two models score nearly identical results.

Miscellaneous

So, the both models are equipped with 2,4 (320x240) screens with a 262K color palette. The screen size is pretty large, the practical difference from the 2,6 inches of (W960i) is minimal. Brightness and contrast are plausibly high, no problems here. The view angles are also pretty good, this feature has been highly improved as compared to the company’s earlier solutions. The display bravely struggles the sunlight and glare, though is no better than the Finnish-made N78, which wins by a margin. We intentionally tested the two with the brightness set to maximum.

Connectivity features are also almost identical, save for a lack of Wi-Fi in G700. This feature has come to be a standard selling point for the majority of mid-end smartphones and PDAs, hence a lack thereof can be considered a very serious drawback. Compared to some of Nokia smartphones like N78, the device looks very bleak and unimpressive. The Bluetooth and USB data transfer speeds are identical with the same values of G900.

Multimedia features also stay on a same level, save for a lack of auto-focusing in the junior model – a rather serious minus nevertheless, weakening the device’s positions against the competitive products. Consequentially there’s no support for the Namecard ID function available in G900. The camera interface is virtually the same one with G900, however a white balance adjustment option is found in the menu where the auto-focusing option would normally reside. The available scenes, effects and options entirely coincide for the two models. The maximum resolution for photos is 1536x2048, the same quality presets are in: Fine, Normal and Economyu. Fine makes a huge difference from the remaining two. The PhotoFix tool is there, just as expected.
The audio quality and the availability of music software (MusicDJ, TrackID and misc.) are fully analogous with G900.

Samples of photos taken with maximum quality settings:

The flash is effective at distances less than two meters and is slightly more powerful than in G900, but the advantage of quality is still on the side of the senior model due to the availability of auto-focusing and a less inert behavior of the camera. The analogously priced Nokia N78 and N82 offer a much better quality of photos and videos, Sony Ericsson’s brainchild can hardly compete with them in this department.

The two preinstalled games are the same good old The Sims 2 and Sudoku. Both games are quite amusing, besides the Sims 2 offers some pretty well-drawn, detailed 3D graphics.

SMAPE’s opinion

Contrary to Sony Ericsson G900, which invoked mainly positive impressions, the junior model can hardly be checked out for a good balance. The product is obviously overpriced, making a very poor challenger against the more functional and affordable offers by other major brands. As we have already mentioned, we weren’t able to find a reason for taking preference of the junior model, since a price gap of 50 euros isn’t enough to justify its weak sides. Here’s a short list of what you get with G900 by paying a mere extra 50 euros:

- a better camera (5 Mp, auto-focusing vs. 3 Mp, no auto-focusing), with more options (Touch Focus, Namecard scanner),
- better assembly and materials,
- better design,
- Wi-Fi

Sony Ericsson G700 started selling at a price of 450 euros. It belongs to the same price bracket with Nokia N82 and N72, which are the former’s primary challengers. These devices offer much better cameras and bundling (G700 doesn’t even have a memory card included in the box while Nokia stuffs their sales packages with 2 Gb cards), onboard GPS and Wi-Fi modules, a richer variety of preinstalled software, a high audio quality, standardized interface slots, a powerful hardware platform and what not. The only alleged advantage of G700 is the touchscreen, but we don’t honestly think that’s enough to compensate for the multiple downsides. Should the price G700 take a deep drop, the product would probably pose some interest to the mass consumer, mainly due to the availability of a touchscreen, making a not too functional yet comfortable tool for work with e-mail and reminders. The target audience of this solution largely crosses with the audience of Sony Ericsson M600 which hasn’t yet attained a notable public attention, reputedly because of a very unimpressive multimedia side (a total lack of camera and Wi-Fi)

All of the said above is only applicable to a specific model, G700. The very direction of compact touchscreen smartphones targeted at the mass market has a very bright outlook for the future, a new trend is being set up by the appearance of G900 and its future variations; this is a rebirth of UIQ, in a sense. The strong side of the platform are clearly visible right away: the flexible customization challenging that of the S60 platform. When the next revision of the platform, UIQ 3.3, is out, the company will draw as close to the market leader as never before. What will come next after G700 and G900 is the most luring question, posing even more interest than the duo itself.

+ Compact size
+ Decent quality of assembly and materials
+ Comfortable interface
+ Touchscreen
- Poor hardware platform
- Camera lacks auto-focusing
- Lack of Wi-Fi
- Lack of GPS
- Lack of standartized slots

Author: Ilya Solovyov

SMAPE.com

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