You can hardly expect something of the kind to reappear on the market. Sony Ericsson’s clamshells (as well as clamshells of any other brand) will never exceed the functionality offered in the phones using a different form factor. The rush is over, and currently the slider form factor is most preferred by all audiences; the things are going to keep going this way for a good deal of time from now on. Of course it would be too stereotypical to think that every future clamshell will be either female or image product with minimum functionality.

A very interesting model released this year is Samsung G400 Soul – a clamshell with a casing of steel, a 5 Mp camera and a touchscreen, a direct replica of Motorola RAZR2 V8 as far as design and ideas are concerned. Shortly a sequel to V8 will be announced, the would-be image flagship of Motorola for the whole 2008 year. W980 plays the role of Sony Ericsson’s top clamshell for the time being, a stylish music phone with a 8 Gb of user memory. The device can’t be seen as a mass product, the high price severely reduces the potential audience. The more affordable solutions from the SE portfolio are Z770i, Z555i and Z780. The latter is a minor variation of Z770i with slightly altered casing materials, an integrated support for Google Maps services and hardly anything else.

Sony Ericsson Z770i remains the company’s primary offer in the segment of mid-end clamshells, yet the current pricy policy of the company makes the handset a poor option yielding to the majority of the multiple competitive products. The design of Z770i invokes associations with the many existing slim phones, especially BenQ-Siemens EF81 and the earlier model Z550i. The style is very neutral, the front panel is manufactured from anodized aluminum; the metal is textured in a very nice way. The three available color variations are silver, beige and black.

Sony Ericsson Z555i is the image variation of the W380i music handset; save for a lack of the Walkman player application, all the specifications of the two are identical. The same gesture control, the same size and a ‘camouflaged’ exterior screen. The model’s design is rather interesting within the brackets of its native price niche, the front panel sports a rhomb texture which glitters in the light. The design of Z555i is really nice and hardly has any direct competitors, but when it comes down to the functionality, a failure is obvious. A low-res screen is an unjustified drawback in this price segment, which is likely to cross out all the advantages. The difference from Z770i is insignificant, so a choice in favor of the senior model is quite logical.

Z770i expands the ideas started by one of the most successful clamshells ever made by the company, Z550i. The common points are the design, the use of metal in the case, a very similar positioning, very modest technical specifications, but as for the price, the picture is quite different: the starting price for Z550i amounted to about 240 euros, and in the other case the price is revolving around 280 euros. The specifications of Z770i seem to be below the standards and demands of time to which Z550i was up in its days of glory, and the price was increased. Hereby a conclusion: while Z550i could challenge and overcome its direct competitors (like Nokia 6125) in design and functionality, the newly released Z770i falls victim to a fierce competition from a host of other products sporting even better functionality and comparable prices. We could reflect on this mentioning Motorola RAZR2 V8 or U9, Nokia 7390 as far as female audiences go. Due to the same cause, a price cut to 230 euros can be expected in the closest future. Such a price will make the solution a good buy and a remarkable market player.

	Sony Ericsson Z770i Specifications
Connecitivity:	GSM 900/1800/1900 + UMTS/HSDPA 2100
Memory:	32 Mb of user memory Memory Stick Micro slot (M2), up to 4 Gb no card bundled
Screen:	2,2" , QVGA (240х320), 262K + OLED 128x36
Connectivity:	USB2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, A2DP supported
Camera:	2 Mp(up to 1600х1200), video (QVGA 30 fps)
Battery:	BST-38, capacity - 930 mAh up to 8,5 hours of talktime up to 350 hours of stanbdy
Measurements:	93 x 48 x 16 mm
Weight:	917 g
Guiding price:	€250

Design and Ergonomics

The device sports a clamshell form factor; the measurements are typical for this class of devices, nothing inconvenient. The clamshell is easily opened with a single hand, the opening angle is also optimal. As it was already mentioned, the design is neutral, even plain, there’s nothing that would catch the eye. The protective mesh of the speaker comes in three alternate colors: silver, red or blue; the same goes to the strips separating the keypad buttons.

The face panel is made from aluminum; the rest of the elements use different sorts of plastic. The back surface is matte, helping to conceal scratches and fingerprints. A bad side of the ergonomics are the tiny volume buttons which are hard to feel. A side-positioned Fast-Port slot isn’t too handy either. Otherwise, no serious problems.

The right edge of the casing hosts a M2 memory expansion slot protected with a flap. This can only decline at a 90 degree angle which makes memory hard swapping a long and enduring process unless you’ve got something long and sharp at hand.

The exterior screen is a simple OLED piece, very modestly sized (128x36). In an inactive state, it looks like a simple mirror. The screen shows common stats like the battery charge level, GSM signal quality, clock, message and event notices.

The keypad is very reminiscent of the RAZR style with the only difference of being made of plastic. The keys are poorly segmented, leading to numerous stray keystrokes. The backlight is of a bright blue color in the black variant, being respectively red in the silver variant. Looks very elegant, but still does nothing to help the ergonomics.

Screen

Sony Ericsson Z770i is equipped with a TFT screen sporting a QVGA resolution (320x240) The color palette is 262K, the diagonal is 2.2’’ large which is up to the modern standards. In reality, the image has good contrast and natural colors. The view angles are perfect. The mirror-surface backing makes the screen resistant to direct sunlight. In a comparison to Z555i, the screen of the latter looks small and outdated (and so it is).

Battery

The model is powered by a BST-38, 930 mAh standard battery. The manufacturer claims up to 8.5 hours of talktime and 340 hours of standby. A normal duty cycle lasts for about three days, a result enough for most users. Our tests prove Z770i a decent player on this front:

Connectivity

Unlike the majority of Sony Ericsson’s 3G models, this one lacks a secondary video call cam. As compared to the Z750i predecessor, this looks like a mean downgrade. HSDPA is supported, but there’s no IRdA port. Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR are on board. It works perfectly, the implementation of the A2DP profile enjoys the best quality on the market in Sony Ericsson’s product. The following profiles are supported:

• Basic Imaging
• Dial-up Networking
• File Transfer
• Generic Access
• Generic Object Exchange
• Handsfree
• Headset
• HID
• JSR-82 Java API
• Object Push
• Personal Area Networking
• Serial Port
• Synchronization
• SyncML OBEX binding
• Audio/Video Remote Control
• Phonebook Access

The Flight Mode is only accessible with a SIM card; you can still turn the phone on without a SIM card, though features like camera or player will be blocked out. That’s a big minus of all SE gadgets (smartphones included) which looks just lame against the competing solutions by other brands.

The cable communication is done through a firmware interface. A USB 2.0 support is claimed, though the real life data transfer speed is a good way below the expected 500 Kbyte/s. Modem, Mass Storage and PictBridge connection types are also supported.

The required mode is selectable from a corresponding menu. In our tests, the Mass Storage connection functioned quite properly, both onboard memory and expansion card were visible in the file manager. Phone-to-PC synchronization can be done with the supplied Sony Ericsson PC Suite software. The only disappointing thing is the above-mentioned left-side positioning of the slot.

The integrated FM tuner has a TrackID capability. RDS is supported, the bookmark list can store up to 20 favorite stations. The application interface is very friendly. The signal level is high, as well as sound volume.

Java Performcance

As usual, Sony Ericsson did their best to make Java run perfectly on their new product – just as expected, the handset supports 3D profiles, the midlets can easily be sent and received via Bluetooth, the performance rate keeps on a level identical to K850i.

	Java Performance
Model	Sony Ericsson Z770i
Jbenchmark 1.0.1 Score	7001
Text	2190
2D Shapes	1688
3D Shapes	800
Fill Rate	548
Animation	1671
Jbenchmark 2.0.1 Score	1213
Image Manipulations	400
Text	750
Sprites	578
3D Transform	751
User Interface	18631
Jbenchmark 3D HQ	157
Jbenchmark 3D LQ	299
Triangles ps	32569
Jbenchmark HD Gaming Score	92 (3.1 fps)
Smooth triangles	43659
Textured triangles	26123
Fill rate, KTexels	545

User interface

Sony Ericsson Z770i is based off the A200 platform and has all the standard features listed as native in this article: Sony Ericsson A200 platform base functionality review Please refer to it to find out more about such aspects of A200-based products as player, multimedia, gallery and so on.

A few original interface themes are available. The main menu has three viewmodes: the traditional icon grid, merry-go-round and one large function icon per screen.

Preinstalled Software Package

The two preinstalled games are Tennis Multiplay, a sports classic with 3D graphics, and the logical Brain Juice game.

A remote control software comes with the software disk; you have to install it on your PC prior to using the remote control options. Miscellaneous applications include Audible and AccuWeather. The latter provides the user with weather forecasts while Audible lets you listen to audio-books. The application interface is handy, yet you can always do the same thing using a third-party Java application.

Google Maps 2.0 is listed as a default feature of the A200 platform; combined with a full-fledged onboard GPS receiver, it would offer every possibility for a very precise global positioning. There’s no such unit in Z770i, yet a basic navigation functionality is preserved. Google Maps is free; the program comes fully configured and has a number of extra settings in addition to the standard functionality of the base version. You can choose the preferred system of measures, to precise map scaling, add chosen locations to your favorites list, customize the route calculation routine and search by locations and bookmarks. The application interface is rather handy; the downsides are a lack of possibility to recalculate the route or save it. Nokia Maps 2.0 available to most existing smartphones offers a much better functionality and comfort of operation, remaining the market’s leading solution.

Multimedia features

The media menu looks in a way common to all A200-based solutions; the mp3 player sports the very same interface seen in any other recent SE phone, e.g. K850i. The player controls are very convenient; the settings include repeated and random playback, sorting by performer an genre; there’s an enhanced stereo option available, which in practice improves nothing, at least to an extent perceptible by the human ear. Progressive track rewinding is supported. The track data are submitted to the screen.

The bundled headset is of a standard type; there’s no 3.5 mm adapter in the box. The MP3 volume would be enough in most situations, yet in a very noisy environment you would be asking for more. The audio quality is comparable to that of any other SE phone, including even the Walkman music profile solutions; it’s a bit below the audio quality of the latest Nokia and Samsung handsets. Still that’s enough for a non-picky user. An average sound quality makes is a serious downside in a music phone, but now we are dealing with a mid-end non-music handset, so we won’t be taking this for a flaw.

The TrackID service enjoys a fair implementation. Using it you can record a fragment from the currently played song (on radio or in the player) and upload it to the web for identification. If the sample is recognized as belonging to one of the track stored in the database, the song title and performer name are sent back in a message; all identified (and hence found in the database) songs are available for purchase. The service should prove interesting for a youth audience, especially combined with the FM tuner functionality: an unfamiliar song can be 'captured', 'probed ' and downloaded in a matter of minutes.

Camera

The camera of Sony Ericsson Z770i is exactly what you would expect from a mid-end non-music phone: a cheap 2 Mp unit without an auto-focusing capability. The same camera type is used in Nokia 6600 fold, Motorola RAZRV2 V8, Nokia N76. The camera is housed in the upper flipping part, the unit bulges out above the surface by a margin of 2 millimeters. The flash and self-portrait mirror are located just by the camera lens.

The viewfinder utilizes a vertical window orientation and so does the rest of the camera interface; optionally, it can be rotated. The maximum photo resolution is 1600x1200, the video is limited to the 320x240@30 fps which is a native feature of the A200 platform. The videos sport a rather plain quality.

Brightness is tweaked with the volume button, the navigation button serves for zooming in and out. A variety of status indicators are shown in the viewfinder window, yet the screen isn’t as informative as in Cyber-shot series phones. The top line shows brightness, zoom ration and photo storage folders indicator. Switching between photo and video modes is done by pressing the navigation button left or right.

The shot quality is rather average, the lack of an auto-focusing capability proves a seriously degrading factor. Acceptable photos only turn up in perfect lighting conditions. In all other cases the results are simply disappointing. It’s obvious that the camera doesn’t make a priority point for this model. The solution is justified by the product’s mid-end positioning, yet the market offers a number of models sporting the same form factor and a comparable price, but having a much better camera functionality, e.g. Samsung U300 or Fly LX600. Things look even worse if we try to compare Z770i to solutions outside its native clamshell market niche.

SMAPE's opinion

Sony Ericsson Z770i is a stock mid-end solution sporting a number of advantages and disadvantages which surface during a comparison to the competitive products. The quality of communication and battery lifetime are up to the company standards, no problem on this front at all. The strong aspects of the device are the use of metal in the front panel, compact dimensions, a good-sized interior screen and a powerful software platform with Google Maps coming preinstalled. The handset design isn’t bad at all, but just a bit too simple (if not plain), at times such a simplicity does more good than harm, and at least invokes no negative emotions.

On the other hand, Z770i yields in a number of aspects to the rivaling offers. First of all, the exterior screen is lacking a lot of functionality supposed to be in place – let alone the small size and monochrome matrix. Every modern Nokia clamshell come with quality exterior screens, certain models (like 7390, 6267) even have exterior controls positioned below the screen and letting the user switch mp3 tracks in the player without unfolding the clamshell, as well as read messages and check the status indicators. If we recall the RAZR2 V8 or U9 models by Motorola, the state of things would appear to be cardinally different…

The sales box of Z770i is unremarkable, there’s no memory card included – a step towards a lower price. The overall ergonomics is on an average level, the controls come in a minimum number, the keypad is hardly comfortable, the headset socket is side-positioned. If we try to imagine the target audience of this product, we are likely to get a notion of a mostly female audience, even regardless of the strict design and colors. Such models as the Z750i predecessor along with Motorola U9 and Nokia 7390, Nokia 6555 are players dominating the field in the female-oriented market segment; each of the models listed offers a better design and a much better functionality, while the prices of all are quite comparable. The buyer’s choice only depends on their taste. It’s simply untrue that Sony Ericsson Z770i is too plain to pose any interest to the audience. Should the much expected price reduction come true, the solution will become a successful market entry, offering just what it has to offer.

+ Quality materials
+ Good interior screen
- Poor bundling
- Low-functional interior screen
- Challenged keypad ergonomics

Author: Ilya Solovyov

SMAPE.com

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