I know it has been a long time since I post any new article in this website because I was very busy with work. Well now I have some free time, I am getting back up with Sony Ericsson F305 review that I have been using for the past 3 months.

Let’s start with the price it cost me RM 450.00 including the 1 GB micro SD and screen protector. With this price you are getting quite a lot of value too. It comes with 2 MP camera that take video and still picture, integrated micro stereo loud speaker, a large bright 2 inch screen, tri-band, Internet (WAP Push) accessibility, lots of Java games, FM radio and many more. The phone styling looks like “ipod” and with comes with a glossy smooth surface and available in black and white. Size of the phone is reasonably slim at 14.6mm that made it easy to put inside pockets. When considering all the features available and design of the F305 it is clearly targeted at youngsters that enjoy games and music.

The main highlight of F305 is the 11 preloaded Java games that vary from simple puzzle games to platform 3D action adventure. Among the 11 games 3 of the games require motion to play like the Wii so you will be playing Bowling with the phone rather than the keypad so make sure to put on the strap before playing, you would not want to throw away the phone yet . All the games performances are quite good and loading times are fast too considering when they are Java applications which require more processing power.

On the multimedia side, the most impressive part here is the integrated stereo loud speaker which is able to delivery very impressive treble and details but the bass is a bit flat for such a small speaker. Music playbacks are also good with clarity and detail but the FM Radio reception is just the only problems here. Don’t expect to get good reception inside building because can’t really expect those wired earphone antennas to be good with FM reception.

The 2 MP integrated digital camera for a phone camera standard it is consider good with low noise but quite pixilated due to the small sensor size and the performance video and image performance is acceptable.

On the usage side the buttons are smalls and will take quite a while to get use to and the buttons pressed feel solid. The 2 inch screen is so bright that I have to dim it down from the default setting and quite usable on a very bright daylight outside. The screen colours and contrast just look brilliants. The user interface is not really that intuitive or friendly for some frequent settings and have to do with additional clicks just to access it like the phone profiles and SMS otherwise it is pretty much direct access just the matter of getting use to and GUI performance is reasonably fast. The biggest complain here, since this is a slide phone I would expect to easily slide open the phone using my thumb but that is not the case because the phone is made of glossy smooth surface and nearly flat button surface, it is not easy for my thumb to get a good grip and with my sweaty thumb made matter worst so sometimes I have to end up using 2 hand just to slide open. Only after lots of practice then only I am used to slide open the phone but still feel the grip is lacking. The handset speakers (not the integrated loud speakers) sound clear but loudness is a bit short of supply even a max volume. It is good for quiet environment but for noisy environment I have to put it close to my ears to listen and I am not the person who likes to put the headset near the ears for long time due to heat after long usage.

Overall the Sony Ericsson F305 is very well spec cell phone just suffer from a few usage issues like the sliding grip, user interface access, headset speaker not as loud and lack of indication (especially making calls not sure whether connection have been establish so have to keep hearing from the headset and no dim display for any updates so I have to slide open find the updates). I have left out the Internet access using the F305 in this review because I felt it is useless to surf the web with the tiny screen and using the keypad and should be kept for emergency use only. Note that the phone USB cable is not included in the package and have to be purchase separately, bad Sony! But l really like the F305 battery life of 8 hours talk time and 400 hours of standby which means I only need charge the phone once a week or sometimes longer and the battery life can be shown in percentage like 45% battery life left rather than a bar indicator that does not really give people the confident on how long the battery will last but to view the battery life percentage you have search in the phone status menu. Also not forgetting it is also reasonably low SAR at 0.67 W/kg. If you are able to adapt and get use to the minor usage issues, this phone does offer a lot features and the specs are very impressive but I just wish Sony Ericsson can include Outlook email PC sync up with the phone calendar that would be very nice to have.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

If you are looking for a good basic cell phone, Nokia 1202 could be the answer for you. The Nokia 1202 was design to be cheap and reliable cell phone for those who just want a basic phone for communication needs. At first glance it looks simple and elegant. This small and slim phone is available in 2 colours variant black and blue/grey. This phone support GSM Dual band protocol.

It feels well build and tough, there are no parts connected loosely that I can see and all parts are attach firmly. Since this phone was design to be cheap so there are also fewer parts. The components are simple big pieces to reduce plastic molding cost. So fewer parts mean there are fewer things to go wrong. The buttons press feels solid and not flimsy. Don’t be despair by 1.3 inch mono colour screen, it has its advantages because in a bright day outside you can still manage to see the screen clearly compare to colour screen because the contract of the mono colour screen is much higher, this good for people who just wants a basic phone and don’t want the fancy GUI. Mind you that the small 1.3 inch size screen display big fonts for easy reading at end of your hand. The front buttons layout is made from 1 piece rubber layer that can provide basic water resistant. The best part of this phone it is the battery life of whopping 9 hours of talk time and 636 hours of standby time which could easily last more than 10 days (subject to your usage) of usage in a single charge by far because average cell phone these days only have about 3 to 5 hours talk time and 250 to 450 hours of standby time. It is also very affordable too; the suggested retail price is RM 135 but I bought it at RM 90. Lastly it is come build-in LED flash light that can be quite handy at times.

There are a few disadvantages, firstly is the price because by adding RM 10 to RM 15 you can get a Samsung basic phone with colour screen on that price range. Secondly, the objective of a basic phone is that it has to be good with the basic stuff like built, look and sound but sadly Nokia only equip it with average speaker on the phone, so it just sound acceptable not really that clear which is important for this class of cell phone. Furthermore for a basic phone like this that only have basic feature it should not have noticeable radiation count from 0.76 W/kg to 1.12 W/kg (depending of the model version) which is consider medium to high when compare to other cell phone on the market.

Overall it is a very good essential basic cell phone for the price even after considering the sound and radiation disadvantages because at this price value it should be consider as a bargain. This cell phone is suitable for people who don’t want fancy stuff that are easily slipped into the pocket and the raw simplicity power it is greatest strength.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Note: When I bought the phone the pin that need to contact with SIM card is already broken and can’t be seen. I have to send it for repair after that everything else is fine. Recommend to fully test out the phone at the shop before buying

Specifications:

Operating Frequency

• EGSM 900/ GSM 1800 , GSM850/1900
• Automatic switching between GSM bands

Size

• Dimensions: 105.3 x 45 x 13.1 mm
• Weight: 78 g (with battery)
• Volume: 61.8 cc
• Rounded shape brings the friendly and human feel for comfort and fits to the hand
• Subtle texture on back, which brings a fresh feeling to end user, gives a better grip and it protects the surface from scratches
• Coloured mesh is used on the earpiece area to emphasize the position and give a eye catching design detail
• Slim, round-edged design for a solid grip

Display and 3D

• Main display
• Size: 1.3″
• 96 x 68 pixels
• Black and white