Sony Ericsson Naite – Eco-phone with plenty of multimedia features
For:
Sharp and bright display; smooth menu navigation; music, photo and video editors; FM radio.
Against:
Non-standard charger and headphone jacks; cramped keypad; poor speakerphone call quality; video calls does not work in North America; unable to pair contacts with ring-tones.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Sony Ericsson Naite is based on WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM technology and supports quad-band of WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900. It has 100MB of internal memory and micro-SD expansion slot that accepts up to 16MB cards.
2.2 inches LCD display has 240×320 pixels resolution that supports 18-bit (262,000) colors. Sony Ericsson Naite has white display illumination color and multi-language menu.
The additional features are RDS (Radio Data Service), Bluetooth, video calling, Web browser, EDGE and GPRS. In addition, the messaging feature set includes Mobile email, picture messages, instant messengers, text and multimedia messages.
The battery life of Sony Ericsson Naite is 825 minutes talk time and 600 hours of idle standby time.
Razzle Dazzle:
Sony Ericsson Naite comes in Ginger Red and Vapour Silver of classic silver and black. Our test model had Ginger Red color. It is 4.3 inches tall, 1.9 inches wide and 0.5 inch deep and weighs 3 ounces. The cell phone has two toned candy-bar design. It features silver keypad as well as bright display bordered with recycled black plastic. The complete phone is made up from recycled plastic of CDs and water bottles.
Inside Dope:
Sony Ericsson Naite is an eco-friendly cell phone that is a part of GreenHeart series – a Sony initiative. The GreenHeart is a result of company’s commitment towards protecting the nature by making cell phones from recycled and unwanted materials. The Naite is made using recycled plastic and contains Energy Star V compatible charger. Unlike other eco-friendly phones, its container box is not made up of recycled cardboard. However, the box is small in size and uses less cardboard. The standby mode of the Naite consumes very less power. The Ericsson Naite offers bright and sharp display, easy menu navigation, FM radio, 2-megapixel camera, video recorder, video calling, photo/video editor, and Google Maps. There are two versions of the Ericsson Naite – unlocked and other for T-Mobile. The unlocked version of Sony Naite costs $150. This eco-friendly cell phone also suffers from some drawbacks. It does not have flash for camera and comprises of cramped keypad, non-standard charger and headphone jacks. Moreover, the video calling does not work in North America. This midrange feature cell phone is good for casual users, but not for business users.
Design
Volume rocker in silver color sits on the right spine of Sony Ericsson Naite. The proprietary headphone and charger jack are located on left spine. We prefer to have standard 3.5mm headset jack and combined micro-USB port for charging/PC sync. The camera sits on the back, whereas micro-SD card slot is located behind the ridged battery cover.
Display
2.2 inches LCD display of Sony Ericsson Naite has 240×320 pixels resolution that supports 262,144 colors. The display is enough sharp and bright to read easily in bright and low light, even at 70 percent brightness. You can change animated themes and wallpapers, but cannot change font size.
Navigation Array and Keyboard
Navigation array is located beneath the display. It consists of dial pad lock, silent mode key, talk key, End/power button, shortcut keys and four-directional pad with middle OK button. All the buttons of keypad are backlit and completely separated. The keypad is little squat and cramped. It was a bit difficult to continue text and dial while testing.
Phonebook and PIM features
Sony Ericsson Naite can store 1000 contacts in its phonebook. Each entry can save seven phone numbers and one email address. You cannot organize the contacts into groups and pair them with ring-tone. However, you can assign a photo to any contact for photo ID and initiate conference call with five people.
The Organizer includes password keeper, calculator, stopwatch, timer, notes, to-do list, calendar and file manager. The other additional features are multimedia and text messaging, push email accounts, 18 polyphonic ring-tones, 3G support and stereo Bluetooth.
3G support
Sony Ericsson Naite supports tri-band of UMTS/HSPA 850/1900/2100 that allows accessing the 3G network and roaming even in Europe. The cell phone has inbuilt Web browser that features search for text, save Web page, search the Internet, bookmarks, ability to select and copy texts, and capability to send links via Bluetooth, MMS and email.
Camera
Sony Ericsson Naite has 2-megapixel camera without flash, but it features 2.5x digital zoom. The shooting options include switching to panorama, burst, frame and standard mode. You can take picture at VGA resolution, 1-megapixel and for MMS and emails. The other image editing options include black & white effect, sepia effect, other effects, color adjustments, zoom in/out, self timer, shutter sounds, and night mode. You can send the captured photos via MMS, email and upload to Twiiter and any other Web site. The video clips can be recorded in standard mode and MMS mode for 47 seconds.
Applications
Inbuilt MediaGo application supports media sync and voice command features. The preloaded Google Maps for Mobile provides GPS navigation and directions, but not turn-by-turn directions. The other highlights are pod-casts, RSS feeds, YouTube and Facebook. Sony Ericsson Naite also support for POP3/IMAP4/SMTP accounts such as Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail.
It also has music composer for creating ring-tones and an audio recorder. The Naite has music recognition application that identifies recorded music. We are disappointed that the best multimedia features like video calling, video ring-tones and PlayNow store for purchasing music, games and ring-tones do not work in North America. The cell phone support AAC and MP3 audio formats and can stream AVRCP and A2DP formats.
Games and Personalization
Sony Ericsson Naite has four Java games including Sudoko. You can download more game titles from inbuilt download store application.
Call Quality
We made few calls through quad-band based Sony Ericsson Naite via T-Mobile’s card. The overall call quality was good. We received loud and clear sound at tour end with low hum and audible fuzziness in case of weak signal strength. The callers received natural and clear sound at their end. The speakerphone call quality was poor. Both of us received mumble sound even in quiet environment. The callers received a lot of echo at their end.
Battery Life
Sony Ericsson has battery life of 25 days standby time and 13 hours of talk time. The digital SAR is 1.32 watts per kg as per FCC radiation tests.
Verdict:
If you need an echo-friendly cell phone with midrange feature set and do not mind a bit cramped keypad as well as poor speakerphone call quality, then you can buy new – Sony Ericsson Naite.
