The Sony Ericsson T630 succeeds the manufacturer's wildly popular T610 model: Sindre Lia takes a closer look at its list of improvements over the best seller.
Exterior
A virtual clone of the Sony Ericsson T610 at 10.2 x 4.3 x 1.7 cm and 92.5 g, the T630 is mainly distinguished from its predecessor through the design of its keypad and colour scheme. Available in black and white, the T630's keypad is made up of large, square plastic buttons closely spaced, joined by the exact same joystick as that of the T610 - although with added resting space for ones thumb. Above the keypad, we find a bright and crisp 16-bit TFT colour display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels.
On the back of the T630 we find a large mirror just below the integrated 0.1 megapixel digital camera, handy for vanity shots. The camera also has its own dedicated button placed far up on the left side of the handsets, just above volume up/down control buttons. Meanwhile, the right side hosts a button activating the XHTML browser.
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T630 |
Ergonomics
A quick glance at the new keypad of the T630 resulted in some initial skepticism, but our doubts quickly proved unfounded: the keypad is both comfortable and emits only minimal noise. Our only complaint is that the effective length of the joystick, which was perfect on the T610, has been reduced due to the introduction of the raised thumb resting area surrounding the joystick. This aside, the T630 lies well in ones hand and is comfortable to use.
Features
Equipped with GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz for voice connectivity as well as GPRS and HSCSD for data services, the Sony Ericsson T630 comes fully equipped with an XHTML browser, e-mail client and MMS support. Polyphonic ringtones are also supported, although for eager users of the camera or those with a particular knack for J2ME applications, the 2 MB of dynamic memory available might prove somewhat challenging to users.
As with the recently reviewed Nokia 6220, the T630 supports Wireless Village based instant messaging, and offers up a 'My Friends' menu choice to allow users to communicate with contacts - provided ones network operator supports such functionality.
More common functions are of course also present in the T630, including a calendar, alarm, calculator and clock, while PAN connectivity is ensured by support for both Infrared and Bluetooth transfers.
Performance
The menu system of the Sony Ericsson T630 is, as that of the T610, icon based, user friendly and intuitive. Text input speeds are quite satisfactory, however the 0.1 megapixel camera leaves something to be desired as 0.3 megapixel resolution is becoming a de facto minimum standard for phones of the T630's caliber. Sadly, video recordings are also not supported.
On the bright side, the T630 offers good audio quality. Its battery capacity is listed as offering up to 9 hours of talk time and 12.5 days of standby time: our testing period revealed a talk time of approximately 5 hours and standby time of 8 days.
Availability
The Sony Ericsson T630 is now available in most European countries, selling in the 350 EUR price range.
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