Anthony Newman appraises Sony Ericsson's entry-level T230, and finds a basic, but competent handset that is reminiscent of a stripped-down T68i.
Exterior
The T230 follows in Sony Ericsson's recent style of small and simple candybar phones. Measuring 101 x 43.9 x 19 mm and weighing a comfortable 79 grams, it slips easily into a pocket. The sides are tapered back slightly, making it easier to pick up but a bit harder to hold in big hands. The front and back are dull silver plastic while the sides are a frosted black that gives the user just a bit of view inside the case, but not much.
 | The T230, although perfectly adequate, doesn't quite measure up to the years-old T68i
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The screen on the T230 is a 101 x 80 pixel 12-bit color display, which while perfectly usable is not very bright and appears somewhat washed out compared to even the company's older mid-range phones - it's just like using a T68, which given the years that have passed is a little disappointing. The buttons too have a low-end feel, as they are made out of hardened but slick rubber. The directional pad consists of a slick chromed select button surrounded by a non-slick rocker, flanked by plastic Yes/Dial/Left and No/Hang Up/Right buttons, as is typical for Sony Ericsson key layouts.
The left side of the phone includes a rubber rocker switch for volume control, while the bottom sports the standard Sony Ericsson charging and headset connectors, unchanged from previous models. The top of the phone has a lanyard loop for those who like to hang their phone from the neck or wrist.
Ergonomics
As mentioned, the tapered sides make the phone a bit hard for large-handed people to hold flat in the hand, although like the ridged edges of some other models it does make it easy to hold against the face. The rubber buttons aren't the most pleasant to use, although they are well-spaced and have good key travel making blind-dialing easy - although the guide-nub on the 5 key is rather unpronounced. The smoked-grey directional pad is usable, although the raised and slick silver select button can be annoying at times. Size-wise, the phone is small enough to be easily portable, but large enough to not get lost in the hand, which is good.
Features
The T230 is a dual-band 900/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS phone, making it compatible with European GSM networks. The basic PIM apps are included, along with Sony Ericsson's well-designed phone book, although users won't find much else to fiddle with. The phone offers polyphonic ring tones, which unfortunately sound very tinny, and also sports a voice recorder and downloadable themes.
Input is via T9, which is sluggish, but at least it doesn't drop letters - unlike the Z200, for example. Despite the lack of a camera, the phone supports SMS, MMS, and a basic e-mail client, and as usual Java games are supported as well. There is no support for Bluetooth or infrared, though, making the T237 very much a phone-only phone.
Performance
In practice the phone performed adequately across the board. Audio quality was reasonably clear, and reception help up fine, despite the internal antenna.
The replaceable 670 mAh Lithium-Ion battery is easily accessible and is rated for 12 hours of talk time or 300 hours standby. That's a very long life for a conventional phone, and as expected the experience didn't live up to the anticipation. Even with the minimal feature-set, the T230 only lasted for about five days of typical use - but this is pretty good by today's bells-and-whistles standards.
Availability
The Sony Ericsson T230 is available across Europe with a number of carriers. As a low-end handset, buyers should expect similarly low prices.
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