Sony Ericsson S710a
Phone Scoop Review
Mar 29, 2005 by Eric Lin
In-depth review of the Sony Ericsson S710a, the new high-end swivel camera phone for Cingular. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
the best phone
hy i am a manager for a celphone store. and i know about phones, and this phone is the best out there by far. I had a nokia 7610 way before why even heaved in u.s.a. And i gave it to my girl friend. Rather to have this one now i love it. love the cam quality. even beats the razor motorola v-3. Go and buy this phone is a good investment.
great phone
picked this phone up over the weekend. i had been keeping up with the reviews and threads on the message board about this phone and finally was able to find one this weekend.
screen is great, camera quality is good, speaker is great. call quality is very clear. i was very happy with everything that came with it...well except for the price tag, even with my cingular emp discount it was $400. overall great phone!!!
there does need to be some sort of screen protector though
Cons outweigh the pros...
A little under a month ago my Nextel contract ran up and I decided to switch to Cingular just because this phone was so appealing to me. Big mistake. I bought this phone after looking at some sample pictures on the net and they looked GREAT, but in reality, the camera's quality sucks; the pictures are grainy, especially in low lighting. Also, the performance of this phone kills me...the menus are constantly dragging, making navigation cumbersome. Couple other problems: when I first got this phone, i thought the swivel mechanism was cool, and it was really eye-catching to all my friends. The more I use it however, the less sense it makes. Opening the phone with one hand is a difficult task, especially while I'm trying to drive. The phone's Bluetooth feature also failed to recognize my Bluetooth headset, but that may be my headset, I'll have to look into it. Lastly, and definitely not least...CINGULAR IS TERRIBLE. I have people constantly telling me how difficult it is to understand me and I live 8 miles North of Detroit...so I don't know how Cingular can suck this badly.
Anyway, this phone does have some saving graces. The PC connect works great, and it really saved me a lot of time of transferring all my phone numbers. Secondly, the screen is crisp and bright, it's really a treat to the eyes. Lastly, the phonebook navigation is really intuitive: adding and manipulating is much easier than it was on my Nextel phone.
All in all, I gave Sony another chance, but just like in the past, I'm not impressed. Can't blame Sony for Cingular's abysmal service though. The phone has a few pros, but the cons are definitely more prominent, and especially with this price tag, I shouldn't have this many gripes. I'm switching back to Nextel, where the service and customer service was superb...and I get my Direct Connect back, which I miss oh so dearly.
I hope this review helps you guys that are on the fence about this phone.
One of the best!
This is without a doubt one of the best phones on the market today. It has the best screen I have ever seen on a phone. The camera quality is awesome. Seems like everyday I use it I find something else fun to play with and use. It also comes with tons of stuff, software, card reader, memory card and adapter. If you need a phone with it all, look no further.
BEST PHONE OUT
This is the best phone out. Everything About it is great. The only Wrong is the screen is scratchable. This phone outperforms any phone out their available to the public.
This Is the Best Phone Out
This is the best phone i have ever had i been throu 13 phones such as sharp to motorla v620 to mxp220 and more truast me since last november lookin for that best phone that has Bluetooth,mega pixel and mp3 and this phene offers that and more it might be pricy but think of it like this its a phone and a digital camera ...well theres no more i need to say but this is the best phone ....for get all the other people that say this phone is whack they just over picky......
Too expensive for comsumer market.
I just received my S710a via the SE Train & Gain the EDGE program. I got the phone before I expected. It's 262k screen is cooler than the other side of the pillow. I can see using the MP3 player, although I don't wanna go out and buy over-priced memory sticks to use with the included card reader which clutters up my desk. The included headphones are a nice throw in. It's a little bulky, and the OS is a little slow. I will use it as a backup to my 650 so when I wear my skin tight Wrangler's to the rodeo I will be able to fit a phone in my pocket. I won't see many people buying it right a way, until the price drops.
Clumsy phone, bad software
Technologically, this may be a whizbang phone. But itâs ergonomically awkward to use, the connectivity software doesnât work, and technical support just wants to shuffle you off to the web site. And, oh my, just try to get your money back! Iâve owned cell phones since they wouldnât fit in a shoe box. This is the worst experience Iâve ever had.
Cant sent e-mail
Pros
1) Very nice screen
2) Great quality pictures
3) Very cool swivel form factor
Cons
1) A bit on the big side
2) Cannot actually send email
Here is my reply about SMTP authentication from Sony Ericsson
Thank you for contacting Sony Ericsson Online Support.
It is not possible to specify a username or password for the outgoing server (SMTP server)
You can only specify outgoing server address and outgoing server port. So in short, the S710a does not support SMTP authentication.
...
Best regards,
3) Cingular support is absolutely horrible
After 2 weeks with the phone I traded it for a treo 650, I recommend you make the same choice. Its nice that I can take great picturs with this phone, but I I cant e-mail the pictures out from the phone... well whats the point?
It's 'all right'
PROS:
Great Camera
good display
Comes with memory card and memory card reader...good stuff.
The 'Fab farm' ringtone is my favorite stock ringtone ever.
blue tooth works fine with every headset I own (3 motos, 1 jabra)
CONS:
Looks a little 'cheap'...thats just a personal thing though.
OS is SUPER SLOW : this was the deal breaker for me. It's especially noticable when typing text messages or cycling through the phone book
Phone book doesn't cross reference names : I'm just used to the Nokia Symbian style phone book where you can type more than one letter to find the name.
When it's open, the phone is HUGE : usually it's not open, but when you gotta check Voicemail and save or delete messages, it gets annoying.
All in all, it's a decent phone...however, for the price tag, 'decent' is not good enough. A nokia 6620, 7610, a PALMONE 650, or Moto RZR are each comparably priced and each is a bit better. The SE 710 does, however, have a better camera than all of them.
So...if you want an awesome camera, and an 'ok' phone...this is what you need.
