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06th Oct 2010

Sony Ericsson Spiro Review

The Sony Ericsson Spiro is a new addition to Sony’s WALKMAN phone range, so JOE felt it was put the mini handset through it's paces.

JOE

The Sony Ericsson Spiro is a new addition to Sony’s WALKMAN phone range, so JOE felt it was put the mini handset through it’s paces.

By Frank McCann

So what is it? The Spiro, which is a budget offering to the WALKMAN phone range, is a neat and effective alternative to some of Sony’s more expensive models.

Why should I buy this phone? Well, the main appeal of this phone is its price. At €69.99 you are effectively getting a phone that cost a good bit more a few years ago, considering it has mostly the same features of Sony’s w610i, which was released in 2007 and cost €250 back then.

If you love music, then this phone will be right up your street. The WALKMAN range has been very successful with those who love music on the move and not only is this MP3 player/handset easy to use, more importantly, it doesn’t suffer from slowdown as you add more files. It also has a built-in radio, with the antenna integrated into the headphones (which are included with the phone).

The Spiro itself is quite compact and looks great for a budget phone. True to form, Sony Ericsson has produced an easy-to-navigate model that is accessible for new users and can be easily navigated.

The slide feature on the front of the phone adds to the sleekness of the handset, and the keypad is quite large, which will please those who send lots of text messages.

Any reason why I shouldn’t buy it? There are a few factors which let this phone down.

Firstly, although the phone does have built-in social network applications, that’s all you can effectively use its internet capabilities for. The Spiro can also be quite slow at times – don’t expect to be loading pictures and videos onto the device any time soon.

The camera is also quite average at best and does not feature a flash, unlike many current Sony Ericsson handsets. Thus pictures tend to be a bit grainy, even for a 2-megapixel camera.

However, the main letdown of the Spiro is the lack of a microSD card. The main selling-point of this phone is its WALKMAN feature but with a internal memory of just 5 MB, the WALKMAN will not be any use to you without a memory card, unless you want to listen to one song over and over again!

On the other hand, the handset can support up to 16GB of memory on a microSD card, but you will find yourself shelling out an extra €50 for a memory card of that size.

Verdict: The above few negative factors aside, this handset is still worth the getting if you don’t want to break the bank. When you consider other models in its price-range, the Spiro definitely stands out as value for money.

Even if you do have to spend extra on a decent memory card, it is worth it if you love your music and the Spiro’s easy-to-navigate style makes it a universally accessible purchase.

Highly recommended if you can’t afford a smartphone just yet.

The Sony Ericsson Spiro is available from Vodafone, O2, Meteor and Carphone Warehouse outlets for €69.99. 16GB MicroSD cards are available from phonesonline.ie for €45

 

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