The Handset

The design of the S710a is a step in a new direction for the cell phone world. It doesn't conform to the traditional fair of sliders, clamshells, or flat-front phones. Instead, they opted to mount a swivel hinge in the center of the handset when open, thus hiding the number pad and power key. When closed, the swivel resides at the bottom, directly underneath the 4-way directional pad. While this design sets the S710a apart from the pack, it serves more as a nuisance in day-to-day use. However, once you get the hang of opening it, it's not so bad.



The build of the S710a is nothing short of spectacular. It feels solid in your hand, and never feels cheap during operation. Even the blue backlighting for the keys adds to the phones quality look. The swivel mech itself is equally impressive, which is important considering that things like these are prone to breakage over time. The swivel swings out 180 degrees and locks into place, which can be done in either direction. It does not swivel a full 360 degrees. Forcing it all the way around would break it.

My last two Sony Ericsson phones have used a 5-way joystick (up, down, left, right, and click for enter), which I've become accustomed to over the last few years. Instead the folks over at Sony Ericsson have opted for a more standard 4-way directional pad and center "enter" button.



I can't say I don't like the change since the pad is really nice, but it's a change from what I'm used to. My only gripe with the new layout is that the enter button is too small. The rest of the buttons are intuitive and well placed, except the volume buttons on the

upper right hand side, which end up in an odd position (lower left) when the phone is open.



Once thing about Sony is that they pack in a beautiful 240x320 color LCD screen. It's bright, colorful, smooth, and even has a good black level. In fact, it's very similar in quality to the screen on the PSP, and that's a real feat for a cell phone. One thing missing from the feature set of the T610 is the ability to adjust the contrast, which is unfortunate since the screen is excessively bright. I liked having the T610 a little more subdued, making it more comfortable to view at night or in the dark.

The backside of the phone sports the lens cover for the built in digital camera, one of the phones most advanced features. At 1.3 mega-pixels, this phone includes a better camera than my first standalone digital camera.



A slide switch just above the silver frame opens and closes a protective shutter, thus keeping the lens free of dust and debris when not in use. This is a huge improvement from the prior Sony Ericsson phones I've owned. My only gripe here is that the cover vibrates when a loud ringtone is played, making the tones sound less pretty and more irritating. I discovered that it won't vibrate if you hold your finger on the cover while it's playing something through the speaker.

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