Media Player

Since MP3 players are the craze these days, Sony opted to include MP3 playback in the S710a. Songs can be transferred to either the internal 32MB memory, or a Memory Stick Duo card that's inserted into a slot on the side of the phone. No matter how hard I've tried to avoid the overpriced Memory Stick format, Sony is notorious for shoving proprietary formats down consumer's throats.

The thought of having MP3 playback built into the phone intrigued me at first. But, leave it to Sony to screw it up by limiting the Memory Stick Duo slot to 128MB cards maximum. It's 2005 for cripes sake! What is Sony thinking?! The MP3 player COULD have been useful. I WOULD have used it if I could have bought a 512MB card and filled it with music. UNFORTUNATELY, 128MB is just too limiting when it comes to having room for music and taking pictures.

I did test out the MP3 function by transferring some music to the included 32MB card. Music can be played through a built in speaker on the back of the phone, or through the included stereo ear-buds. Audio quality through the integrated speaker is horrendous, but I wasn't expecting anything more than that anyway. Sound quality through the ear-buds was surprisingly acceptable, especially after I adjusted the 5-band graphic equalizer. I would imagine that it could even be better with some nicer headphones, but Sony decided not to include a standard 3.5mm jack. Hopefully, someone will make an accessory to provide a regular headphone jack.



The S710a can also play video clips in the MPEG4 video format, which is another feature rendered useless by the limitation of a 128MB card. I suppose you could fit a 30 minute TV program (an hour at really low quality), but there are other devices more suited to mobile video. This is a token feature at best.

Data

Paired with a laptop equipped with Bluetooth technology, the S710a can be used as a dial-up modem right out of the box. That, combined with Cingular's EDGE high-speed data network (monthly package or pay-per KB required), this proves to be an invaluable tool for users on the go who aren't near a hot-spot. Since one of my main motivations for switching to Cingular was the EDGE service, I was eager to give it a go.

All I can say is that I'll never go back to GPRS again. EDGE loads web pages at about twice the speed of GPRS. I still have to play with download speeds, but I'm expecting an average of about 60 to 70 Kbps, where GPRS averages about 25 to 30. This isn't the kind of speed where you can stream video from a web site, but it does make surfing and downloading e-mails bearable.

Summary

The Sony S710a is not a staple of perfection. It has flaws that make using it a pain. The swivel action is mostly annoying, but provided you have your contacts stored in the phone, you'll rarely need to open it. Its integrated camera is actually useful, but doesn't take shots at night or in dark places very well. The media player is a good idea in theory, but don't expect to carry tons of songs with you on the go unless you feel like buying four or five 128MB memory cards.

At the end of the day you have a phone with great style and some very functional features; the integrated camera, EDGE, color LCD screen, and Bluetooth being the most notable. However, like many other Sony products, inexplicable design flaws that should have been better thought out overshadow many of its features that could have been useful.

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