Sony Ericsson Aspen deals & review
If you’re looking for an affordable Blackberry Curve-type smartphone, there’s a lot on the market – all of which look very similar to the original. Billed as a Blackberry alternative, it must be said that you might be a little disappointed when you see the Sony Ericsson Aspen.
A lot more square and boxy, the Aspen does feature a candybar full QWERTY keypad to suit those of us who dislike touchscreens, but that’s about all the Aspen can really boast about.
There’s always good reason to celebrate a first. The 4th largest mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson does another landmark with its first BlackBerry-looking Sony Ericsson Aspen with a full QWERTY keyboard on a candybar form factor. Apart form the usual black, it also gets an alternative silvery white body that impresses with a unique styling that’s a notch above any similar BlackBerry-ish smartphone.
It comes with enhanced features from the WinMo 6.5 that run its XPERIA X1/X2. Other than that, it´s a rather underwhelming smartphone that confirms its press release as being just another affordable but competent smartphone.
At a Glance
The Aspen is a quad band GSM with class 10 GPRS/EDGE speeds on 2G and a dual band UMTS on 3G with the expected HSPA/HSUPA broadband data connectivity for fast internet surfing and downloading. It has WiFi 802.11/b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 and microUSB 2.0 for local data transfers.
Its QWERTY BlackBerry-type body measures 117 x 60 x 12.5mm that accommodates a landscape 2.4-inch TFT LCD resistive touchscreen with 64k colors typical of Windows-based smartphones. You also get a gravity accelerometer for automatic portrait or landscape viewing that follows the handset orientation. There’s an added finger and gesture control from its enhanced Windows OS.
Imaging comes from a conventional 3.2 megapixel shooter with smart contrast and a basic video recording capability. Its multimedia gets better with the usual media players we’ve come to expect from its Walkman heritage. You can access its PlayNow site for the latest games and music files.
Phone memory is a decent 100 MB that gets improved memory management from an enhanced Windows Mobile OS but you also get microSD expandability for up to 16 GB. There’s A-GPS with Google Maps Latitude, stereo FM receiver with RDS, A2DP support and 3.5mm headphone jack. You get one of the longest talk times among smartphones at 10 hours and music playback at 12 hours on a single charge.
GreenHeart Features
The Sony Ericsson Aspen gets eco-friendly like some Samsung and LG green handsets with an energy efficient battery charger, a WalkMate pedometer and a CO2 calculator that calculates the CO2 emission you didn’t release by merely talking the bus or walking and not taking your car. Like its GreenHeart predecessor the C901, half its body comes from recycled plastic parts and uses water-based paints. You won’t get a non earth-friendly printed users manuals, instead you access an online site for help.
