Sony Ericsson Yendo deals & review

In a word or two

The Sony Ericsson Yendo is the first Walkman phone with a touch-sensitive screen.

The Design

Contemporary as well as compact, there can be no denying the Sony Ericsson Yendo is an attractive phone. Modelled along similar lines as the X10 Mini, the Yendo is small and weighs just 81g. This ensures the phone is effortlessly portable, just like an iPod – after all, with a Walkman player onboard, music is at its core and this phone has been designed to combine a mobile phone with MP3 player, so you need just the one device.

The design isn’t the only similarity the Sony Ericsson Yendo shares with the X10 Mini as the UI is familiar too. Although this is not an Android device like the X10, X10 Mini and the X10 Mini Pro, Sony Ericsson’s own proprietary system has been made to look the same. So there are the four friendly shortcuts in the corners on the home screen, letting you access the apps you want swiftly.

With a 2.6 inch resistive screen, you control the music player with simple presses. To add a dash of personality to the handset, Sony Ericsson has released the Yendo in 10 different colours from the smart to the loud – black, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, white and yellow.

Specifications

At its heart, the Sony Ericsson Yendo is more Walkman than mobile. This is because this is where it truly shines. With more features than most MP3 players, this phone lets you enjoy the touch-enabled version of the Walkman interface with effortless ease. Simply shake the phone to shuffle the tracks, use MediaGo to transfer your music from your computer onto the device, and download more songs from PlayNow. The internal memory can increase to a massive 32GB to hold all your tracks – and finding more music is enhanced by the TrackID ability which lets you record a small section of a song to activate a search of the TrackID’s database of 2.5million+ songs to reveal artist, album and song title.

There is social networking integration included on the Yendo too so you can chat with friends online. There are apps for Google’s social network, Orkut, Twitter and Facebook so you can launch these instantly. The camera may be basic but for those moments you want to take quick snaps and share online, having a camera on your mobile is always appreciated.

Considerations

There is no support for Wi-Fi or 3G for accessing the internet quickly and the screen is resistive.

Verdict

If you want a fantastic music player that you can make calls on, browse the internet and take snaps too, the Sony Ericsson Yendo is that device.