Sony Ericsson phones have been in the market for quite some time now and in these times we have seen some real spectacular handset and some not so good devices from this brand.
Txt Pro is the latest mobile phone we have from the house of Sony Ericsson. Touted as the device for text lovers, this feature phone brings along some real nice treats like a very comfortable QWERTY keypad and WiFi connectivity but still lacks on certain fronts.
Look and feel
Sony Ericsson has done some real hard work on the looks of Txt Pro, making it very nice and appealing to the eyes. The clean front of the device is highlighted with a big semi spherical key at the bottom and with the rounded corners this device looks real neat. The silver outlining adds a touch of contrast to the device giving it a feel of sophistication and finesse.
The design of Txt Pro is really slick that make it easy for users to handle it even with one hand. The matte finish at the back of the phone provides a good grip while making it immune to fingerprints and smudges. Overall as said earlier also the device scores some nice points in the look and feel department.
Display and touch
The Txt Pro has a 3 inch TFT LCD display which has optimum brightness level but somewhat disappoints with the low resolution of 200 x 400 pixels and a lower Pixel density of 155ppi displaying 256 colour palette.
The phone features a capacitive touch which is good to use but the down side is that it only has a one point capable touch system. Which means users can only use one finger at a time on this capacitive touch sensitive display.
The display is protected with a scratch resistant plastic based protective cover whereas most touchscreen displays today feature glass so no matter how much you protect it you will end up with a newer scratch every day if you have the habit of keeping phone in your pockets.
Operating system and performance
Sony Ericsson has used a custom developed operating system for the Txt Pro. Although the OS seems inspired from the Android based operating system on the Xperia Mini devices, it is in no way similar to that. The phone comes with the minimum possible applications but includes multiple Google and Yahoo based applications. And since the OS is built on Java, many different Java based applications will also be compatible on this device so users can download and install them on the device.
Performance wise this phone is good, during the whole review process this phone never froze. So be it the basic OS or the easy operating system but the bottom-line is that performance wise this device is good. The touch might give users a slight problem sometimes but does not have any adverse effects on its performance.
Keypad and Usability
The Sony Ericsson Txt Pro has a slide out full Qwerty keypad which is the base of this device and its identity as well. The keypad utilises a slide out mechanism which is of top notch and it is definitely built to last. Although it is slight tight in terms of operations but its full metal rails guarantee years of trouble free usage.
The four-row Qwerty keypad of the Txt Pro is not small, but it doesn’t have that awkward large keypad feeling as well. It has just the perfect size and key spacing allowing a comfortable usage even for those who have fat fingers. The buttons are slightly tough to press, but that provides a good feedback also and users won’t take much time in getting used to it.
Call performance
The call quality on the Sony Ericsson Txt Pro is good and both the speaker and the receiver are happy customers. The earpiece is loud and clear and so is the loudspeaker. The positioning of the microphone is clever as a downward facing microphone tends to catch less ambience noise as compared to a front facing microphone.
The supplied earplugs on the other hand are mediocre as compared to the standard Sony Ericsson quality. There is a 3.5 mm connector on the Txt Pro and an audiophile will definitely have to upgrade to a better pair to enjoy the music.
Multimedia
It has an inbuilt audio video player that supports most popular audio formats like MP3 and WMA to name a few, but supports only MP4 videos. Hence, users will have to convert the videos to MP4 all the time to play them on this device.
Txt Pro comes preinstalled with Sony Ericsson’s patented play now and track DJ service which more advanced users can make use of for better playability. As mentioned before, the handset has a 3.5mm Audio Jack connectivity which allows it to connect to any audio device very easily.
The Txt Pro features a nice 3.2 Megapixel camera, without a flash though. The quality of the camera is good in bright light to medium light conditions while in low light, the fun is gone. The camera performs reasonably okay and is good for a basic shooter only.
The company website claims this device to be capable of playing YouTube videos but sadly enough not just the native Browser but even the Opera Mini will not be able to play them for the users. Users will have to download a specific YouTube playback application which is available for select countries only.
Battery life
The performance of its battery is above average and despite having a 3 inch screen, the Txt Pro manages 2-3 day’s with nominal usage that includes 1-2 hour talk time, 1 hour music playback and some minor usages. Even if you go out of juice, don’t worry as the device retains charge quickly and within the first half hour of charging the device attains almost 50 per cent of battery power which is good enough to last a day.
Finally
The Txt Pro is a nice feature phone with most functions but with a hefty price tag. At Rs 7,500, there are low cost Android smartphones available in India including the Spice Mi 350 and Karbonn A1 and even the Micromax A70, so for a die hard Sony Ericsson fan this is a good phone but for others choices are plenty.