Sony Ericsson Zylo review

The Zylo is a mid priced Walkman mobile from Sony Ericsson and is a hefty addition to the Walkman mobile phone range. The Zylo is a substantial feeling device. It weighs in at 115 grams, which is by no means excessive however the Zylo certainly has a quality feel. It does a great job of setting itself aside from the lower priced Walkman devices in the range.

The Zylo is a classic slider device with numerical keypad and classic Walkman control on its face.

Read on to see what I think of one of Sony Ericsson’s latest Walkman handsets.

Sony Ericsson Zylo Specification:

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
Dimensions: 103 x 52 x 16 mm
Weight: 115 g
Screen Type: TFT, 256K colors
Screen Size: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.6 inches
- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
- Scratch-resistant surface
260MB Internal Memory
MicroSDHC memory card support up to 16GB
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Camera: 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels
USB v2.0
Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
Walkman 4.0 player
FLAC/MP3/eAAC+/WAV player
SensMe, Track ID
MP4/H.263/H.264 player
Google Maps
Picture editor/blogging
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter applications
Organizer

General

The front of the device when closed looks similar to previous Ericsson devices; it features the Walkman playback controls as well as well as surprisingly small navigational menu buttons.

When opened the Zylo houses a standard backlit numeric keypad.

The left of the device is surprisingly bare with Walkman branding and the standard obligatory Sony Ericsson proprietary style connector.

The right of the device features the Walkman quick launch key which doubles as the phones shutter button as well as a two-way volume rocker

The back of the Zylo continues the curved styling from the front of the device and features the Sony Ericsson branding along with the camera lens.

Highlights

FLAC support
Useful Widgets
3G

Lowlights

Poor Camera Quality
Battery Life
no touch screen

Review

The zylo for me had an impressive feel and built quality. A substantial weight and sturdy slider mechanisism may not sound like much but it is a great relief in a new device for it to have this superior build quality.

As you will be aware of at this point the Zylo is of course a slider device and for unlike the recent additions to the market the Zylo remains just a slider and not one of the increasingly popular Slider/Touch screen device, given the Zylo’s price tag though this does not come as a massive surprise and therefore not much of a disappointment. Having been a user myself and after reviewing several Sony Ericsson phones the interface has become extremely familiar and although it may not be seen as progress the interface has not changed a great deal in this amount of time, a positive side to that is the familiarity each new Sony Ericsson brings to the user I figure Sony Ericsson are living by the cliché if it ‘aint’ broke don’t fix it and when you sell as many devices as they do who am I to argue. The familiar features are ever present and as they always have done work well. The slider keypad is plenty large enough however I regret to report that my old bugbear known as an ill placed bulky connector input makes it’s triumphant return to inconvenience my pocket size, it may seem like such a such a small problem but that’s why it is so annoying because it is such a simple thing to fix. Can it really cost that much to install a simple 3.5mm jack on the top of the device? Rant over let’s progress with the review of the phone itself.

Keeping with Sony Ericsson’s eco image the Zylo comes packed in its light bulb sized packaging which is refreshing to see but given the amount of paper manuals and inserts not to mention the plastic wrapping, ok it can be recycled but I would have to question the necessity of certain additions. The Zylo itself is what I would describe as functional styling, it is not a stunner by any means however it not an unattractive device and therefore does exactly what is says on the reduced sized box. I have mentioned the familiar Sony Ericsson menus before and for anyone familiar with other devices in the Walkman range you will be familiar with this layout, the directional pad makes navigation easy however a problem I had was with the small option and back keys, this problem carried over to the cancel and shortcut launch keys as well. The Numeric keypad did not suffer the same problem and I had no problems with texting or text entry using the backlit keypad.

The Zylo’s Walkman features are as you were for Sony Ericsson however the inclusion of FLAC support shows the progression they have made with this device. Sound quality was nothing special in fact for a device of this price I was surprised by this, it was not unbearable by any means but lacked that finesse I was looking for. As for data transfer between your PC and the device Sony Ericsson have decided to leave you high and dry by failing to included a USB to Sony Ericsson connector cable which for a Walkman device I feel is unacceptable. The headphones included are not great either and as the headphones connect via the proprietary connector I’m afraid to say without the purchase of an additional adapter you are stuck with for the time being. Storage is via MicroSD with support for up to 16GB but again this is not included and with just 260MB of internal memory is going to be a must for most users.

The Zylo comes equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera which failed to impress, I found the images grainy at times and the exclusion of a flash leaves taking photos in low level lighting an unrealistic goal. Another gripe with the Camera of the Zylo is that is must be launched Through the main menu as the Shutter key doubles as the Walkman quick launch it cannot be used to launch the camera. Widgets the Sony Ericsson offers have become more and more appealing with time and now with the Zylo they look and work well, quick launch facebook or myspace with a simple click and with 3G included speed is not a major issue with the Zylo. One this I will say though is as great as the addition of 3G is it would have been nice to see Wi-Fi included however given the mere 2.6″ screen the Zylo and no touch screen functionality browsing is not what I would call an enjoyable experience with this device. The Zylo also boasts location services such as Google Maps which is again something welcomed however not brilliantly executed due to the small screen and lack of touch screen.

Connectivity on the Zylo as I have mentioned briefly included 3G (HSDPA 2100) as well as Bluetooth, data GPRS and USB connectivity providing you are willing to purchase the additional cable, it also supports GPS with A-GPS support. The Zylo also interesting included video call support but with no forward facing camera this certainly isn’t the easiest device to use with this feature and makes it seem quite obsolete. The phone is available in a range of colours and the silver one we were looking at suits very well looking sleek and smart. Battery life is reported at just under 4 hours for call time and around 400 hours for stand by and whereas the standby time sound impressive call time when factored in with music playback etc. failed tom hit the mark as far as I was concerned.

Conclusion

The Zylo is yet another addition to the Walkman range and although it falls a fair distance short of perfect Sony Ericsson are more than likely to continue is this same direction as long as they have the success. I see the Zylo as another ‘easy’ option for Sony, for once I would like to see them break away from these safe devices and really compete. Styling wise, functionality wise. What I am basically asking for is a decent Sony Ericsson Walkman touch screen device. The Zylo I not flawless but as long as people keep buying, Sony Ericsson will keep producing. A solid entry to the range without doubt but lacks inspiration and originality and that for me is the direction I would love to see Sony take to create a truly competitive Walkman mobile device.

Review by: Nick

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