Sony Ericsson is all set to hop aboard the green bandwagon and the Naite seems to be one of their first steps in that direction. Boasting ‘green credentials’ Sony Ericsson hope the Naite otherwise known as the Naite Green Heart will secure their place in the green good book.
The Ten Second Review:
Device: Sony Ericsson Naite
Summary: A low priced, low spec straight forward phone. Its environmentally friendly though!
Best of: Good battery life, Cheap, Green.
Worst of: Low Spec, No flash.
Buy it now from: Sony Ericsson
Price: TBC
General:
On the surface the Naite looks no different from many of Sony Ericsson’s low priced handsets however it is under the metaphoric bonnet that this phone flexes its green muscles.
The front of the Naite is a very clean and stereotypical Sony Ericsson device. The numeric keys are generously sized and the navigational buttons match this clean finish with their perfect symmetry.
Sony Ericsson Naite
The sides of the Naite house little creativity and excitement with just the single Sony Ericsson style connecter input on the left of the device. The black back cover wraps nicely round the side of the device creating smooth styling throughout the device.
Sony Ericsson Naite Left Side
The right of the device is equally as exciting with just a single volume rocker located to the top of the device.
Sony Ericsson Naite Right Side
The back of the device houses the two-megapixel camera, which unfortunately lacks a flash of any description. The back cover is textured allowing for better grip and underneath this cover lies the microSD slot.
Sony Ericsson Naite Back
Highlights:
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Great Battery Life
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Green Packaging
Lowlights:
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MicroSD Slot Hidden
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No Flash
Review:
With very little in the way of improvement in design and styling of their lower priced handsets it seems Sony Ericsson are on a constant search for the latest craze to latch on to in order to ship devices. The Naite is no exception to this rule and from its press release it would appear Sony Ericsson’s latest buzzword is ‘green’.
The Naite is a decent looking phone and although no great improvements have been made regarding the styling over previous Sony Ericsson models I suppose the expression if it aint’ broke don’t fix it comes to mind.
The green credentials of the Naite may be difficult to spot on first inspection however it is clear from the packaging that Sony Ericsson mean business with their Green Heart series. Expertly packed in the a tiny box the Naite along with its energy efficient battery and charge can potentially cut its carbon footprint by up to 15%, not bad for around £100.
Unfortunately the green credentials are all the Naite has to offer in the way of enhancing features. The device operates in the same way as any other Sony Ericsson device on the market; navigation is achieved through the same scrolling menu as with other devices and the 2-megapixel cameras although a nice addition is a bit of a disappointment with image quality being sacrificed by the omission of a flash.
I would love to say the Naite does not suffer at the extent of its green presentation however it does feel like it lacks a certain something there is no defining feature in terms of features that stands out the walkman phones have their music the cybershots have their cameras however the Naite seems to be trapped somewhere in the middle with a lack of identity or character.
That said the Naite is not a complete write off. Its green credentials are certainly going to leave you with a warm feeling when you use it knowing you are saving the planet as well as sending the vital text or making that urgent call. The phone does take elements from both the walk man and the cyber shot devices however although it does not do either of them perfectly it does do a decent enough job for the average user.
Storage is via microSD and with the possibility of expanding the memory up to 8GB there is plenty of opportunity to store all your favourite mp3s and a perfectly adequate number of photos. The memory cars slot is something, which confused me rather. It is not uncommon these days for the card slot to be stashed away underneath the battery however on the Naite the SD card slot is not under the battery but is hidden away under the back cover which to me seems like a pointless move and makes things unessarcerily difficult for the user.
The phone has the usual set of organizer style features, which are easy to navigate using the Naite’s large keypad, which should see even the largest thumbed being managing to use the phone with little trouble. The Naite is a lightweight device at just 84g and this is evident with the device is your hand. The battery life on the Naite is something which Sony Ericsson are extremely proud of and rightly so, with an approximate stand by time of 600 hours and a staggering 13 hours talk time you the Naite is designed to keep you away from the plug saving you money on your energy bills and with this battery life it is sure to achieve just that. Connectivity wise a personal bugbear of mine returns in the form of the Sony Ericsson proprietary connector however that aside the usual suspects are present, Bluetooth, 3G etc.
Conclusion:
The Naite is comes from Sony Ericsson with good intentions. It would however appear that we are not yet at the stage when a mobile can be green in character without having to sacrifice performance or functionality. The Naite offers mediocre features in the form of its camera and music playback capabilities however they just feel lacking when compared to specialist devices. A phone perfect for those carbon conscious phone users who would be happy to take a slight sacrifice in features in order to help save the planet.
Review by: Nick
Smarthouse, an Australian publication, reports that HTC and Google have been collaborating "for the past 18 months" and have produced "several working models of a touch tablet," including one outfitted with Google’s Chrome OS.
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