Our Sony Ericsson C510 Review

Sony Ericsson C510

Design

Though Sony Ericsson C510 was born in hard times, no credit crunch could stop us from testing it out. To start with its design, the C510 comes in three colours: silver with a grey trim, black with an ocean blue trim, and white with an energetic red trim. The design is solid and reminiscent of earlier Sony Ericsson models back in 2005. Its slim, lightweight build at 92 g accentuates its “hip colour” factor. Not to mention, it fits in your pocket perfectly. Our hands felt comfortable testing it out, as its curves are designed for maximum grip comfort.

Screen

At 2.2 inches, the Sony Ericsson C510’s screen is vibrant with a 240 x 320 TFT display. The screen offers 265,000 colours that blend nicely for each purpose be it: video, images, or simple web browsing. Its scratch-resistant surface excels under direct sunlight and the display is bright with balanced contrast at all times. A handy accelerometer is included enabling auto-rotation of images to landscape or portrait modes.

C510 Horizontal

User Interface

Moving on to the user interface, we felt at ease with its straightforward, no-fluff approach. You can easily navigate through the menus even if you’re a first time user of a Sony Ericsson handset. The icons are modern bright giving off a Web 2.0 feel. They don’t differ from the usual icons present in the traditional Sony Ericsson user interface, so users won’t have any trouble navigating through them.

Keypad

The prominent square D-pad is cleverly positioned and embossed for maximum ergonomics utilization. The numerical keys, however; are small and hard to cope with if you’re in a hurry. The numbers and letters are beautifully contrasted against the keypad making it easier for users to type in their messages in a meeting or under direct sunlight.

Sony Ericsson C510 Rear

Camera and Multimedia

The Sony Ericsson C510’s 3.2 megapixel Cybershot camera is a real beauty. We were eager to test out its features and performance in different situations. The Cybershot user interface has great shortcuts backlit in the top keypad row (in landscape mode) for better usability. It comes packed with great features such as: scenes, shoot mode, focus adjustment, flash, exposure, white balance, Face Detection technology, and SmileShutter technology, and geo-tagging.

The quality of photos varies according to lighting conditions. While the general quality is excellent, shooting in poor-lit areas can be quite problematic.

C510 Side View

We were pleasantly surprised by the photo optimization and after effects. Photos can be easily adjusted without resorting to external photo editing programs.Add to that, the sliding lens cover provides reliable protection for the camera on the long run.

On a scale of 1-10, we give the Sony Ericsson C510 a 7 for its video features. Shooting videos is good for anyone looking to make home videos – nothing more. We weren’t so keen on the embedded video upload feature.

While the Sony Ericsson C510 is no Walkman handset, you can still expect to get decent sound quality. One of the disadvantages of the C510 is the lack of a standard headphone jack, making it hard to plug any headphone for music playback.

Google Maps is one feature that made us grin from ear to ear. Though this handset falls in the mid-range, its Google Maps integration is quite impressive.

Connectivity and Battery Life

Connectivity is one of the Sony Ericsson C510’s strongest features. It sports an impressive 3G HSDPA, HSUPA integration, Bluetooth 2.0, and USB 2.0. Web browsing is a joy with the Sony Ericsson C510 running HSDPA as images and web pages are rendered in a jiffy. The YouTube application enables you to view, find, and upload videos with ease.

Battery life is good for the given price tag. It competes with nicely both with mid-range and high-end handsets. Depending on multimedia usage, you’ll need to recharge every 2-3 days.

What We Liked

We liked the Sony Ericsson C510 for its user-friendly user interface, Google Maps, and great connectivity features.

What We Disliked

We disliked the Sony Ericsson C510 for its hard-to-use keypad and unusual sound jack.

Our Final Verdict

The Sony Ericsson C510 is a well-balanced handset suitable for average users utilizing their mobile phone for calls, occasional web browsing. You will definitely be getting your money’s worth, as the C510 is feature-packed and reliable on the long-run.

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	Sony Ericsson C510
General
Form Factor	Candybar
Dimensions	107 x 47 x 12.5 (mm)
Talk Time	240 mins
Standby Time	350 hours
Weight	92 g
Quad Band	Yes
Photo and Video
Integrated Camera	Yes
Camera	3.20 megapixels
Video Player	Yes
Phone
Vibrating Alert	Yes
Polyphonic Ringtones	Yes
Messaging
MMS	Yes
Photo Messaging	Yes
Predictive Text	Yes
Screen
Colour Screen	Yes
Connectivity
3G	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Email	Yes
GPRS	Yes
HSDPA	Yes
WAP	Yes
Music and Radio
FM Radio	Yes
MP3 Player	Yes
MP3 Ringtones	Yes
Additional Content
Downloadable Content	Yes
Downloadable Games	Yes
Downloadable Ringtones	Yes

Sony Ericsson C510 Full Specification

General

Photo and Video

Phone

Messaging

Screen

Connectivity

Music and Radio

Additional Content

User Comments

Images of the Sony Ericsson C510

Sony Ericsson C510

C510 Horizontal

Sony Ericsson C510 Rear

C510 Side View