Our Sony Ericsson Cedar Review

Sony Ericsson Cedar

The Sony Ericsson Cedar hits the market hoping to attract the green consumer - even the packing materials are earth friendly – small boxes and no superfluous packing materials are evident when you open the box. When you do open the box you will find the wall charger and paperwork for the phone. The phone body is earth friendly recycled plastic. It has three main elements – the body, the battery, and the battery cover. The top of the phone houses the 3.5mm headphone jack, the left side of the phone is home to the micro USB port and the right side is the location of the volume controller. On the front you will find the control functions – a number pad, a menu, clear, call, soft keys, end, four way dpad and the 2.2in screen.

Highlights

The Sony Ericsson Cedar does not have a touchscreen. It is a 2.2in TFT and has a 240 x 320 resolution. The cell phone has fairly good viewing angles and brightness is not a problem when using the phone in sunny conditions. We love the keys on the phone. They are easy to find and grip. They are raised and have a rubbery texture. Unfortunately, they are flush with each other – the one detail we would change about the keys. They have that wonderful ‘click’ sound you want from phone and function well for text and phone calls.

The simple home screen has changeable wall paper and a variety of indicator buttons – battery life, signal strength, internet. The interface also includes a new option for Sony Ericsson phones 0 widgets. Widget Manager 2.0 allows users to integrate widgets like Facebook on their phone. The menu button will be familiar to anyone who has owned a Sony before. No big changes here. You can access the Sony app market via the menu. Within the menu bar users have immediate access to their most used functions – calendar, contacts, mail, calculator, etc.

The Sony Ericsson Cedar includes a 2 MegaPixel camera. The camera is fixed focus – standard on this type of entry level phone. It takes average pictures and will not become your main camera. It should be restricted to texting picture messages and quick photos you may miss otherwise. Pictures lack sharpness. They are dull and fuzzy. The camera does not have a flash.

What We Liked

We love the idea of a green phone and appreciate Sony’s efforts to package the phone with green materials. The name choice is oddly organic for such a technical piece of equipment but we got used to it after using the phone. The phone includes a mega-bass equalizer that, when activated, makes it a joy to use the device to listen to music. In addition, you can see album art – a treat on an entry level phone.

What We Disliked

The biggest drawback for the Sony Ericsson Cedar appears to be the camera functioning. Even consumers buying entry level phones expect to use the camera for more than picture messaging. They expect crisp and vivid pix and that is lacking here.

The Final Verdict

The Sony Ericsson Cedar is for more than those who wave the green banner. It is a good functioning entry level phone. It does not contain the bells and whistles of mid-level phones but does perform well with good sound quality. If the camera is not a drawback this may be the phone for you.

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	Sony Ericsson Cedar
General
Form Factor	Candybar
Dimensions	111 x 49 x 15 (mm)
Talk Time	300 mins
Standby Time	475 hours
Weight	84 g
Quad Band	Yes
Photo and Video
Camera	2.00 megapixels
Video Player	Yes
Phone
Internal Memory	280MB
Memory Card Type	MicroSD (max 16GB)
Messaging
Instant Messaging (IM)	Yes
Screen
Colour Screen	Yes
Connectivity
3G	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Email	Yes
WAP	Yes
Web Browser	Yes
Music and Radio
FM Radio	Yes
Additional Content
Downloadable Content	Yes
Downloadable Games	Yes
Downloadable Ringtones	Yes

Sony Ericsson Cedar Full Specification

General

Photo and Video

Phone

Messaging

Screen

Connectivity

Music and Radio

Additional Content