A bit of a shock

Surprisingly a good budget smartphone, the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman only lets us down with its poor screen quality and internal memory.

What We Like

On first glance, the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman looks like nothing more than a music feature phone, but it doesn’t take long to discover that it is actually much more than that; thanks to some pretty good characteristics, this device is definitely one to be considered when looking at buying a smartphone.

Inside we found a 1Ghz single core processor, as well as 512MB of RAM, making this mobile quick and smooth to run, especially as it uses the much coveted Android operating system 2.3.4.

There’s a 5MP camera on the back of the device and, whilst this may not be of the highest resolution, it is a pretty good feature, producing photos that are sharp and in focus. The LED flash also makes taking pictures in low light possible, which is an added bonus.

Whilst many may not like that the Live with Walkman is quite thick at 14.2mm, we feel that it makes the phone seem extremely sturdy, a quality that makes it seem far more expensive than it actually is.

The standard 3.5mm headphone is found on the side of the mobile and, as this is a Walkman, it is surrounded by an LED light which flashes and pulsates in time to the beat of the music that you’re listening to. We understand that this might not be the kind of practical feature that you look for when deciding on which phone to buy, but it certainly makes the mobile stand out aesthetically. However, if this isn’t to your tastes, it can be switched off.

What We Don't Like

The main gripe that we have with the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman is its 3.2 inch screen; at just a pitiful 480 x 320 megapixels, we thought that the resolution here could have been a lot higher, especially when you consider that this is meant to be taken as a serious contender in the smartphone market. The viewing angles are pretty pitiful on this device too, as is the colour contrast ratio, and we were really shocked to find that individual pixels can be seen without a close examination.

The device’s internal memory leaves plenty to be desired too. At just 320MB, we thought that Sony Ericsson could have given us so much better – this is supposed to be a music phone after all. A 2GB microSD card is supplied upon purchase though, which does mean that all is not lost, but we’re still not happy.

Conclusion

We weren’t expecting what we found with the Sony Ericsson with Walkman; the 5MP camera and 1Ghz processor certainly puts it as a series competitor in the budget smartphone market, but we were more than a little let down by the device’s screen quality, and can’t help but feel that internal memory could have been far better, particularly as this is primarily a music phone.