Throwback Review number 5 brings us to late 2004 (Sony Ericsson S710) and 2005 (Sony Ericsson K750). Both of these phones had something special about them: the K750 was the first handset to introduce mechanical autofocus and the S710 was the first Swivel phone.
These two mobile phones also gave us the first hints of what was to come later on i.e. the introduction of existing Sony brands into the joint venture. The Cybershot and Walkman brands were not used at the time, but looking back, the trend was clear. The so called “dual front” design was introduced with the K700 and the K750 took that design language to the next level.
The dual front design referred to mobile phones that also became digital cameras, i.e. a mobile phone on the front and digital camera on the back. Some of the main design elements included a dedicated camera button, an integrated camera light and a lens cover.
As for the S710, this was the first handset from Sony Ericsson that broke with the “traditional” form factors of the time (candybar, clam shell or slider). This experimental design form factor was only used in one or two further phones. Besides the unconventional design, the S710 had an impressive screen (both in terms of number of colors and screen resolution with roughly 170ppi).
Before we head over to the video, as usual a short summary of the main features:
Sony Ericsson K750:
- Camera: 2MP, Autofocus, LED fash
- Dimensions: 100 x 46 x 20.5 mm (3.94 x 1.81 x 0.81 in)
- Weight: 99 g (3.49 oz)
- Display: TFT, 256k colors, 176 x 220 pixels, 1.8 inches
- Bluetooth 2.0, GPRS, Infrared, Memory Stick Duo Pro support
Sony Ericsson S710:
- Camera: 1.3MP, fixed focus, LED fash
- Dimensions: 107.5 x 49 x 24.5 mm (4.23 x 1.93 x 0.96 in)
- Weight: 137 g (4.83 oz)
- Display: TFT, 256k colors, 240 x 320 pixels (~174 ppi), 2.3 inches
- Bluetooth 1.1, GPRS, Infrared, Memory Stick Duo support
Episode 6 of the Throwback Review series will look at the Cybershot brand being introduced. Stay tuned!