The Sony Ericsson Z750i is a relatively unimpressive looking mid range flip phone with a hidden display on the outside. It does has HSDPA speed web browsing but the camera is only 2 megapixels with a 2.5x digital zoom but the Z750i has an unusually high 400 hours standby battery life and A-GPS to give a location on Google Maps. The Sony Ericsson Z750i is quite simply an odd package that doesn't know where it wants to be in the market. With the look of a budget handset you'd expect the Sony Z750i to be a cheap pay as you go phone but its current price tag and some of its features make it seem like a mid range 3G contract phone.
The Sony Z750i is a clam shell or flip phone, and its shape is very similar to every other Sony Ericsson clam shell. At 20mm thick and 110g in weight, the Z750i is a slightly heavy and rather clumpy mobile phone. It's not unattractive, with its smooth edges and silver or purple colours, but Sony Ericsson were reaching a bit high in calling it "simply seductive".
On the outside there is a OLED display that only lights up when you receive a call or message. The way the screen is built under the shell, you can't see it until it lights up. This is a great feature as it makes the Z750i handset much smarter but still provides useful information without opening the phone. Flip open the Sony Z750i and you're presented with a rather unexciting interface. The 2.2 inch TFT screen is decent but the keypad looks like it was mix and matched from parts of other handsets. The number keypad has rather large well spaced keys that are good for anyone who has difficulty pressing the correct keys on newer handsets, but pretty annoying for anyone else. The menu navigator is compact and only suitable for people who can accurately press the correct key and we found the small menu select buttons to be difficult to press quickly.
The first thing that makes it clear that this is not an old budget handset is that it is both 3G and HSDPA compatible. This means that the Z750i allows for 3G video calling, and that you can browse the web via HSDPA which is the fastest browsing solution offered by mobile phone networks (excluding wireless hotspots). Sony have also provided the Access NetFront web browser on the handset which is a bit better and more powerful than many handset manufacturers' own browsers. Although the screen is a bit small for large scale use, the Sony Z750i is a quality mobile web browser.
On the music side of things, the Sony Ericsson Z750i has the standard music player from Sony Ericsson which is pretty powerful although it only plays the standard MP3 and AAC formats. The MP3 and AAC files can be used as the ringtone. Also, the Z750i does have Sony's TrackID feature that allows you to record a few seconds of music to find out the name of the track and album. There is also an FM radio with RDS that displays information on the current song playing with compatible stations. The 32MB of internal memory won't hold much music but it does take Memory Stick Micro M2 which is a great solution starting at around £35 for 8GB down to just £10 for 1GB.
In the less impressive department is the camera. At 2 megapixels with a 2.5x digital zoom but lacking autofocus or any sort of flash or lighting, the Sony Ericsson Z750i is definitely a phone with a camera feature, not a camera phone. But perhaps that isn't so bad. As expected for a 3G handset, the Sony Z750i also allows video recording with appropriately poor quality.
Bundle on the standard features of bluetooth, USB connectivity, alarm clock, calculator, calendar, timer along with the new Sony standard of flight mode and the Z750i starts to feel like a better buy. More interesting is the A-GPS (Assisted GPS) that works to give a location on Google Maps based on looking at the distance from various mobile phone antennae. This is not a solution to use whilst driving, but if you're lost in a city whether in a car or on foot, it can provide a moderately good idea of where you are. If you're exploring the English countryside, then expect a less accurate location as there are usually less antennae. The standby battery life for the Z750i is a more than decent 400 hours on GPS or 3G and talk time battery life is an impressive 9 hours.
We have mixed feelings about the Sony Ericsson Z750i. If the price is right and you just want a decent mobile phone with good battery life and powerful web browsing for occasional use, then this is great for you. But to some extent, the slightly out of date look of the Z750i is still a sign of what it holds within.
