What would we, such advanced and tech-savvy consumers, seemingly be able to impress with another phone with the prefix "luxury"? Typically, a "premium" mobile phone is a piece of precious metal dotted with small precious stones. But it is not Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness.
Of course, technically, it fully justified its name "Pureness" (or purity): we will not talk about dozens of applications for this smartphone. No, no, no virtual simulators of drinking beer or simulators of the battle of zombies with plants, like in one, we all know, a smartphone. This is the world's first phone with a crystal clear display. Undoubtedly, Internet browsing on such a screen will turn your life into a living hell. So the Sony Ericsson Pureness was completely deprived of the “wits” of Sony Ericsson Pureness, just to be on the safe side.
Like all phones for VIPs, the model from Sony Ericsson will give its owner some privileges. So the phone comes bundled with a connection to a 24/7 help desk. No, this, of course, is not a Soviet "bureau": where your kind concierge is always in touch with you, who will gladly book a ticket for you at the best hotel in Nicaragua a few minutes before departure or tell you where you can buy an excellent pair of diamond cufflinks at midnight ... True, it is not yet known whether these nice little things will become available to the residents of the CIS (and the phone itself).
The transparent display, which is the main "highlight" of the device, drank a lot of blood from the SE developers. Due to him, the device looks like a guest from the future. The small 1.8-inch glass window is not suitable for surfing the Internet, which means that the built-in fast 3G will fit, by and large, only for working with mail. The creators decided to exclude the photo and video camera from the device, so as not to bother. And why are they here, except to shoot gray-and-white photos. But the device breaks all established records for lightness.
To be honest, Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness is not a gadget at all, but an art object. Perhaps even a PR-project of a Japanese-Swedish concern, cleaning up the dusty honor and merits of the corporation. And finally, if you have a powerful portable netbook, you can allow your phone to be just a phone and not a pocket media player. Plus, diamond cufflinks in the middle of the night are irreplaceable. And what can you do about it? Don't google to search, right?
As we have already mentioned in the previous paragraphs, "luxury" devices are usually associated with something heavy and rather bulky due to the corresponding finishing materials. In terms of this, Sony Ericsson Pureness is just a "fluff": with dimensions of 11.2x4.3x1.3 cm, the phone pulls only 70 grams.
At first glance, the SE model is amazing: it looks like an ice cream, where, made as if from ice, the screen is "mounted" on a monolithic keyboard block made of dark chocolate. As a rule, such bold design decisions remain at the level of the project and computer sketches. Thoughts about how such a crazy concept could even reach the end user do not go out of my head.
In Sony Ericsson Pureness, in fact, it is difficult even to guess the phone, it gives out only a large logo of the Swedish-Japanese concern on the back panel. It is also not easy to turn on: you have to work hard to find the power key. Press it, and magic occurs: the "frozen" cube (or parallelepiped, to be precise) of the display starts to "melt" in the blink of an eye. It becomes completely transparent, the traditional start menu pops up out of nowhere.
The keyboard unit will also "come to life" and light up. The dial and menu keys are white, while the call and reset keys are green and red, respectively. After all, we bought into such "inexpensive" special effects. They look really amazing.
However, the fabulous feeling lasts exactly until you realize that this 1.8-inch monochrome display is your workspace. And the glowing and iridescent keys, in fact, are made of seemingly inexpensive, dark glossy plastic, which also creaks when pressed.
We're sure you can't bear to learn more about the special screen: the most curious can immediately go down below. In the meantime, we will make a quick overview of routine, but necessary things.
The separator panel, between the display and the keyboard, contains three function keys. Despite being small and square in shape, they are easy to press. When the device is turned on, we will find that four more recessed keys are hiding around them. But they are not sensory: you can easily feel it by the visible "recoil" when pressed. Moreover, it is difficult to "hit" them. They, for sure, "sharpened" under the ladies' fingers. As we already noted, the rest of the keyboard creaks treacherously when trying to dial a number, SMS or whatever. This is an unacceptable blunder for a phone aimed at representatives of the "high society".
The volume control buttons are scattered in a rather original way: "increase" on the right side, "decrease" on the left. The SIM card slot is also located on the side. And on the left side (attention, drum roll) - the unattractive Fast Port connector from Sony Ericsson. Indeed, what could be more “beautiful” contemplation of an open, iron and outdated port on the left side of the panel of an expensive fashion device.
The metal button for turning on this unit is located at the back. The designers did not dare to use more metal, finishing the front of the mobile. Very sorry. The black plastic of the back cover does not leave fingerprints. But the above-described "Power" key will get dirty pretty soon. You cannot get to the battery compartment of the phone without a screwdriver (or, for example, an ax): the battery is not removable. And this has prepared for the owner one more "cute" surprise. All the icons that are usually printed on the battery were taken out to the external panel. Have you ever wondered how "gorgeous" and "glamorous" the ecological badge "Do not throw away!" Hand over to special disposal points! ”? Not really, as for me.
Now for the pleasant: the device, as we have already reported, is light, compact and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. But this is absolutely not a premium phone! Like it or not, but its lower part is rather fragile in appearance. However, the screen, perhaps, will be able to correct the situation.
Sony Ericsson Pureness is the only mobile phone with a completely transparent display. Icons and text appear like frost on glass: the font is grayish-white. Contrast is predictably weak. When the backlight is turned on, the display will take on a yellowish tint, which makes the text almost unreadable against the background of light wood or cream furniture.
The screen reacts to light in a more than unusual way: on a sunny day or dark at night, problems with the missing level of letter brightness will be minimal. But in cloudy weather, something goes wrong. The display backlight will not cope with its task if the sky is overcast.
Of course, it is unreasonable to claim sharpness and contrast in this case. And the interface is cramped in such a tiny window: software developers clearly had no place to turn around. What we would modify in XPERIA Pureness would be to make the display backlight several times more intense. But then the battery is the loser, which is already able to withstand only up to 8 hours of talk time.
Despite all its ostentatious appeal, the Sony Ericsson Pureness phone only gets 40 points out of 90 possible. And those are entirely due to the innovative display. Surely the designers did a great job designing such a fantastic and revolutionary concept.But the problem is that the device looks like a Chinese fake, and not like a genuine model from a reputable brand. Squeaking plastic is a sentence. We could forgive a $ 60 device. For a device that is asking for nearly a thousand, it's a fiasco. A pleasant impression of lightness and a comfortable position in the hand is crossed out by the display, learning how to read text comfortably on which only a select few can do.
The interface of Sony Ericsson Pureness is like a classic SE menu, but it lacks colors and even halftones. A pure expression of minimalism. No surprises await us on the start display: the clock, the state of charge of the battery, and the chosen carrier. The menu will be displayed as a group of icons, scrolling through the list or one icon per display to choose from - nothing new either. The familiar "Active Menu" will give users quick access to their "favorite" functions.
The telephone directory is not revolutionary either. There is enough space for 1000 subscribers and 7000 numbers. The process of saving the numbers will seem familiar to everyone who at least once in his life held in his hands a device from SE, released over the past few years. Information about contacts is shown in the windows: in the first - name and number, then - email address and URL. The third window will help you select a picture, custom ringtone, group, personal message tones and voice commands. The fourth is for postal details. The fifth will not let you forget about a person's birthday (it is synchronized with the calendar).
The messages menu is as simple as two or two: received messages are not even split into branches. Be that as it may, it performs its functions normally. Except that peering into tiny white letters is not very good for your eyes. Among the advantages, it is worth noting the rather rich T9 dictionary and automatic conversion of SMS to MMS, when adding a picture.
Our score is 60 out of 100. Perhaps it is somewhat overestimated, but we deliberately added a couple of points, realizing that the buyers of this device will not be useful at all for extensive “clever” firmware and complex branched menus. Everything is clear and elementary in this device. "For Dummies".
Of course, when evaluating Sony Ericsson Pureness, it is worth making a discount on the fact that this is not a "music" and multimedia-oriented smartphone, not a mobile Internet gadget, but just a beautiful thing (for Hi-tech style lovers), which also performs also the functions of the phone. The number of supported types of communication is not amazing: a typical "middling". 4-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE and 3G guarantee that, provided roaming is enabled, the device will be able to work all over the world. There is also support for 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, 2.0 Mbps HSUPA. Plus, second-generation Bluetooth and a USB port.
The capabilities of Wi-Fi and GPS connections familiar to smartphones are absent, and why are they here. You won't be able to use a memory card either - they didn't have a slot for it. On the one hand, this fact can be frustrating, on the other hand, this device does not need a large amount of memory, a couple of built-in gigabytes are enough.
In terms of connection quality, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Pureness will do its job very well. Both through the speaker and with the help of a microphone - the sound is reproduced with dignity. Internet telephony, of course, is absent: how can you imagine it without a camera? Wise dialing allows you to search for numbers in your contact lists by name or by the first digits of the number - a useful and convenient addition.
What brings Sony Ericsson Pureness closer to the well-known Vertu is that upon purchasing this device, the user will automatically receive a 12-month subscription to the concierge service, which we have already talked about. Unfortunately, we failed to test it. But, judging by the fact that the entire "secular elite" continues to walk with "kilogram" monoblocks from a subsidiary of Nokia, this is the merit of this option.
The unit earns a solid four points for its sound volume.That is, undoubtedly, in a noisy room there are chances to miss an important call, but we still rely on hearing acuity.
Excellent call quality in addition to concierge service minus insufficiently loud speaker equals 80 points out of 100.
This unusual hero of today's review was not equipped with a media center, as such. Due to the specifics, this is not surprising. There is no gallery, but it is possible to view images using the file manager. The pre-installed audio player is not bad, and this is not surprising: after all, it is a cut-down version of the Walkman 3.0 player. It will be able to play files in MP3, WAV, WMA, M4A and E-AAC format. And an equalizer with a stereo effect to boot.
For some reason, even a video player was placed in the device, but, excuse me for incorrect comparisons, it's like pencil drawings in books for the blind. Nice, no doubt about it. But why? Anyway, you can, for fun, experience viewing 3GP or MP4 video with a resolution of 640x360 pixels in a white-transparent variation.
The built-in RDS radio can memorize up to 20 favorite stations. A pleasant and simple interface is complemented by interesting functionality: the TrackID service, which also moved here from Walkman players. Let us inform for those who are not in the know, this option will automatically determine the names of songs and artists for a separate passage. In addition, for a separate fee, you will be provided with all the known information about the artist, presented with a consolidated chart of songs whose names people want to know, or even help in finding new music, according to your taste. With its built-in online search service, TrackID will search the web for album covers, lyrics, and more.
And since the ringtone volume could have been better, the quality of music playback does not cause any complaints. Here our "luxury" friend almost catches up with the iPhone 3G in terms of its characteristics. This, in principle, is not surprising: SE knows a lot about music. The device will be able to retire your old player. Of course, if you have enough built-in memory space to accommodate all your favorite tracks. Another flaw: a non-standard headset jack.
When it comes to games and unnecessary applications, the choice is insignificant. "On board" there is only one program for the aimless and merciless killing of time, but what a! This is the legendary Pac-Man! The tireless balloon eater looks like a guest from the past on the monochrome display. Desired.
And as a result - 40 points out of 80, all thanks to an excellent radio and a competent built-in player, even though it is not a Walkman.
In principle, the device is capable of working with e-mail and will even be able to automatically upload settings from your account to Gmail. But the problem with e-mail is the same as with regular text messages: it is not very convenient to distinguish between white letters on a translucent background.
Poor resolution plus a small transparent display (we won't get tired of repeating this) and the result is the most unusual web surfing we've ever seen. A standard NetFront v3.4 browser is offered to access the network. The link for quick access to games, music and video on the Sony Ericsson World Wide Web page is set apart. There are also step-by-step instructions for setting up e-mail. The web browser is available in text mode, normal mode, and enlarged mode. The virtual cursor will help you navigate the page. Surfing on a white-transparent WEB-space, frankly speaking, is not for everyone.
Total only 20 points out of 80. Access to the Internety, in theory, the mail client is also possible, but practicaland useb and tfrom and friendOh will only work in very hopeless situations and definitely not for fun.
SE XPERIA Pureness is one of the lightest and most compact phones from the company with a cute minimalist design and a distinctive transparent screen.As a matter of fact, according to the established traditions, a phone labeled "premium" does not necessarily have to have any advanced functions, so we probably will not go deep into listing everything that this model has deprived of. Let's just say that if you bought a phone with a screen through which your wallpaper and floor are visible, you would prefer convenience and extravagance. And the lack of the 2-megapixel camera that usually comes with luxury phones is perhaps for the best.
But the problem is that this model does not look like 500 euros. Despite the original "ice" display. Still, it was not worth saving on the quality of assembly and materials: on the first advertising photos, the concept of the device looked simply gorgeous! But on the other hand, such an overstatement of prices can serve as the "honey" to which fans of the brilliant will flock. We all know people who are ready to buy a trinket just for the sake of its exclusivity, and of course the concierge service provided. Moreover, Sony Ericson XPERIA Pureness has no competitors.
