The Sony Ericsson GreenHeart series have been keeping us busy this holiday season, haven’t they? We called the Elm red hot and there goes the Hazel, which is simply … red. Now, no offense is meant here – the Hazel just doesn’t look as unusual as its sibling. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing – another ultimate and classic Sony Ericsson slider can hope for a warm reception by brand-loyal users.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
You won’t see “green” written all over the phones in the GreenHeart lineup but Sony Ericsson are taking eco-friendliness seriously. The Sony Ericsson Hazel is made of recycled plastics and the user manual is stored in the phone’s memory instead printed on paper.
In the small, shipping-optimized retail package you’ll also find a low power consumption charger. But what we know already from our Elm preview is that having a GreenHeart is not necessarily a compromise with functionality.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
Sony Ericsson Hazel official photos
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The Sony Ericsson Hazel packs a great 2.6″ mineral-glass-covered scratch-resistant display, a promising 5-megapixel sharpshooter and all-you-can-eat connectivity. The Hazel is almost identically equipped as the Elm, which we previewed quite recently.
Sony Ericsson Hazel at a glance:
- General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100, GPRS/EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps
- Form factor: Slider
- Dimensions: 102 x 49.5 x 16 mm, 120 g
- Display: 2.6-inch 16M color TFT display, 240 x 320 pixel resolution, covered with scratch-resistant mineral glass
- Memory: 319MB integrated memory, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
- UI: Proprietary Flash-based UI
- Still camera: 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection, smile detection, VGA video recording @ 30 fps
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi with DLNA, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, GPS receiver with A-GPS
- Misc: Splash-resistant body, accelerometer sensor for screen auto rotation, SensMe, Noise Shield, Clear Voice and Intelligent Volume Adaptation, social networking integration with homescreen Widget Manager, HD Voice Ready
- Battery: 1000 mAh BST-43 Li-Po battery
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
Besides fast network data (up to 7.2 mbps download speed), the Hazel sports Wi-Fi and an inbuilt GPS receiver complete with A-GPS support and Wisepilot navigation.
The real news would’ve been the homescreen widget system with enhanced social networking integration but both GreenHeart handsets we got are early testing samples, so social networking will have to wait until a full review.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The Sony Ericsson Hazel has the curved shape of the Elm but is the more standard looking phone in the pair
You’re probably keen to know more about the next Sony Ericsson all-in-one feature phone that comes to inherit marvelous performers like the W995 and C905. Jump to the next page for a chance to see the Hazel from some new angles.
Design and construction
Two color options are announced for the Sony Ericsson Hazel – Superior Black and Passionate Rouge. It’s pretty similar to the paintjob selection for the Elm. Red is perhaps not everyone’s (or should we say “men’s”) cup of tea but the black version is certainly looking to respond to unisex demand.
Just like the Elm, the Hazel’s body is said to be splash resistant. We hope to have the chance to test that during a proper review.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
An underlying feature of the GreenHeart duo is the ergonomically curved rear: a human curvature as Sony Ericsson call it. As soon as you hold the phone in your hand, you’ll get the point. The handset fits your palm nice and tight and in the case of the Hazel, makes sure to slightly raise the keypad for better comfort. Nice, indeed!
Sony Ericsson Hazel live shots
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The ergonomic curve and a few shared styling elements are not the only things the new GreenHeart duo has in common. In fact, both devices have the same list of features.
Sony Ericsson Hazel and Elm at ours
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
One thing we should note though, while we are still on the Elm. Almost the whole rear of candybar is made of metal for a very solid upmarket feel. There’s a bit of metallic finish on the Hazel but the truth is it’s all plastic. Real metal would’ve perhaps made it too heavy – the Hazel isn’t really preoccupied with being slim.
It’s by no means bulky though – it’s just that the rear curve wouldn’t have allowed an ultra slim waistline. Other than the flashy paintjob, the Hazel actually sticks to minimalist design and has an extra nice and solid hand feel and commendably comfortable handling.
Below the screen there is a neat and spacious navigation deck centered around a rectangular D-pad. Like we observed on the Elm, the layout is clean and very user-friendly.
All keys are very big and comfortable (notably larger than on the Elm, thanks to the slider form factor) and have pleasant press feedback.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The keys below the screen look nice and are comfy
The alphanumeric keypad is equally comfortable. Buttons are flat but well sized and solid to press, so typing on the Hazel is a real pleasure.
A nice and spacious numpad
The left side of Sony Ericsson Hazel features nothing but the regular Fast Port: it seems a standard 3.5mm jack / microUSB combo is too much to ask in the midrange.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
Sony Ericsson Hazel’s left side view
The right side of the handset is the top side in digicam terms. It hosts the volume keys and the camera button. The volume rocker has the same curved shape as in the Elm but is thinner this time and somewhat stiffer to press. The shutter key on the other hand is quite comfortable – with a soft but distinct half press for autofocus.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
Volume rocker and camera button are on the right
Backstage we find the 5 megapixel autofocus camera lens, accompanied by a LED flash. The loudspeaker grill is also here.
5 megaixel camera is at the back, along with the LED flash and a speaker
Removing the battery cover reveals the Sony Ericsson BST-43 1000 mAh Li-Polymer battery. It is quoted at up to 450 hours of stand-by and up to 10 hours of talk time but as you might have guessed, we won’t be able to comment on those numbers in this short preview.
Nearby is the microSD card slot which is ready to accommodate cards of up to 16GB of memory.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The Sony Ericsson Hazel is powered by a 1000 mAh Li-Po battery
The build quality of the Sony Ericsson Hazel seems to raise no issues considering the early stages of the phone’s development. The all plastic construction is quite solid and the phone feels great in hand. The curved shape and friendly controls make it especially comfortable to handle. The smooth and solid slider run and the nice numpad are worth noting too.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The Sony Ericsson Hazel feels pretty good to handle right now
Gorgeous display
Sony Ericsson Hazel comes with a 2.6″ 16M-color display of QVGA resolution. The size is a serious advantage over the Elm’s 2.2-incher. Hazel display is also covered with mineral glass and is said to be scratch resistant.
Dry facts aside, the screen is gorgeous: image quality is remarkable. The QVGA resolution is hardly anything to write home about but the crisp and vibrant images are what really matters here.
UI: (almost) nothing new under the Sun
The Sony Ericsson Hazel user interface is almost the same as in the latest manufacturer’s phones we recently reviewed. It is customizable by Flash Lite themes and is sprinkled with smooth animations all over.
The interface offers many options and settings accessible at great speed – adding to an uncompromising user experience. In fact the latest Sony Ericsson UI is one of the prettiest and most customizable among the feature phone competition.
The Flash interface
The homescreen is the same as you already know it. The same goes for the menu. As before, you can choose between four menu layout options – theme-dependent, 3 x 4 grid of icons, rotating view and single icon view.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The Hazel menu layout options
The interface is visually appealing and snappy. Auto rotation is enabled in the Media Center and is generally quite responsive. There’s no noticeable lag involved but we guess that’s to be preferred over an over-sensitive accelerometer that can often play up.
The only news when it comes to the interface is the promised updates in the field of social networking. Hazel isn’t the first Sony Ericsson device to come with some sort of support for such services but it’s the first (along with the Sony Ericsson Elm) to offer you access not only to your Facebook account but also to those at MySpace and Twitter.
Thanks to Hazel’s widget manager you can have those apps running on your homescreen.
As we’ve already mentioned, our preview is based on a pre-release Hazel sample. And, unfortunately, it doesn’t have any of the social networking applications so you’ll have to wait for the full review to hear our say on how they fare.
For one, you can always jump over to our Sony Ericsson C901 review to see how the Facebook app integrates on the homescreen.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
Facebook app running on the Sony Ericsson C901
The multimedia department is also the same as before (it’s quite good as it is). As you can see from our recent Elm preview, nothing has changed since the Yari.
You can leave your camera at home
The Hazel sports a 5-megapixel autofocus snapper with LED-flash. For a pre-release unit the Sony Ericsson Hazel camera does a pretty nice job.
Face detection, Smile shot and geotagging are all on board (no BestPic shooting mode though).
The Hazel camera interface
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The image quality is nice as well. There is still room for improvement – images suffer from too much noise and oversharpening. Contrast has to be improved, too. But we can safely assume those will be improved in the final retail version.
Here are the Hazel camera samples:
Sony Ericsson Hazel camera samples
Believe it or not (we didn’t at first), Sony Ericsson Hazel is capable of recording VGA clips at 30fps. As you can see from the sample video, everything is nice and fluid and although there are some visible artifacts, the overall quality is satisfying.
Location services and web browsing on the go
As the Sony Ericsson Hazel is equipped with a GPS receiver and the Location services set is pre-installed. Along with the Google Maps you’ll find the Wisepilot app, which comes to replace the Wayfinder Navigator on previous handsets. Much like Wayfinder, Wisepilot is a trial version only.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The Wisepilot app comes for a fee
The web browser preinstalled on the Hazel is latest NetFront 3.5 web browser. It offers a much smoother experience and renders web pages more quickly. It nails the zoom level for comfortable reading almost every time.
The NetFront 3.5 web browser
Equipped with the well-known mouse pointer, the NetFront 3.5 web browser always operates in fullscreen view mode and the four most important features are easily accessible on a toolbar – mini-map, enter an address, favorites and downloads.
Additionally we spotted some other new features as well such as mark-and-copy, which allows you to copy text off web pages. There’s also basic Flash support (which unfortunately doesn’t extend to Flash video watching).
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
Tons of apps
The Hazel comes with tons of preinstalled applications. The same are preinstalled on the Elm, which we previewed recently. We covered the YouTube app there, but here’s the rest of the list.
The Hazel packs lots of apps
The AccuWeather application gives you up-to-date weather information for locations of interest. Current conditions overview and a three-day forecast is available for a great number of cities around the world. You should bear in mind that the data is downloaded in real time so data charges may apply.
AccuWeather in action
The Walk Mate is a simple step counter application which works in background mode getting its data from the built-in accelerometer. It can be used as homescreen wallpaper.
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
The Walk Mate
The Standby World 3D is a nice application with readings for up to three different time zones around the world. The background changes as day turns into night in the selected locations. You can set this app as a homescreen background as well.
Standby World 3D app
The last app is the Calendar wallpaper, which is a slideshow displaying one after another a clock, a calendar, list of tasks and the last photo taken with the built-in camera.
The Calendar wallpaper
Final words
اسعار سونى اريكسون Sony Ericsson prices, Review
Sony Ericsson must be quite serious about their GreenHeart lineup. The Elm and the Hazel look like the right phones to give it a fresh kickstart. Perhaps there will be more to follow – in the lower segments and with different eco-friendly twists. The point of the Hazel (and the Elm) though is to show that green handsets don’t need to be functionally crippled niche devices.
The Hazel is far from a definite must-have but it boasts all-round skill and that’s still a rarity in feature phones. If smartphones and touchscreen are not your thing this one is a logical option. The promised widget support and social networking will be another important asset.
The GreenHeart duo does well to diversify the supply. The differences between the Elm and the Hazel are mostly visual – different form factor and different displays. Whichever you choose you can count on solid all-round performance. We have to admit though we have a soft spot for the Elm – for its unusual shape and brilliant ergonomics. If you haven’t done already, check out its preview, that we posted only recently.
Anyway, both GreenHeart devices seem to be worth your thought if you’re shopping for an all-in-one feature phone. The rich equipment, ergonomic design and eco-friendly attitude are motivating enough. We only hope this time Sony Ericsson will think twice before they peg the price tag. Affordable touchscreen and smartphones may be a major threat, especially for the Hazel, which won’t make it to the shops before the Q2 of next year.
are easily concealed from view, making it hard for law enforcement to crack down on drivers that flout local laws banning texting while driving. Most of the time, offenders will get nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a small fine for their dangerous driving habits. The good news is that federal employees will be risking their jobs at a time when employment is hard to come by.
ماذا يحدث عندما تضع نظام لينوكس داخل جوال يتمتع بقدرات معالجية هائلة و يحتوي على شاشة تش سكرين رائعة، و واجهة مستخدم تم تصميمها بعناية فائقة؟ النتيجة هي جوال نوكيا N900 الذي أثبت مؤخراً أنه قادر على فعل أي شيء تقريباً (باستثناء جلي صحونك طبعاً).
Nokia has taken its current battle against Apple a legal step further with the news it has filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (the ITC), suggesting its current lawsuit against Apple is not looking like reaching a settlement any time soon.
