Everyone liked the T610, an unostentatious midrange handset that did the basic things really well. The T650 is an obvious successor, based on classic looks and stylish materials (a nice stainless steel finish) but updated with full 3G support and a secondary video call camera, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, and a modishly slim 12.5mm waist.
It feels as good as it looks, too. Some of the newer slimline Sony Ericssons are prone to creak a bit if you try to bend them, but our T650 – admittedly a preproduction model – was pretty well rock solid. The display is characteristically great, a 1.9in 262K colour TFT screen with QVGA resolution, scratch-proof mineral glass, some clever technology that improves colour brightness, and a wider viewing angle. The T650 also comes with some nice illumination effects which are linked to on-screen animations; key characters, which are printed directly on the casing next to the tiny keytops, are also backlit rather effectively. Other up-to-date features include Bluetooth 2.0 stereo support, and a light-but-solid 95g on the scales, and a Memory Stick M2 card slot.
It has only 16MB of memory on board, so the card slot is probably essential -- at least there's a 256MB card in the box.
Downsides? Those small keys might irritate some people, but they’re perfectly usable even when texting. More interesting is the comparison with the Sony Ericsson K810, a Cyber Shot cameraphone with a rather better spec (and immediate availability). But the T650 wins out in the design stakes, and for a punter who needs a solid all-rounder this looks to us like another classic.
• Another mid-range winner for Sony Ericsson
SPECIFICATIONS
Size: 104x46x12.5mm
Weight: 95g
Display: TFT, 256K colours, 240x320 pixels
Camera: 3MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, video, flash; secondary videocall camera
Connectivity: 3G, triband GSM, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, USB
Battery: Standby TBC, Talk time TBC
Features: Music player with TrackID music recognition, FM radio, Organiser, Voice memo
FEATURES 4/5
SALEABILITY 4.5/5
