Sony Ericsson G705

The Sony Ericsson G705 is an HSDPA capable 3.5G slider phone with GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera and built-in WiFi, due for general release during Q4 2008.


It's not a top-of-the-range handset, but the presence of GPS marks it out as being something other than a midrange device. Perhaps what Sony Ericsson are trying to achieve is a mass market GPS phone, and certainly it seems to meet all the requirements.. except for one.

You see, the problem with the G705 (and indeed some other recent Sony Ericsson releases) is that it's quite dull. Although it's a tidily designed handset, it's hardly sexy. And Sony Ericsson's new naming convention is awfully unmemorable. G705? Try to remember the handset model tomorrow without looking it up. If this was an LG or Samsung handset then you can bet that they would have thought of some snazzy marketing name for it.


There are a few different variants of the G705, but the standard European one is a quad-band GSM phone with UMTS 2100, GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA data, plus WiFi, stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity. The G705 has a 3.2 megapixel camera with a photo/video light (it appears to be fixed focus), there's a video calling camera too. Video clips and stills photos can be uploaded directly to a blog. The G705 can automatically geotag photographs with the current GPS coordinates.

The display is a 2.4" QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) panel in 262,000 colours. Unlike some other G-Series phones, the display is not touch-sensitive, which is a shame because that would be a useful thing to have with the G705's built in Wayfinder satellite navigation application. The G705 supports Google Maps too.


There's a media player plus an FM radio, and all the usual Sony Ericsson multimedia enhancements that you would expect. Usefully, the G705 comes with a 1GB memory card in the standard sales package.

The web browser is a little bit more sophisticated than usual, with one click access to Google and the ability to sense the orientation of the display and automatically swap between wide and tall formats. The G705 also has an email client, and can support Microsoft ActiveSync and instant messaging. There are a number of other personal information management applications too.

There are a couple of variants of the Sony Ericsson G705 - the G705u incorporates UMA support to allow VOIP (i.e. Internet telephone calls), and this will be exclusive to Orange. There is also an American version of the G705 which has UMTS 800 / 1900 / 2100 MHz and HSUPA which allows for high-speed uploads, this will be available during Q1 2009. In Sony Ericsson's old naming system, this would have been called the G705a.

The Sony Ericsson G705 weighs just 98 grams and has up to 4 hours talktime and 14 days standby time on 3G, 10 hours talktime and 16 days standby time on GSM. Standard colours are "Silky Gold" and "Majestic Black". The G705u will be available in "Luminous Black".