(Screenies added) 20/11:
Well I have been using the Cedar as my primary phone for the past few weeks. So thought about sharing a few details regarding the phone as it might be helpful for the prospective new buyers [if any
]
Introduction
Sony Cedar was launched in September 2010 in India. It was launched as a part of "greenheart" series. The only reason for the phone's popularity and the fact that it is still selling is because it has 3G HSPA.The launch coincided with the expansion of 3G services in India. I don't think many people out there care much about saving the environment ,But atleast it's nice to have on your conscience.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
It is a fairly basic phone, belonging to the same series as ELM and Hazel. That series is the latest Non-TS series by SonyEricsson and will probably be their last considering they are switching over to Xperia line completely by 1Q 2012.
An important distinction to be made here is that SonyEricsson almost always outsource their phones. Some phones like Spiro are made by ODM's like Sagem and unfortunately have stunted features and half baked Os. They are better avoided. Another contract manufacturer is Foxconn which makes cedar,Zylo,elm,Hazel and many xperia phones. These have full SE OS as we know it and laso have better build quality.
One of the few SE Dumb phones to have Micro usb and 3.5 MM socket.
Specs and feature list: Sony Ericsson Cedar - Full phone specifications
Build Quality and Looks
There is not much to talk about here. The phone is pretty solid.Also in a retro way it is good looking too. Unfortunately I had to go for Black/Silver combo as that was available on LB. If you can spare cash the White/Silver at flipcart is the one to get.
The build quality as I said is fine,No rattles or squeaks. But the back cover is too tight . Unfortunately the Sim card holder is badly designed and it is a pain to get a SIM out unless you have long nails.
Features
Hmm right,Since there are not many features to talk about I will break it down in a list
OS
1)It uses Se A200 Rev 2 OS Basically It is same as K800/W910 used a few years ago.Considering The fact that nokia has not improved S40 ,It is an acceptable choice.
2)The main attraction of SE UI is the fact that it allows you to do Multitasking in a Pseudo smartphone kindaa way. It is not limited to java apps. Things like browser, Message composer all can be minimized and switched across each other. The phone operation is not affected by the no. of apps you have running but it is fairly easy to estimate that more then 5 at a time will stagger the OS.
3)The main menu as we all know is a Grid UI. Se has updated the transition and animations since K800 series. Really it is nice to see the screen fade in and out as you select a new word, Keypad lock icon minimizing and going to its place in the status bar. It is beautiful in a non-chinese kindaa way
4) Media Player: Has a Se walkman player ver 4 resembling The psp media bar. Good functionality but a bit of lagginess is there. Also while playimng audio, There is no way to turn off the animation.Also there is no option to choose album art as the default playback animation.
Supports Id3 tags nicely. Track Id works better then shazam. Audio quality again is better then most non sony non samsung android phones.
Fm works as expected. The fact that it uses a 3.5 mm jack makes it usable.
5)The whole interface though is not smooth as it can be. It is a touch laggy esp in place like scrolling phonebook , media gallery. This lagginess cannot be attributed to processor/RAM , more because of OS code itself. Once Java apps are loaded,They work without any lags,including 3D shooters like Deep/GOF.
4)Display: Ah yes, The screen. Well I was coming from P500 to Motorola Defy and then suddenly I got down to a 2.2 incher. Anyway It was fine for the intended usage. I normally use a lot of Opera mini on my phones,And cedar allowed me to run Opera min with 4 or 5 tabs without any trouble.
Also the screen quality as such is nice. Outdoor visiblity is very good,Comparable to Nokia E71 ,way better then Defy and P500.
Brightness is user adjustable.But even at 50 % is too bright,Not good for late night sms.
5)Keypad/Dpad : Looks formidable , But You will get used to it quickly. Keypad gets A,Dpad is B- . More so because even after 1 month of rigorous use it has not "opened up" . Still considering I finished Galaxy on Fire using that keypad,It is good.
6)Cellular reception and Call quality: This is one of the most imp criteria for me. Any phone that does not work well as a phone never lasts long with me.
reception: Cedar B Defy: A+ P500:B 1280:B X10:B- Samsung Ch@t B
Call quality Cedar A- Defy C P500 B+ 1280 C X10:C Samsung ch@t A
7)Battery life: Coming from a horde of androids,It was a pleasant surprise to use a phone that required charging only once 2 days with heavy use.
8)3G/HSPA: Works as advertised. Inbuilt browser though better then most feature phone browsers, still a pain to use on the limited screen estate,plus it is slow to respond. It is better used as a modem.Here comes another advantage of this phone. While you can always install SE PC suite to configure an internet connection,This phone also has what is called "USB tethering". Works on Xp,Vista,7 . No need to install anything. Nice.
Peak speeds I got was 4MBPS on an Airtel Connection. Phone does not get bearably hot, atleast for the 1 hour I tested.
11)The phone is completely syncable . If yo have not yet used My phone explorer,then do give it a try.It is one of the reasons for buying a SE phone. You can also sync the phone using SyncML or the defacto SE suite.
12)Camera is pretty bad. Still It is better then Nokia 2700/2730 series. No Af + Vertical viewfinder + Bad videos+ No LED flash.(No torch :ashamed
UI drawbacks
>Softkeys ie L/R are not customizable by default,They are by default locked to open "media player" and "Browser" . The only way around this restriction is to mod it.
>The up direction in Dpad is not customizable as it is locked to the stupid "SNS widget" . I deleted it ,But till now I have not found a way to use it for shortcut anything else.
> The pre installed Java apps/games cannot be deleted. But yes If you restore Factory settings most of them can be deleted.
>Flash(swf) Themes might be used,But make the interface slow.Better stay away
>There is no option to set "3G only" in network settings. The available options are "3g+GSm" and "gsm only" : Again can be remedied by a mod.
Conclusion:
Decent phone if you want to buy a budget handset with HSPDA. Also makes a nice 2nd phone to an android thanks to good battery life/call quality and decent sync abilities. Not to mention that you can play FishLabs Deep in your spare time.
. You cant say that about most feature phones at that price.
Price paid: 3.9k at LB.
ScreenShots:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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:
:
:
:
Well I have been using the Cedar as my primary phone for the past few weeks. So thought about sharing a few details regarding the phone as it might be helpful for the prospective new buyers [if any
]Introduction
Sony Cedar was launched in September 2010 in India. It was launched as a part of "greenheart" series. The only reason for the phone's popularity and the fact that it is still selling is because it has 3G HSPA.The launch coincided with the expansion of 3G services in India. I don't think many people out there care much about saving the environment ,But atleast it's nice to have on your conscience.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
It is a fairly basic phone, belonging to the same series as ELM and Hazel. That series is the latest Non-TS series by SonyEricsson and will probably be their last considering they are switching over to Xperia line completely by 1Q 2012.
An important distinction to be made here is that SonyEricsson almost always outsource their phones. Some phones like Spiro are made by ODM's like Sagem and unfortunately have stunted features and half baked Os. They are better avoided. Another contract manufacturer is Foxconn which makes cedar,Zylo,elm,Hazel and many xperia phones. These have full SE OS as we know it and laso have better build quality.
One of the few SE Dumb phones to have Micro usb and 3.5 MM socket.
Specs and feature list: Sony Ericsson Cedar - Full phone specifications
Build Quality and Looks
There is not much to talk about here. The phone is pretty solid.Also in a retro way it is good looking too. Unfortunately I had to go for Black/Silver combo as that was available on LB. If you can spare cash the White/Silver at flipcart is the one to get.
The build quality as I said is fine,No rattles or squeaks. But the back cover is too tight . Unfortunately the Sim card holder is badly designed and it is a pain to get a SIM out unless you have long nails.
Features
Hmm right,Since there are not many features to talk about I will break it down in a list
OS
1)It uses Se A200 Rev 2 OS Basically It is same as K800/W910 used a few years ago.Considering The fact that nokia has not improved S40 ,It is an acceptable choice.
2)The main attraction of SE UI is the fact that it allows you to do Multitasking in a Pseudo smartphone kindaa way. It is not limited to java apps. Things like browser, Message composer all can be minimized and switched across each other. The phone operation is not affected by the no. of apps you have running but it is fairly easy to estimate that more then 5 at a time will stagger the OS.
3)The main menu as we all know is a Grid UI. Se has updated the transition and animations since K800 series. Really it is nice to see the screen fade in and out as you select a new word, Keypad lock icon minimizing and going to its place in the status bar. It is beautiful in a non-chinese kindaa way
4) Media Player: Has a Se walkman player ver 4 resembling The psp media bar. Good functionality but a bit of lagginess is there. Also while playimng audio, There is no way to turn off the animation.Also there is no option to choose album art as the default playback animation.
Supports Id3 tags nicely. Track Id works better then shazam. Audio quality again is better then most non sony non samsung android phones.
Fm works as expected. The fact that it uses a 3.5 mm jack makes it usable.
5)The whole interface though is not smooth as it can be. It is a touch laggy esp in place like scrolling phonebook , media gallery. This lagginess cannot be attributed to processor/RAM , more because of OS code itself. Once Java apps are loaded,They work without any lags,including 3D shooters like Deep/GOF.
4)Display: Ah yes, The screen. Well I was coming from P500 to Motorola Defy and then suddenly I got down to a 2.2 incher. Anyway It was fine for the intended usage. I normally use a lot of Opera mini on my phones,And cedar allowed me to run Opera min with 4 or 5 tabs without any trouble.
Also the screen quality as such is nice. Outdoor visiblity is very good,Comparable to Nokia E71 ,way better then Defy and P500.
Brightness is user adjustable.But even at 50 % is too bright,Not good for late night sms.
5)Keypad/Dpad : Looks formidable , But You will get used to it quickly. Keypad gets A,Dpad is B- . More so because even after 1 month of rigorous use it has not "opened up" . Still considering I finished Galaxy on Fire using that keypad,It is good.
6)Cellular reception and Call quality: This is one of the most imp criteria for me. Any phone that does not work well as a phone never lasts long with me.
reception: Cedar B Defy: A+ P500:B 1280:B X10:B- Samsung Ch@t B
Call quality Cedar A- Defy C P500 B+ 1280 C X10:C Samsung ch@t A
7)Battery life: Coming from a horde of androids,It was a pleasant surprise to use a phone that required charging only once 2 days with heavy use.
8)3G/HSPA: Works as advertised. Inbuilt browser though better then most feature phone browsers, still a pain to use on the limited screen estate,plus it is slow to respond. It is better used as a modem.Here comes another advantage of this phone. While you can always install SE PC suite to configure an internet connection,This phone also has what is called "USB tethering". Works on Xp,Vista,7 . No need to install anything. Nice.
Peak speeds I got was 4MBPS on an Airtel Connection. Phone does not get bearably hot, atleast for the 1 hour I tested.
11)The phone is completely syncable . If yo have not yet used My phone explorer,then do give it a try.It is one of the reasons for buying a SE phone. You can also sync the phone using SyncML or the defacto SE suite.
12)Camera is pretty bad. Still It is better then Nokia 2700/2730 series. No Af + Vertical viewfinder + Bad videos+ No LED flash.(No torch :ashamed
UI drawbacks
>Softkeys ie L/R are not customizable by default,They are by default locked to open "media player" and "Browser" . The only way around this restriction is to mod it.
>The up direction in Dpad is not customizable as it is locked to the stupid "SNS widget" . I deleted it ,But till now I have not found a way to use it for shortcut anything else.
> The pre installed Java apps/games cannot be deleted. But yes If you restore Factory settings most of them can be deleted.
>Flash(swf) Themes might be used,But make the interface slow.Better stay away
>There is no option to set "3G only" in network settings. The available options are "3g+GSm" and "gsm only" : Again can be remedied by a mod.
Conclusion:
Decent phone if you want to buy a budget handset with HSPDA. Also makes a nice 2nd phone to an android thanks to good battery life/call quality and decent sync abilities. Not to mention that you can play FishLabs Deep in your spare time.
. You cant say that about most feature phones at that price.Price paid: 3.9k at LB.
ScreenShots:
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
:
:
:
:
:
::
I have inserted the SIM, it had a 2GB microSD card already- I DON'T THINK I AM OPENING IT EVER AGAIN.