The Sony Ericsson T300 is a blocky looking phone that comes with a colour screen and detachable camera which lifts it into the realm of cool.
The single biggest reason why you might buy a T300 is for the optional camera. The Communicam MCA-25 clips onto the bottom of the phone and commandeers the screen. This can be changed of course, and the phone can be used as a mobile with the camera attached. The camera comes with a little pouch, as Sony Ericsson considers it a fashion accessory.
The camera has a menu that allows you to adjust the size of the picture taken, turn the white balance on or off (which had little noticeable effect in our testing) and change the 'effect'. There are 10 different effects (not including 'no effect') which do various fun things to your photos. You can have little hearts roam around the screen, put some prison bars across the photo, or split the photo into a very strange house-of-mirrors effect. While this can be fun to play with, our major complaint is that you can't preview the effect from the menu. You have to apply the effect, exit the menu, and then take a picture to see what the effect actually is.
To be honest, the photos aren't very effective on the T300's screen, but they can be taken at up to 640 x 480 pixels and sent by MMS or e-mail. They can also be transferred to the phone and stored under 'My Pictures'. This can then be linked to an incoming phone call, along with a ring-tone, for those little personalised touches. It's also a great way to link a face with a number obtained in the dark of some club at 3am.
The method for transferring images is a harder than it should be. You can't do it from the camera but have to go in through the 'Fun and Games' menu and down to the Communicam link, which is hidden off the bottom of the screen.
In other respects the Sony Ericsson has the normal icon based menu, and a good button layout. The keypad is joined by yes/answer-call, no/hang-up, clear, a button to bring up the appropriate options menu and a five-way joystick. We found the joystick hard to use, and it often registered down or sideways (or both) when we tried to press it in. If you aren't too dextrous with your thumb, you may want to take that into account (and perhaps consider evolving a bit - we certainly are).
The phone can connect using WAP, GPRS, HSCSD (high-speed data), tri-band GSM, and has an IR port. It also has both EMS and MMS, so it can send rich media to other mobiles, and receive from them as well. Connection-wise, this phone has most things you're likely to need.
The T300 has interchangeable covers, and you can download and play polyphonic ringtones. The phone comes with a number of monophonic and polyphonic ringtones included, including some quite good ones such as the oft-used Beethoven's 5th. We settled on 'Tease', the atonal equivalent of 'nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-n'nyeeeeh, nyeeeh'.
You can record your own sound, but it's difficult to work out how to set that as a ring-tone. There is a composer to create your own melody, which can be used as a ringtone. We found the composer relatively easy to use after a bit of experimentation. There's a keyboard at the top of the screen as a reference point, and the buttons respond to different keys or effects.
You can increase a note up four octaves, increase and decrease the length of notes, insert pauses and make a note 'flat', to get the black keys. We recommend some brief practice attempts first, since after creating our masterpiece rendition of the Blackadder theme we realised we didn't know how to save it.
You can also download games, if the selection of games already on the phone doesn't suit your tastes. The inbuilt options are Ace of Spades, Alien Scum, Deep Abyss, Erix, Five Stones, Black Deal and Mini Golf.
The battery life is advertised as up to 11 hours talk time and up to 400 hours standby. We found it lasted a bit over 6 days in normal usage, which isn't bad. For a mid-range phone, with camera capabilities, the T300 is a good buy. If you've got the money though, we recommend getting a phone with a better screen. What's the point of taking pictures you can't look at clearly?
Sony Ericsson T300
Company: Sony Ericsson
Price: AU$505, AU$705 with Communicam
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 650 050
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