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Reader review: Sony Ericsson J105 Naite smartphone

Last updated on: October 21, 2010 13:42 IST

Get Ahead reader from Chandigarh, Rajat Sharma, sent us this in-depth review (both pros and cons) of the Sony Ericsson J105 Naite GreenHeart. He likes to be known as a Gadgetophile, Technoholic and a Geek.

Sony Ericsson is a cellular device manufacturer that's always been known for producing world-class mobile phones. SE devices are a perfect blend of class, aesthetics and functionality -- all rolled into one.

No wonder SE handsets are loved all over by general users and gadget-ophiles alike.

In recent months, the company, in an attempt to strengthen its stranglehold over the cellular device market, has released a number of products that can be described as nothing short of brilliant.

And for that, Sony Ericsson has released an all-new line-up of eco-friendly cellular devices, aptly called the GreenHeart family. It presently consists of four devices: Aspen, Cedar, Elm & Naite.

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Reader review: Sony Ericsson J105 Naite smartphone

Last updated on: October 21, 2010 13:42 IST

The Naite J105 GreenHeart, is a 3G capable, candybar GSM cellular phone. Before moving to the details, here's a summary of its key specs.

The GreenHeart wonder has many aces up its sleeve. Here's a low-down.

Environment friendly

The Naite has been completely made from recycled plastics and eco friendly materials, which make it completely eco friendly as well as lightweight (84 grams).

In addition to that, it comes in a compact package and does away with the paper manual, and comes with an electronic version that can be viewed on the phone directly.

The same goes for the wall charger, which notifies through a message on the display (after charging has finished) to be removed from the socket, in order to conserve power.

Future proof (3G)

The Naite is probably one of the most cost-efficient 3G capable GSM handsets fully supporting 'High Speed Downlink Packet Access' (HSDPA), also called Turbo 3G with data speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps.

In addition it also supports video calling. Now don't just talk to your friends, see them too, with the secondary video-call camera.

Fully loaded

It comes with all the bells and whistles of high-end phones, while at the same time retaining the functionality and ease of use. General use applications like calendar, task scheduler, calulator, unit converter, MIDI composer, VideoDJ for editing videos and basic editing features for images like brightness, contrast etc. you get 'em all.

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Reader review: Sony Ericsson J105 Naite smartphone

Last updated on: October 21, 2010 13:42 IST

Built for the socially connected

The Naite comes preloaded with dedicated Facebook & Twitter apps, so you can stay in touch with your friends on the move 24x7. Also, the YouTube app lets you watch your favourite videos on the go. Plus, the push e-mail ensures that you never miss an important e-mail, no matter where you are.

Add to that, downloadable dedicated apps for Gmail, Orkut. With Naite, you're online, always.

Take some pics, shoot some vids

It comes with a fully capable 2MP camera, which, despite being basic, is great for taking casual pictures on the move, in addition to that, you can capture your moments with videos, as the Naite supports video recording at QVGA resolution at 15 FPS.

That's not bad for some casual video recording.

Plus, the videos shot are far better than conventional ones, because the output format is the brilliant MP4, and not the quality-shy 3GPP.

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Reader review: Sony Ericsson J105 Naite smartphone

Last updated on: October 21, 2010 13:42 IST

Your very own portable media player

The Naite comes with 100 MB of onboard memory, and is one of the only very few SE handsets to support MicroSD cards in place of MemorySticks.

That not only saves on the budget, but with the prices of flash memory falling every day, you get more value for your bucks. And with an extendable memory of up to 8 GB, you can carry all of your music, pictures and videos, in your pocket -- literally.

Supports latest codecs & standards

SE Naite is future proof not only in connectivity, but in terms of media support also. It supports the good old MP3 as well as newer audio formats like eAAC+, so you can throw in some tracks and start shaking a leg, without having to worry about the compatibility issues.

The same goes for the video formats, as the Naite can play MP4 and all videos encoded using x264 codec (the industry standard codec for HD & Blu-Ray Rips) with equal ease, giving you unmatched video quality at appreciable size(s).

Charge it, forget it

The Naite boasts of some of the best figures when it comes to standby & talk times and other stuff. On a full charge and normal daily usage, the battery easily lasts 3 days (about 2.5 days on 3G) and the standby time of 400 hours ensures that the charging woes are last on your list of worries.

For the music crazy the Naite can continuously play music for 14 hours (tested by me) before needing another charge cycle.

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Reader review: Sony Ericsson J105 Naite smartphone

Last updated on: October 21, 2010 13:42 IST

The minus points

As with any device, for that matter, the Naite also has some shortcomings.

Although they are not that big, but still since a good review takes care of good as well as bad, here we go.

No flash, not even LED

The camera comes without any flash, so shooting videos & taking pictures in low light conditions isn't possible

No support for custom themes

The Naite only supports static element THM theme files and not the Flash-Lite themes.

Although custom themes can be installed via jail-breaking and firmware tweaking, I wouldn't recommend that because the process is tricky and if anything goes wrong, your phone may not run at all.

And besides, it also voids the manufacturer's warranty.

No paper instruction manual

Although this has been done by SE to cut down on costs and save trees, but still a large number of users may find reading the embedded e-manual tough.

For this, I suggest downloading the Naite's manual (PDF) from SE's web site and take a printout, if necessary.

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Reader review: Sony Ericsson J105 Naite smartphone

Last updated on: October 21, 2010 13:42 IST

Final verdict

The J105 is an impressive piece of technology, and packs in almost everything that a typical user would want from a cellular device. It's fully future proof, performs as it is intended to, handles extremely well and most importantly, it comes with quality as a standard accessory, because its a Sony Ericsson.

Although, some points like lack of flash with camera, absence of manual and others do act as hindrance(s), the Naite has far more positives and the negatives can be comfortably ignored, because a normal user would never be bothered by them.

And this feature-loaded package comes at a great price of about Rs 5,500 to 6,000. That's almost next to nothing as compared to what the Naite offers you.

So, in my opinion, if you want a cellular device you can count upon for everything. The J105 is probably your best deal out there.

Star rating: 4.5/5.0

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