Just when you probably thought the Walkman line of handsets from Sony Ericsson is dead and gone, here comes a couple of Walkman handsets pitched to the middle and low end markets. They both sport a stylish slider form factor that makes them appeal to the younger crowd. Find the best Sony Ericsson Spiro contracts online.
The more affordable Sony Ericsson Spiro Walkman will have four different body colors to choose from – contrast black, stealth black, spring green and sunset pink. But the resurrection won’t come with a resurrected branding scheme though. Gone is the “W” brand. Instead you get something as mysterious as a Spiro name that either comes from the spirochete bacteria or from a deceased US vice president.
The last W-line of handsets appeared in the summer of 2009 with the last flagship W995 and a budget W205 immediately after. The new Spiro is no flagship handset and seems more like it came from a neglected budget Walkman phone blueprint that a Sony Ericsson engineer stumbled upon and got resurrected anew.
The result is a cross between the entry level W205 slider and a slightly more feature rich budget model in the W305. It also uses the same slider form on a body measuring 92 x 48 x 16.8 mm when closed and weighing a light 90g. The Spiro is one of the many phones that can be had more cheaply by looking through the phone deals available online.
Basic Phone Features
There’s no 3G, no WiFi and no GPS as one would expect from a budget handset. It’s not even a quad band GSM. The Sony Ericsson Spiro is just a dual band GSM (900/ 1800) with another GMS version for the US markets and comes with class 10 GPRS/EDGE data connectivity on 2G for up to 236.8 Kbps for respectable internet surfing experience. It comes with the usual Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and microUSB 2.0 for local high speeds data transfers and syncing.
Its entry-level pedigree gets confirmed with an outdated imaging that only gets a fixed focus 2-megapixel shooter and nothing else. Video capture is basic as it is not detailed in its spec sheet for any critic to be impressed with. Even its display comes with a 2.2-inch TFT LCD display arriving with QVGA resolution and 256k colors that are typical of many entry level budget mobile phones, slider or not.
Onboard memory is nearly non-existent at 5 MB which is not surprising for an affordable handset. But your still get microSD memory expandability up to 16 GB. If you are on the look out for a new phone, even if it is not the Spiro, you can find many fantastic mobile phone contracts with online retailers.
Walkman Features at a Glance
The Spiro would really be nothing much if not for its Walkman playback features that while not outstanding for a music phone, are good enough to be worthy of the Walkman name. It starts with a stereo FM radio with RDS and the Walkman Player 4.0 which plays audio files in the MP3, eAAC+ and WAV formats as well as video files in the MP4, H.263/H.264 file formats.
It comes with the usual TrackID and PlayNow features and sports a 3.5mm headphone jack to complement its A2DP profile support for wireless stereo listening. Its music phone edge comes with being able to engage in social networking activities without cutting off your listening pleasures.
A another great value handset, the Spiro will reach its markets this summer and we don’t expect to command any higher than ₤100 SIM-free for its rather dated features, despite a respectable Walkman pedigree.
