Design and Looks
The Sony Ericsson Yari is a slider phone that features conservative yet good looks. The nice thing about slider phones is that they tend to be more compact length-wise and yet incorporate larger screens than bar phones. In the case of the Yari however, users are offered only a smallish 2.4” 262K-colour screen whose quality does not reflect on the price of the phone. Below the screen is a large D-pad with 6 call and soft keys surrounding it. We wish Sony Ericsson had trimmed down the size of the D-pad to accommodate a larger screen but I guess we will have to wait for another phone for that. On the flip side, just above the screen, Sony Ericsson has incorporated dedicated gaming keys which is a first for a Sony Ericsson phone.
Sliding the phone up reveals the alphanumeric keypad. Like most keypads on slider phones, this one is absolutely flat and offers no press feedback or tactility to the touch. As a consolation, the keys are divided row-wise by lines and column wise by little round nubs. While this may sound nice on paper, in reality it makes absolutely no difference to the texting experience. At the sides of the phone, users will notice a nice addition which is the placement of the common-format microSD card slot instead of the usual M2 memory stick slot seen on most SE phones. On the whole the phone has a great build.
Sony Ericsson's user-interfaces are always interesting and like most recent Sony Ericsson phones, the Yari incorporates the nicely-themed Flash-Lite UI. The UI features animations throughout the menus and is yet quick and responsive. This good-looking interface is also customizable to a much higher degree than the UI on older Sony Ericsson phones.
No modern phone would be complete without social-networking integration. So it follows that the Yari incorporates integration with popular social-networking portals like Picasa and Flickr (for picture sharing) and Blogger for well, blogging. While most other applications are common and not worth writing about, the few new ones are worth a mention include PhotoMap and Quick text. PhotoMap is an application that sorts photos based on their geo-tagged locations on Google Maps while Quick text is an enhancement for messaging that recognizes most frequently used words for sequences of keypresses.
The Yari is of course a media centered phone and for the first time we see the convergence of Sony Ericsson's two famous product lines (Walkman and Cyber-shot) into one package. Not that this hasn't been done before but this is the first time a non-Walkman and a non-Cyber-shot phone has the functionality of both. All media can be accessed through a common place which is commendable menu-logic.
The audio bit is provided by the latest Walkman 3.0 media player app. Apart from offering the regulars like stereo widening and equalizer presets, the Walkman player offers interesting Flash visualizations where the player's skin can be programmed to look like a tape deck or a gramophone player. The video player and the image gallery are standard but the image gallery features some new animations and transition effects. The only downside to the listening experience is that there is no standard 3.5mm audio support and users will have to make do with the standard pair of headsets that ship with the phone.
The camera is good for a 5MP unit. It features the Cyber-shot interface with all the goodies including face detection, smile shot and geotagging. The images are fine but there is a loss of detail in some areas of photos due to aggressive over-sharpening. Nevertheless, the performance is more than we can expect from a non-Cyber-shot phone. Video recording is standard fare and performed over QVGA resolution at 30 frames-per-second.
The phone is also equipped with the NetFront 3.5 browser and features new additions like mark-and-copy to copy text and Flash support. The usual suspects include a mouse-pointer, a mini-map and the option to manage bookmarks.
But what's really new about the phone is that for the first time (with the sole exception of certain Japanese DoCoMo phones) a mobile phone is equipped with motion gaming. Yes, this phone works on the same principle as the Nintendo Wii where the phone's camera monitors your actual physical motion and accordingly controls the movements of the player on the screen. This is in part possible due to the Optical tracker technology developed by GestureTek. The phone comes preinstalled with two motion-controlled games, Tennis and Fitness.
So, you see, while on the outside the Yari looks like a run of the mill phone, on the inside it promises something new- a revolutionary technology called motion gaming. The Yari will be a sweat treat for tech-geeks and gamers alike and also for those of you who cannot decide between Walkman and Cyber-shot.
Features
- Elegant slider form with conservative looks
- Motion gaming-enabled phone with dedicated gaming keys
- 5MP camera with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, face and smile detection
- Standard microSD card slot for memory expandability
- GPS functionality with A-GPS support and Google Maps, Way Finder, Navigator and Tracker integration
- Wide range of connectivity options
- Flash-Lite themed UI
Accessories
- VH300 Clip-on Bluetooth Handsfree
- MS410 Portable Speaker
- HBH-IS800 Stereo Headphones
- HBH-PV715 Wireless Headset
- HBH-PV720 Wireless Headset
- IPC-40 Carry Case
