Sony Ericsson C702 review

Designed for an active, outdoorsy kind of user, the hardy Sony Ericsson C702 Cyber-shot features a 3.2-megapixel camera with splash and dust-resistant casing, and comes equipped with GPS technology and location finding software onboard should you get lost up a mountain.

If you are familiar with the C902, you would recognise the C702 is its beefier, more robust brother. However, whilst it may have rubberised bodywork and a chunky camera cover, it is hardly a tank, which means its appearance is more rugged than bomb-proof.

The spec sheets are similar for both phones. HDSPA allows for fast internet browsing, and a front-facing camera also made the jump. Unfortunately, a 3.2-megapixel camera replaces the 5-megapixel one found on the C902, a bit of a downgrade. So while you can enjoy video calling, the quality will not be as good.

Design and handling
It may be built for added durability, but the C702 isn't designed to be taken for a swim. It's built to IP54 standards, meaning its casing will hold out against dust, and offers protection against water splashing - but it's not fully waterproof. The outer casing has a bit of rubber feel material, and a screw-lockable back panel, but doesn't have an excessively padded or heavyweight feel - it measures 106(h) x 48(w) x 16(d)mm and weighs a reasonable 105g.

You might expect an outdoors phone to have large buttonry for wet or frozen finger-friendliness, but no. The C702's numberpad keys are curvy, thin, smooth and quite close together, while the control buttons around the prominent navigation control pad are small and tightly packed. It's not ideal, as it's possible to mis-press certain keys if you're not precise. The navigation D-pad, however, is nicely raised, making it easy to negotiate the menus and scroll speedily.

The screen is slightly larger than the C902's - it's a 2.2-inch 262K-colour QVGA (320x240 pixels) display, rather than the C902's 2-incher. But the C702 doesn't have the touch-panel camera control around the display that reduced the C902's screen real estate. Instead, the C702 follows another Cyber-shot standard, using illuminated icon buttons when the camera is switched on, marking the 3, 5, 9 and # buttons as camera function shortcut keys.

Camera action
A camera button on the side starts up the shooter, though naturally the lens cover has to be opened for snapping to begin. The C702 uses a less elegant lens cover solution that the C902's minimalist 'spy-camera'-style slide open mechanism; the C702 has a chunky slide-down panel protecting the lens, reminiscent of the K810i.

The 3.2-megapixel camera on this phone isn't the same rather disappointing type used on the W890i and W760i Walkman phones. It's a Cyber-shot one, more akin to that used on the K810i, and has plenty of shooting features to improve imaging. It has an autofocus system,with additional face detection and macro close-up options giving control over how you compose and capture images. There's a two-light LED flash (which doubles up as a torch), which provides some illumination for low light shooting - though not as effectlvely as higher-end xenon flashes.

Most of Sony Ericsson's standard Cyber-shot controls are present, for adjusting white balance and exposure for various shooting environments, plus the usual sort of colour tints, picture size, frames, and timer options. Higher spec Cyber-shot features missing on the C702 though include an image stabiliser and the useful BestPics multshot selection option; instead more run-of-the-mill multi-burst and panorama settings are included.

Image quality from the camera is reasonable rather than exceptional. Macro shooting quality is good with lots of sharp detail, but we found some regular mid-range shots in decent lighting conditions weren't as crisp and detailed as we'd expected. Although colour was unusually vibrant, we did notice some oversaturated tones on some close-in subjects. Indoors shots could be soft too. The LED flash is strong but not particularly subtle in low light.

The C702 does have the regular PhotoFix software to automatically tweak shots after capture, and also has some photo editing software inside. In addition, the usual links to upload pics or video clips directly to a Blogger account are present and correct. Video capture on the C702 is typically average mobile fare though, with the phone shooting at maximum QVGA quality.

The A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning) technology built into the C702 also means you can 'geotag' your photos - with information stored in the image file about the precise geographical location of the snap.

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