Spiro and Zylo - Hands On video
Montag, 19. April 2010 um 08:42 Uhr | 
Geschrieben von: rog | 
Sony Ericsson's new walkman phones in our 9 minutes video preview - demonstrating Facebook and Twitter client, as well as size comparisons with some other phones to get an idea about the size of Zylo and Spiro.
After we had a first look at the two latest low- to midrange Walkman phones in our live picture gallery, we go a bit more into details here.Spiro
Spiro has the lower profile of the two walkman phones. Weighing 90 grams, it features a 2.2 inches TFT screen and a 2MP camera. Not really understandable is the fact that Sony Ericsson decided to use a 3.5mm headset jack for the Spiro, whereas Zylo comes with the SE proprietary connector. The device itself fits perfectly in your hand, mostly thanks to its pretty small measurements, 92 x 48 x 16mm. The slider keyboard comes with a set of keys that are not very distinguishable. All in all, the device doesn't feel as cheap as one could think considering its price tag of ca. 110 Euros (recommended retail price).
Both devices come preloaded with a Facebook and Twitter application. The facebook client is very basic, it only allows to update the status, reply to comments and like/unlike posts. There seems to be no possibility to upload pictures, look at friend's pictures, profile information or anything alike. The Twitter client has to cover less functionality and therefore is more comprehensive. It covers the possibility to post tweets, retweet and check of course tweets of people you follow.
See the two apps in action in our hands on video below.
Zylo
Zylo comes with pretty much the full feature set that is known from previous Walkman phones, such as SenseMe, Walkman-Styles (skins for the Walkman player), Shake Control, album cover, Clear Bass etc. It measures 103 x 52 x 16 mm, weighs 115g, comes with a 2.6 inches TFT display with QVGA resolution. As first mobile phone from Sony Ericsson, the music player is able to play FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Coded) encoded songs. The camera shoots pictures in 3.2MP resolution, the e-mail client can be used with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync accounts.
The keyboard is pretty comfortable to use, the keys are much more distinguishable than the ones on the Spiro. For sure, the bigger size of the keyboard adds to the overall impression.
On the more useless fun side is the possibility to mix-in sound during a phone call. On our prototype, there were no preloaded sound effects yet, but Sony Ericsson announced that it will deliver the device with preloaded sound effects such as office noise, street noise etc. Basically, any sound file on the phone can be selected to be played in the background during a phone call. We quickly show this feature in our hands on video. Zylo will be in stores in Q3 2010 for a recommended retail price of ca. 170 Euros.
