The Sony Ericsson Spiro is a basic slider phone with good looks and a penchant for playing music.
The Sony Ericsson Spiro proudly carries the 'Walkman' tag, and is reminiscent of the non-touchscreen phones era. This is a fresh-looking, unpretentious mobile phone aimed at the budget buyer.
Sony Ericsson Spiro: Features
The Sony Ericsson Spiro is a very basic mobile phone, so don't expect any major connectivity options: if you're thinking of buying the Spiro, you'll have to be happy with no Wi-Fi, 3G or GPS. The only connectivity features that you get are GPRS, EDGE and Bluetooth. The camera also is a very basic 2Mp one with no flash and no autofocus.
The Spiro also comes with a couple of pre-installed applications. Social networking is taken care of by a Facebook app but strangely there was no Twitter app pre-installed on the review model we received. Another weird thing was that although a Track ID app exists in the Spiro's list of applications - there's even a hardware button for it - the Track ID app just didn't work on the review model.
Other applications include a basic organiser, a calculator and a colour-matching game.
Sony Ericsson Spiro: Design & usability
The Spiro comes with Sony Ericsson's own user interface (UI), which is pretty basic but good to look at and easy to use. The UI is also quite fast and navigation is aided by plenty of hardware buttons including ones that control media playback.
The Spiro's D-pad also serves as media navigation buttons
We did have an issue with the placement of the volume control button right in the middle of the left side of the phone, and it would have been easier to use if it had been placed closer to the top. The Spiro's alpha-numeric keypad is decent and the keys themselves are slightly curved to aid in typing without looking at the keypad.
The Spiro's keypad features slightly curved keys to aid in typing
The Spiro's 2.2in display is good for a phone in its price range but overall, it's nothing special. The screen's sunlight visibility is low and because it's completely made of plastic, the screen is prone to getting scratches.
Our review model of the Spiro came with a white plastic body which made it look really cute and fresh. I don't think I've seen a better looking phone in this price range. The build quality also feels solid and the slider action is smooth in spite of the Spiro using a lot, and I mean a lot, of plastic in its construction.
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Comments
Edward Bulfin said: Good: Size and colourBad: Absolute rubbish, do not even contemplate purchasing one of these. If you are offered one for £1 it will still be a waste of moneyComment: I had the phone for 2 weeks when all texts (received and sent) were showing as blank pages on the phone and on any phone I sent the text to. Tesco's store in Trowbridge were excellent and told us it waqs a memory problem, so we put in a new 2GB memory card and the same thing happened. Tesco staff immediately replaced the handset with a new one.Two weeks later this replacement phone did exactly the same, but the original receipt was not over the 28 days allowed by Tescos so the phone had to be returned to their Customer Services address. A week later the same phone handset was returned with a letter saying the fault had been found, repaired and the latest software had been installed. All went well with the phone for ....... Yes, you've guessed it two weeks. Returned to Tescos Store and told them it was not fit for purpose and that it was not of merchantable quality. Both these comments should make it clear that a refund is due, but the manager had to check and was told the Customer Services had to make three attempts to repair before a refund could be given.I did not want to make a fuss with the poor manager as his hands were tied by the red tape Tescos have set up. The normal statutory rights of any purchase are that a full refund should be immediate if the item is not fit for purpose or not of merchantable quality. Those two comments describe this phone perfectly.I have now been given the telephone number of Sony Ericssons repairs/ Customer Services so that I can get satisfaction from them. I will come back with a further review of this awful phone when I have had some replies from them and from Tescos head offices.There is no option to give 0 stars so I have left a 1/2 star, but the phone does not really reach that very low standard.