Throughout the history of humankind, brainy scientist-types have investigated and probed many of the mysteries and conundrums that trouble our everyday lives. Why does toast always fall butter-side down? Why are your car keys always in the last place you look for them? How in the name of Saint George does the average woman manage to cram so much stuff into her handbag?
This last question is obviously one that the engineers at Sony Ericsson have been debating as the company's latest phone has clearly been constructed with space considerations in mind. Having only a limited knowledge of the interior of lady's handbags (honest), we can only surmise that real estate is at a premium and therefore it pays to have as diminutive a mobile phone as possible.
Clocking in at a minuscule 83x47x14.7mm, the T303 certainly fits that criteria. This is one impressively tiny phone, calling to mind the ultra-slim dimensions of the classic Sony Z5 and Z7 handsets. It's also a bit of a looker and at first glance you might assume the T303 to be a top-of-the-range product, such is the strikingly attractive appearance of its external form. And the build quality is fantastic, with a creak-free case and pleasingly robust slider mechanism.
Once the warm glow generated by the slick design has faded however, what you're ultimately left with is a very basic base-level device with few of the embellishments we take for granted in our phones these days.
Granted, the T303 has Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera and MP3 player, but all of these features are rendered practically useless when you consider that there's only 8MB of onboard memory storage to play with. To add insult to injury, there's no way of expanding that paltry amount because the phone inexplicably lacks a memory card.
Therefore, the MP3 player is instantly reduced to nothing more than a superfluous plaything as you've only the space to store about three tracks. Taking photos is a more palatable proposition thanks to the relatively low megapixel count of the snapper, but in all honesty you're unlikely to use the T303 for anything more than sending picture messages to friends.
And if you're worried about eating up all that memory with video clips, you can think again – the T303 doesn't feature any video recording capability whatsoever, something we've not seen missing from a phone for quite some time. Also lacking is any kind of high-speed data option, so surfing the net is an excruciatingly sluggish experience.
That's assuming you'll even want to surf the web on the T303's tiny display in the first place.
Showcasing a 1.8-inch screen running at an underwhelming 128x160 pixel resolution, this is hardly the stuff of technological dreams. The display is neither sharp nor detailed and as a result using the T303 feels like a massive step back compared to pretty much any handset you might care to mention from the past year or two.
To its credit, SE has at least attempted to shoehorn its latest operating system into the T303. It's been adapted to work within this disappointingly low-definition environment and while navigating the menus is a pain-free experience, at the end of the day it's nothing more than a pale imitation of what we've become accustomed to with the manufacturer's phones lately.
Gaming on the T303, then, is a bit of a mixed affair – the D-pad is decent enough, although the raised lip that surrounds its edges often annoys, but such issues are pretty irrelevant as the phone's appallingly primitive screen resolution means you'll be excluded from downloading the latest games. True, there are plenty of older titles out there that will happily run on the T303 but seriously, who wants to buy a gaming phone that is outdated from the word go?
When reviewing a budget handset it's probably a little churlish to pick fault over the lack of features, but considering the price band the T303 inhabits (it's available for around £50 on PAYG), it's effortlessly outclassed by rival devices - many of which boast better cameras, higher resolution screens, more onboard memory (not to mention expandability) and faster data transfer.
However, what the T303 does possess is style. The design is excellent and given the target audience (the fact that some network operators are bundling girly mobile phone 'charms' with the phone might suggest that its appeal is skewed somewhat towards the female of the species) we can certainly see this finding favour with some sectors of the market - it's certainly not going to take up too much room in your handbag. However, as susceptible as we are to a pretty face, it's impossible to overlook the shortcomings of the T303.
Sony Ericsson T303
The eye-catching exterior of the T303 belies the technological poverty contained within. It might be nice to look at but this phone is crippled by a poor feature list and is therefore difficult to recommend
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.