Sony Ericsson Cedar
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Sony Ericsson’s tree-hugging GreenHeart concept got off to a pretty good start with the Elm, but there was no escaping the fact that the handset cut corners in order to fulfil its environmentally-friendly remit.

Thankfully, with the follow up Sony Ericsson has beefed things up a little, whilst maintaining that all-important eco-friendly message.

Manufactured from recycled materials, the Cedar boasts a similar look to the Elm, with the curved battery cover and candy-bar form factor. It’s a lot more appealing in visual terms, though: the ridged keypad is unusual but eminently comfortable to use, and the sharper TFT screen improves the user experience immeasurably.

One cable fits all

Other improvements include the removal of the accursed Smart-Port connection and the long-overdue adoption of the industry-standard MicroUSB plug. This move means that practically any phone charger from the past six months will work with the Cedar. However, it has also allowed the manufacturer to be tight-fisted and hold back on including a USB transfer cable in the box, safe in the knowledge that you’ve probably got one lying around somewhere already.

Some elements of the device remain a little outdated, though. The 2-megapixel camera lacks a flash and is responsible for some unimpressive snaps, but it should suffice for casual mobile users. There’s also no MicroSD card included with the phone, despite the inclusion of an appropriate card slot.

The Cedar’s 280MB of internal storage means that this isn’t a pressing issue initially, but you may want to make a purchase if you intend to fill up the phone with music (and so you should – it has a 3.5mm headphone jack for your listening pleasure).
If it ain’t broke

Delving into the Cedar’s operating system, you’ll find a mixture of familiar features and neat embellishments. Sony Ericsson’s user interface is as old as the hills now, and the firm has done little to evolve it from the state it was in half a decade ago. However, it’s functional, intuitive, and packs in plenty of options – so the argument could be: why change it for the sake of change?

The company’s UI designers haven’t been entirely lazy, though: this particular iteration of the OS features likeable transition animations and other neat tricks, all of which help bring what is usually a rather static experience to life.

Sony Ericsson’s Walkman-style media software makes a return, and even allows you to blog your photos via Blogger, Flickr, or Picasa. The other big inclusion is home screen widgets, covering such services as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Widget woe

These have obviously been influenced by apps available on the latest breed of smartphones, and while they offer quick access to your social networking world, they’re a little sluggish – especially the Twitter client, which is almost unusable at times.

Similarly, the Cedar’s NetFront-powered web browser isn’t really up to the task: it valiantly tries to reformat pages in a mobile-friendly fashion, but ends up presenting a rather confusing mess. It’s perfectly acceptable if you’re looking to browse mobile-focused sites or merely check a few things online, but don’t go expecting a pleasurable web experience.

Thankfully, the Cedar’s gaming potential is a lot more striking, thanks largely to the colourful screen and responsive D-pad. As is the fashion these days, several trial games are pre-loaded on to the phone, all of which prompt you to make a full purchase when you’ve had a few minutes of fun. Digital Chocolate’s Block Breaker Deluxe is the pick of the bunch, but there are countless other options available by Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow portal.

Ultimately, the Cedar is pandering to a very narrow band of the mobile phone market. Low-cost smartphones such as the HTC Wildfire and T-Mobile Pulse Mini are slowly but surely swallowing up consumers who would ordinarily be perfectly happy with so-called ‘dumbphones’ like the Cedar, and that is going to make it increasingly difficult for such phones to make an impact.

However, there’s a lot to like about the Cedar. It has an eye-catching design, decent core functionality and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. It’s also kind to the environment – which may well be the main thing that endears it to mobile users with a conscience.

Sony Ericsson Cedar

A weak camera and poor online functionality prevent the Cedar from getting two thumbs up, but those of you that want a simple device without the fuss of smartphone-style complexity, this is arguably one of the best candidates available right now – and it’s great for Java-based gaming, too
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Damien  McFerran
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.