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Sony Ericsson J300A Phone (Unlocked)

Wireless/Mobile Phone Accesory/Cellular Phone Accessories

Although it's billed as an entry level phone the Sony Ericsson J300a is actually anything but. With a vibrant color screen, email capabilities, a speakerphone and more, this little partner is just the ticket for portable fun and productivity. This phone is compatible with your GSM wireless service provider.

Design
The J300a is graced with the typical good looks you expect from a Sony Ericsson phone. The phone's 128 x 128 screen supports up to 65,000 colors. Meanwhile, a five-way button just above the dial pad is used to control most of the phone's menus and features. Just below the phone's swooping housing for the internal antenna you'll find a large speaker for the speakerphone. USB data and charging ports, as well as a headset port, are located on the phone's bottom edge. And because the J500a's front and rear faceplates are changeable with Sony-Ericsson Style-Up covers, you can dress it up to suit your style.

Calling Features
The J300a's phone book can hold up to 500 contacts with multiple entries per contact. A call list remembers your most recent missed, received and dialed calls. Voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names, and the speakerphone is great for easy hands free talking. Polyphonic ringtones with up to 40 chords are included, while Picture caller ID lets you assign a photo or an image to specific callers. For those times you want to keep things discreet, there's a vibrate ringer mode.

Messaging, Internet, and Tools
The J300a has all the bases covered when it comes to messaging. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, pictures, graphics and sound via messages. Instant messaging is also supported and the phone ships with a built-in email client (supports POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols). T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users. Getting on the Internet is easy with the J300a, too. It supports the GPRS protocol, allowing you to jump on the wireless web via your carrier's data service.

A number of handy software tools are bundled with the J300a including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a calendar, and an alarm clock. Sony Ericsson Sync Station software lets you synchronize your Microsoft Outlook calendar, contacts, notes and tasks with the J300a via USB.

Multimedia and Entertainment
The J300a was designed for serious fun. The phone supports playback of streaming video files in the 3GPP or MPEG4 formats. Picture effects and custom screensavers, as well as backgrounds and themes can be set up to fit your personality. Meanwhile, USB connectivity makes it easy to load your favorite pictures, files and more into the phone's 11.7 MB of built-in memory.

Java support is built into the J300a, making it a powerful gaming companion. You can download more games from Sony Ericsson or your wireless carrier.

Vital Statistics
The Sony Ericsson J300a weighs 2.75 ounces and measures 3.9 x 1.68 x 0.72 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 7 hours of digital talk time, and up to 300 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the GSM/GPRS 850/1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
J300a handset, lithium-ion battery, travel charger, user's manual, and application software.

Features of Sony Ericsson J300A Phone (Unlocked):

40 tone polyphonic, mp3 or aac format ringtone capable
a clear 65,356 color screen makes the phone menus, icons, wallpapers and 3d graphics and games look great anywhere
built-in media player is your music and video center with 12mb of built in memory
loudspeaker on the back of the j300a is dedicated to music and game sound and is also used when you want comfortable handsfree calling
unlocked for use with your existing gsm 850 mhz or gsm 1900 mhz service provider and sim card. note: this phone does not come with service or a sim card

Reviews:

Better reception, more stable software, a few quirks

Rating: 4

There are ups and downs, but remember that this is only a little over a hundred bucks UNLOCKED, brand new, and purchased legitimately (not a hijacked gray-market prepaid phone). That's pretty cheap.

Good:

This model is making calls in spots where my other phones (mostly SonyEricsson) regularly show no service. SonyEricsson phones took a reception hit starting with the t68 and similar models. This is the first improvement I have seen in years.

Sound quality is better than the t290a, which sometimes cut in and out and had poor microphone quality. It wasn't unusable, but definitely low-end. The j300a has so far performed flawlessly.

I also have yet to experience the odd menu lockups and pauses that were common in the t300 and still present in the t610. Some things about the software have changed and are annoying to get used to, but the stability is much improved.

It also doesn't have the problem the t300 sometimes did with not being able to make a call (connecting forever) for no particular reason. It didn't happen most of the time, but someone who only used a t300 might have thought it was a network issue. It was a phone issue, and now it is fixed.

If you want a fancy-schmancy phone that does amusing stuff, this phone lets you use the media player option to play MP3s while you WAP browse, play games, etc.

The design is bound to have mixed reactions because it is a little weird with the swooped out bar on the back, but for me it is a refreshing change from the sea of silver clamshells. I normally prefer bar phones, but with at least a hint of unique design. This phone will make people say "ooh, neat!"

Bad:

One "con" to this phone is the MP3 ringers sound a little crummy (no bass, and an occasional pop). They play great when selected in the menu, but when a call is received the quality is reduced. Ericsson refuses to tell me if this is normal, and insists I either send it in for repair or buy a sync stand to update the software myself (expensive). It still sounds better than the recorded ringers on a Nokia, and MUCH better than the lower quality .amr format, but it's annoying that a software flaw stops it short of its full potential. Most users won't be too bothered by this though, as it is still above average.

You better be using MP3, HiFi, or whatever sound-clip ringer your carrier offers, because the MIDI player in this phone is terrible. None of the instruments sound real. Older models with MIDI support had a nearly full assortment of instruments, most of which sounded like the real thing. This phone plays most intruments as a bleep or crude piano. Ironically, the piano, the default sound for un-supported instruments, doesn't even sound good. I guess they are trashing MIDI assuming everyone will be going to MP3 ringers. But you probably have more MP3s than MIDIs anyway, so it's not too bad of a trade.

It lacks a full shortcut menu. It has assignable joystick shortcuts, limited to 4 and at least one you already plan on using for the phonebook (probably "down"). It does not have the shortcut menu of older models which allowed you to put a WAP website as one of the shortcuts.

The speakerphone is not loud enough, even for a small phone.

But the biggest drawback is a lack of Infrared or Bluetooth to transfer files. You need to buy a cable (get a generic one for $10, not a real Sony for $35). What the heck is the idea of giving us 12MB of memory and no way to fill it? I think that's what makes this a true entry-level model. Bluetooth or IR are the biggest hardware features that cost money.

One more thing:

For the non-pink-lovers, I too can confirm that it does indeed come with both the dark gray faceplate (almost black) installed and the bonus pink one. Fear not!

Good phone, small	Rating: 5
This is a good phone, very small, great call quality. I'm not going to do a huge review but just wanted to let any prospective buyers know the phone comes unbranded and with a black faceplate installed (the pink one they show is included as an extra). I had read that elsewhere so I ordered the phone -don't let the pinkness stop you if you are thinking about this phone.

By Sony Ericsson