Sony Ericsson Z200 Review

Overall Rating

Drop dead good looks, decent polyphonic ringtones and good call performance.

Poor texting facilities, poor keypad, very slow operating system, average screen quality, only one number per phone book storage and poor battery life!

I've had good (T630) and bad (Z600) to say about the current batch of phones from Sony! My first impression when I opened the box on the Sony Ericsson Z200 mobile phone was WOW! The phone looks gorgeous and will definately be a winner with the style conscious users. But at what cost?
The flip style Tri-band handset has removeable front covers that can be changed to suit your mood. Mine came with a choice of dark blue or silver, but is also offered with a choice of red and white! The cover features the round hole through which you can see the Z200's LCD display. This is a simple black and white affair which can show the phones analogue clock, or after a push of the side button, the time in digital format, the battery condition and signal strength. Flip open the Z200 and inside is a colour 4K display similar to the recent batch of Nokia's. Having experienced the T610, Z600 and more recently the T630, I found the display a bit dull and lacking in contrast but it will do the job in all but the brightest of conditions. The keys on the keypad are slightly recessed and orange backlit. This can be a problem when texting as you aren't sure if you've pushed the button properly and spend a lot of time correcting your spelling. At the top of the keypad there is a five way rocker to select items from the menu, which is the now familier Sony icon system. Either side of this rocker the Yes, No keys can be found and these are used to select options from the menu as well as to make or cancel a call. If you are familier with the Sony Ericsson user interface on the afore mentioned T610/Z600 you will find the Z200 familier but confusing. Selecting the phone book for instance is easy enough, but it took a good 3 seconds for the list to actually appear! Scrolling to a number and viewing it resulted in the same slow response. This "slow" problem was also evident when texting using T9. The Z200 just could not keep up with my typing speed and suggested spellings have to be scrolled through one at a time until you find the word you want. Ringtones on the Z200 are 40 polyphonic and are pretty good with a decent volume level to get your attention in even the loudest wine bar! New ones can be downloaded from the Sony website or you can use the built-in infra red port to beam them from your PC or a friends phone! Contacts can be stored in the Z200's phone book but only one number per contact is possible so could be limiting for the party animal with more than 200 friends. Call quality on this phone was generally very good with clear speech and a decent level of volume. The battery only lasted around 2.5 days with regular use which is disappointing for a phone with only one colour screen to drain it. WAP over GPRS was reasonably fast and if you're stuck with time on your hands the Z200 has a couple of pretty good Java games including Alien Scum which kept me amused for a few minutes. New game downloads aren't supported on the Z200 though! If you can put up with the slow operating system, shaky texting and limited phone book capacity then the Z200 will certainly get some admiring looks from your friends. But, for me looks aren't enough and beauty has to be more than skin deep so I'm afraid the Z200 doesn't find its way into my pocket!

Members' Comments onscarborian's Review

• seg on 13th Aug 2004

  No Java games in this phone! Doesn't support Java - a total low if you ask me :(