Walk with your Music At half the price of the Zylo, the Sony Ericsson Spiro makes much more sense as a Walkman phone-- especially when you take into account the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone socket and the modest price.
Design
The Spiro is a simple slider with a cute design and solid construction. The glossy front gives the phone a sense of style. The matte battery cover provides a contrast, as well as preventing the device from slipping out of your palm accidently. The alphanumeric keypad -- which is revealed by sliding the phone open -- boasts large, tactile buttons and is a joy to use. Elsewhere on the device, you'll find the standard Sony Ericsson direction pad and button setup, designed with music controls. The cluster of buttons can feel a little cramped at times. The phone is available in some interesting combinations like silver with blue, pink or purple or in classy black.
Key features
If you seek a music-playing phone for a small price, this is definitely worth your money. The Spiro uses Sony Ericsson's proprietary operating system. It's an evolution of the same interface the company has been using for nearly a decade. The Spiro lacks 3G and relies on Edge or GPRS for data connectivity. Sony Ericsson's aim here is to successfully combine music with social networking. All kinds of messaging features with email is covered. The Spiro comes pre-loaded with rudimentary Twitter and Facebook clients.
Music on the Go
However, the Walkman 4.0 software of Spiro is more impressive. It connects to the PlayNow store, allowing you to download music, ringtones and games direct to the phone's internal memory. At this point, it's worth mentioning that the Spiro comes with just 5MB of internal storage, so a microSD card is a must. TrackID is another noteworthy tool in the Spiro's arsenal. The software can identify a song just from listening to a few seconds. The wise inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack means you can plug in your expensive earpieces. With just 2 megapixels to play with and no flash, the Spiro's camera is pretty average but decent for some fun snaps.
Cons
Lack of Wi-Fi and a poor camera are its main turn offs.
Verdict
With such a modest specification, it's clear the Spiro isn't intended as a front-line device but is aimed at the lower end of the market. The Spiro can click because of its impressive build quality and decent media-playback.
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