A PSP phone has been on a few people’s wish list for at least the last year. All indications, however, point towards such a device not really being in the cards, with nary a peep of a rumor coming out pointing to one. The Sony Ericsson F305, the company’s latest gaming phone, may be as close as you can get – at least for the meantime.
Sporting a compact and stylish design, the F305 is an attractive phone with a slider form factor. For the most part, it actually looks more animated than what the typical Sony Ericsson handset looks like. With the gaming theme firmly in tow, trying to move away from Sony’s more business-like face layout probably makes sense and it works.
The phone comes with a total of 61 games (11 pre-loaded, with 50 on the bundled M2 card), dedicated gaming keys (O and X keys, PSP-style) and a built-in accelerometer for motion-controlled play. The two gaming keys are situated right above the display, which works nicely with games that use the screen in landscape mode. Overall, the included games are a lot of fun, especially the landscape-playing ones, which made me feel like I’m playing on an engrossing yet partially disabled (and less powerful) PSP.
Unfortunately, the compact styling forced the F305 to sport a considerably small 2-inch LCD, which, in my opinion, severely limits the kinds of games the phone can have. In the same way, only three of the 61 games used the accelerometer, although I’ve seen a few more available online.
All the keys and controls worked nicely, both for gaming, navigation and the usual phone functions. Geared towards younger customers, it might have done better fitted with QWERTY messaging keys, although the included T9 layout isn’t too bad.
As for the non-gaming features, the F305 works pretty well. Calls are good, although, I did notice some occasional crackling, along with sharpness at the two loudest volumes. The music player module is remarkably mature for a non-Walkman handset, with a great bundled software and nifty loudspeakers that are way better than those I’ve heard in many music phones. The 2.0 megapixel camera actually seemed below average in quality, although, phone cameras never really did impress me much.
Overall, I’m impressed with the Sony Ericsson F305. While it lacks the N-Gage’s generous resolution and the iPhone’s exhaustive list of games, it’s a capable gaming device with a good selection of titles. The only major concern is probably the number of future titles that will support the well-implemented landscape and accelerometer – if Sony Ericsson can find a way to push game development with those specific features in mind (although I don’t find it likely), even I won’t mind getting one.
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