Sony Mobile Evangelist

Eldar Murtazin, the man- the legend behind Mobile-Review has done it again. A preview of the Sony Ericsosn Kurara has been published at Mobile-Review, with loads of pics and Eldar's own views. If you're looking to lay your hands on the Kurara, this preview is certainly worth a look.

Here's what he had to say:

Although there is one area where it excels and that’s UI, for it’s the fastest Symbian-based smartphone to date, based on Cortex A8 with 256 Mb RAM.at this point, it’s said the Kukara will retail for 400 Euro at the minimum, which is simply too much for a product of this caliber. If it hits the market at this price point, it won’t have even a chance to make any sort of impact.

The U5’s production cost hovers at around 200 Euro, so by forgoing their lust for extra-high margins and opting to retail it for 300 Euro ( around Rs 21000), they’d be able to turn it into a milestone device and a true icon for its segment. In a way, it’d be more like the Sony Ericsson T610/K750 that shined on the market several years ago. Which route will they pick? We’ll see in a couple of months. If they fail to cut its price down to 300 Euro, the U5 will pass unnoticed.

While made out of plastic, it feels pleasant in the hand. The back cover is so thin that sometimes it seems that you’d be able to pierce it with your finger. Yet, it feels quite sturdy and not loose by any means. The phone carries a microSD memory card slot, although there isn’t much bundled memory at all. The display seems to be pretty sensitive, as it’s similar to the one employed in the Satio. On top of that, the U5 boasts a 3.5mm audio jack at the top, as well as a microUSB socket. As far as its battery time is concerned, in our tests it lasted around one day, although we did give it a run for its money there. Its proprietary UI sports a twitter client, and a Satio-esque Facebook app.

The U5’s camera is nothing to write home about, and except for its 720p resolution for video. ( hope SE works on this!)

The product doesn’t offer any innovations that can make one open his mouth and say “Wow” – it’s a solid, likable phone, whose fate depends entirely on its price tag. At 300 Euro it’ll be a bestseller, make no mistake about that; however if they opt to charge a premium for the non-existent brand value, it won’t make any impact on the market. All in all, the U5 is a decent phone, but it needs a fitting marketing strategy more than anything else right now.

Read the entire preview of the Kurara