Sony Ericsson Hazel preview: First look

Introduction

The Sony Ericsson GreenHeart series have been keeping us busy this holiday season, haven't they? We called the Elm red hot and there goes the Hazel, which is simply … red. Now, no offense is meant here - the Hazel just doesn't look as unusual as its sibling. But that's not necessarily a bad thing - another ultimate and classic Sony Ericsson slider can hope for a warm reception by brand-loyal users.

You won't see "green" written all over the phones in the GreenHeart lineup but Sony Ericsson are taking eco-friendliness seriously. The Sony Ericsson Hazel is made of recycled plastics and the user manual is stored in the phone's memory instead printed on paper.

In the small, shipping-optimized retail package you'll also find a low power consumption charger. But what we know already from our Elm preview is that having a GreenHeart is not necessarily a compromise with functionality.

Sony Ericsson Hazel official photos

The Sony Ericsson Hazel packs a great 2.6" mineral-glass-covered scratch-resistant display, a promising 5-megapixel sharpshooter and all-you-can-eat connectivity. The Hazel is almost identically equipped as the Elm, which we previewed quite recently.

Sony Ericsson Hazel at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100, GPRS/EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps
• Form factor: Slider
• Dimensions: 102 x 49.5 x 16 mm, 120 g
• Display: 2.6-inch 16M color TFT display, 240 x 320 pixel resolution, covered with scratch-resistant mineral glass
• Memory: 319MB integrated memory, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• UI: Proprietary Flash-based UI
• Still camera: 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection, smile detection, VGA video recording @ 30 fps
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi with DLNA, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, GPS receiver with A-GPS
• Misc: Splash-resistant body, accelerometer sensor for screen auto rotation, SensMe, Noise Shield, Clear Voice and Intelligent Volume Adaptation, social networking integration with homescreen Widget Manager, HD Voice Ready
• Battery: 1000 mAh BST-43 Li-Po battery

Besides fast network data (up to 7.2 mbps download speed), the Hazel sports Wi-Fi and an inbuilt GPS receiver complete with A-GPS support and Wisepilot navigation.

The real news would've been the homescreen widget system with enhanced social networking integration but both GreenHeart handsets we got are early testing samples, so social networking will have to wait until a full review.

The Sony Ericsson Hazel has the curved shape of the Elm but is the more standard looking phone in the pair

You're probably keen to know more about the next Sony Ericsson all-in-one feature phone that comes to inherit marvelous performers like the W995 and C905. Jump to the next page for a chance to see the Hazel from some new angles.