Sony Ericsson doesn't make many clamshell handsets and the Z750i is a rare example. It is a 3G phone with HSDPA and is also quad band GSM. Phone company 3 has a purple version as well as a silver one, and it was the purple version we took a look at.

The colour is striking. We are talking vibrant purple with a metallic sheen that really makes a splash when you take the phone out of your pocket. If you aren't that keen on bling, steer clear.

This is a neat handset for the pocket at 97mm tall, 49mm wide, 20mm thick and 110g in weight. There is a front screen, of course. It is an OLED display that uses a letterbox format being 36 pixels high and 128 pixels wide. It is located so that you have to hold the phone on its side to read the contents. We found it wasn't always easy to read when the phone was on our desk due to wide viewing angles. We often had to pick the phone up and look at the display head on to read it.

The inner screen, by comparison, is wonderful. It isn't huge at 2.2 inches across diagonal corners, but it presents its 240 x 320 pixels and 262,000 colours brightly and well. Sony Ericsson's reputation for high quality displays is not tarnished here.

The number pad keys are big and well raised from their surroundings, so texting at speed should not be a problem. However, we did have some problems with the built-in 2-megapixel camera. It isn't the highest resolution around, but that's not what annoyed us. With no side button launcher you can't get the camera going until you open the flip. That means it isn't as easy as it could be to take off-the-cuff, candid photos and you could miss out on some fun shots.

Also, we aren't fans of the camera software which provides a truncated section of the screen for framing shots, with an area dedicated to delivering information about camera settings. Furthermore, we found we had to take care to hold the phone very steady to avoid producing blurred photos.

The phone plays music but there is only 32MB of built-in memory. Battery life was good, though: we got more than ten hours of music from a full charge.

Verdict
The Z750i is a mixed bag. The camera isn't too hot, but battery life is good. The front display is disappointing, the inner one superb. Fans of the clam format might want to take a look, but we wouldn't say this is a top-notch mobile.

Company: Sony Ericsson

Contact: 08707 330 333

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