It may be banging the drum for bill topping Walkman phones like the W902 and big shot Cybershot phones such as the C905, but Sony Ericsson has also been taking care of business at the credit-crunched end of the mobile market.
The T303 is designed to appeal to phone buyers who aren't looking for the latest high end, cutting edge gadgetry, but are more concerned with getting a handset that will do the basics well – and look good while doing it.
Budget phone
This entry-level handset sells itself mainly on its snappy sliderphone design and compact styling rather than its sparse specs list.
Its main features extend to a basic 1.3-megapixel camera, an FM radio and a music player – although storage for tracks is a meagre 8MB, and there's no memory card expansion support, so you're not going to be able to line up much in the way of tracks,
What is more appealing is the price. Available on pre-pay for around the £50 mark, the T303 is aimed squarely at the hearts and purses of a younger fashion conscious – but cash strapped - audience.
Stylish design
Fair play to Sony Ericsson – it is a bit of an eye-catcher, with a brushed metal casing, chrome look plastic control panel, and a mirrored front panel covering the screen.
Available in either silver or black, it's a compact handset, measuring 83(h) x 47(w) x 15(d)mm, and at 93g it feels unexpectedly weighty in the hand. It'll fit inconspicuously into a handbag or pocket, but it's reflective front panel will attract the eye when taken out to play.
Beneath the mirror frontage, the phone's display pops up when the phone's active, although it's rather small and basic – a 1.8-inch screen, with a 65K-colour, low resolution 128x160 pixels array. This is really the minimum you'd expect from even a budget handset in 2008, and it isn't helpful for decent mobile internet viewing, or for glancing at images you've taken.
Menus look a bit blockier than on other Sony Ericsson's we've seem recently, but it's no handicap for getting around the straightforward navigation system.
Simple layout
The front panel controls are ranged around a central navigation D-pad.
There's pair of rice-thin softkeys under the display, plus prominent Call and End buttons. Also built into the chrome-look plastic panel are a Shortcuts button and the Clear key – both of which are a tad too stiff to press for our liking.
The flush keys on the numberpad are large and well spaced out, considering the room available. They have a slightly spongy action compared to the best texting phones, but are reasonable enough to use.
Getting around the menus is no hassle. The typical Sony Ericsson navigation system may have fewer options than more upmarket models, but it's easy to negotiate and based on a similar main menu grid of icons with assorted sub menus.
The D-pad also has four extra shortcut options from standby to add to the Shortcuts key, opening up access to most of the key features in a couple of presses.
Low spec camera
Tucked behind the solid slider mechanism, the 1.3-megapixel camera is a rudimentary snapper. Most budget cameraphones now start at 2-megapixels, so don't expect great things from this one – there's no flash let alone sophisticated stuff like autofocus control.
It has a plain, no frills user interface, with the central part of the screen doing viewfinder duties in portrait mode, and the D-pad acting as the shutter button.
