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LG KT520 vs Sony Ericsson T303
Maggie Holland
LG has a trick up its sleeve too as touch fans can turn the select button into a touch sensitive control pad
These two slider phones (the LG KT520 and Sony Ericsson T303) both have their merits, but which will wing the crown of review of reviews?
Published on Jan 29, 2009
In these cash-strapped times, we’re all looking to make our money work that little bit harder than before.
Thankfully, both LG and Sony Ericsson have a little something to offer slider phone fans in this respect, serving up the KT520 and T303 respectively, both us which will leave you with quite a bit of change from £100 – on prepay that is, which is likely to become more popular thanks to Mr Economy’s selfishness.
Although both are fairly similar in price (circa £90 for LG’s and £60 for Sony Ericsson’s) and both are sliders, they’re targeted at slightly different markets. LG considers its KT520 to be a mid-range offering, while Sony’s little handset is carrying around the stigma that so often comes with being slapped with a ‘budget’ label – it might as well come with a bell to ring!
Pay your money, take your chance
So what do you get for your money? A whole lot of chunkiness from LG, that’s what. At 49.6x15.3x101.4mm, this handset is going to cause questionable bulges in pockets of skinny jean fans. But if your pockets are a bit more accommodating, the phone’s 97g weight won’t cause your trousers to buckle under the strain and fall down.
The T303, however, is a bit dinkier, weighing in at 93g with dimensions of 47x15x83mm, making it perhaps more appealing to those who think size is the most important factor.
Sony’s slider is brushed metal and chrome-clad, with a screen that becomes almost mirror-like when not in use – we’re assuming it’s aimed at the ladies or those into guy liner then? Conversely, the KT520 cuts a very stylish figure in black and chrome.
Both handsets have a similar layout. Although LG has a trick up its sleeve too as touch fans can turn the select button into a touch sensitive control pad, which makes scrolling life much easier, there’s also a neat switch button to the left that enables you to flip between open applications much like you do with ALT and SHIFT on a desktop PC. There are also a few other nifty shortcuts on the menu too.
The screen may be 2.2-inch but we were distinctly underwhelmed by it. We felt the same towards the number pad's quality, which looks like it may cack quickly if the owner happens to be a heavy-duty texter.
Sony Ericsson’s T303 pleased us shortcut-wise but also let us down a bit when it comes to quality, with the key panel being a bit to plasticky for our liking – although it is important to remember this is a budget handset. And, despite the KT520 not boasting the greatest screen on earth, it still leaves the T303’s in its shadow, which is just 1.8-inch, 128x160 pixels with support for 65,000 colours.
Other features
The headphones bundled with both handsets are pretty average, but nonetheless music player quality is OK. The KT520’s loudspeaker didn’t live up to its name but it didn’t suffer the same tinnyness as the T303 – which is why many will opt for a Walkman branded handset if music is their love. The latter also boasts Sony’s TrackID software, which will no doubt please some music fans.
Organisational tools like a calendar, task management, notes, calculator and timer are present and correct on both the KT520 and T303.
LG comes out on top in the camera wars, offering 3.2-megapixel to Sony’s comparatively pathetic 1.3-megapixel. The T303 is a no frills, basic snapper with auto focus and flash nowhere to be seen, a vanilla UI and a distinct lack of special effects.
While the KT520’s image and video results aren’t earth shattering, they do the job and are backed up by an auto focus function – although the flash must have had an argument with LG too as it’s left the building for this handset as well. That said, you’ll find a front-facing secondary camera for video calling in addition to a few basic, but worthy, shooting features.
When it comes to memory, the KT520 is much beefier with 30MB - and support for microSD storage - compared with the T303’s paltry 8MB and no additional storage mechanism.
The T303 will have you reaching for the charger less frequently (claiming 9 hours’ talktime and 400 hours’ standby compared with the KT520’s three hours and 200 hours respectively) but that may be more to do with the fact it has less resource-intensive functions than anything else.
|
LG KT520 |
Sony Ericsson T303 |
|
|
Dimensions |
49.6x15.3x101.4mm (WDH) |
47x15x83mm (WDH) |
|
Weight |
97g |
93g |
|
Screen |
2.2in (240x 320 pixels) |
1.8 in (128x160 pixels) |
|
Camera rating |
3.2 MP |
1.3 MP |
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth, EDGE, GSM, GPRS, HSDPA (3.6Mbps) |
Bluetooth, GSM, GPRS, |
|
Multimedia |
AAC, MP3 (audio), H.263, MPEG4 (video) |
AAC, AACplus, eAACplus, MIDI, MP3, WMA (audio) |
|
Memory |
30MB, supports microSD storage (up to 4GB) |
8MB |
|
Battery |
Li-Ion 800 mAh, 3 hours (talktime), 200 hours (standby) |
Li-Po 930 mAh, 9 hours (talktime), 400 hours (standby) |
Verdict
For the young and cash-strapped, Sony’s T303 may have a slight edge, but for everyone else, our money’s on LG’s KT520, which steals the limelight.
See all the 'Versus' articles on our Head-to-head home page
Users Comments
N96 Cost…..$300usd,N81 8GB Cost….$260usd
Posted By niii 1 January 31, 2009 05:24:21 AM
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The LG KT520 and Sony Ericsson T303 are both sliders aimed at those strapped for cash
