Sony Ericsson F305 mobile phone

The Sony Ericsson F305 is a Boost Mobile-exclusive, motion-sensitive mobile phone. This slider handset has a 2-megapixel camera, an FM radio tuner and the ability to play MP3s.

The Sony Ericsson F305 mobile phone sports an attractive white design and is well-built. An eight-way control pad sits on the front of the slider, and there is a proprietary headphone/charging port on the left side. The 2-megapixel camera sits on the back of the handset above the battery, and a Memory Stick Micro (M2) card slot can be found on the top.

One of the key features being spruiked by the Boost Mobile is the Sony Ericsson F305's "Wiistyle gaming experience". The Sims 2 and Need for Speed: Prostreet are just two of the Java-based games that are included, and both are easy to control with the "gaming pad" control wheel. The 512MB M2 card that comes bundled with the Sony Ericsson F305 includes 50 extra games.

Unfortunately the "motion sensing" of the Sony Ericsson F305 mobile phone isn't very effective, and we found it unable to detect anything but the most violent movements. Bowling and Basshunter are just two of the motion-intensive games included, and we found that varying the level of handset shaking did little to improve or lower our scores.

The number keys are small and have very little bounce-back. This means that you often don't know if you've properly hit a key. The numbers on the top row (1, 2 and 3) are the firmest and most troublesome.

The signal quality of the FM tuner is good, and the phone's ability to recognise songs being played on the radio (using TrackID) is a definite plus. By recording a segment of music and uploading it to the TrackID service, you can find out the name of the song and other details. The service is free to use, but data costs still apply.

Call quality is good considering the phone's $199 price tag. Volume levels are fine and we didn't notice any excessive static during our testing.

According to Sony Ericsson, the F305 mobile phone has an estimated talk time of 480min and a standby time of 700 hours.

Boost Mobile offers the Sony Ericsson F305 as part of a prepaid bundle for $199. The sales package includes the handset, a Boost SIM pack, a charger and a stereo headset with a built-in microphone.