Sony Ericsson T250i Review by 3G.co.uk 
It’s fair to say that Sony Ericsson’s presence in the bargain basement prepay market has been marginal. Even after the mega-success of its Walkman music handsets and Cyber-shot camphones, the Japanese-Scandinavian outfit has still found it difficult to break Nokia’s dominance at this level. But in an attempt to crack the monopoly, Sony Ericsson has decided to up the production values, starting with the T250i.
Sony Ericsson wants to bring quality to the lower prepay classes without wrecking the wallet and at the time of going to press, O2 and Carphone Warehouse were shifting the T250i for a mere £30. Handle the T250i and you’ll soon see that 30 quid represents a stellar bargain. While not totally convincing, its classy brushed aluminium finish and solid build still feels out of place on such a rudimentary pay-as-you-go handset.
As a member of the recently resurrected classic Tseries, its design is also smart and refined. While it’s reminiscent of Sony Ericsson’s familiar signature candybar-stylings, the simple clean lines are nevertheless quite elegant.
Naturally, for such a frill-free handset, the T250i is incredibly user-friendly. The raised buttons on the spacious keypad are highly thummable and great for speed texting. The four-way joypad also has grips for extra purchase and sports signposted shortcuts, taking you to the phone’s more popular features. When in home-screen mode you can access the camera, FM radio, contacts and the messaging menu with one click. One minor niggle is the four-way joypad forcing you to use the left soft key for making selections. Those of us weaned on a five-way arrangement may find this disorientating to begin with, but operation will soon become second nature.
