14 DAY TRIAL // One of the latest feature-phones announced by Sony Ericsson, the txt pro has just been spotted at the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), which means that a U.S. release is imminent.
Unfortunately, those who have been waiting for the small slider will probably be disappointed to find that the phone lacks North American 3G and 4G support, instead Sony Ericsson txt pro is fully compatible with GSM 850 / 1900 bands.
There's a high chance that the phone will be picked by either AT&T or T-Mobile USA, as the network compatibility suggests that these will be the first to offers Sony Ericsson's messaging phone.
Although the 3G connectivity has little use for a messaging phone, it would have been great to have the capability for faster browsing.
Aimed at heavy texters, Sony Ericsson txt pro was announced in June and is expected to hit shelves in the United States by the end of July, though no specific release date has been disclosed yet.
Sony Ericsson txt pro strongly resembles the Xperia X10 mini pro Android smartphone, but is focused on the messaging features rather than multimedia.
It comes with a medium size 3.0-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 262K colors support, 240 x 400 pixels resolution, accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, as well as proximity sensor for auto turn-off.
The main strong points of the phone are the 4-row slide-out QWERTY keyboard, along with the Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g connectivity.
The slider is equipped with a PNX-4910 processor and packs 100 MB of internal memory, 64 MB of RAM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
The txt pro sports a mediocre 3.0-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities (QVGA) and Stereo FM radio with RDS function.
The standard 1000 mAh Li-Ion battery that powers the phone is rated for up to 400 hours of standby time or up to 5 hours of talk time.