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Sony Ericsson CSS-25

Monday, Aug 6, 2007

It’s August of 2007.  The iPhone is upon us, old ladies are checking out pictures of the grandkids on their Blackberries, and the Motorola Razr is FINALLY being given away as a free phone.  What better time, then, to review an accessory for a two-year-old cell phone that hardly anyone purchased?  Although my trusty Sony Ericsson S710a is starting to show its age, it still turns heads whenever I take it out on the town.  There really isn’t another phone like it, with its innovative “switchblade” design and incredibly well-integrated camera features.  There are other phones on the market now that do everything the S710a does (and then some), but none seem to bring such a feature set together in as sexy a package as the S710a.

For quite some time now, I’ve wanted to purchase a charging base for my phone.  Ever since my first Sony Ericsson (a T-60d which has since been passed on to a friend in its sixth year of useful service), I’ve recognized the stress that’s placed on the interconnects of that brand’s products as charger cables are yanked in and out of place on a nightly basis.  A charging station provides a more stable (and reinforced) connection which I’m convinced eases strain on the phone’s ports over the long haul. 

The CSS-25 is just such a charging stand.  Not only does it support the phone on a desk or table during charging, but it also features an integrated speakerphone and data connection for interfacing with a serial or USB PC link (cables not included).  The stand is about 3.5 inches in diameter, and its construction is relatively sturdy (or at least as sturdy as one would expect from a first-party cell phone accessory).  Unit controls consist of an answer button, a mute button, and a switch which toggles output between the built-in speaker and a separate corded headset.  Audio quality from the built-in speaker is quite an improvement over the S710a’s integrated speakerphone, and my small pool of sample listeners agrees universally that the base’s mic pickup is far clearer than that built into the handset when in speakerphone mode. 

So with the positive out of the way, there’s really just one negative to this charging base.  Whenever a phone is plugged into it, a bright LED mounted along it’s front edge glows a blindingly bright green.  This light remains on all the time (regardless of the phone’s battery status), thus making the stand utterly useless as a bedside accessory.  I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to turn off the bulb (be it a thin strip of gaff tape or the surgical removal of the LED itself), though I really do wish manufacturers would stop producing products that glow like lighthouses round the clock. 

Considering I only spent $30 for this on Amazon, I’m really not that disappointed despite the stand’s single (blinding) shortcoming; this was one of the only bases which was listed as compatible with the S710a on Sony Ericsson’s website.  Still, for customers with a different model, you may want to research some of the less feature-rich charging bases out there so long as they’ll support your handset.  Fewer features tends to mean fewer LED’s keeping you up at night.  Till Next Time—

The Good Ed