Too late, too boring, too vague. That's my verdict on the "environmentally conscious" GreenHeart prototype phone unveiled by Sony Ericsson last week. Sony Ericsson knows its cred with treehuggers is trailing behind Nokia, which already has two eco concepts -- the 3110. By announcing a concept phone so late in the day, Sony Eric looks like it's bandwagon jumping.
Then there's the design. This is hardly a thrilling vision of the future, is it? GreenHeart looks like a mildly tweaked K810i with green menu icons. That's fine, but dull. Compared to Nokia's wacky concepts, this looks like it was designed by the Corporate Social Responsibility team rather than Sweden and Japan's finest design gurus.
Finally, there's the wishy-washy timeline for this becoming reality. Nokia's guilty of parading concepts too, but at least it's produced a real world product with the 3110.
The environment promises of the GreenHeart don't look too shabby. It has a bio-plastic case like the Nokia 3110, which could potentially give the phone a lower carbon footprint. It also has a recycled plastic keypad (good), low-draw charger (again, Nokia has one of those already) and will come in vague "environmentally conscious" packaging. The final two touches, digital manuals and an eco game, just look like greenwash.
Sony Ericsson makes some nice phones. I really believe it can do better than this -- hopefully the GreenHeart will be one of those rare cases where the reality is better than the concept.
Photos: Sony Ericsson and Mobile Cowboys
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
RSS Feeds 
Send Us Tips 
