Sony Ericsson R306 Radio review: Stay tuned

Sony Ericsson R306 Radio is quite unusually set to revolve around one single thing - listening to radio on-the-go. Its built-in radio tuner works in both FM and AM. The lower midrange R306 Radio delivers on other fronts too - it packs a 1.3 megapixel camera plus Bluetooth and USB connectivity. It's compact enough but also offers two surprisingly capable stereo speakers. How's that for a flashback to the time when family life revolved around the radio. The dedicated external radio keys complete the feature set of that nifty little fella. You are welcome to tune in and see what it's like to spend some time with it.

Official photos

Key features

• FM/AM radio tuner with RDS and TrackID
• AM tuner has two modes: 9 kHz (Americas and Japan) and 10 kHz (the rest)
• Dedicated external radio controls
• Tri-band GSM support
• 1.9" 65K-color TFT display of a 128 x 160 pixel resolution
• Secondary monochrome external display of a 96 x 32 pixel resolution
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• 5MB of internal memory
• Bluetooth
• USB
• Radio broadcasts recorder in MP3 format
• Stereo speakers
• Optimized design for desktop placing

Main disadvantages

• External display has low daylight legibility due to the mirror finish
• Radio is not that usable without the headset plugged in
• Standard headset jack is huge
• RDS readings not shown on external display
• Stores 20 stations only for AM and FM bands combined
• TrackID doesn't work with the radio

Announced in January 2008, Sony Ericsson R306 Radio is among the first handsets to drive heavily on the built-in radio tuner that is usually just an extra feature in most other handsets. When closed, the R306 certainly looks the part with dedicated radio keys and vintage radio looks. The Sony Ericsson R306 Radio is also unique for offering an AM radio tuner.

Sony Ericsson R306 Radio reviewed
Anyway, the R306 Radio is a lower midrange handset and all specifications match that tag. We won't be expecting miracles from it, but by the sound of it (pun intended), we think that it just might deserve some attention.
So, tune in to our show as we explore the Sony Ericsson R306 Radio right after this jump.