Let’s face it, however good the intentions, mobile phones are not environmentally sound. The parts, the recharging, the shipping all add up to quite a carbon footprint. But mobile phones are here to stay, and the environmentally aware will be pleased to hear that the manufacturers are doing their bit to help.

Sony Ericsson is so dedicated to the cause that it has produced a whole range of eco-friendly phones, called Greenheart. The flagship handset in the range is the Sony Ericsson Naite. The packaging itself is green, with a compact box, an e-manual (no paper, see?) and a carrier case made from environmentally friendly materials. You also get a charger and handsfree kit.

Style and handling for the Sony Ericsson Naite

We knew in advance that the Naite was made of recycled and recyclable materials, so didn’t expect much in terms of looks. We’re happy to admit we were wrong. It has nice, clean retro styling that puts us in mind of the Nokia 6700 Classic. The correlated plastic covering on the back isn’t quite our cup of tea, but it still looks good.

At a featherweight 84g, the Naite is almost too light – it feels insubstantial in the hand and we’re not confident it would survive a fall onto the pavement. The keyboard has been deigned to look metallic, but is feels very plastic under the fingers, and rather flimsy too. But this phone is all about the green credentials, not the design, so criticising the build seems a bit unfair somehow.

The keypad will be familiar to anyone who had a Sony Ericsson phone around 18 months ago. A standard 3x4 keypad sits underneath a shortcut key (from which you can access your favourite apps and any running in the background), call and call end keys, and the cancel key. Above these are two hard keys that work alongside the menu options on the corners of the screen. And in the middle of them all is the D-pad, which is simple and easy to use, and will have even the most inexperienced user whizzing around the menu system in no time.

The 2.2-inch display may be on the small side but boast 16 million colours and is vibrant and bright. It’s particularly vivid on the menu screen, with glowing icons which you can choose to view in a traditional grid format or as a rotating single-icon view. Unfortunately, when it comes to browsing the web, all that vibrancy disappears. Pictures lack brightness and text is thin and insubstantial.

Internet on the Sony Ericsson Naite

However, looks aside, the internet on the Sony Ericsson Naite is a fast experience thanks to the near-broadband HSDPA speeds of up to 3.6Mbps, depending on your network. YouTube was particularly impressive – despite the screen – with videos taking only a few seconds to buffer before playing smoothly.

When you want to view another page, simply start typing on the keypad and your text will automatically be entered into the Google search bar. Zooming isn’t so easy though, and to view the screen in landscape rather than portrait you need to go into the menu and manually select the option, or use the volume keys. It makes us appreciate the accelerometers found on other phones all the more.

There is a Facebook app built in so you can check out status and invite notifications on your home screen, view your friends and update your status. Unfortunately, notifications aren’t pushed to your home screen; instead you have to manually refresh the page.

Eco friendliness on the Sony Ericsson Naite

So, on to the most important facet of the Naite: its environmental credentials. We’ve already mentioned the reduced packaging and recyclable materials used in the hardware, but there are also a couple of applications to help you on your way to a greener lifestyle. A Green Calculator helps you work out your daily CO2 emissions and gives you tips on how to reduce them, while Ecomate is a daily quiz designed to determine how much you know about the environment. A sample question: If five families turned off the tap while washing dishes for a period of 20 years, how many people’s daily water supply would be saved? (the answer is nine million people, by the way).

Camera and music on the Sony Ericsson Naite

The camera on the Sony Ericsson Naite is nothing to shout about. It’s got a two-megapixel lens with no zoom above VGA quality and no flash, and the viewfinder only takes up about two-thirds of the already small screen.

The music player is better, and includes Sony Ericsson’s successful TrackID, which lets you identify tunes and purchase them if you wish from the improved PlayNow service. And while the headset deserves plaudits for being entirely made of recycled materials, a 3.5mm headset port would have been welcome.

The verdict on the Sony Ericsson Naite

It’s good to see a mobile manufacturer attempting to be more eco-friendly, and hope that other mobile phone producers take note and join the party. Granted, it will probably have limited appeal, being short on features, but it’s a good start that hopefully heralds the start of a green mobile revolution.

Buy the Sony Ericcson Naite From O2 here.