Sony Ericsson W880i Review
Supersexy, superslim 3G Walkman phone, the W880i features
Sony's award-winning Walkman music player with enough memory for
around 250 songs, 3G video calling and a 2 megapixel camera. At
just 9.4mm thick, the W880i is the slimmest and lightest 3G
phone available, however it misses a couple of features
available on other Walkman phones - a radio and a camera flash -
and some people may find the keypad a bit fiddly.
Whoa! What have Sony Ericsson been up to? They've put their
top-selling Walkman phone on a crash diet, given it a stainless
steel casing and bundled in a 1 Gbyte memory card and a stereo
headset. The Sony Ericsson W880i is a stunning phone that is a
contender for the best Walkman phone so far. It's also the
thinnest and lightest 3G phone released in the UK (just 9.4 mm
thick and 71g in weight). Yet it's an incredibly well featured
music phone. This phone is surely destined to be a winner!
The W880i is a classic-shaped phone that's relatively large but
flat. The keypad is reasonably well designed, avoiding the
problem that the W850i slide phone had with the top row of keys
being hard to access, but the keys are too small and separated.
The W880i uses a 5-way scroll key rather than the clumsy
joystick used on some of its other phones. Ergonomically we'd
give it 3 out of 5. The stainless steel casing gives the phone a
real quality feeling though, and the phone looks great both in
black or silver.
Like the W850i, this is a 3G phone, with the benefits of 3G
video calling, music & video streaming and fast downloads. The
camera is 2 megapixels with a digital zoom and a video recording
function. This is not as good as the K800i's camera, and lacks a
flash, but it's typical for high-end 3G phones and is fine for
casual use. The display is a high quality TFT screen with
262,000 colours and 240 x 320 pixels.
The music player is the feature that's at the heart of the
W880i, and as you'd expect it's a really excellent player that
can match an iPod in music quality. The music player can be
accessed by a single click, and you can play, rewind, fast
forward, equalise, shuffle tracks and create playlists. Sony's
MegaBass™ feature gives added woomph when playing music from the
built-in loudspeaker, but for the best quality audio you need to
listen via a pair of good headphones. A set of good quality
headphones are included in the sales package, and the phone is
also compatible with Bluetooth stereo headphones. There are some
extra gadgets included in the music department. TrackID™ lets
you identify a song (name, artist and album) from a few seconds
recording, e.g. a song that you hear on the radio or in a club.
The PlayNow™ download service lets you buy and download MP3
ringtones from your phone. The phone is supplied with a 1 Gbyte
memory card, so there's lots of room for storing music tracks -
almost 250 tracks.
Most types of connectivity are supported. Bluetooth lets you
connect your phone to another phone, a PC, a Bluetooth stereo
headset, or a car handsfree kit. USB and Fast Port are supported
too. The phone is also equipped for the internet age with a web
browser, support for RSS feeds and a picture blogging function.
3G lets you access the internet whilst simultaneously making a
call, and the internet is "always-on". Flight mode lets you use
the music, imaging and organiser functions of the phone with
mobile telephony switched off.
Does the W880i lack miss out on anything? It's an obvious
question, since the size of the phone is about half that of the
W810i Walkman phone. There are a few things. First, the camera
is not as good as that on the W810i, but is about the same as
that of the W850i, although there's no flash. Fair enough, as
this is primarily a music phone and not an all-rounder like the
K-series phones. Secondly, the screen is smaller than on some
other Sony Ericsson phones. Thirdly there's no radio, and this
might be a disappointment to some readers. If you want an FM
radio, then the W810i or W850i are the phones for you. Finally,
the keys are too small and many people will find difficulty
using the keypad, especially for texting.
The Sony Ericsson W880i may not have everything, but it has a
heck of a lot. And what it has most of is style. The other
Walkman phones, whilst being fantastic phones to use, are shall
we say a bit dull to look at. The W880i is still brick-shaped,
but it's a very nice-looking brick and one that many people will
be very happy to have in their pocket. However, on balance we
still prefer the W810i which has the advantages of a better
keypad, superior camera (with flash), and a radio.
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