| 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.
|
|