Having recently been eligible for a free phone upgrade through my network provider, I opted for the Sony Ericsson W910i walkmanmobile phone. I have owned several Sony Ericsson phones over the past few years, and have become quite a big fan of their phones. My tariff is reasonably low, so I wasn't eligible for a top of the range model without having to pay something towards it, so the W910i seemed the better choice of an average range of free phones I was offered.
For pure looks, the W910i is a joy to look at, and in my opinion is up there with the best of them. The W910i is a slide phone, and it comes in a super-slim, sleek black design, with a smooth, smart metal outer-frame. When closed, the phone displays a nice brushed aluminium circular navigation panel, which is easy to use, and a vast improvement to the joystick control on my previous Sony Ericsson phone. The call answer & cancel buttons are also displayed on the face, and the walkman controls are smartly placed both on the front and on the side on the phone, making use of the walkman extremely easy. The phone slides smoothly and elegantly with a puch of a thumb, to uncover the number pad, that has large, well spaced keys. The phone has a large, bright, 240 x 320
pixel, high-resolution display, which is very impressive.
The phone has a number of great features, many of which are standard, and some of which were new to me. The W910i has a 2 Megapixel camera with a 2.5x digital zoom, which is adequate, but by todays standard where some new phones include cameras up to 5 megapixels, is no better than average. Don't get me wrong, the camera takes a decent picture, but the problems become evident if you wish to enlarge the picture for printing purposes etc. It also has a very average video recording capability. The phone incorporates 3G and also HSDPA, which basically allows for faster internet access and makes the phone capable of high-speed downloading, ideal for music downloads. The 3G and HSDPA also allows the phone to have a video calling feature, not that this is something that I regularly use.
The W910i's strongest attribute lies with it's walkman, since the phone is designed as a walkman phone. And it doesn't disappoint. The audio quality of the Walkman 3.0 music player is nothing short of superb, with a fantastic bass frequency enhancement feature thanks to Sony Ericssons Megabass feature, the phone comes alive to the beat of music. The Walkman 3.0 music player is fully-featured, meaning you can create and manage playlists, shuffle, and has music controls allowing you to equalise, and alter music settings such as bass etc. The W910i also has a nifty new feature called the 'Shake Control', basically allowing you to shuffle to a new track simply by giving the phone a little shake. This feature can be turned on or off, since this may not always be convenient if you were to take the phone out with you for a jog for instance, but nevertheless is a nice little feature.
The phone comes with it's standard Sony Ericsson headphones, which are fine, however for a greater music experience, it's adviseable to purchase a set of quality headphones, such as Sennheisers or Sony's. The phone also allows you to use a Bluetooth headset, which is great, but does not come supplied with the phone. Again, another optional extra. The phone also comes equiped with an FM RDS Radio, as you would expect, and has a PlayNow feature that allows you to purchase and download ringtones direct to the phone. The W910i has a measly 35Mb of internal memory, but comes equipped with a 1Gb Micro memory stick, but can also support up to 4Gb should you wish to upgrade. The phone comes supplied with a Sony Ericsson software CD, which is very useful, as it enables you to rip music from CD's to the PC, and then organize and transfer them onto the phone. The software is good, and very easy to very easy to use.
The phone also comes packed with any standard features, as you would expect, such as a sound recorder, personal organiser, animated wallpaper etc. The phone's 3D Java games also has a nice little added feature, in that the phone can be turned on it's side to play these games, with the navigation panel acting as the direction pad on the right, and with control buttons situated on the left, very much like a mini portable games console, such as a Nintendo DS .. different and fun.
From my own personal experience, the Sony Ericsson W910i has very little wrong with it. The only fault I can attribute to the phone is that, very much like my previous Sony Ericsson phone, the K810i, is that text messaging is very slow on the phone, and I find that the words appear error strewn since the phone fails to keep up with my texting speed. This is very much annoying, but not a major problem. The phone obviously could be better, but then this is a Walkman mobile phone, the Sony Ericsson Cyber-Shot series are designed for camera use. However, since having the phone I have done some research into it online, and have come across many reviews and reports of this phone having a more serious fault, in that many people have experienced their phones freezing or shutting down unexpectedly, and on a regular basis. Like I have said, this is not a problem I have experienced personally, simply what I have read from others.
Overall, this is a great phone. It looks great and sounds great. There are better camera phones available on the market, but certainly not many walkman phones, probably none in this price range. It has a lot of fun features, and enough memory to cope, with the memory stick supplied. This is a mobile phone and a fully-functional mp3 player in one, there's no doubt about that. This phone has as many features as mosy mp3 players on the market, and sounds just as good. I would definitely recommended this phone for music lovers, but bearing in mind the fault mentioned above, it could also be seen as somewhat of a risky but.
Specifications -----------------
- 3G with HSDPA & video calling - 2 megapixel camera with 2.5x digital zoom - Video camera - Display: TFT LCD, 262,144 colours, 240 x 320 pixels - Walkman® music player (MP3, AAC formats) - FM radio RDS - MegaBassTM enhances bass frequencies - TrackIDTM tells you the name, artists and album of any song you're listening to - PlayNowTM lets you buy and download top ringtones - Polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones - Speakerphone - Sound recorder - Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email - 3D Java games - Animated wallpaper - Web browser, RSS feeds - Personal organiser functions - Memory: 35 Mbytes plus Memory Stick MicroTM support (up to 4 Gbytes) - Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB - Flight mode (offline mode) - Vibration alert - Size: 100 X 50 x 12.5 mm - Weight: 86g - Quadband plus 3G (UMTS 2100) - Talktime: 3.5 hours (3G) - 9 hours (2G) - Battery standby: 350 hours
The Sony Ericsson is available for free as a contracted phone through most network providers, however as a pay as you go phone, it is generally available between £110 - £120.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Walkman, stylish, number of features, easy to use etc. Disadvantages: Mediocre camera, battery is somewhat weak
arsenalskydivers 25.01.2009 (26.01.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sony Ericsson W910i Walkman
Advantages: Clear picture quality, looks very stylish, crystal clear screen Disadvantages: Number keys can sometimes "stick", trouble turning it on at times
Advantages: Very Stylish, Innovative Shake Music Control, Good Range of features Disadvantages: Camera Quality Average, Battery Life could be Better, No Built In Headphone Jack
nollie99 05.11.2007 (05.11.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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