The Good: The cheapest and most basic of Sony’s Walkman phone range sports delights such as quad-band world operation, FM radio, Bluetooth, EDGE and a 1.3 mega pixel camera. A lengthy battery life ensures plenty of time for talking, surfing the web and listening to music.
The Bad: Contrary to Sony’s high standard when it comes to music and audio, the camera on the W300i is disappointing, giving blurred and hazy images with little color distinction. The power and control buttons on the side of the handset are small and difficult to press. We encountered repeated problems pairing the included Bluetooth remote control with the handset.
The Bottom Line: The W300i will make music enthusiasts proud; however the mediocre camera and several usability issues give pause for thought. However, the W300i is a great all-round device and well worth its low price tag.
The Good: This is a high-specification handset with a full-featured camera and walkman and a host of useful calling features. The camera is particularly impressive, with a number of shooting modes and the ability to add frames and colour enhancements after photos or videos have been taken. The walkman gives clear and crisp sound, menus are easy to navigate and the phone can be customized in a variety of ways.
The Bad: Call quality is a little patchy with random fade-outs and static, particularly when using the in-built speakerphone. The music transfer has a few glitches, and the phone tends to freeze for some time when connecting and disconnecting from a PC or other device. Talk time is lower than stated.
The Bottom Line: Sony’s third contribution walkman phone lives up to expectations with a product that is well worth the price. With a raft of complimentary features and accessories, it’s guaranteed to keep anyone entertained no matter what the occasion. Iron out the few minor problems and it would be almost perfect.
The Good: The Sony Ericsson P990i is the crème de la crème of Sony Ericsson smart phones, with a sleek design that incorporates a QWERTY keyboard coupled with the latest in mobile technology. Features include a 2-megapixel camera, a music player, a business card scanner, video recording, and support for 3G/UMTS and for Wi-Fi networks.
The Bad: The Sony Ericsson P990i is a little on the bulky side, and the QWERTY keyboard may be too small for some people. The price is also prohibitively high.
The Bottom Line: The Sony Ericsson P990i may be the perfect smart phone for tech-minded consumers, but its exorbitantly high price may put a lot of people off.
It’s always good to see a new Sony Ericsson Walkman phone coming to the US market. The Sony Ericsson W810i was a big hit, but these hits don’t come often enough to the US market. The W580 is the next new Walkman phone from Sony Ericsson that will come to the US. It features Walkman Player 2.0, 2 megapixel camera, FM radio with RDS, 512MB memory Stick, Bluetooth with A2DP support.
