Phone Moi! (Sony Ericsson W350i)

Member Name: nickbrown60

Product:	Sony Ericsson W350i
Date:	23/02/09 (389 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Looks, Works well, Plays songs well, Lots of extra features

Disadvantages: No video camera:(

Hello and welcome to this review!

Well my last phone was on its last legs and I was on the search for a new one. My old one was broken only after 3 months, it was a useless Samsung u900 that I had hundreds of problems with. I wanted a stylish looking phone at a great price, I did not want to spend £150 on another phone only to have it for 3 months. When I was in the Vodafone store around 4 months ago I saw this phone (The W350i) sitting in one of the offer stands. It was on offer for £49 with a 256MB memory card. It was decided there and then that it was the phone for me.


The phone has a load of great features for the small price I paid. It has a VGA camera, MP3 Walkman software, Radio, Expandable memory and many others that I will explain in this review. Basically it had everything I needed so I picked up the box and to the counter I went.


Packaging
*********
The box was red and had Vodafone written on the top as well as a picture of my new shiny phone. It felt solid in the box while carrying, nothing was rattling around inside like most other phones I have bought. Inside the box everything was securely packaged in the usual recycled packaging that looks like an egg container. Everything was wrapped in the nice little plastic packets and it all smelled nice! I love the smell of new phones. Ha-ha I am strange.


Inside the box was;
****************
My new shiny phone (Damn! I picked a purple by accident lol)
A charger
Battery
A 256MB Memory stick
USB Cord
Ear-phones (Hands free Headset)
Case
Also the instructions.


The phone was very easy to set up, all Sony Ericsson phones are in my opinion. The phone was almost ready for use straight from the box. The sim card was in already, all I had to do was pop the battery in and put the back cover on, that's it! Ready to go. When you switch a Sony phone on for the first time it will take you through a very easy set-up process. Such as setting up the time and date and transferring contacts from your sim card into the phone. All of the steps can be skipped if you wanted to but its very good to do them at the first switch on.


When the phone was on I realised just how good the screen quality was. it's a very bright and crisp screen with very nice colour display. Its also quite a big screen for such a small phone.


Features;
*******
This phone really does have some fantastic features. The main feature being the built in Walkman software. The phone is a Walkman phone from Sony but has one great feature that I have not seen on other Walkman's before. That feature being the new flip down flap. This flap is the main feature of the phone, when the flap is open it reveals the keypad and turns into a normal phone. But! When the flap is closed it becomes a fully functioning Walkman or MP3 player. On the front of the flap is the usual play and stop buttons as well as the next track and previous track button. Your volume buttons are then on the side of the phone. it's a really great Walkman with fantastic sound, the ear-phones included are also great quality, they are in-ear earphones that block outside noise, Very handy! The phone supports many formats such as WMA and MP3.


Camera - A nice VGA camera is built in this phone. Okay! Its not an amazing camera at around 1MP but it is perfectly useful to me. Picture messages are also very easy to send after one click of a button after taking a picture. All pictures are stored in the 'My pictures' folder and are easy to access.


Radio - Yes, it even has a radio, this can only be used when you have the headset / earphones plugged in because it is used as an aerial


Using as a phone;
***************
It is fantastic as both a phone and an MP3 player. The keypad on the phone is very nicely set out and the buttons are very easy to press. I am a huge fan of sending texts and I must say... After 4 months of almost continuous use the phone is still going strong! Any way back to using the phone. It is very easy to make a call by simply going to your phonebook and pressing the call button on the contact you want to call. All calls are extremely clear and signal quality is absolutely amazing. I use this phone on Asda Mobile instead of Vodafone, I used Asda before this phone but since I have owned this handset I can get signal in places I couldn't before! Its great.


I have also noticed that the phone is extremely well made. The plastic does not scratch at all. It is totally scratch proof, except from the screen. This phone has been scraped across concrete and is yet to have one mark! The phone is also very solid, most phone I have owned started to creak and squeak after a few uses but this is still holding well.


Speakerphone is also an option which is usually clear. Its handy if you do not want to hold your phone while in operation.


The phone is very slim and is comfortable to hold while having a long conversation. Its also very easy to pop in your pocket when done thanks to it's small size and slimness.


Interface;
********
The phones interface is very easy to use, every application is loaded almost instantly and is very user friendly. The menu is extremely clear and well laid out. You can customise your phone so have it what ever way you want it. When the flap on the front is closed the Walkman software opens which is a nice orange colour. All songs are easy to select and it all runs smoothly.


The speaker in this phone is usually very good. When playing songs they are very loud and clear. However I do find the speakerphone slightly tinny, not sure why! But I do not use this so not a problem to me. Maybe I have faulty one. When listening to music the flap can be bent backwards so it supports the phone, this amplifies the sound and gives better bass.


Battery life;
*********
I have found the battery on this phone to be very reliable. I charge mine every three days and I use my phone so much. Sometimes I find that the battery can drop by half on a conversation over an hour. This is no problem to me as I never have very long conversations. I mainly text.


Other features the phone has are:
***************************
Alarm Clock
Calculator
Games
Sound recorder
Music DJ
Currency Converter
and a Calendar


The only one thing that annoys me about this phone - This phone has a very nice and handy camera but it does not have a video camera. Unfortunately I thought it did as per Vodafone's in store advert but I cannot seem to find one. I like taking videos but I have a camera I can take them on... So not a huge problem!


Any way This is a fantastic phone! and I really do recommend it,
Thanks for reading and I hope this has been helpful
Nick Ó nickbrown60

Summary: A fabulous phone!

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Sound quality:
Variety of features: