Cute and clever, although not top quality (Sony Ericsson W380i)

Member Name: lolly23

Product:	Sony Ericsson W380i
Date:	28/03/09 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Walkman feature at touch of a button

Disadvantages: Some features not up to scratch

I didn't particularly need a new phone when I bought this but it just looked so good in deep purple with hot pink accents that I just had to have it!

The coolest feature of this phone is the 'magic metal' surface. It just looks like a standard phone with a braille pattern down the front, but press it and the metal lights up in a little screen showing the time plus little symbols for the battery power, any unread messages, signal strength and whether the phone is locked or not. Amazing!
... You then realise that the braille is actually the walkman feature with rewind, play and fast forward buttons. So, at a single press of the play button the walkman will play the last track you heard, you can then skip forward and backward until you find the track you are looking for.

The actual sound has room for improvement, it is a better quality than some standard phones but not what I would expect from a walkman phone (my mp3 player has a much clearer and less 'tinny' sound - and that only cost me a fiver brand new so make your own judgements on that one!).

The phone comes with headphones, a data cable and installation disc, all of which are quite simple to use and actually work! (unlike a few other phones I've bought). Which mkeans you can easilly download content from your computer. If you like games on your phone this will be an important feature as the only games on the phone are free trials that you can play for around 30 seconds before requesting payment - very annoying!

Inside the phone you will find quite a good quality screen and pretty wallpapers that are very in keeping with the phone's style.

The phone has all features that you expect nowadays; camera (1.3MP), organiser, video player, radio, etc. Some of the functions are quite basic though. For example, I use my phone for calculations at college but this phone only has plus, minus, times and divide buttons so I end up using my old phone (nokia 7373), which has every function imaginable.

I also find it quite fiddly to send texts with a lot of screens to click through, although this may just be me - if you are used to sony ericssons you may not find this a problem.

All in all, a cute phone with clever features.

Better for looks than substance though.

Summary: Want looks? buy it! Want substance? don't!

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