W550-more cons than pros (Sony Ericsson W550i)

Member Name: boxieblue

Product:	Sony Ericsson W550i
Date:	15/08/08 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: media player is great

Disadvantages: expensive, bulky

I had heard a lot about this phone. In India, it was hyped a lot. So i was pleased to get the chance to find out if the phone was really worth all the hype.
The first impression wasn't that impressive. The phone looked bulky. Very bulky. This at a time when mobiles are getting so slim you can see right through most of them! What was Sony Ericsson thinking? Well, i thought, let's just hope they have packed something worthwhile within all that mass.

I have heard a lot of complains about its twisting mechanism. People say it starts to get loose after a year or so. I haven't had that problem yet. But the camera doesn't work unless the phone is "closed".
Talking of the camera, it is a 1.3MP camera commonly found in the earlier phones. The picture quality is not particularly good, and the camera is not something you can use to replace your digital one. At least not on those important family vacations. After all, you don't want to ruin your memories do you?

Since it is a walkman phone, the first thing i did was turn up the inbuilt speakers to full blast, and played some heavy metal! The sound quality, i feel, was the only thing that wasn't exaggerated in the advertisements. The volume was really loud, and the sound was clear. I usually use earphones while listening to music, but not with this phone. The one problem i face is the one-touch media player. i have often ended up pressing the walkman button in college, leading to a sudden blast of music(or noise, as my teacher called it) and my subsequent suspension. I now have to keep the media volume at zero whenever i go to college.
With the music still on, i went over the other functions. None of them impressed me a lot. Everything was just as good, or as bad, as my K608i. Then why would i want to spend more for a phone which didn't really give me anything better?

Of course, it had more memory, and expandable. And sure, the games were great, though gaming isn't much fun on a 176x220 screen. Also, i could run a lot of java applications. I also liked the musicDJ, videoDJ and photo-editor, but the options i can work with are very less. I never listen to any of the music i have created, nor watch the videos i have edited. And editing pictures using the image editor is a pain.
It has all the common features like BLuetooth, Infrared, USB connection, etc.

So i conclude that the phone isn't really worth all the money. I didn't really notice any positive things except for the walkman. Not something i would recommend to potential buyers.

Summary: wouldn't recommend this to buyers unless music is the only thing they want to listen to

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