An Orange Virgin! (Sony Ericsson W610i)

Member Name: fayp

Product:	Sony Ericsson W610i
Date:	20/04/08 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Slim, great music player.

Disadvantages: Camera could be better, no flash.

I'd had the Sony Ericsson K750i for 2 years, when the little joystick in the middle broke. This didn't seem too bad after 2 years of constant use, plus dropping it several times. I therefore decided to go for another Sony Ericsson, with similar features but no joy stick. I looked and found the W610i.

When it arrived I was impressed by the look of it. Very thin and the back is bright orange which I like (others may not!) It was easy to set up, just slip in the sim card, memory card and battery and off you go! It came with a USB cable, CD to link it to the PC, and power cable.

It only comes with one boring old game but others are available to download, some free via a PC. All the usual features are there, animated screen savers, photo phone book, colour menus, organiser, calendar, GPSR, calculator, infra red port, Bluetooth, alarm, built in modem. It is quad band, handy for USA holidays! You can download ring tones but not make your own. There is tuner thing, to tune your guitar, and a metronome for piano practice!

As it does not slide, you have to press two keys to manually lock the phone if you don't wish to dial out when it is in your bag! The silent vibrate mode is easily put on pressing one key.

It is a walkman phone so easy to put music on to it, and a dedicated key to switch the music on and off. You are able to create play list, plus put on bass etc. It comes with dedicated earphones. Personally I find these annoying as they are the buds to fit in your ear, and I can't keep them in! You are only limited to how many songs you put on by how large your memory card is. It comes with 512mb as standard, but you can cheaply buy up to 2GB.

The main feature I wanted was the 2 mega pixel camera. I must say this is a little disappointing. The photos are good enough to print if taken outside on a clear day. Indoor or at night, you have settings you can put on, plus a light, but the photos aren't that clear. I had bought a separate flash unit with my K750i and it doesn't work on this phone, which is annoying. It does video too but again, not brilliant quality, but fine for fun! Photos and video can easily be moved to PC via the USB cable. It is easy to send photos via MMS or email and the phone will make the photos smaller for you if you wish.

Overall I'm pleased with the phone, I paid £129 on virgin for it, but for that had 800 free texts over 4 months, plus they gave me £22 balance for sending my old phone back to them for recycling.

Summary: A good phone for the price.

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