Good... Real good... Breakthrough phone of 2005! (Sony Ericsson W800i)

Member Name: supergirl182

Product:	Sony Ericsson W800i
Date:	07/04/08 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Solid, usable, great specs

Disadvantages: Dead giveaway if you're trying to pretend you're not a techie, loose battery cover!

-Appearance-
Some people like how it looks, personally... I don't. It's kind of awkward being yellow and orange after a while but when it first came out I was like WAW!

I love sony ericsson despite it's awkward techie designs (but I am a techie in disguise, what can I say)-although it's getting better. I'm a sucker for good specs and this was really top-of-the-range back in the 05

This phone feels nice in your hand despite the lack of flip/slide abilities.

-Functions/specs-
The phone is not particularly heavy, being made of plastic. The screen is fairly standard now but It was great a few years ago when I first got it

Screen

* 176x220 pixel
* 262,144-colour TFT

The Memory Stick compatibility was seriously impressive and I remembered practically drooling over it. The built-in phone memory is pretty bad but when I got this it came with a 512mb card which was more than enough for all my photos and a decent memory for a phone, even now

* 1GB Memory Stick PRO DuoTM support
* Phone memory 34MB*
* Memory Stick PRO DuoTM support (up to 2GB)

The battery life wasn't very good- as with most newer phones, the black and white phones were great but these ones have to be recharged every other day or so even if you leave it in your bag 70% of the time

* Talk time:
* 9 hours
* 9 hours
* 9 hours

* Standby time:
* 400 hours
* 400 hours
* 400 hours

It also comes with a 2.0 megapixel lens (no 3G functions but most 3G phones are rubbish anyway, imo) which is higher than most webcams. The photos, even by mid-2008 standards are fairly good. (sure it is no 5.0 megapixel samsung freakaphone) but it works- even if you get it processed at kodak or something it still comes out decent without being v pixelated.

-Advantages-
Was state-of-the-art back in the day
great usability
I had this for 2.5 years before the battery committed suicide (but that was mainly my fault really) and once I got a new one it ran perfectly again!
really good, solid phone
Comes with fancy in-ear headphones that I used to be obsessed with!
I love the joystick- apparently lots of them spaz, but mine kept working!

-Disadvantages-
Fiddly bits - e.g. the orange rubber memory stick cover at the side you will end up fiddling with...

The super loose battery cover! This seems trivial but this ultimately lead to the death of my battery.
This problem has been solved with new sony ericsson phones but my k800i and my w800i had the loosest covers ever (made worse by my constant sliding on and off). If you put it in your bag you will find it dismantled and nobody will ever be able to reach you.
Also, your battery will die because it keeps disconnecting when your phone is on.

The unattractive design. I glanced at the reviews before clicking 'write your own' and i saw that somebody wrote 'state of the art'... but that was in 2007, ancient history. I hope nobody gets offended when I say that this phone id not v sleek.

It fits in my medium sized hand perfectly and I like the lense cover slide slide toggle thing it's nice... But it's not going to impress your peers or become a chick magnet.

-Conclusion-
Great, solid, usable phone. The main problem (loose battery cover) can be solved by sacrificing the natural beauty of your phone and simply using a piece of sellotape (now why didn't I think of that?)... If you want to jazz up your tape you could always find a cool piece with mickey mouse or stripes on it or something.

I wouldn't get this again, simply because nobody ever buys a phone twice these days. I bought a w580i- which is really good but not significantly better than this phone although it did come out 3 years later. The w580i also has 2.0 megapixel lens. It wins in its better graphics, fixed bugs, speed, larger screen and cool lights, but that's really it. Nothing breakthrough. It doesn't have a joystick though, which is both a blessing and a curse because i love the joystick but this clicky wheel thing will allegedly work for a lot longer.

Also the w580i is a slide phone so it's great when you want to pretend you're in a soap opera and huffily hang up on somebody or impress people by picking up by using a dramatic thumb push- great with a (subtle) head swish!

Summary: Really god phone! But I wouldn't get it now because there are so many newer phones out there...

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