Another great phone from Sony Ericsson (Sony Ericsson W810i)

Name: valve90210

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Product:	Sony Ericsson W810i
Date:	22/07/08 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, Fast, user friendly

Disadvantages: Organizer functions could be better

I have been using this phone for the last year and decided I would write a review of it.

Firstly, let me give you brief run down of my pobile phone history.

I first had a mobile phone when O2 launched thir first pay as yu go mobile back in 1998 (ish), it was a huge brick like Philips, it was big and basic.

Since then I have had use of a few different phones, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Nokia, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson. I got this W810i straight after having had a W550i.

I decided to go for the W810i when I was due my free upgrade from O2 because I had really enjoyed using the W550i and found it really nice to use, and for the most part it was very stable.

Dimensions:
Length: approx 95mm
Width: Approx 45mm
Depth: Approx 20mm

As you can see, this is not the tiniest phone you can get but in the pocket and hand it is a nice size. Also, being the size it is, allows it to have a reasonable size screen (50mm diagonal) and still have buttons which you can actually use with ease.

The number pad buttons are individual buttons, which I personally find much easier to use than phones where the buttons are directly next to each other. The buttons are plastic, hard wearing and very responsive.

Above the display there is a circular button which works in 4 directions, each of which can be assigned a shortcut function. In the centre is a small round button which is used as the selector button on menus etc.

On either side of this there is another button, which functions in two directions, up and down. On the left, the down button is a back button, which navigates you back through menus etc. the top relates to the left soft button, the function of which is displayed at the bottom of the screen. The right button operates the right soft button and a clear button for use when texting etc.

To the outside of these buttons are two more buttons. On the left is the walkman button which takes you instantly to the Walkman features. On the right is a button which brings up a menu with 3 tabs, New Events (appointment reminders, texts etc etc) Shortcuts (for Bluetooth, light etc etc) and Internet bookmarks.

On the righthand side of the phone ther are two buttons, one which is a two function rocker type switch which is used for the zoom features of the camera. The other is the shutter button for the camera (which when held switches the phone to camera mode)

On the left is one button, a play/pause button for the walkman features. There is also a Memory Stick Duo card slot.

On the top of the phone is a power button and an infra red port.

All of the buttons are plastic, hard wearing and very responsive.

The software on this phone is virtually identical to my W550i, the menus are all the same, and all the settings are located in the same place so if you are coming from an older Sony Ericsson, you will have no trouble adapting.

I mainly use my phone for text messaging, which this phone does really well, the predictive text as ever is very good, and of course you can teach it any words it doesn't know. I have taught thisa phone many many words and so far have not had any problems with it forgetting any earlier ones I had taught it, which is something I have experienced with some of my older phones. The responsive buttons and the fast software means you can text very quickly. Although not only a fairly small amount of the phones memory (internal and memory card) isd used for storing texts, it can still hold a very large number, (approx 180 or so), so you won't find yourself running out of space very often.

The phone functions or this handset are pretty much standard as you would find on any other phone. It does however have wired handsfree included in the box, and also as it has built in speakers, it can also be used in speaker phone mode, which works surprisingly well. The volume and clairty of the calls is great.

The phone book on the phone is good, with plenty of fields allowing you to store a good amount of information for each contact, including several phone numbers, email addresses, addresses, website urls etc etc. And as with the rest of the software, it all operates very swiftly.

The phone also has organizer functions, including Alarms, Calendar, Tasks and Notes. These very functional but when compared to the same functions on my old Seimens phone, they are rather more limited and basic which is a bit of a shame.

There are also the obligatory, timer, stopwatch, calculator and light functions which are all fairly handy.

This being a walkman phone, it has the Sony Ericsson Walkman software, which as ever is very swift to operate and allows selection of music by artist, allows browsing of all the tracks you have and also allows create of playlists, basically, everything you want from an mp3 player. It also plays videos, which it does well, though is of course limited by the resolution of the screen and the amount of free memory you have on the memory card.

In the year I have been using this phone, I have had very little trouble from it. There have been a few occasions when it has crashed or frozen but a quick switch off and on has resolved these everytime and I've been back up and running in a matter of moments.

Having recently been looking at various phones as I am due an upgrade, I have realised that of all the phones I have tried, it is yet again the Sony Ericsson which is leading the way, with it's functionality and it's all round polished nature. I have tried the Nokia N95 and must say it is so slow to use compared to this phone. Even if this phone has the memory card full of stuff and the inbox jam packed, everything still works just as quickly as if the phone is brand new and has nothing on it.

Another great thing about this phone is the fact that you can install just about any java app or game on it with ease. You just need to copy it across to the phone (I'd recommend getting an external card reader as transfers are a bit on the slow side), then on the phone select install and you are done. I have downloaded all kinds of games and apps and have rarely run into any problems, and where I have it's normally been due to parts of the screen being cut off because the game has been intended for use on a phone with a bigger screen.

Overall I would say this is a great phone, everything it does, it does very well, it's fast in use doesn't slow down, and it's reliable. My only slight gripes are the battery life which while good, could be a little longer (mind you I think I'd say that about pretty much any phone), and the organizer functions which could do with a bit more depth, but other than that it's certainly worth looking at this hand set when you come to change your phone.

Summary: A lovely phone, have really enjoyed using it, well worth a look.

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