The ultimate all rounder! (Sony Ericsson W810i)

Member Name: topherbenn

Product:	Sony Ericsson W810i
Date:	15/03/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent MP3 player, camera, radio, and games phone.

Disadvantages: In keeping with today's technology it is a little behind.

INTRO
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I've had my Sony Ericsson W810i for around two years now, and in all the time I've had it, I've never wanted a better phone; this for me, is just perfect. It's bursting at the seems with features that are still up to date, and wanted in most phones on the market today.

FEATURES
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The phone itself:
I have never in all my years using this phone had a problem with the standard operations such as text messaging and making calls. This phones gives you the ability to limit the sizes of your texts, or allow texts to follow on when writing longer messages. The good thing about this is that some people like to send just one text, and would rather shorten a text than pay for two. On the other hand, if you've got lots to write you can keep on writing, knowing how many texts you will be sending. In addition, calls are simple and at the touch of a button. Pressing down on your central key takes you to your phone book when you can save hundreds of entries; I'm yet to fill it up and have around 200 entries in the phone book. Store not only mobile numbers but home numbers, work numbers and 'other' numbers under the same contact to keep your phone book decluttered. A cool feature I've liked with this phone is the ability to use voice calling. You simply record the name of a contact into your phone, and when saying that name to the phone it automatically calls the contact, saving you trawling through your phone book. Additionally, hold down a key (1-9) to go straight to contacts starting with the letter on that key. It seems they've worked hard on incorporating many shortcuts.

The MP3 player:
This phone comes under the Walkman series, and has a fantastic music player. Store up to 4GB of music by expandable memory (Memory Stick Pro Duo) and create playlists to your own taste. The sound quality is fantastic, and easily adjustable by using the equalizer. In addition the phone will play quite a loud maximum sound so get it out with your friends and let everyone enjoy the music. Music is categories under the Artist so it's easy to find what you are looking for. In addition make playlists to enhance your music experience; very simple to do, just 'mark' tracks from the file system and add them to a playlist. Everything on this phone is pretty self explanatory, another reason why I love it so much. Don't forget the Bluetooth feature! Send or receive songs to or from your friends! It takes roughly a min/mb, so you wont' be waiting long!

The camera:
In addition to an excellent camera, Sony Ericsson have incorporated a fantastic 2MP camera. Select the 'fine' for the best quality photos and get snapping away. The camera comes with various shoot modes, like 'panorama' and 'burst' so enjoy stitching long photos together, or never miss a good shot by taking lots at once. As well as these features, take your photos in standard, sepia, black and white or solarized! Have fun with the funky features within the camera. There's a chance to play around with the daylight/nighttime setting and the following features too; macro, self timer and white balance and to top it all off it comes with a cool light so you'll never have dark photos again. Don't forget the video camera... I don't tend to use this as often, but the quality of the image and sound is pretty impressive for only a small phone. Definitely one for keeping a few memories that can be passed around.

The radio:
You'll need your earphones plugged in, but once they're in, listen away. Program up to 10 different favourite radio stations in pretty good quality. The earphones act as the antenna, so make sure you aren't too surrounded for the best quality.

The games:
Just a quick mention. Download great Java games and transfer them to your phone. The quality is pretty good on this small piece of technology, probably what you'd expect on an old Gameboy, but at least he games are current. Game files are relatively small, so pack your phone full! I had 30 on there once, each game is about 500KB - 800KB, so you can see that with 4GB you could be up to a thousand+

PRICE
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When I bought this phone two years ago I remember paying around £200, now, from an Amazon trusted Merchant you can pay £129.99 for an unlocked model (meaning you can put any SIM card into the phone). However if you are looking for a second hand model, eBay have this phone from £50 - £100.

SUMMARY
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This phone is jam packed with features; the main reason I opted for this phone. I wanted something that would take good phones, be a good MP3 player and do all the normal functions of a standard mobile; text messaging and calling. Amazingly, this phone does all that and more, and you definitely won't be displeased.

Summary: A fantastic phone from Sony Ericsson, part of the Walkman series this phone specialises in music!

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