SONY ERICSSON DO IT FOR ME! (Sony Ericsson W880i)

Member Name: CoupeQueen

Product:	Sony Ericsson W880i
Date:	24/11/07 (319 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really smart phone + it's a walkman phone.

Disadvantages: The picture quality on the camera.

I had this phone as a free upgrade from 3. I chose it because I liked the look of it, it is a walkman phone and it takes photos.
I was also so bored and annoyed with my old phone that I really needed a change of both the phone and the manufacturer! My old phone was the Nokia 6280 and the battery was always running flat and it never lasted long enough to play games or to have video phone calls. And to be totally honest there aren't that many really nice looking phones about at the moment - in my opinion.

Design
This is a really nice, stylish looking phone. It's slim and neat with no bulky bits sticking out, the actual size is 102 x 46 x 14.5 mm and weighs 93 gr. I own the black and gold (record black) one but you can get this phone in rose red also.

The screen is a decent size - 262.144 colour TFT - 176 x 220 pixel, but I did manage to scratch the screen within the first week of owning this phone - a case would be a good option, I left it loose in my handbag!!


Music
This phone is one from Sony Ericsson walkman range. It comes with an M2 memory card which is 512 MB which will hold more than 470 tracks. If you want it to hold more songs 1GB or 2GB cards are easy to come by.

You can also use songs that you have downloaded onto the phone as ring tones which is great!

When listening to the songs without headphones they do sound very tinny and not great at all, but they are fantastic when listened to when using the headphones which are provided.
You can also buy speakers to listen to the music on which I have heard are excellent.

When listening to the radio on the phone there is a feature called Track ID, this will record a few seconds of the song that is playing and then tell you what it's called, the album and the artist.

It is extremely easy to transfer songs from your pc to your mobile with just the use of the USB lead, its just a click and drag system where you drag your chosen songs into a box and just download - simple!


Camera
It comes with a 2 megapixel camera this is a pretty average camera that most phones come with. I already own a digital camera so this wasn't such a big feature for me.
It is very easy to use the camera and video feature though and you can add clipart to the photos that you take such as hearts or balloons.

You can also adjust the pictures brightness, balance, contrast, red-eye on the actual screen rather than having to do it once you have downloaded it onto the pc. You can make slideshows of the pictures you have taken which is a good feature.
Once again it is very easy to transfer photos on to your pc just using the USB lead.

I am not that impressed by the picture quality, and you can't zoom in on your subject, so whilst in the crowd at the Stereophonics gig last week I didn't get that many good pics!


Messaging
This phone supports various messaging services.

Text messages (SMS) - your messages can contain simple pictures, sound effects, animations and melodies. As with most phones you can use predictive text if you want.

Picture messages (MMS) - can contain text, pictures, camera pictures, slides, sound recordings, video clips and attachments. You can also send picture messages to a mobile or an email address.

Email - you can write a message, attach a camera picture, sound recording or video clip. You can also reply to and forward email in the phone.


Connectivity
This mobile comes with Bluetooth, modem, synchronisation (you can keep organiser, contacts, calendar information synchronised with your pc) and USB.

You can use the internet to access online services - I am with the 3 network and I get certain sites free such as eBay. The also have their own web pages which are also free to browse, included in the 3 free web pages are news, sport, horoscopes plus many more.


Organiser
The organiser includes alarm clock, calculator, calendar, flight mode, notes, phone book, stopwatch, tasks and timer. I must admit that I don't tend to use this feature very often but it does come in handy every now and then. I am a bit old fashioned in the fact that I still carry a diary, so maybe I need to move on with technology a bit more!!


Games
I was a bit disappointed with this aspect of the phone. It came with lots of games but most of which were just trials and after a certain amount of time after playing it you had to either rent it or buy it! The games that were free with the phone aren't very good but at least with the 3 network, most tariffs give you £5 worth of downloads every month.


Battery
I was very disappointed with the battery life of my last phone so this was important to me . This phone lasts a lot longer that my old one which used to run very low after 2 minutes of video chat. The battery specifications are talk 360minutes and standby 360 hours.


Overall opinion
I really love this phone, it has everything I need and much more. I would recommend it to anyone unless your looking for a mobile with a good camera - there are many more mobiles out there with more megapixels, therefore taking better pictures.

Summary: I think this mobile phone is fab, unless you want a better camera!

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