(w910) I can't believe I paid nearly £100 for this (Sony Ericsson W910i)

Member Name: upsykimsy

Product:	Sony Ericsson W910i
Date:	06/04/09 (381 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Would make a lovely house brick

Disadvantages: Too many to list

About seven weeks ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life. My w580i had finally completely packed up on me, and my back up phone was refusing to charge.

So, of I trotted to the o2 shop, where I decided to invest in the ever so stylish Sony Ericsson w910i. Several friends had reccommended it, telling me what a brilliant phone it was. My mind was set.

At the time, the phone was retailiig in o2 for just under £100. I've yet to see it cheaper. I'd put the flaws of the w580i down as a one off, and as this was supposed to be a newer model, I thought it would be a much phone. Oh how wrong was I.

The handset I bought was a very stylish silver colour. The number keys are a lot more reliable than the w580i, which tended to split. However, I soon found out they were too close together for my slightly clumsy fingers, and I often found myself hitting the wrong key.

The navigational keys have luckily disposed of the joystick style button that many of the older Sony Ericsson models boasted. However, they stilol have the directional keys, for ease of navigation. These also double up as shortcut keys. there are two keys at the top of the screen, which access your stored photos quickly and easily, starting with the latest photo added to your album. Very handy for showing off the latest snap.

At the top of the phone is the power button. I found this fiddly and difficult to manage, often taking several attempts to turn the phone on or off. Also on the top of the phone is the "w" button, to access the walkman. Down the right side of the phone is the volume contgrol, and the memory card slot. Down the left hand side, you'll find the slot to plug in the charger and headphones.

The phone can easily be upgraded by adding applications and games. I added Opera Mini, a version of the Opera web browser that's been modified for the mobile phone, and two games to keep myself occupied during times of extreme boredom/insomnia.

The phone's memory can be expanded by adding a memory card (an m2 microstick), which I found vital for saving all my photos and mp3's.

As a bit of a music fan, I felt drawn towards the w910i as it was part of the "walkman" series of phones. I'd found the sound on the w580i to be of a high quality, and was expecting the same from the w910i. I was let down. Many mp3's which had played beautifully on my previous phone sounded tinny through the w910i's speakers. At first, I attributed this to the fact I'd downloaded songs with a smaller kbps. not only that, buit it was awkward and time consuming to set up the playlist, and unlike the w580i, there was no "update library" option. I still have no idea how I eventually got all of the tracks playing, rather than having just one play individually.

After getting increasingly frustrated with the mp3 player, I decided to test the radio. All seemed well, until I recieved a text message. Upon replying to the message, I noticed that every time I pressed a button, a clicking sound reverberated through the headphones. This problem had not been present in the w580i.

As a mother to a very active toddler, I find the camera an important attachment to any phone.It saves having to carry a spare camera, and chances are, you'll nearly always have it nearby for those amusing photos. However, within three photos taken from the w910i, I decided it was worth hauling around the Kodak and a few spare batteries. The camera lacked a flash, so in poor lighting conditions, photos appeared very grainy. As the flash on the K800i had worked so well, I would have thought Sony would have kept this feature on the phone. In good lighting conditions, however, I found the photos to be of a good standard, considering the camera was a 2 mp.

I mentioned I'd added Opera Mini to my phone. As my internet had packed up and left (the computer version, that is), I found myself relying on the wap version of facebook, and using Opera mini to check my emails, bank accounts, and of course, dooyoo. Howeer, it appears the phone has a major flaw when it comes to the wap experience. I found the phone frequently resetting itself.

But this was nothing compared to my biggest bugbear about the phone. Most people expect a phone to recieve and make phone calls. Makes common sense, right? Unfortunately, with the w910i, I found myself frequently losing network coverage, at times when my partner, on the same network, would have full coverage, whilst being sat right next to me. on several occassions, I lost connection to o2 three times or more a day. Friends often commented on how my messages were coming through in an illogical order, and on several occassions, I'd phone my partner in response to a message to find out it had been sent anyhting up to an hour earlier.

Yesterday, I decided enough was enough, after missing a phone call from my mum due to the lack of coverage. I've bought a K800i, a phone my partner had beforehand, and only disposed of when he had his heart set on a new, sleeker looking nokia. I know some people have had a really good experience with the w910i, but I've found the problems I experienced with mine to be very common, after asking around. If you want an unreliable, tempermental phone, then this would be perfect for you. Otherwise, steer clear.

Summary: Avoid like the plague

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