With so many accessories made for mobile phones by a range of manufacturers, the demand for new accessories is almost non-existent, so it's a manufacturer's job to make something new and unique, something which the customer hasn't seen before and would be willing to buy. Sony Ericsson have managed to accomplish something special, but is it really worth buying?

What this does is allow you to play music (and nothing else) onto a radio. This can be any radio, so anything from a practical DAB digital radio to a not so practical car stereo will handle this transmitter. So whether radios that take batteries or plug in, the transmitter does not discriminate. However, the way music sounds on your phone, whether is be sharp or with bass, will not be the way it sounds on the radio. What this means is music will sound much better on the digital radio than in the car, much like a normal radio would operate. The way to get maximum sound is to put the phone right next to the stereo as anything further than 5 feet is just about audible.

Setup really is simple. It literally is just plugging it into the Sony Ericsson, setting the frequency to match the radio and playing your music. The problem is it only works on FM frequency, consequently giving it a small transmission range. That is why if you go further than 5 feet, you won't hear much, although you should be fine in a car. The use of this transmitter does not take over your Sony Ericsson, so you can pretty much send text messages and receive calls, which will obviously cut off the transmission. It also takes up about the same amount of battery playing music via the phones speakers would take, so it won't do any harm to the phone.

As for the looks, it's just a cheap plastic base, which will snap and shatter easily when stepped on, yet credit to Sony Ericsson for keeping small and able to fit in a pocket. The picture you see above is close to the real size. Silver at the front with the orange Walkman logo and dark grey at the back, with the plug on top, doesn't really make this the most attractive accessory you will see, yet you can't really expect an extravagant thing.

As this is a fairly old product, don't expect this to work on the newer phone and smartphone models Sony Ericsson make, as the charger ports have changed since this transmitter was released. It is a given that it will work on any Sony Ericsson with the prefix W, for example W880, W950, W910 etc. However i've used it on other Sony Ericsson models released around the time, most notably the models with a K prefix, such as K750, K800.

These transmitters are fairly cheap to buy. When first released, they obviously went for quite a bit, but were given away free soon after when purchased with a Walkman phone, myself receiving 2, one for purchasing a W580 and another for purchasing a W910. Now, because of the newer models and the not so good sales of the transmitter, prices are probably a maximum of £5, although you can probably find them much, much cheaper.

This transmitter does all it says on the plastic packaging. Certainly not essential and probably not much use for it, although it at least works. It's best to avoid this, although that choice is up to you. If you do buy it, don't bother trying to play a prank on someone else's radio. Believe me it doesn't work!