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Over the past couple of years, Sony Ericsson has been something of an enigma in the cell phone world. Not only has it introduced far fewer phones into the U.S market than many of its rivals, but it doesn't let the absence of a carrier sway it from rolling out new models. More important, the company has shunned the industry's major trend--skinny phones--in favor of high-featured, well-performing models. Both the Sony Ericsson W800i and W600i fit this bill, and the company now introduces America to its third Walkman phone, the W810i. Encased in an eye-catching black, the W810i offers all its predecessors' high-end, powerful features, such as a high-resolution camera, Bluetooth, and a media player, while making a number of design changes. Overall, it's a quality phone despite some minor performance issues, but it's not a huge upgrade over the W800i. Cingular now offers the W810i for a very reasonable $149 with service.Last year, Sony Ericsson definitely had orange on the brain. Both its W800i and W600i Walkman phones came in orange skins (granted, you could replace the faceplates on the W600i), as did the Walkman music player interface. For the Sony Ericsson W810i, however, the company took a slightly different track and dressed the phone in basic black. Sure, the Walkman interface is still the color of the Florida-grown citrus fruit, but the black exterior provides a nice contrast. At 3.9 by 1.8 by 0.8 inches and 3.5 ounces, it's exactly the same size as the W800i, and it retains the solid, comfortable feel in the hand. Surpassing many other cell phones in quality, the rich, vibrant display supports 262,144 colors and measures 1.8 inches diagonally (176x220 pixels). It's fantastic for scrolling through the menus, viewing pictures and videos, and playing games, but it's harder to see in direct light, and it goes completely dark when the backlighting is off. Unfortunately, you can't change the backlighting time or the text size. The Sony Ericsson W810i wears an appealing black color scheme. For the navigation keys, the W810i takes a different design approach than it did with the W800i and W600i. Besides scrolling through the attractive, user-friendly menus (available in four styles), the sliver, circular navigation toggle serves as a shortcut to four user-defined functions in standby mode. Also, when in Walkman mode, the toggle acts as your tool for scanning through your music list. In the middle of the toggle is a raised OK button that resembles a tiny joystick. In addition to opening the main menu, the OK button is the play/pause control for the music player. Overall, both controls are tactile and easy to use, and we like that they're raised above the surface of the phone. On the downside, however, they're a bit small, especially for users with larger mitts. On either side of the toggle are two soft keys, a Clear button, and a Back key. In standby mode, the soft keys open the main menu and the Recent Calls list. They're stiff to the touch, however, and it should be noted they double as the Talk/End controls. Sony Ericsson tends to forgo dedicated Talk/End keys; it's not our favorite arrangement, but you get used to it. The final two buttons are an orange Walkman key that turns the media player on and off and a silver control for opening a user-programmed shortcuts menu. In all, the generous shortcut options are welcome.Read full review
I bought this phone because it was the 1st phone I ever had and it worked so well for me when I had it. I wanted it as a back up phone just in case something were to happen to my other but I find myself using it as my daily phone now. CONS: Comes with a lot of loaded software where if you don't purchase after the trial period your just stuck with programs you're not able to use. Compared to other phones that came out at the same time you get a lot more features that come with the phone at no extra cost.
I bought this phone when mine was starting to wear out after four years of heavy use. I bought one for my husband too. We both got the same phones four years ago and love it. We searched for easy to use phone that is durable and has features we like. We bought couple of phones in the mean time to update but ended up taking them both back after just couple weeks of usage. The speaker and microphone on this one are excellent! I use it on the car on loud speaker and never need a hands free. Great menu, internet access, MP3 player. Lasts charged for days. Great phone!!!
My sister and brother have the same phone for almost 5 years and it still works like a tank! It's not up to par as with the new smart phones out there but it is a good everyday phone or a back-up. With decent battery life, built-in music player and speaker, great earphones, and good camera as well. IMO - one of the best sony phones that hit the mobile market. btw, i think this is the last phone that they made that still uses the memory stick pro (not the micro stick that is hard to find and expensive as heck).
The w810i is just a great phone. It has all the features I want plus and easy delete for messages. The software that came with the phone was a little dated so I went to the sony support website to get the latest updates. The music sounds crisp and clear. Talk is very good and signal reception is excellent. Overall it is an excellent investment and I am very happy with it.
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