Sony Ericsson W810i review

The W810i was the first follow up to the very successful W800i, the phone that single-handedly put the Walkman brand back on the map.

It is designed to iron out the kinks found in its predecessor although Sony Ericsson sensibly decided not to stray too far from the original’s design; it has a pretty similar candybar shape with a 262k colour, 176 x 220 pixel screen and the traditional four-way joystick has been dropped in favour of static controls designed for better media navigation and playback control.

The Walkman button has also been repositioned towards the left hand side, which has made way for a new Activity menu button on the right. The screen has also been brightened up a bit, which makes it more usable in direct sunlight.

Mobile entertainment is very much the focus in the W810i, so alongside the Walkman music system (compatible with AAC and MP3 audio), there’s an FM radio, a 2 megapixel digital camera, MMS messaging and a GPRS-powered web browser with EDGE technology. For storage, it offers a Memory Stick Pro Duo card slot found in the side, along with 20MB of internal memory.

Overall, the W810i’s many minor improvements have tweaked the performance perfectly and anyone who has used an earlier Sony Ericsson handset will still find it all very familiar. For those who are new to Sony Ericsson, the menu design and controls will prove to be a very straight-forward system to get to grips with, with all the menu functions laid out in categories in one 4 x 3 grid and indicated by simple labels and icons.

There are only a couple of niggles that threaten to let the phone experience down. The call audio quality isn’t the best we’ve ever heard and you can occasionally make out static and popping in the background. The computer software recommended for transferring music to the phone has been given an overhaul, but sadly lets itself down with slow operation and a few bugs. Its main function is converting incompatible file types, such as WMA, into compatible ones and copying them across. That can be quite handy, but for some reason it always decides to put compatible MP3 files through the process as well, which also slows the process down.

In the end though, the intuitive menu layout coupled with the strong feature set, helps to set this handset apart from its rivals. Visually it isn’t quite on a par with more fashion conscious competitors, but what it lacks in style it more than makes up for in substance. Its wide-ranging entertainment functions distinguish it as a solid, all-rounder entertainment device and one of the best handsets around.