Sony Ericsson W810
Phone Scoop Review
Apr 20, 2006 by Eric Lin
In-depth review of the new Sony Ericsson W810 Walkman phone. with Video Tour. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Get rid of cingular branding for a great phone
I left sprint after 6 years because their phone selection has not kept up with demand. Wanted an MP3 phone and didn't like any of Sprints. The w810i beckoned me to Cingular. I'm glad it did. This phone is great.
Call quality is fine. Not as great as the Nokia I just got rid of, but it's decent.
Button size is fine. Raised nicely and easy to feel. The dedicated volume, music, and camera buttons on the sides are well placed and easy to use.
Camera - The video is not the greatest but the still camera is really quite amazing for a phone. Very clear pictures and a pretty decent capture and store time for a phone. The settings options take a bit to get used to, but they do offer quite an impressive array of photo options for a phone.
MP3-the Walkman player is pretty good. Easy to navigate. Nice equalizer settings. I've held off on getting an Ipod. With this phone I won't have to. Once my 4gb stick arrives, my phone will essentially be a Nano.
FM Radio-Nicely done. RDS (if station supports it) Quick tuning. Saves up to 20 presets. Easy to use. This is the biggest reason I never went Ipod. I enjoy the radio sometimes for NPR news, MN Public Radio's newest station "The Current", or to hear the tv stations at the gym. After having it on my Nokia, the radio was a must have for any new phone.
Organizer-I downloaded the free Sony PC Suite and my phone synced perfectly with Outlook.
The data connection is slow. I do not believe this is USB 2.0 (WHY NOT?) use a card reader.
NOTE TO CINGULAR CUSTOMERS.
Cingular locks many features of this phone including:
-full mp3 ringtones
-cool themes
-inability to delete supplied ringtones
-inability to change the shortcut on the right shortcut key.
The solution? check out davinciteam.com. For only 12 bucks using the usb cable that came with your phone, you can flash it and have a w810i the way god intended it to be. it's scary to flash a phone (takes only 6 min but feels like 6 hrs) but you'll be very happy you did.
Pretty Nice Phone
Well I have had the phone for 14 days so I figured that was good enough to write a short review. I will say it was smaller than what I expected when I got it, and that means a smaller screen than what I expected, but it is a very sharp and brillant screen. My last phone was a Nokia 6682 and the screen on it seems huge now compared to the one on the W810, but the Nokia's screen is not as crisp. I do alot of texting and even though the phone is small, it is quite easy to text on, as the keys seem very easy to press and very responsive. I live in Georgia and this phone has great reception (I had the SE s710a a year ago and it had HORRIBLE reception). Some have complained about dropped calls with this phone. I can personally say I haven't had a single dropped call with this phone. Coming from a Symbian phone, I was afraid I would be disappointed as to what all this phone could do. I haven't touched my 6682 in 2 weeks. I am well pleased with this phone. It is a definite keeper.
PROS:
2MP camera with auto focus takes much better pictures than my 6682.
Music on this phone sounds awesome, especially with included headphones.
Comes standard with 512mb memory stick duo, but you can always upgrade that if it isnt enough space.
Small and lightweight.
Beautiful, yet small, screen.
Opera Mini is much faster on the W810 than my 6682.
Excellent reception.
Very fast and flawless BT connection with all of my BT headsets.
CONS:
Really none. The center key is smaller and slightly harder to press than my 6682, which was by far the easiest of any phone I have ever had
In conclusion I would probably rate this phone somewhere between 4.7 - 4.8 and one I would highly recommend.
Awesome phone
This is the First Sony Ericsson phone i have bought since the T68i. I had my concerns about the brand but i was pleasantly surprised how good this phone is. This phone does everything exceptionally well. I can't seem to put this phone down.
PS Please note. unlike nokia where you can buy the cheapest model and have a pretty good phone, Sony Ericsson and Motorola are not like that. You really get what you pay for. The low end phones from Sony and Moto are not worth the box they came in but the high end of both sony Ericsson and Motorola are very very impressive. if you have used a older Sony Ericsson or a low end one, please don't judge this phone by your experiance with the lower end phone. The W810i is in a league of it's own. just my two cents.
Did i say i really like this phone..
The Best Phone for the money!!
I have had the w810i for a little over 3 mounths now and this phone is the best phone i have ever had.
getting used to the button configuration on this phone was hard at first, for all of those who are thinking of getting this phone, but after a week it will be a nicer way to use than the traditional format.
The camra is top notch at the 2mp and is very easy to use.
i have this phone set up on cingular right now and the clarity is crystal cleari have never had a problem
on edge wit media net this phone is faster than most other phone that are not 3g set up.
the cost of this phone has drop sence i picked it up with my upgrade from the nokia 6010 now it come with a nice big rebate of $100 now woot!!
over all this is the best phone i have had and i work in cell phone right now and am able to learn and use most phones now a days and this is the best one!
The Best Phone on The Market
This phone puts the rest to shame. I have been selling phones for 5 years now so I know my stuff. The interface of Sony is the best. It simple and easy to use. The graphics are awesome. You can hold up to 2 Gigs of music, and the earphone that come with it are amazing. The bass sounds like you got two 12 inch subs pounding in the background.
Sony really knows how to build a camera phone. There is no comparison. Samsung, nokia, motorola, and LG's 2 mega pixel camera phone pictures look like crap compared to Sony's. They know how to make a camera they have been doing it forever.
They have tons of cool themes and free downloads on the sony ericsson website, like the free âoperaâ web browser. For anyone that says this phone sucks they don't have any idea what they are talking about. Sony gets it done. Its like all other phones are the Gameboy Advance, and the W810 is the PSP, what would you chose?
To the Cry Babies:
The sound is great on the ear piece. Unless you are a 60 year old man, you wont have a problem. Plus there is Speaker Phone. Turn it up Def Boy! Yes there is no lens cover over the camera, but how many other phones do? Exactlyâ¦.. With dust and all it still takes great pictures.
Stands the test of time
W810i is a phenomenal phone. Will base my rating as if it was current because I do have some negative points that reflect its vintage. Even considering those, it is still an all time favorite and is in use daily as it has been for most of 2.5 years. Mine came from Cingular and was promptly debranded to get rid of asinine characteristics (apps like mobi radio) and to bring back Activity key and the awesome S/E push mail tool. I have flashed it a number of times, the latest of which was to use a semi-Cingular pack giving me working Mobile Email and (with a little chopping) ability to remove some of the Cingular apps that I consider a waste.
Pros:
* Excellent display
* Just about perfect keyboard
* Excellent size and shape bar form
* Available faceplate/keypad replacements
* Bluetooth and IR
* Camera and flash light
* S/E mail tool (if de-branded)
* Tether with cable or over bluetooth
* Excellent in weak signal conditions
* Perfect operation with various java applets
Cons:
* No 3G
* Java old
* Music player old
* Cingular branding unacceptable
Now you can fix the branding but not the 3G and I know of no updates for the Java or music player. Big impact is that you can only run one java app at a time; you cannot background gmail (for example) and use the camera without stopping the java app. The biggest impact I see on the music player is no reasonable way to fast forward or reverse in long tracks. Few minutes long track no problem but not so good if your set is 2 hours!
Finally I will note that Cingular branded comes with the only working Wireless Village client that I know of, perhaps because AT&T has WV server maintained by Oz Communications. I won't call this positive or negative. Even though it works, it rings up each little IM as a "text" and I find that unacceptable. Just use eBuddy or something else to go around that little problem.
Incredible Phone
I love this phone. It took a licking & kept on ticking, so to speak. I accidentally dropped in while working in 3 ft. of dirty manhole water & once it dried it still worked great!
PROs:
Camera takes great pics.
Camera has a self-portrait mirror (small orange dot on back)
Great flashlight feature that also doubles as a flash for camera
Can zoom before taking pic
FM Radio
Plays mp3s, etc.
Easy access to recent calls
Easy key lock
CONs:
Can't really think of any! :)
I would definitely recommend this phone to anyone. I recently upgraded to the w760a & actually like the w810i better. If they had kept some of the features of the w810i for the w760a, i.e. flashlight, easy call list access, easy keypad lock, self-portrait mirror, then the w760a phone would be the best! Sony is supposed to be coming out with another newer model later this year & I hope they incorporate some the the w810i features into it!
Incredible
I've had my W810 since January of 2007 and it's time for a new phone, but there's nothing out there that I like better than this one.
I've used the flashlight ALOT and not many of the new ones have this feature. Battery life is great- I only have to charge it two or maybe three times per week. (I'm still using the original battery that's now nearly two years old.) There are plenty of free themes and games available online. I also like the form and layout very much. I prefer block phones, and this one is a great size with buttons evenly spaced and arranged very well.
The buttons are just now showing wear, and that's only at the high spots of the Walkman and Cingular buttons. Flight mode is enjoyable since I have a memory card with over 500 songs. The only reason that I did not give the phone a perfect score is that games are not available in flight mode. Maybe that's not possible, but it seems to me that it could be done.
W810i: From Brand new to trash can
Pros:
- Great Feature Rich phone
- Infrared and Bluetooth interfaces
- FM Radio is a nice feature
- Easy to master menus
- Phone comes with cables and PC Software
- Camera is excellent quality and shoots like a real camera instead of a cell phone camera.
Cons:
- Extremely low audio on phone earpiece. Only was loud when using Bluetooth. Many others had same complaint.
- Volume button broke and sticks. Never rough handled or dropped phone.
- Sony should have used a metallic case for the phone instead of plastic.
Overall:
- If earpiece volume was louder this would almost be the best feature rich phone for the price. You can get them reconditioned for dirt cheap.
AWESOME!!!
This is the best phone! I got this phone right after it came out with AT&T (then Cingular).
PROS:
Everything
Camera Quality
Video Quality
MP3 sound
Personalization
Light (is truly is like a heavyduty spotlight)
Great reception
Expandable memory
CONS:
Volume on calls
This phone does almost everything. Everyone is amazed at the quality of the photos and videos. I have reception in new stores and restaurants, where everyone else can get any signals. I love that you can expand the memory with a Memory Stick DUO. I can't rave enough about how well this phone works.
I have never been one to hop on the trend wagon (Motorola hype) but this phone lasts and works better then the others. I can't wait to see what Sony Ericsson brings out next.
