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 ›
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This phone is the best i love it so much i think everyone should get this phone over some cheap other phone
The Impressive Cingular Sony Ericsson W810i
When it comes to finding the perfect multi-media cell phone, it's hard to find everything all in one package. Until now, Sony Ericsson has developed perhaps one of the best feature bundled phone/music player/camera wrapped into a incredibly tiny package. This phone has about everything from the standard MP3 Player to E-Mail functional abilities and does everything in a great way. It's not one of those phones that excel in one aspect and fail in another, but it exceeds the bar making it a great regular phone to buy. From the menu bar to using the web-browser, Sony Ericsson made this phone really simple to use and ALSO started you off with all the necessities such as stereo headphones, 128MB Memory Card, and USB Cable so from opening the box you are able to fully use all of the phone's features. I will break down the Goods & the Very Minimal Bads (Minor Details).
The Great Aspects!!!
1. Size (Fits Comfortably)
2. Screen (Crisp, Clear, Beautiful)
3. Buttons (Easy To Press)
4. Battery Life (Amazing)
5. FM Radio (More Music)
6. MP3 Player (Great Sound)
7. 2MP Camera (Best Pics Ever)
8. E-Mail (Easy To Use)
9. Games (Kinda Fun)
10. Infrared Port
11. Speakers w/o Headphones (LOUD!!!)
12. Flashlight (Very Useful)
The Decent!!!
1. Stereo Headphone Volume (Kinda Low)
The Bads!!!
Absolutely None
The Cingular Sony Ericsson W810i is the Perfect Multi-Media Phone. Music, Camera, E-Mail, it just takes care of all your daily needs without any hold-backs. My only concern was the volume of Music when you have the headphones on, as it is low compared to other phones and MP3 Players, but if you take it off and play through the phone speakers, its amazingly very Loud, loud enough to hear from anywhere. I highly recommend this phone to anyone who likes regular phones as it does it all flawlessly.
Found: My Perfect Phone.
I have never owned a real cell phone before. I have been doing cell phone research for over 3 years now looking for a phone perfect for me. I do not have a lot of money (college student) and if I am going to drop $600+/yr. on a cell phone/service, I was not going to compromise for anything.Now, with that said, my review:
The features I MUST have and found in the w810i.
MP3 Player: Optional dedicated and seamless with phone. Sound quality as good as my CD player. Volume, max volume plenty loud (mother complained about it being too loud from her bedroom upstairs while I was in the living room in her townhouse).
PC Connectivity: FREE. Blue tooth, Memory Stick Duo (Supplied! 128mb) and USB Data Cable (Supplied! With Software Included). Easy to operate and download/upload data.
Phone Customization: FREE. User Created/Uploaded MP3 RINGTONES and WALLPAPERS. Why pay $1 or $2 for things I already own? Uploading different themes to the phone is also available.
Sound Quality: The resounding reply from those on the other end of my calls say, "It sounds like a cell phone." It is true, the quality is not clear-perfect. But I haven't had any reason to complain.
Service: (Cingular)Current Location: Annapolis, MD and surrounding areas. With the 850 Analog Band, I get service in places none of my friend's verizon phones do. And I get full strength in most other places. Pleasantly Surprised!
Price: I received mine for FREE with a mail in rebate. I worked for a short period at a T-Mobile & Cingular Authorized Dealer. Remember This: Cell Phone Sales Reps Will Do Anything for a Sale! Especially for a 2 Year Commitment.Service terms is where they get most of their commission. Legitimately or not, they can and will sell you any phone for any price if its worth it for their commission/store sales. Using a deal I found on Amazon.com I was able to talk them into something better.
I finallly found my perfect phone. I hope this review helps you in finding yours!
Reliable, Useful and Flexible
I've owned this phone for about 3 months now, and I can say in all honesty having been a total Motorola snob, I'm a convert.
I appreciated Moto's because of their ability to connect to my PC, however difficult it might be to actually get the 2 to communicate.
This phone hooks to my computer and it's recognized and fully functional for file transfer immediately and every time.
The speaker is plenty loud for me. If you think it's very difficult to hear on... you're probably not holding it right. No joke.
It's pretty and the screen can take a lickin'. It's tough and sturdy. The buttons are easy for me and my fiancé to use, and he's got pretty large fingers.
The camera is really nice for a camera phone. Keeping the lens clean will always give you pretty clear photos with decent detail.
So...
Pros:
Flashlight. This is incredibly useful.
Camera. I'm a photographer so this is a real treat.
MP3 player. Makes cleaning the house much easier :)
Bluetooth. For obvious reasons.
Appearance. It's nice looking body wise and display wise.
Connectivity. Games, songs, ringtones, this thing will take it all with ease, and give it back to the computer as easily.
Cons:
Cingular branding for us 'less bars in more places' folks.
That really is the only downside and with enough know-how that won't be a problem for very long.
I give this phone a 5 and I mean it. It's a nice weight and a nice size. It's really easy to use overall and it's got so many useful functions that I think you could forget it's a phone if you're not very popular.
The best phone I've ever owned.
W810i = my greatest phone ever
both my wife and I work in the field of cell phones, and I read many reviews of this phone and I couldnt help but make this phone mine.
I have had the W810 for about 3 months now and I must say it is by far, the best overall phone I have ever used, considering I was a moto freak and could only ever have a moto.
I have dropped the phone countless times, and not once has it scratched or dented the phone, so this is a very durable phone.
The MP3 player is top notch, but can still use a bit of work to catch up to the MP3 player I used to have.
The 2MP camera is just truly great. Transferring pics to my computer and seeing how well they come up on my Dell 2005 WFP screen is awesome. But it is lacking a few minor things as far as a true digital camera replacement.
Pros:
Great battery life (usually get about 4 hours or more of talk time plus playing MP3's)
Great Reception on the Rogers network in Guelph (an hour outside of Toronto)
Walkman - Lots of options here from the equalizer to the playlists to displaying song titles and artists (which is also a con for me)
Phone is nice and customizable. I have been on the net and found lots of themes and ring tunes for the phone that is very easy to install.
Great phone menus and easy to navigate.
2MP camera is really nice with lots of features.
Software is very easy to use and I have had customers with no computer knowledge say how easy it is to use.
Cons:
Walkman ID3 tagging. Its almost non exsistent and makes a pain in the butt for reading song titles that are longer than the screen as it doesnt scroll.
Camera lacks a few options that would allow this to break away from a real digital camera as it has a flash, but its just 2 LED's that remain on and hurts the eyes of people you are taking pictures of.
Lack of accessories is a big problem. Unless you go online and buy them, there isnt really anything you can find in our area (Around toronto) for getting a case or the SE speakers.
Great Phone
I have been with cingular for a couple of years and have tried all the Sony Ericsson phones they offer. I must Say that each new model of the SE's offered is better than the last. Although I love SE phones I'm not that fond of clamshells and swivels so this design is perfect.
PROS
great design
great sound quality
great camera
MP3
easy access to email
new mail pop-ups
memory stick
CONS
you can't use your downloaded songs as ringtones.
buttons are too sensitive (I pick up the phone & I'm in the Media Net)
too much pre added content that can not be deleted.
I hate seeing the cingular ringtones in my playlist.
Great Little Phone
I have and have had the Sony E. for just over a month now and I love it. I have worked for Cingular and Verizon and have gone through many phones and I can honestly say this is one of the best I have had.
Pros:
-Good signal strength
-Good sound quality(MP3 and ear piece)
-Awesome Camera and great options(effects)
-Small but not too small
-Price is reasonable
-External Memory(Same as my Sony digital camera)
-Best Battery life(usually 3 days w/o charging)
-Processor Speed is fast
Cons:
-Have to lock buttons or will hit media net button
If not for that little media net button, this would have been a perfect phone!!
Best overall phone
This is by far the best overall phone. I give this phone a 5 for many reasons. First off i get great reception. in places where i used to get 0-2 bars i get 3-4 bars. the sound quality is superb. every call is loud and clear and thats the same on both ends. Second this phone has a great camera. with 2 megapixels it takes very detailed and clear shots. at night with the flash pictures are still visable and pretty clear. Third the walkman software. this is so much better than an ipod. music is loud and crisp, plus with the mega bass mode it sounds like i have subs hooked up to my head. the screen is bright even though its not a qvga, its still okay. it would have been nice to have stereo bluetooth but once again thats okay. this phone is great in everyway, the themes are really cool and change everything about the appearence on the phone. i've been through countless phones and this is the BEST. i sell tmobile and cingular and i know my phones. any one who gets this will not be dissapointed. go get one. now....go get it....why are you still reading this....go get the phone...
good phone, but avoid Cingular version
I got it unbranded from myworldphone, used davinciteam.com flash to Hong Kong version
the form factor is nice, reminds me of good old T637
it has good reception, about the same as Z710i
the cam is good, but the pic is "pixelated" even though it has auto focus
I don't use audio player feature because it lacks ogg vorbis support, and no local realaudio support like Z710i, but FM radio is pretty good, reception is good like SRF-S83, RDS is pretty cool, displaying now playing info is helpful
buttons layout is fine, and easy to press, but missing web button is a minus
earpiece is not that loud, and it has some hiss when making phone call (it may come from built-in mic), when Z710i doesn't
this phone can use PSP card, that I just use the old memory card used on PSP
the display is pretty good, vivid color, but it's COMPLETELY BLACK when it's idle, not like older models can display clock
pros:
dedicated audio player button
good reception
cam with auto-focus
cool flash themes
supports PSP card, which is easy to buy and cheaper
can flash to your language preference through wotanserver or davinci
cons:
low earpiece volume, and some hiss when talking
no dedicated web button
no clock display when it's idle
no ICS support through USB or bt like Z710i does
limited audio support (no wma, asf, ogg, real support)
conclusion: get unbranded if you're not with Cingular, or don't use mobiTV feature
you'll get a lot more features you're supposed to have (don't mention Cingular ver replaces Walkman logo with splat head)
My favorite phone ever!
I read all of your reviews before I bought the phone and they were very helpful, so i want to add mine.
In short, this is my favorite phone I have ever owned! Im coming from a Cingular back V3 Razr, and this blows it away. I had all sorts of reception problems with the razor, and lots of staticy interferance, and the sound level was hard to hear while driving in my car at above 60mph.
With the W810i, the speaker volume on normal calls is much better, I can hear people in the car and I dont get that same static. I dont think its too low at all.
I love putting movies on the phone to watch, I have put some funny clips on and shown them to people at work and they all think its awesome. i didnt think video could look so good on a cell phone. I just wish it was once size bigger on resolution, though if you play them through the walkman player, you can make the video go full screen.
Which brings us to the walkman feature for MP3s! Im going to be putting 4 gigs of music on it, so im a little concerned about making the play lists through the phone interface, but i havent tried the software yet, but we'll see. The sound quality through the head phones is pretty good, about what you would expect, but if you got better headphones that what it comes with, it would sound better. I plugged it into my car stereo through RCA jacks, and it sounds magnificent! So the problem isnt the phone output, but the headset.
getting my yahoo email through the phone interface is great, works fast and smooth, and the phone even pops up a screen to show you when you have new mail in your inbox.
I just wish you could delete the cingular protected ring tones, i dont like how they pop up in the walkman player. I think ill have to get my phone debranded.
Pros:
Great Form Factor,
Awesome movies,
mp3 player is awesome
Memory stick expansion
Good reception and sound quality
camera is very cool
Cons:
Dont really care for the headphones
cingular branding!!!!!!!!!!!
