Dark star

Review
,
Sony Ericsson W810i
From free with contract
www.sonyericsson.com
Features
■ Walkman digital music player
■ Easy-to-use Disc2phone
software
■ Two-megapixel camera
■ Expandable memory
Stats
Dark star
Pros
■ Few can beat its audio
performance but outside of the
music hall, its other features are
top-dollar too.
Cons
■ Leaving off the camera lens
cover from the W800i and the
lack of 3G are a bit disappointing
but there’s very little to complain
about otherwise.
Also consider
Size: 100x46x19.5mm
Weight: 99g
Display: 262,144 colours
Resolution: 176x220 pixels
With more members than the Von Trapp family, Sony
Ericsson’s Walkman phone dynasty is taking over the
mobile music charts. Is the W810i, a souped-up
version of the W800i, another Walkman winner?
T
HERE’S no doubt that the trailblazing
Walkman brand of the eighties and
nineties paved the way for the iPod’s
phenomenal success. Since its birth in
July 1979, the Walkman has defined
music on the move and arguably youth
culture around the end of last century.
And while Sony may have recently
experienced a dip in street credibility,
undoubtedly caused by Apple’s runaway
popularity, the Walkman name in the
digital age has again flourished in the
most unlikely of places.
With three million sales worldwide
(and counting), Sony Ericsson’s seven
Walkman phones have captured the
public imagination. The W800i was the
first to launch, with its eye-catching white
and orange livery, and since then Sony
Ericsson hasn’t looked back. Now with
the entry-level prepay number (W300i),
3G-speeding music maestro (W900i) and
the upcoming flagship 4GB flash-memory
handset (W950i), every music taste
is catered for. But amongst all these
handsets, the W810i might just become
the music phone of choice.
As the model number suggests, the
W810i is a slightly improved version
of the original W800i. On paper these
refinements may look insubstantial but it
has transformed the W810i into possibly
the slickest Walkman phone yet.
The most notable change is cosmetic.
Gone is the opinion-dividing orange-andwhite combination, to be replaced by a
classy black-and-orange jacket. The joy-nub
has been usurped by a more solid fiveway joypad that clearly defines the
music controls. A dedicated
orange Walkman key
sits to the left to fire
up the music player,
Nokia 3250
Nokia’s 3250 music phone with a twist matches the
Sony Ericsson’s features all the way. It’s the most
exciting music head-to-head since the Beatles and
the Stones.
Camera: 2 megapixels
Video recording/playback:
Yes/Yes
Audio playback: MP3, AAC
Connectivity: Bluetooth,
and a customisable Activity shortcut
button makes a return appearance
from the K750i. The W810i retains the
classic Sony Ericsson candybar shape
with a compact build reminiscent of its
predecessor (it’s trimmer by 1.5mm)
In addition to the superficial revamp,
the other major differences are frequency
– it has been boosted from tri-band to
quad-band, so you can call from anywhere
in the USA – and support for EDGE
technology for near 3G download speeds.
Of the music phones we’ve tested over
the last year, the Walkman range remains
the most consummate. The W810i
upholds this tradition and Sony Ericsson’s
proprietary software, Disc2phone, is
the most intuitive mobile music software
outside of iTunes. Load the software
onto your PC and it will automatically
delve into your computer’s music folder
and bring up your existing digital library
ready to transfer over to your phone via
USB. It is exactly the same procedure
for transferring your CD library where
the song names are uploaded from the
internet’s Gracenotes CD database.
You can’t argue with the sound quality
either. Even the supplied in-ear phones
issue a decent sound. And the 3.5mm
remote jack means you can plug in your
better quality cans. We hooked up our
Sennheiser PX200 headphones, lined up
the new Gnarls Barkley LP, St Elsewhere
(sampled at 192Kbps) and experienced
a masterful performance, with a great
rounded fidelity and punchy bass.
We’re also pleased that Sony Ericsson
still uses the MemoryStick Pro Duo
instead of migrating to the new M2 micro
format, so W800i owners can still use
their larger capacity cards if they decide
to upgrade. Songs are stored on the
supplied 512MB MemoryStick, which will
hold approximately 125 tunes, assuming
you don’t overdo the other multimedia.
The W810i also retains the W800i’s
two-megapixel camera lens but lacks its
useful active lens cover. Still, this is a
minor gripe because the picture quality
is superb and equal to the W900i and
K750i. The autofocus is also a boon.
As a successor to the mega-selling
W800i, the W810i seems to be a more
realised phone. This music handset has
all the right ingredients to become the
biggest star of the Walkman roster.
The W810i is one of the
infrared, USB
best music phones around
Internal memory: 20MB
Nick Renshaw
[email protected]
Speakers of the house
To expand your Walkman phone’s
sound stage, Sony Ericsson offers
you three levels of stereo speaker
systems: the MS-60 (£30) for
truly portable sound, the
MDS-60 (£50) for your desktop
and the MDS-70 home audio
system (£160).
As you might expect for such
a costly price tag, the most
impressive of this trio is the
MDS-70 system. The elongated
triangle-shaped speakers
themselves are quite discreet,
with a front connector to perch
your Walkman phone on and a
line out to hook up your iPod and
other such digital players. But
it’s the bulky AC adapter which
is the more imposing, doubling
as a subwoofer to serve up the
bass rumbles. Despite its weighty
presence, the woofer is essential
to issuing a meaty fidelity. We
were surprised how dynamic
and vibrant the W810i sounded
through these airshifters, with a
driving bass sound that belied its
size. We can heartily recommend
the MDS-70 as a second system
for the kitchen or bedroom.
At the other end of the
spectrum, the diddy MS-60
speakers are extremely portable
Memory card slot:
MemoryStick Pro Duo
(512MB card supplied)
Java: Yes
Games: Johnny Crash Does
Texas
Ringtones: Polyphonic, MP3
Messaging: SMS, MMS
Internet browser: WAP 2.0,
xHTML HTML
Email client: POP3, SMTP,
IMAP4
GPRS: Yes
Frequency: Quad-band
Talktime: 480 mins
Standby: 350 hours
Verdict
The best music phone
around? With mobile
technology moving fast and
the tantalising W950i on
the way, this will no doubt be
superseded but for now it’s
number one.
and designed for those impromptu
parties or outdoor picnic in the
park gatherings. Powered by the
phone’s battery, the audio quality
was respectable if a little thin
and tinny (what do you expect
for 30 quid?) but they’re fun and
frivolous nonetheless.
THUMBS UP
90%