BengalBoy's "Wireless GentleMan's Club Presents .... "The Kittens" Work Out with Sony Ericsson's New W800i "WalkMan" Cell Phone & MP3 Player!! Sweaty Fun & The W800i Sounds Good Too!!




As promised, after a week of playing with the New Sony Ericsson W800i "WalkMan" Cell Phone I am ready to give you my review on its features and performance. First let me say, THANK YOU!! to my Sony Ericsson "Cell Phone God", without whose help and support I could not have made this review... Its a big honor to be selected as one of the very first people to review such an important device from this company.. As some of you know, the W800i is the very first product from Sony Ericsson that has been given the honor of sharing a "Sony" name brand. "WalkMan" has been bestowed upon this device along with the exclusive privilege of being the first Sony Ericsson Cell Phone to be sold in the "Sony Style" stores. My W800i was a brand new sample with headphones and charger. At this time there is no manual or software for supporting the products features, so I was unable to test its PC compatibility for synching, uploading Mp3s with a dedicated Sony Ericsson Suite, etc....

Tonight I am going to give everyone a first glimpse of the phone from every angle....and I do mean "EVERY ANGLE" I could think of....hehe.... The Kittens will kick it off with further photos of the W800i next to some other phones. Tomorrow night I will share the review and menu shots from the W800i with its "WalkMan" interface and other features, performance and my opinions ...... So for tonight ,,,,,,,,,,, just relax with a nice wiskey in your hand, a smoke and alittle relaxing music... and just drink in "The Kittens".....oh and the Sony Ericsson W800i.......

So, without further adew......

"The Kittens" Work Out with the Sony Ericsson W800i "WalkMan" Cell Phone!! A Photo Perspective!!




Aurora is really "Working It" with the W800i ..... Gee, working out sure feels better when you are doing it with Aurora........






Baby ,,,,, you look "Hotter than Georgia Asphalt" in that "Red Workout Suit" .... get me some water ,,,,,, I'm gonna pass out!!



Aurora is joined by Celestrelle with the New Z520 Flip Phone from Sony Ericsson....... look for a review and photo layout of the Z520 and Celestrelle in the next week .... Damn Those "Kitties" ARE HOTTTT!!!!!!





The W800i is so compact ,,,, it fits just about anywhere you can imagine you would want to keep your cell phone.....

Damn Lucky W800i.......








SONY ERICSSON W800i .... KITTENS LOVE IT!!



PHOTOS OF THE SONY ERICSSON W800I "WALKMAN" CELL PHONE & MP3 PLAYER!!









Camera Button must be held down for approximately 2 seconds with the W800i "awake" in order to turn on the camera......



Phone & Media Volume as well as "Zoom" button....



Camera is a 2.0 mega pixel with video support....



"Play & Pause" button for the "WalkMan" software...



Memory Stick Duo slot which supports the "Pro" standard and up to 2GB of storage....thats alot of Mp3s!! ..... W800i ships with a 512mb Sandisk Memory Stick Duo......



The "WalkMan" Badge!! A FIRST!!






Power Button and Infrared Port....



New Charging/Accessory Port uses only 2 prongs and lanyard hole...



Keypad is hard rubber "hocky puck" and chrome....... Very positive feedback and "expensive feel" from the keys and joystick.....me Like!!





"Tiger Eye"....or ..... "Bengal Eye"???? Anyway, Sony Ericsson copied my personal "PimP'In Stick" from my P900 on this joystick........ Do you think I'm Joking??? Look at my photos and I have internal documents from SE confirming the espionage........ But the "Gem" is a very nice touch.... looks really good there!!










W800i Headphones come with an adapter for changing your favorite 3.5mm headphones if you wish.....






The "EarBuds" have detatchable "Silicone Caps" for a firm slip-free fit when worn in sweaty ears. You can then detatch them for easy cleanup after a really long run.....







Sony Ericsson W800i Compared to Other Phones!!


With the new Sony Ericsson Z520 Flip Phone and Z600!!



Compared to the k700i and S700i......




Taking on the "SmartPhones"....hehe... I remember when everyone was "Bitch'in" about Memory Stick Duo Pro support for the P800......... Damn,,,that was a long time ago.....but its finally here in a Sony Ericsson "non-SmartPhone"....




W800i vs. Some Motorola "Fashion Phones"!!




So,,,,until tomorrow night ...... enjoy the photos and "The Kittens"!! I know I'll be dreaming of a certain little "Kit'en"......

REVIEW OF THE SONY ERICSSON W800i "WALKMAN" FEATURES & PERFORMANCE!!



My W800i came to me with "ZERO" hours on the phone, it included a SanDisk 512mb Memory Stick Duo Pro memory card, "WalkMan" ear-buds with Adapter, and charger for the new SE charging and accessory port. The Sony Ericsson W800i is a Tri-Band World Phone operating on the 1900/1800/900 frequency GSM network. It supports GPRS data transmission, WAP internet browser, email client, SMS & MMS features. It carries bluetooth, infrared, and a 2.0 Mega-Pixel camera with video recording ability. Additionally it has 30mb of internal memory with up to 2GB of external storage using the afore-mentioned Memory Stick Duo Pro media and a high resolution 176 X 220 resolution, 262,000 color LCD display. My unit did not come with a manual or software support CD, and it is my understanding that SE is still working on these items. I would have liked to experiment with the SE software for transferring MP3 files to the device,,,,but alas,,,,,,, it was not to be........ Regardless, I used the helll out of the "WalkMan" feature as you will read about later.



My review will be broken down as follow:

1. "WalkMan" & MultiMedia Features & Performance.
2. Phone Features and Performance.
3. Bluetooth Performance & Connectivity.
4. Internet & Messaging.
5. Differences Between the W800i & K750i.
6. Conclusions.

1. "WalkMan" & MultiMedia Features & Performance.



Because I know that this is what makes this phone "special" and the fact that everyone keeps asking me about these features in particular, I'm going to go out of order from my normal reviews and discuss the "WalkMan" feature set and Multi-Media features of the W800i first.



The first thing you notice when you turn on the W800i is the "Flight Mode"!! This alerts you to the special nature of the W800i and its advanced features compared to normal cell phones. Selecting "Music Only" turns off the GSM and Bluetooth radios just like a more powerful "SmartPhone" typically features. So, you can use the W800i as a MP3 Player or Video Player while on a flight or working in "sensitive areas" where cell phones are not allowed.



The Next thing you notice different from the W800i compared to other cell phones is the "WalkMan" key in the top center of the W800i just above the joystick ..... it "toggles" the W800i back and forth from the "WalkMan" application and the "Phone" application.



Using the "WalkMan" software is very easy and intuitive. I had no problems playin my favorite MP3s and arranging them in a single folder for easier access to certain types of music... The display during music playback.....



The menu for the song.....





Play Mode for "Shuffle" or "Loop"....



The "Equalizer" ........ it has 5 presets for voice, bass, Mega-Bass, normal or custom..... Mega-Bass just overpowers the OEM earbuds, don't know if other headphones will do a better job,,,but I found it to be a setting that was not useable......



You can "Sort" your music by artist or title ...



"Titles" menu......





The "Now Playing" menu.....



Moving through the "Artist" menu.......







Create your own music "Play List" .........






The "Video" feature of the W800i allows you to watch Mp4.3gpp encoded video in full screen on the phone. Why they S700 with its great screen wouldn't do this is beyound me????? Very nice playback and sound.....the w800i obviously has some very strong processing power for a tiny little phone.....





The "WalkMan" menu also allows you to send and manipulate your media files without going to the phone application.......



As for getting my music to the W800i ,,,, I used the Bluetooth connection as well as my card reader for transferring MP3s and video files. I recommend using the 2.0 USB card reader and a adapter for the Duo to load your files. Its super fast and convienent compared to using bluetooth......or God Forbid....... Infrared!!





The W800i has a 2.0 Mega Pixel digital camera that supports video capture. It has a 2 LED Light and a camera lens cover which protects the lens but does not start the camera application when opened...



The "Settings" menu



Switching from "Still Camera" to "Video Camera" .. This can also be selected by using the "Joystick" while in camera mode...



Shooting Mode...



Resolution ....



Macro Setting. I found this feature extremely impressive for this phone camera.... awesome photo quality as you will see later.....



Nite Mode...... very impressive results as well when coupled with the super bright flash......



LED Flash ........





Special Effects ......



Camera Presets .....



Photo Quality.....



Time & Date Stamp....



Video Camera Settings .......




Video Size ......






The camera and video camera both feature "Auto Focus" which is extremely nice in such a small device. I can no longer refer to these camera phones as being "Novelty Cameras" because this devices digi-cam offers such great features and resuts.. The Auto Focus operates by pressing the shutter key about half way...allowing the W800i to focus which results in the light at the top left of the screen glowing a steady "Green" as well as the viewfinder center window changing from "White" to "Green"....





The results are really very impressive!!

W800i PHOTOS!!

Indoor with "Normal" setting...



Macro Setting, low light with flash.....

Normal Photo Quality........



Fine Photo Quality ...... notice the sharpening of the edges and reduction of noise.....



Macro Setting, indoor with good light......



Out-Door Setting, good light....



Out-Door Setting, bright light.....











Macro Setting, outdoor, bright light........





Night time without flash....







Viewing Photos on the W800i the user can Zoom all the way up to 32X on the display ......













You can share the photo from within the menus as well .....



"Entertainment" menu provides additional Multi-Media Entertainment for the W800i user such as JaVa Games, Video & Audio DJ, etc ........





I really liked playing with the "Video DJ", a little application that allows you to manipulate video files within the W800i for custom soundtracks playing behind your video, special effects, etc.... WoW!! Little Phones are sure becoming powerful....







Putting a soundtrack behind the video using Video DJ ...







Now my beautiful subject has "Shake Your Groove Thang" playing in the background of her video..... Niiiccccceeeee......



"Remote Control" application allows you to control your PC, slide projector, etc. via the W800i's bluetooth radio...



Pairing with my Desktop Computer.....



The W800i supports very advanced 3-D JaVa Games. My unit came with 2 installed and 2 downloadable games for VodaPhone Customers. I was unable to download the cool "SnowBoarding" and "Beach Golf" games, but the trailers were sure cool to see on the W800i's display.








In addition to the "WalkMan" Mp3 capability, the W800i also includes a FM Radio for your music pleasure......



and finally, "Play Now" is a Multi-Media service offered by Sony Ericsson for the downloading of music, ringtones and wallpapers directly to your w800i via the internet.....



Select a ringtone or song and "Download" it....







The Sony Ericsson W800i is a "Multi-Media Fireworks Machine"!! So cool to use and operate, so entertaining and practicle to carry, it is really becoming difficult to define novelty features from dedicated devices anymore...



2. Phone Features & Performance.



By selecting "Start Phone" the W800i user turns on the GSM radio and enables the Bluetooth radio for operation as well. The W800i is a Tri-Band World Phone operating on the 1900/1800/900 freqencies and supporting GPRS data transfer. It also supports SMS & MMS messaging services as well. The W800i includes a detailed contacts menu, calander, and other applications for business user as well as some very nice features for the "World Traveler"... MP3 Ringtone support is available with contacts being tagged with specific ringtones and photos for caller ID. Alerts and Alarms can also be customized for your particular taste as well as the themes, wallpapers, and screen savers. The W800i ships with approximately 30 mb of on-board internal memory for storing ringtones, wallpapers, photos, etc...



My W800i shipped to me with the latest firmware but I understand it will not be the final firmware on the units as they ship to consumers.





The W800i is powered by a 900 mAh battery that provides up to 30 hours of continuous "WalkMan" use or 12 hours of Phone and "WalkMan" operation. I was astounded at how I could use the unit all day with the "WalkMan" features and still have half a battery left at the end of the day.....



The Phone Settings Menus are toggled through by moving from side to side by catagory...such as "General", "Sounds & Alerts", etc... and then up and down within that particular menu for customizing the phone.....

General Menu & Settings....



Sounds & Alerts .....



Display .....



Animated "Screen Saver" in action.....



Calls .....



Connectivity ....



By selecting one of those menus you then are given more options within that catagory for customizing or gathering additionaly information regarding the W800i phone application...

Here we see the additional information from the "Calls" menu ...

All Calls ......



Answered Calls ........



Dialed Calls ......



Missed Calls.....



The Contacts Menu of the W800i is very extensive for a "Tiny Phone" offering a full address, up to 5 phone numbers, multiple email addresses, MP3 ringtone and Photo ID support for a particular contact as well as a "Voice Tag" for "Voice Dialing" the contact from the W800i handset or your bluetooth headset simply by saying the name and number of the contact you wish to dial. All features worked as expected and I really enjoyed using the phone.

Menu Shots of the Contacts Menu......



Phone Numbers Menu ....



Email, Instant Messanger & Web Address Menu .....



Photo & Ringtone ID Menu as well as "Voice Tag" setup ....



Address Menu ....





Notes Menu ......



Calander Application ......

The "Calander" application is selected from the "Organizer" menu and is used for calandering your important events, appointments and occassions and having the W800i "Alert" you at a preset time before the event occurs. I was unable to use this with my PC to synchronize due to the lack of available software for the W800i at this time, however, manually inputting the information gave me an idea of the customizability, which is adequate but certainly not up to the standards of a Pocket PC Convergence Device.



The Calander display .....




"The World Clock" JaVa Application ....



One of my favorite applications that I found on the W800i was the "World Clock" a 3-D rendition of the Globe which the user can "Spin" by using the JoyStick to locate and Zoom in on a particular area of the world to find the time. As you move about the world...the time automatically is displayed in the high-lighted area on the W800i's display...












I really like this application, its very pretty to look at and practicle as well .......

Using the W800i you will find that the unit displays the Photo ID with a phone calls animating the contacts name and number from bottom to the top of a window at the bottom of the display.






Special ringtones can be tagged to each individual contact so you'll know who's calling without looking at the W800i.

Call quality is reported to be very good for outgoing calls and I found the incoming call quality to be good as well. Speaker phone function is great and I would rate the W800i as above average in this regard if not quite as good as a RaZr, PeBl, or the SamSung I730 ...... 2 of which use Stereo Speakers or a iteration of 2 speaker ports.

RF Performance was on par with at K700i and better than the S700i I used as references.

Overall I would have to give the W800i very strong recommendation as just a phone, although it is not my favorite compared to the Motorola RaZr, PeBl and V600. Motorola has always had a superior sounding handset quality to me and the PeBl's new DSP really improves the handset call quality..


3. Bluetooth Performance & Connectivity.




The W800i includes a Bluetooth Radio and InfraRed Port for connecting to devices and transferring data wirelessly. I don't know if it the Bluetooth is 1.1 or 1.2 version bluetooth, but I suspect version 1.1 based on Headset performance compared to the Motorola RaZr and iMate JAM which both use version 1.2.



I found pairing the W800i with my NextLink Digital and 5G headset to be effortless and easy to do thanks to the W800i's easy menu set-up. The headsets did suffer some breakup and interference when I placed the W800i in my pocket unlike the RaZr and JAM, which leads me to believe that it is using the 1.1 version of bluetooth.











Pairing and transferring data from and to the W800i was effortless. It worked really well with my iMate JAM and Laptop PC as well as some other phones and computers I tried it with.












For transferring data between your "Wood Working" friends, ye'ole InfraRed Port is on-board and ready. Just get ready to lay down and take a nap during the transfer.



Overall the W800i is a very solid Bluetooth Performer and easily connected to most every device. Additionally it supports some very special bluetooth features that I was unable to check out due to the lack of the PC Suite Software and Drivers. Just remember though that you can use the "Remote Control" and other special featues that most other devices bluetooth software won't do.



4. Internet & Messaging.



The W800i has a WAP browser and email client on-board for your internet and messaging needs. In addition,,,, it supports SMS and MMS messaging if offered by your carrier.

You can download ringtones, wallpapers and settings directly from Sony Ericsson's WAP site for its phones if you subscribe to your carrier's internet plan....



You can also browser your favorite WAP site from the W800i .....





The W800i's email client was easy to setup and use. Here I am checking the email on my Comcast Home Internet Account. You can set the W800i to check your email at preset intervals.





WoW!! Look at all the new "Wireless GentleMan's Club" Members!!



The W800i's internet and messaging abilities are very strong for a "tiny phone" and should be pretty useful to most users. However, once you use a HTML supported device such as a SmartPhone it is difficult to really accept a WAP only device, or one which has such limited support of email messages and attachments.


5. Differences Between the W800i and K750i.



The obvious question for alot of Sony Ericsson Fans is "Why should I buy the W800i over the cheaper K750?" ...... Well here is the "Official" statement of differences between the two phones from my Sony Ericsson Friend .....

Quote:

My personal experience with both phones at CTIA in New Orleans this past March was that I preferred the W800i's housing and feel over the K750i. The W800i just felt "better". Its hard rubber keys and housing just felt more expensive and quality to me than the K750i's more plastic feeling keys and housing.

Photos of the K750i for comparison .......














With the availability of the W800i firmware flash for K750i owners, the lines are blurred on the devices. On one hand you can pay more for the W800i's construction and materials with a superior headset or you can flash the K750i and keep the better LCD and cheaper housing. Just remember that flashing your K750i to W800i firmware voids your warranty with Sony Ericsson and until the W800i PC Suite with drivers is released, may affect your ability to synch your K750i.....

6. Conclusions.



Well, after a week of using the W800i I am prepared to declare it a "HUGE WINNER!!".... This little phone packs some very serious hardware in a very compact package. The "WalkMan" MP3 player software is very intuitive and easy to use. There is no DRM restrictions on its use and the sound is amazing!! The 2.0 Mega-Pixel digital camera is good enough to be a dedicated Digital Camera and the W800i's battery life is superior to any other phone I've ever used. But the most important observation I had regarding the W800i was the "Agelessness" of its design. No matter who I showed the phone to, regardless of their age, they wanted to know what it was and where they could buy one!! The "WalkMan" name brand is instantly recognized by young and old as a music player that all are familiar with. When I told them that it would cost about $500.00 on release, no one balked, and it is a rare day indeed when people I see in town are willing to pay that kind of money for a cell phone. The "WalkMan" name is a brand that people are willing to pay a premium for and that they can justify as a nice Christmas or Birthday present for someone regardless of age or sex.

W800i HottNess!!

1. "WalkMan" Name Brand is easily recognized by everone regardless of age as a quality music product.

2. Super 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera and Multi-Media Features.

3. Superior Battery Life.

4. Very Good RF and Phone Performance.

5. Solid Construction and Quality Materials.

6. Fantastic Ear Buds with 3.5 mm Adapter for your own favorite ear phones or buds.

W800i Disappointments ......

1. Didn't really care for the styling and color combinations.

2. Bluetooth Headset performance could have been better.

3. Speaker Phone Performance not as good as other companies phones. I mean really, its a Freak'in "WalkMan" Phone......put some stereo speakers in there or at least one front firing speaker or speaker port a'la RaZr....

4. Lack of HTML browser support and more sophisticated email client.

5. Ability of those K750i owners to flash their phones to operate like your W800i at a cheaper price.

6. Use of a lower quality LCD compared to the K750i.

So, if music and Mp3 playback is your thing, and you just want the smallest and most compact cell phone available to enjoy this feature, get yourself a W800i "WalkMan". No longer just a cell phone with "novelty" features, the new Sony Ericsson W800i is an evolution of the modern cell phone into a "Multi-Media Communication Device". Sony Ericsson has a Big Hit on its Hands....better start saving your money for the August release!!



Now, excuse me while I go get those "Kittens" out of the WaterMelon.....