Sony Ericsson W800 review

The W800 is part of Sony Ericsson's Walkman-branded range. The phone is similar to the K750, but it comes with a more sophisticated MP3 player and a 512MB Memory Stick Duo for storing music.

The handset's design is almost identical to the K750's, but with a different camera shutter and two-tone cream and orange colouring. To use the 2-megapixel camera on the back of the phone, you hold the handset on its side and use the shutter button on the top. The keypad has a neat layout, with large buttons that operate the menus and a central joystick to navigate the phone's functions. The joystick's action is quite vague, though, and the keypad buttons are too stiff for rapid texting.

The W800 has a superb screen. Its 176x200-pixel resolution is plenty for the LCD's size, and the menus and images are crisp and vibrant. Like all modern Sony Ericsson phones, the W800 has a user-friendly interface. Most common functions are accessed with a few clicks. Call quality is clear, and the claimed battery life of 540 minutes talk time translates to about three days' real-world use.

The W800 makes a very competent music player. Transferring music to the handset is easy using the supplied software and USB cable. You can encode music directly from CD to the phone at various bit rates, or copy MP3s from your PC. The phone supports ID3 tags, and you can browse your music by artist or individual tracks. Although the phone appears as a drive in Windows, dragging music directly to the handset confuses the phone's software and causes serious errors, so it is vital to use the official software package.

Sound quality is excellent, as the supplied headphones produce great sound and little noise leakage. These use a proprietary connector but a supplied adaptor enables you to use a different set. The phone's built-in speaker is incredibly loud and clear.

The phone's camera is also impressive. It has a maximum 2-megapixel resolution, and images taken in bright light are good enough to print, with good colour balance and little noise. It can also take photos in dim or dark conditions thanks to the penetratingly bright LED above the lens.

Sony Ericsson's W800 is a small, stylish handset that works well as a normal phone. It is also the first mobile we've seen with music-playing software that doesn't seem like an afterthought; everything from the PC software to the music interface on the phone is well designed and easy to use. Take into account the excellent headphones and generous 512MB Memory Stick, and the W800 is unbeatable as a music phone.

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