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Reviews (4)
07 October 2009
excellent brand
4 of 4 found this helpful • Reviewed by:
Nihaad ali
• Reviewed on: 10/07/2009
Since Sony Ericsson first introduced its Walkman cell phone line last year, music-friendly phones have had mixed success in the United States. Though they're lauded by users and critics alike, including us, U.S. carriers, haven't clamored to include the handsets in their lineups. Sure, Cingular offers the W600i, but that's the exception rather than the rule. Sony Ericsson no doubt has taken notice of this discrepancy, which may be a reason behind the Sony Ericsson W300i. While previous Walkman phones were packed with the most expensive features, the W300i aims to be a low-end Walkman phone. Though you still get Bluetooth, a VGA camera, and the full range of Walkman music compatibility, the overall effect is a step down from models like the Sony Ericsson W810i. We weren't crazy about some design elements, but call quality was good, and we applaud Sony Ericsson for bringing mobile music to the masses. No carrier was set at the time of this review, so the GSM handset will run you $32.
So far, Sony Ericsson has stuck to swivel and candy bar designs for its Walkman phones, so we were glad to see the company roll out a flip phone in the series. From the outside it's quite attractive; our version came in black, but you can get it in white as well. It doesn't bear much of a resemblance to the company's few other flip phones; we like the clean lines, the looped antenna, and the textured covering on the bottom of the front flap. The phone is relatively compact at 3.5 by 1.8 by 1.0 inches, so it's easily placed in most pockets. It's also quite light for its size at 3.3 ounces, but the trade-off is that the overall construction feels somewhat flimsy. We didn't have any problems when using the phone, but it felt almost too light in our hands.
In the center of the front flap is the postage stamp-size external display. Though monochrome, it's quite bright and displays the usual information, including the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). You can't change the backlighting time, but a quick flick of the volume rocker will activate the display for inspection. Above the screen is the VGA camera lens and a self-portrait mirror (but no flash), while the speaker is on the top of the rear face. The aforementioned volume control is on the left spine along with a control for activating the music player and playing and pausing music. The infrared port is on the right spine, while the connection port for the charger, the wired headset, and the USB cable is on the bottom of the handset. One design flaw of the new Walkman phone connection port is that you can't connect two cables at once.
Inside the phone you'll find the 1.75-inch (128x160) internal display. Sony Ericsson always does a good job with its displays, and the W300i is no exception. Bright and vivid, it displays all 262,144 colors beautifully and is perfect for viewing photos and videos, playing games, and scrolling through the user-friendly menus. You can change the brightness but not the font size or backlighting time.
On the other hand, Sony Ericsson doesn't have a great track record with navigation controls and keypad buttons. Though it made positive strides with the W810i, the W300i shows a return to bad habits. The five-way toggle is big and doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, but it's flush with the surface of the phone and thus takes some getting used to. The flat soft keys
07 October 2009
excellent brand
0 of 1 found this helpful • Reviewed by: Nihaad ali
• Reviewed on: 10/07/2009
Just over a year after Apple birthed the first iPhone, the long-awaited, next-generation iPhone 3G has arrived bearing a mildly tweaked design and a load of new features. With access to a faster 3G wireless network, Microsoft Exchange server e-mail, and support for a staggering array of third-party software from the iPhone App Store, the new handset is the iPhone we've been waiting for. It still lacks some basic features but when compared with what the original model was year ago, this device sets a new benchmark for the cell phone world.
With the iPhone 3G, Apple appears to have fixed some call-quality performance issues we had with the previous model--in our initial tests, the volume is louder with less background buzz than before. The 3G reception could be improved, however. Music and video quality were largely unchanged, but we didn't have many complaints in that department to begin with.
07 October 2009
excellent brand
4 of 4 found this helpful • Reviewed by:
Nihaad ali
• Reviewed on: 10/07/2009
Since Sony Ericsson first introduced its Walkman cell phone line last year, music-friendly phones have had mixed success in the United States. Though they're lauded by users and critics alike, including us, U.S. carriers, haven't clamored to include the handsets in their lineups. Sure, Cingular offers the W600i, but that's the exception rather than the rule. Sony Ericsson no doubt has taken notice of this discrepancy, which may be a reason behind the Sony Ericsson W300i. While previous Walkman phones were packed with the most expensive features, the W300i aims to be a low-end Walkman phone. Though you still get Bluetooth, a VGA camera, and the full range of Walkman music compatibility, the overall effect is a step down from models like the Sony Ericsson W810i. We weren't crazy about some design elements, but call quality was good, and we applaud Sony Ericsson for bringing mobile music to the masses. No carrier was set at the time of this review, so the GSM handset will run you $32.
So far, Sony Ericsson has stuck to swivel and candy bar designs for its Walkman phones, so we were glad to see the company roll out a flip phone in the series. From the outside it's quite attractive; our version came in black, but you can get it in white as well. It doesn't bear much of a resemblance to the company's few other flip phones; we like the clean lines, the looped antenna, and the textured covering on the bottom of the front flap. The phone is relatively compact at 3.5 by 1.8 by 1.0 inches, so it's easily placed in most pockets. It's also quite light for its size at 3.3 ounces, but the trade-off is that the overall construction feels somewhat flimsy. We didn't have any problems when using the phone, but it felt almost too light in our hands.
In the center of the front flap is the postage stamp-size external display. Though monochrome, it's quite bright and displays the usual information, including the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). You can't change the backlighting time, but a quick flick of the volume rocker will activate the display for inspection. Above the screen is the VGA camera lens and a self-portrait mirror (but no flash), while the speaker is on the top of the rear face. The aforementioned volume control is on the left spine along with a control for activating the music player and playing and pausing music. The infrared port is on the right spine, while the connection port for the charger, the wired headset, and the USB cable is on the bottom of the handset. One design flaw of the new Walkman phone connection port is that you can't connect two cables at once.
Inside the phone you'll find the 1.75-inch (128x160) internal display. Sony Ericsson always does a good job with its displays, and the W300i is no exception. Bright and vivid, it displays all 262,144 colors beautifully and is perfect for viewing photos and videos, playing games, and scrolling through the user-friendly menus. You can change the brightness but not the font size or backlighting time.
On the other hand, Sony Ericsson doesn't have a great track record with navigation controls and keypad buttons. Though it made positive strides with the W810i, the W300i shows a return to bad habits. The five-way toggle is big and doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, but it's flush with the surface of the phone and thus takes some getting used to. The flat soft keys