Sony Ericsson W810i review

Sony Ericsson W810i Review

Reviewed by: Andrew Lim

Reviewed on: 11 May 2006

Fortunately, the similarities between the W810i and the W800i end there and the back of the phone has been modified in several ways. The most important change is the removal of the lens cover on the back, that was renowned on the W800i for opening in your pocket and activating the camera application when you didn't want it, or completely breaking and confusing the automatic camera application, making the phone difficult to use. The other design change to the back of the phone is the new speaker grill, which is larger than the old one and features three holes. Next to this is a new circular orange portrait mirror. The camera and flash are in the same position as on the W800i but don't feature the same metallic looking borders.

The W810i also comes with a 3.5mm headphone adaptor which proves very useful as it lets you use your own headphones instead of proprietary ones. We also hope that at some point they include a 3.5mm port directly in the phone so we don't have to carry to many wires around. This would make those times when you just want to use the handset as an MP3 player, for example on the tube, a lot easier.

Features
The W810i hasn't had many feature upgrades -- it does feature quad band connectivity but otherwise has an almost identical feature set to the W800i. There are some discreet differences, like the added functionality in the file manager that lets you access the memory card and internal memory independently, and the disappearance of the world clock application, which has been replaced by a news reader.

There are also some new themes that are very pleasing to look at and we especially like the orbit theme. The themes not only change the W810i's wallpaper but also change the icons, screensaver and, in the case of certain themes, will even create a vibrating effect as you scroll from icon to icon in the menu. Aside from that, the interface is identical to the W800i's -- if you interested in seeing what that is like, check out the W800i review.

Performance
The audio quality on calls was good and the MP3 player sounded good and was loud enough to hear on the tube. Playing music on the speaker wasn't great but it's good enough to annoy commuters or play music at a picnic.

The battery life was good, too, and lasted for around a week and a half on standby. Talktime lasted for around 7 hours but only around 3 to 4 hours when using the MP3 player moderately.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Kate Macefield