Sony Ericsson W880i Walkman

By Reuben Lee, CNET Asia
Mar 21, 2007

Sony Ericsson has finally jumped onto the thin-phone bandwagon when it launched its first sub-10mm Walkman phone, the W880i, a week before the 3GSM World Congress in February. (The company offered sneak peeks of the handset earlier in January during the CES tradeshow in Las Vegas.) What's impressive about Sony Ericsson's new offering, however, is not just its thin profile. Like the Samsung Ultra Edition 8.4, the W880i comes with an extensive feature set that includes 3G, 2-megapixel camera, expandable memory card slot and Bluetooth stereo support. It is currently available for S$788 (US$567.36) with a two-year contract and S$888 (US$639.35) for just the handset.

Design
At 9.4mm, the W880i is possibly Sony Ericsson's slimmest phone so far and ranks among the thinnest 3G candy bars in the cellular market today. The Samsung Ultra Edition 8.4, which is currently one of skinniest 3G candy-bar phones, measures 1mm thinner, but sports a slightly wider and longer footprint..

Despite its thin form factor, the W880i feels solid, thanks to its sturdy construction and stainless steel front cover. The rubberized finish used for the rear casing also provides a firm grip, a thoughtful feature for slim models since there's a greater tendency to slip. Overall, we found the W880i lightweight at 71g and slim enough to slip easily into tight pockets.

Like most Walkman phones, the W880i is designed to stand out from the conventional grey or black handsets with its bright colors. The unit loaned to us, which sports the trademark orange and black tones, will appeal to those who want an eye-catching mobile. Those who fancy more subtlety and elegance will find the silver-grey edition more attractive.

Our biggest gripe with the W880i is probably its tiny keypad. Smaller than even the size of a rice grain, the buttons are not only hard to press, the sharp edges of the keys can be painful when texting for prolonged periods. Placing the buttons close together doesn't help matters, either, particularly for those with big digits.

We had similar issues with the navigation and various softkeys, which are a tad too small for comfortable use. On several occasions, we hit wrong buttons while scrolling through the menus, which added to the frustration. Nor did we like the tiny rocker switch on the right side panel as this requires a bit of dexterity to use for adjusting the volume or zooming into an image. For all their size, the Walkman and camera buttons on the sides proved surprisingly responsive, possibly because they are single buttons.

The W880i comes with two cameras: A primary 2-megapixel camera behind the LCD display and a second lens just beside the earpiece for video calls. We like that the Memory Stick Micro slot is located along the edge which allows for easy accessibility.

As with many other Walkman handsets, the charging port at the bottom left side of the phone multitasks as the connector for the wired handsfree headset as well as the USB cable. Previously, this meant users could carry out only one of the three functions. However, with the new dual connector on the AC adapter, you can either hook up to the handsfree headset or the USB cable while charging the phone.

The standard bundle of the W880i includes a USB cable, handsfree headset, AC adapter, 1GB Memory Stick Micro card as well as manuals and software CD.

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