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 The new Sony Ericsson W850i heralds the next phase in the Walkman phone evolution. As the eighth member of this successful musical family, this handset not only sports a Sony Ericsson first but also a more advanced Walkman player that hints at a far more exciting and enhanced experience for the mobile music fan.
The W850i Walkman phone is Sony Ericsson's first slider phone and it's a solid attempt from a company that has previously avoided this form factor. Although there are some niggling issues that we'd like to see addressed in the next iteration, Sony Ericsson hasn't made a complete blunder of the new design.
Standout features include a large colour screen, 3G connectivity and stereo Bluetooth, and a 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo for storing your tunes. Appearance and design
Dimension: 98 x 47 x 21 mm; weight: 116g Available in Precious Black or Golden White, the phone has an attention grabbing ‘heartbeat illumination’ feature to light-up the control keys in rhythm with your music. Visually stunning and appealing to use, this phone isn’t just about good look, it also offers blisteringly fast music downloads direct to the handset. The W850 is a funny looking device, and whether it appears attractive will really depend on your personal preference. Some user groups even voted the W850 to be the worst looking Sony Ericsson device ever. But still, it’s interesting  . On the front section of the phone, above the screen, is an ear speaker and a VGA camera for 3G video calls. Compared to the last 3G Walkman phone, the W900i, the W850i is compact and feels comfortable to hold both in the open and shut positions. Like the W900i it comes in dual-tone, although this time Sony Ericsson has opted for graphite and white. It's easy to slide the top section up and down because unlike many sliders the W850i has a metal ridge underneath the screen for added grip. Keypad
To the right and left of the ridge are two soft keys that give you access to the call log and menu. Now, the bad points: Between the soft keys is a dedicated Walkman control that's used to activate the music player. Though it's easy to identify because of its bright orange color, the Walkman button has a long thin shape and is squashed next to a raised silver bar. Unfortunately, those two features make the control very difficult to press unless you have nails . Further down instead of a traditional toggle or a joystick, the W850i has a recessed OK button surrounded by four-way navigation key that's disguised as part of the casing, aside from four small dots that light up blue and also turn orange when the music player is being used. In the centre of the four dots is a select key that also doubles up as a play and stop button for the music player. To the right of the navigation button is a small cancel button and dedicated shortcut menu key and to the left is a back key and dedicated Web browser key. The soft keys are well laid out and easy to press, but the new-look navigation key feels a little cramped. If you have large thumbs, it's easy to press the select key by mistake. Sliding down the phone you may be asked if to block the keypad or not. To activate the keypad press left soft key first and than the right one. When you block the keypad backlight doesn’t work. Additional buttons
A volume rocker, a camera shutter, and the infrared port are located on the right spine of the phone. The toggle, while a bit slippery, is easy to find when on a call. It also acts as the zoom control for the camera. Display
TFT, 240х320, 262144 colors
The display reflects up to 262 K colors at a resolution of 240x320 pixels (2 inches, TFT). This allows it to hold up to 8 text lines and 3 service lines in majority of modes, e.g. while browsing the Net, working with e-mail services, and while messaging you can squeeze even more lines by decreasing font size. The screen which measures 32mm by 42mm, and is pleasingly bright so you don't have to shade it with your hand in daylight. The screen changes its brightness depending on the level of ambient light, which is measured by a sensor on the top of the handset. This improves the battery life -- the screen isn't at its brightest setting all the time and therefore doesn't drain as much power. Camera
1600 x 1200 (2.0 Mp), Video, 8x ZOOm
There is also a high performance 2 Megapixel camera that makes it fun to capture your favourite moments and share them with friends. Fast internet access and web browsing also make it easy to use your W850 to create and maintain blogsites, so you can keep your friends posted from wherever you are. In the settings menu you can adjust the shooting mode, picture size, white balance and picture quality. You can also activate the LED light, timer, night mode and shutter sound, or add some simple effects. There is a second camera on the front of the W850i for 3G video calls. The 3G connectivity not only supports video calls, but also allows you to download music or games directly to the handset. It makes browsing the Web using the built-in browser much faster than on GPRS phones. Sizes, Ports and Slots
Next to the sensor is an easy-to access Memory Stick Pro Duo slot for the generously sized 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo. The power button is to its right.. Right on the bottom is a charging port that doubles up as a headphone port and USB port. In the box you get a 3.5mm headphone adaptor, in-ear headphones and a USB cable, as well as a CD of the Sony Ericsson PC Suite software and an AC adaptor. Menu
Sony Ericsson is notorious for tailoring minor updates for every successive device it releases, and there is no exception for the W850. The traditional 3x4 icon main menu and the tab/list based second layer are both retained. Major tweaks would be the new Walkman 2.0 interface and the ability to display music information on standby. Basically, the Activity Menu is a fusion of your own shortcuts, a list of running background applications, missed calls, new messages, and internet bookmarks. You can call up the Activity Menu any time and switch between programs, and I consider this a nice quasi-multitasking capability. Additional feature is Album viewer, you can see them only by titles, or titles with pictures (vertical list), or only pictures (matrix 3x3). Switching between modes can be done with 1 touch. Horizontal transitions between different tabs allow viewing not only album, but also artists list and songs. All navigation can be done via one or few touches, and on each list you can use search by first or several letters. In playback mode you can select if corresponding image will be displayed (matching album) or Visualization (sort of screensaver that acts in tact with sound). Repeat one and all songs can be enabled, as well as Shuffle mode. Rewind is progressive, if you hold the button, steps change. The W850i's music player is of course what the handset is themed around, and it's very good, with the choice of drag and drop or syncing from your PC, plus handy features like TrackID, Sony Ericsson's Shaazam-like service, which lets you record a snatch of song from the built-in FM radio or other source, then identifies what it is and who it's by through the phone's 3G internet connection. Very snazzy, and cheaper than Shazam since you only pay for data charges, not a phone call. Impressively, there's still more on offer, including some fun applications. For example, in the Organiser section there are two Java applications, one called Face Warp that lets you morph somebody's face into weird shapes, and another called Music Mate that teaches you the chords on a guitar or pitch on a piano -- there's even a virtual metronome. In the Entertainment section of the menu there's an application called MusicDJ that lets you compose your own simple tunes and use them as ringtones. Then there's the VideoDJ application that lets you add a soundtrack and transition effects to your video clips. Other features include flight mode, MMS and SMS messaging, a calendar, an alarm clock, tasks, a voice recorder, over-the-air synchronisation (SyncML), a Bluetooth remote, a video player, Java games, a timer, a stop watch, an SOS light option, a calculator and a file manager. The W850i's firmware will automatically update itself over the air. Imaging
2 Megapixel Camera
4 x Digital Zoom
Second Camera
Photo Light
Video Call
Video Clip
Video Record
Video Streaming
Macromedia Flash Lite™
SVG Tiny 1.1
VideoDJ™
Viewfinder Display
Picture Wallpaper
Wallpaper Animation
Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
SMS Long
Email
Push Email
Predictive Text
Sound Recorder Sound
Walkman® 2.0 Music Player
Media Player
FM Radio
FM Radio RDS
Polyphonic Sound (40 Voice)
Music Tones (MP3 & AAC)
Polyphonic Ringtones
MusicDJ™
PlayNow™
TrackID™
Mega Bass™
Melody Composer
Music Mode Entertainment
3D Games
Java™ Games
Embedded Games
Downloadable Games Organiser
Phone Book
Organiser
Calendar
Contacts
File Manager
PIM Sync
Calculator
Alarm Clock
Stopwatch
Timer
Tasks
Notes
Style Up™ Covers
Flight Mode
Light Effects
Conference Calls
Vibrating Alert
Handsfree Speakerphone Connectivity
3G
Bluetooth™
GPRS
Infra Red
UMTS
USB
Fast Port
Synchronisation PC
Network
Tri Band Technology (GMS 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)
UMTS Internet
Access NetFront™ Web Browser
Modem
RSS Feeds
Memory & Talk Time
64 Mbytes Memory Plus Memory Stick PRO Duo™
9 Hours Talk Time
400 Hours Standby Weight & Size
116 g
98 x 47 x 21 mm Pluses
Simple design
Great display
EDGE
3G
Sound
Stereo Bluetooth Minuses
Keypad for ladies only
No Auto focus
Noticeable fingerprints Conclusion
To sum up, the W850 is a pretty good all-round device. It manages to live up to the Walkman brand it bares. The full browser, long list of PIM functions, and great menu system all contribute to a pretty typical Sony Ericsson experience, which is pleasant. Extra gadgets such as TrackID, PictureDJ, VideoDJ, and MusicDJ are fun to play with. The camera is not bad either, as long as you don't record videos too often. It might save you some money by going for the W900, which includes a larger screen and better camera as a bonus. However with the W830i scheduled for a 2006 release date, the W850i could well end up finding itself pushed down the popularity chart in favour of its 3G-less brother. |
