Sony Ericsson W810 review: Walkman on the EDGE

Very good phonebook

The phone has 1000 contact maximum capacity which is just enough, considering that W810 is not a smartphone. The only detail displayed when you browse contacts in W810 is the default number. To search for more fields, use the right and left arrows. Email addresses appear almost immediately.

Browsing numbers

Every name can be assigned 5 types of phone numbers, each appearing only once. In addition, each number type can be assigned a specific voice dialling. Here are the other fields: user's ID for Instant Messaging, web address, picture, custom ringtone, title, company's name, street, city, region, post code, country, note, and birthday. When you enter birthday details, the phone asks you, whether you like to save them into the calendar.

Plenty of fields attached to each contact

The phonebook offers two ways to order your contacts - by the contact's first or last name. Contacts can be included in a user created group. The phonebook, however, does not allow the assigning of a custom picture or ringtone to these groups. Calls are filtered on a group base.

Messaging

W810 works with SMS, EMS and MMS as well as emails and instant messages. It offers sound MMS as well. The T9 dictionary can be permanently deactivated. But should you decide to use it, it will make typing a lot easier. Most frequently used words are displayed on first positions.

Typing SMS • four lines available • newly received message

The font is large enough, but its color is not absolutely black. The black nuance used here is somewhat a shade of the common one. At the same time it is bold and very easy to read. W800 font is far much better than the thin letters used in older Sony Ericsson models. Typing is quite fast. The phone reacts immediately. Typing speed stays the same even when a longer message consisting of 20 or so 160-character-submessages is being created.

The message editor alerts you of the end of each submessage when you come to write its final characters. It does not count from the beginning of the message. When you send it, a list of people from the phonebook, whom you have recently sent messages, appears on the display. To send the message simply select the contact you need. The MMS editor is well organized too. A MMS can contain a maximum of 300 KB. Pictures, sounds or videos can also be attached to it.

No modifications in Calendar and Alarm clock applications

Sony Ericsson W810 is equipped with a detailed and very practical calendar. Years, months and weeks are searched easily through the use of the keypad buttons. All three standard views - month, week, and day - are available too. There is only one type of event. Entered events can be assigned an alert at exact time, but cannot be set to repeat directly from the phone alone. Repetition is available when the phone is synchronized with PC. Writing of events is again supported by the T9 dictionary.

  
Month • week • and day view at the calendar

The alarm clock in Sony Ericsson W810 allows alarms to be repeated on selected days. It gets activated, even if the phone is turned off. A choice between three alert types is available: standard ring bell, radio broadcast, and a favorite MP3 file (from the memory card).

The time organizer offers tasks, too. Tasks are possible to mark off, once they have been accomplished. Here you will also find a notes application, a stopwatch, and a countdown option. Also available is a simple calculator and a code memory application, in which information is protected by a four-character access password and a control word for authorization. W810 does not have a unit converter.

Task Manager

Fast gaming

JBenchmark testing applications ran on Sony Ericsson W810 lightning fast. Black SE Walkman scored nearly the same like W800. In terms of graphics both models are among the fastest on the current market. Here are the results of W810:

• JBenchmark 1.0: 3921 points
• JBenchmark 2.0: 314 points

Inside the Entertainment section you will find two Java games. The first one is JC Does TEXAS, where you shoot and then fly berserk among clouds. The other game is QuadraPop, that is, a classic tetris, featuring colorful music notes.

 
QuadraPop • setting up the size of the application window

Human Interface Device (HID) profiles are another part of the Entertainment folder in SE W810. Using Bluetooth you can control the Media Player application or other programs on your computer.

HID profiles

VideoDJ is an internal application, which helps you modify and edit video records. PhotoDJ offers several tools for picture modifications; while MusicDJ helps you compose music of your own using several available samples.

VideoDJ • PhotoDJ • MusicDJ

Sony Ericsson W810 has a voice recorder, which can start recording even in the middle of an ongoing call. The opposite side is alerted of recording process by a beep sound every 20 seconds. Record duration is only limited by the free memory space available in the memory card. Sound is stored in AMR format and its quality is rather average.

Simplified voice recorder

Data transfers

It is very probable that the mess caused by the absence of EDGE in the K750 model is going to substituted with the delight of all those who had waited so long for EDGE. In Sony Ericsson W810 they will find it in Class 10. Internet connection is also possible to be established via CSD and HSCSD, or GPRS Class 10.

I tested the data connection using a data cable. Setup went smoothly thanks to the PC Suite program guide. The phone announces standard connection speed of 115 kb/s, while the connection alone seems pretty stable. Part of SE W810 equipment is also an improved Web browser.

Data USB cable

No objections to the colors used

If you are hesitating, whether you should buy Sony Ericsson W800 or its successor W810, you should only really consider which color version you like best. The rest of the properties and the applications in these two phones are identical. Well, except EDGE, this is available in Sony Ericsson W810 only. I myself find W810 slightly more "plastic-looking" than the W800 model. Of course, this doesn't mean that its constructional qualities are worse, though. On the contrary! I just mean that the materials used in Sony Ericsson W810 both feel and seem to the eye a little bit less valuable.

So what has Sony Ericsson W810 to offer - an excellent keypad with surprisingly good keys, a brilliant display, plenty of storage space and top-quality earphones that come in the original package with the phone. In addition, fast menu reactions and one of the best camera applications since photo mobiles first appeared on the market. On the other hand, W810 camera lens is not protected and the overall design of the phone is not as attractive as the one of the forerunner. In general, however, there are very few drawbacks that are worth mentioning, even though Sony Ericsson W810 is set on the constructional and design plans of the one-year old W800.