It’s raining mobile phones and I am happy that Sony Ericsson’s latest offering, W300i, just dropped in to my lap. I have always been a fan of Sony Ericsson for their quality sets loaded with excellent features and packaged at very competitive prices. Price and quality that no other brand, including Nokia, Samsung, Alcatel or LG, can beat. Sony Ericsson brings cutting edge technology to the common man without making him bleed too much money. It is sad that giants like Nokia and Samsung have not been able to compete with Sony Ericsson in producing quality phones. Honestly, I don’t care much for articles that boast about Nokia handsets. We will come to Nokia bashing later, maybe in another article. Here let us concentrate on praising the W300i ;).
Let’s see what Sony Ericsson has to tell us about W300i -
"The W300i is a small and neat clamshell music phone designed to give you a quality Walkman® music experience. A 256MB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) for storage, a stereo headset, a USB cable to connect to a PC, Disc2Phone music management software and, of course, the W300i Walkman®. The W300i has FM radio for quality entertainment around the clock. Shuffle your songs and walk to the beat."
This I feel is a very humble introduction for a great performer. Anyway, let us get on with the specifications -
Screen: 262, 144-colour TFT, 128x160 pixel
External screen: Monochrome
Sound: Music tones (MP3/AAC), Polyphonic Sounds 40 voices, Walkman with Mega Bass
FM Radio, Sound Recording, Call Recording
Memory: Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support, Phone memory 20MB
Networks: EDGE \ GSM 850 \ GSM 900 \ GSM 1800 \ GSM 1900
Connectivity: Bluetooth, InfraRed, USB, GPRS
Camera: Standard VGA Camera with 4x Zoom, Video Recording (only limited by memory)
Available colours: Shadow Black & Shimmering White
Size: 3.5 x 1.8 x 1 inches Weight: 94 gms
Honestly speaking, I was more than impressed to see so much packaged in to this compact device. Ahhh... the age of nanotubes is not far away. But, I would not want my mobile phones to get any smaller than this. This has a very attractive and comfortable size. Anything smaller would cause difficulties in usage. The box pack with warranty, in Bangalore, costs about Rs. 13, 000.
What does the box pack include? W300i (Of course ;) ), Battery, Power Adapter, USB Data Cable, Hands-free and Stereo headset, Software CD, Manuals and the Warranty Card. Basically, everything you need.
I am reveiwing this phone for the following aspects and I am going to score them over 10.
Build Quality ---------------------- 7\10
Features ------------------------- 10\10
Screen Quality ------------------- 9\10
Music Playback Quality ------ 10\10
Performance ------------------- 10\10
Connectivity -------------------- 10\10
Let me start with the cons for a change ;). The phone is very compact and stylish but, I felt that the build quality compared to other phones, such as the Motorola E398, is slightly delicate. Also, the back battery cover was too tight. Yes, with use it eases out and becomes OK but, the initial few times it feels a little tight.
Let these cons not get in your way of appreciating this phone. The phone’s build is sufficient for long durability unless you plan to play rugby with the phone tucked somewhere in your pocket. And, about the back cover, you remove it only once to place the SIM unless you are a celebrity having the need to change the SIM evryday ;). Well, if you were a celebrity then you would probably not be reading this and would be instead cradling and wooing about the Nokia N91 or other 30K+ PDA models. The Nokia N series is stupid in comparison to this phone. No offence to Nokia fans.
The phone has a very user friendly interface with all the practical features you will ever need :). The button layout is wide and easy to use. This phone has a nice flat keypad and a good rocker. The keys may feel a little tacky but they are good for long use. The backlight is soft orange and it fades out slowly. One drawback here is that the lettering on the keys may not be always visible in absolute darkness as the backlight is probably a little too soft.
The screen, irrespective of what popular critics such as mobile-review etc say, is very good. The colors are vibrant and rich. The 262K TFT is funtastic! ;). I am using it at 50% (minimum brightness stting) and it is just great. Readability under direct light is good. The text and the images are very crisp.
The sound, I just have two words - IT ROCKS. Bye, bye IPOD here is my new favorite :). The stereo headset provided with the phone is the best I have ever used. The tiny earpieces fit perfectly in to your ears and using them 24\7 does not cause the slightest strain. Unbelievable? Use it to feel the difference.
The camera is not fantastic but good enough to be on a mobile phone for a casual photographer. However, it has cool effects and frames. The camera on W300i is much better than any other VGA camera available on comparable phones. And the video recording is smooth and fun.
Ok, it has all the cool features but, does it do what it is basically supposed to do? Yes, and it excels here as well. The voice quality is excellent - sharp and crisp. The reception is very good. In an area where Motorola and Nokia handsets failed to pick up a signal and where making and receiving calls was impossible, this phone sparkled with it’s brilliant reception. It did not get complete coverage but managed to salvage three network bars, enough for quality conversation.
About network support & connectivity - EDGE \ GSM 850 \ GSM 900 \ GSM 1800 \ GSM 1900 Bluetooth \ InfraRed \USB | GPRS - need I say more? ;)
Ok, Ok... it is powerpacked but, what about the battery - any good? Hmmm... the battery lasts more than a week for normal use and if you are a music freak then a single 20 minutes recharge will see you sail through more than 24 hours of non-stop music. Yes, the battery charges 60 to 80% in just 20 minutes. This heavyduty battery is perfect icing on the cake.
This phone performs great. The menus open up instantaneously irrespective of what you are doing. Even while playing music, I was shocked at the fluid performance. Never seen such a performer before. So, for performance it gets 10 on 10 :). It even beats K750i in this department. Nokia and Motorola take a bow. The master performer is here :).
Overall - Value for money - 9.5\10 ;). I hope you found this review useful. For product pictures and more technical details go to https://sonyericsson.com