Last year when I was going back home and was on the lookout for something I could pick up for my dad - a nice mp3 cell phone was the best I could think of. I wanted to buy him a Moto Razor But by the time I landed home my mom had already got a flashy fone for dad. She gave him a choice and he picked up a Sony Ericsson W700i.
Cell phone for me means a Motorola and that too with a flip, I am rather I should say I "was" a hardcore motorola fan but I must tell you that after using / seeing dad’s phone I have seriously given up on Moto’s now.
Its quite good in size and weight and is pretty handy. It doesnt works like an iPod but is better than an iPod I guess, with upgradable memory upto 4 GB’s, It holds quite a good number of songs and videos you want it to. As of now we are using a 1 GB Memory stick and it has enough of songs. Now, my daughter is one Music Maniac I must say as dad has saved just three songs in her playlist and once u start them and put them in a loop she keeps on smiling and playing with the phone till she sleeps with it holding it in her hand - Speaker is awesome and with Mega Bass it sounds even cooler, you can have your own choice of equalizer settings, Video DJ is one option where you can pull in the videos of your choice and watch them as you like. Moreover one touch settings thing make it more easier to use as with the single key press(on the left hand side) it switches on the default music playlist, volume is on the right side, One touch switches on the camera and just need to slide the lens cover open.
Phone Functions: A phone book memory of around 500 numbers(home, office, cell, general etc), you can even save notes about somebody like bank account number or any specific details, attach a voice note so you can call the person without using ur fingers and by voice guided option. Holds upto 10 last dialled, received and missed calls. The only draw back here with Sony Ericsson is that if you are on one particular contact and you press c(clear) it asks "you want to delete?" thats something wrong will all sony phones, new users can mistakenly delete at times. Making a business card and sending it to somebody is easy. Key pad is good enough, feel of the keys is good, doesnt looks like they are going to give way as its already almost a year since he is using it, Typing sms is easy with soft keys. Works on Dictionary mode and you can add up new words to it. Switching on and turning off the speaker fone is easy. Voice clarity is awesome, I have used it in every nook and corner of my home and it works perfectly without loosing any signals. Works wonderfully well with a bluetooth hands free. You dont even need to carry your phone everywhere as just carry / wear the handsfree and it works perfectly upto 10 mtrs in range.
Camera: 2 Mega Pixel camera with a slide shutter, the maximum size you can take a snap is 1600 by 1200 and its quite ok to save on your system - even you can get it developed in a post card size. No. of pics you can snap and save depends solely on the memory one uses in the phone. It has a 4X zoom for snaps and videos both and works well. Shooting small clips with it is fun thing, Althoug we dont do that much of video shooting as there is no point watching those small screen things, but it comes handy when one wants to shoot something somewhere wherein you dont have your digi / handy cam availability. Like the first video of my daughter turning and tumbling on her own is shot by it, as by the time I could get my camera she already came back to normal position but dad shot it the moment she started showing symtoms of moving on her own. Camera is I am sure comparable with any of the low end digital cameras in the market these days with so many functions like night mode, zoom, picture / video size etc.
Voice Recording: Now this is one option which is very good as my parents, happen to go to South for pilgrimage, the instrument has become very useful for recording. There, I am told that it works very well as per his expectations and he is quite happy with the same. With a huge memory you dont even need to ask how much it can record, I am sure it can record as much as you want and later you can download the same on your pc and take notes if want to about the recorded material. Its good for those reporter types who want to record some live voices.
Connectivity: I was amazed by the options they have given on this phone, It has Bluetooth, Infra Red and USB, comes with a software - just install it on your pc and you are good to go, transfering data from phone to pc and pc to phone is a kids job. Fantastic is the way you can transfer songs in it as it shows the memory used and memory remaining. The best part is - till the time it is connected to your pc thru USB port it keeps on charging the battery, Now that is one innovative way - I am sure this one they have taken from Apple iPod’s options as my iPod gets charged the same way. Bluetooth connectivity is something which is very good as thru my pc I send him all kinds of songs from my pc and he keeps receiving them even when he is watching TV or reading news paper somewhere in the home. If the voice calling option is on than you dont even require to pull out the phone and you can make calls provided you have saved the commands in the phone book and are using the handsfree. The only thing it lacks on this front is one thing that you cannot play songs on Bluetooth handsfree.
Additional Features: Since it has bluetooth connectivity it works like a remote for all your bluetooth devices like it can handle the functions of Media Player on my laptop and I can rewind, fwd, play, pause and stop. You can handle presentations on your projecter from it provided it has the same connectivity and you synch both of them. Internet browser is also there, I didnt tried it yet as there is no point according to me to do the same on that small screen thing, but I heard that it works well as my lil bro is a master of same and back home in MP Airtel has given internet access for as low as 5/- a day and unlimited download - so if you attach your cell to you pc it works like a modem and you can surf the net that with a good speed. I have not tried it as in Hyderabad thats not free, moreso I have a broadband at home and I dont require that, But it can come handy at times when one is travelling. Other things available in this section are World Clock with a rotating globe, Alarm, Organizer, Stop Watch, Calculator etc.
Fun: It has quite good games and you can download as many as you want as per your choice, You can even play with pictures and videos on the memory card. It has a flash light which works like a flash for camera and comes handy at times dad is coming home late in the night and the corridor lights are off or when its pitch black.
Battery: Battery moreover is never an issue with almost any of the Sony ericsson phones. It charges pretty fast in a couple of hours and works for quite a long time, Dad’s actual phone use is less but the others things he plays for quite a long time and has so far never complained about the battery.
Ratings and comments are more than welcome as always.