(Scale of 1-5, 1 being lowest and 5 highest)
1-Lowest, 2-Usable, 3-Meduim, 4-Good, 5-Excellent
USABILITY AND USER FRIENDLINESS: 4
Simple and straight forward to use with a simple and uncomplicated menu. Not fancy like the symbain ones, but works well. Messaging, both reading and writing are one/two key touch affairs. Everything from the connections to settings are easily visible from a top down menu that is the strong point of many a Sony Ericsson.
Lack of completely Editable profiles are excuses that can be lived with......the themes overall, no matter how personalised you make them, dont look lively like the symbian ones.
Responsive keypad that helps sms and navigation....however the joystick has a rare tendency to get jammed.....this happened with my previous K750i.
Very good sound, courtesy the Walkman feature, excellent low end, midrange and Bass effects. The earphones are pretty good.....trust me....they will really involve you in music. Playlist and files can be arranged and sorted.....on minimize, it shows a running display on the main screen which is real neat. Equaliser settings allow you to widen your range and listening environments as per your liking. Walkman button on the keypad is good.....another option is the playlist button on the left corner which lets you single touch aceess..256MB card should hold good for about 50 songs....and on a flight the music only mode helps you keep the airhostess away from you!!
FEATURES: 5
Bluetooth, Infrared, USB.....all the three work very smoothly....bluetooth averages about 20kbps, infrared is much slower...but works. USB is the fastest and easiest way to get things done. Unfortunately camera is nowhere near the K750i, lacking macro and autofocus. Please note that when I say about the camera, my comparision is with SONY ERICSSON mobiles....as Nokia has a lot more catching up to do regarding quality.
Battery ranges from good to excellent...lasts 3 days on a full charge that includes 4-5 calls of 6mts duration daily that includes some music and messaging.
STYLE: 4
The W700i does not make heads turn, rather it just does its job pretty well.....and with style. The Walkman logo on the sides add to the objective of this phone being an excellent music player.
VALUE FOR MONEY (VFM): 5
At the present price of around INR9000+, this seems excellent. As a package, there is nothing that can compete with equal vigour.....lets see, the Nokia 6131 has most of the features, but loses on battery, music player and camera, and costs more..??? The Nokia 6233, has all the features, but the camera again plays spoilsport, and definitely the dimensions are bigger. The K750i, another Sony Ericsson bestseller is better with its excellent camera, however lacks a good music player...forgive that, and you have a good phone costing couple of 1000 less than w700i.
OVERALL: The Sony Ericsson W700i actually plays the role of a complete mobile expereince....without burning a big hole.