dont worry i had get mine AF K800i hehe^^ but i like w880i that slim cute model...it is very nice yesterday when i bought mine k800i i abit cant stand want get w880i too hehe w880i=

Seriously, one shouldn't expect much from W880i camera. If camera is so important to you please get a dedicated digicam or go for bulkier model like K800i

Even SE is able to go pass the technical constraint to fit in a 3MP camera with AF and xenon flash, you can't expect it to be RM1.4 anymore. It's important to be realistic - it's a walkman phone


This post has been edited by samurai1337: Apr 15 2007, 08:55 PM

As promised, I'm writing a review for W880i, the replacement of my lost K800i.

W880i is the latest addition to Sony Ericsson's famous Walkman family. Let's start with the specs of this phone - it has a 1.8″ QVGA screen, 3G Support, Walkman 2.0, unbelievable dimension of 103 x 46.5 x 9.4 mm, 2MP camera, flight mode, M2 support and interestingly, the package also includes a 1GB M2 (which isn't that cheap in retail). There are two choices of color for W880i - Steel Silver (the one I'm using now) or Flame Back.

Design

The form factor and build quality of W880i are probably the main reasons why I opted for this phone. At 9.4mm of thickness, carrying this phone in pocket is never an issue - it's so slim that I find it extremely hard to resist. The phone enjoys a metal faceplate, and the back of the phone utilizes soft-touched plastic, this clearly distinguishes W880i from the rest (which most of them have the "plasticky" feel). I personally feel the buttons look OKAY but maybe it's not for those with big thumbs, for me it's still acceptable. In short, Sony Ericsson W880i's design is revolutionary (compare to those phones like W810i, W800i, K750i that look almost similar) and targeting fashion-conscious users.

User Interface

UI of W880i is similar to other modern SE phones, other than that, it supports flash theme that allows you to see the visualization, artist and song name in the main screen when you're playing song with the Walkman 2.0. Navigation of menu items is pretty smooth, and I can see some major improvement in speed compare to K800i (for example, it takes shorter time when I copy all the phone contacts to sim card, or when I delete all the SMS).

Because of the overall similarities with my previous K800i, I find it very easy to adapt in operating W880i.

Display and Audio

With 240X320 resolution fits in the 1.8″ screen, the display is crystal clear. Of course it's not as great if compare to K800i simply because it has a bigger screen, but it's rather understandable because W880i is meant to be a compact phone. When maximum brightness is used, the display is still clear under direct sunlight (at the expense of shorter battery life of course)

Audio quality from the speaker is probably the major disappointment of W880i - playing a MP3 at maximum volume results in leaky sound from the speaker. However, when stereo headset are used (HBH-DS970 and HPM-75), the sound quality is great. In conclusion, though it's a "Walkman" phone, it's not ideal for playing songs directly from the speaker.

Camera

W880i has a 2.0MP camera - without flash, without macro mode, without auto-focus. You really can't expect much from the camera quality, it's unfair for me to compare it with the previous K800i which is a cybershot phone. While it's good enough for casual, outdoor photography under bright condition, it's not an ideal package for delivering quality picture especially under restriction condition like low brightness. The video camera has no surprise either, it only allows me to record at QCIF resolution.

The message from Sony Ericsson is clear - it's a WALKMAN phone, and not cater for photography enthusiasts.

Others

At only 9.4mm of thickness, one would expect that this phone will have limited functions, but this is definitely not the case. Not only that it's a 3G phone, it also supports stuff like RSS, A2DP, bluetooth, flight mode and comes with Netfront web browser - the functions of W880i is pretty comprehensive.

But if you think W880i has all the features that one could possibly expect, then it's wrong. Many would notice the absence of radio and infrared. As bluetooth is pretty common nowadays, it's acceptable not to have infrared integrated in it, but IMO everybody would like to have radio function in a Walkman phone.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about the battery life. It's reasonable for people to assume that W880i would have relatively shorter battery life because of its slim design, but this assumption is incorrect. SE claims a talk time of 6.5 hours (which is only 0.5 hour shorter than K800i). For me, a normal phone user (3-4 calls, 20-30 SMS and around 5 songs per day), the battery lasts around 3-4 days, which is really decent IMO.

The bottomline

Pros:

* Slim and elegant design, excellent build quality.
* Bundled with 1GB Memory Stick Micro (M2)
* Packed with features
* Decent battery life

Cons:

* Camera lacks auto-focus
* No FM radio
* Leaky sound from the speaker
* Small buttons (not for big thumbs)

My Rating: 8.5/10

Original article posted here
http://spherebox.com/2007/04/15/sony-ericsson-w880i-review/

TS: Please kindly share this out in the first post if you find my review useful :-)

This post has been edited by samurai1337: Apr 15 2007, 08:56 PM

decent battery life.. tats good.. i now really need find a phone which can tahan longer.. haih..

Good review samurai1337!

Didn't know they bundled the 1GB M2 with the package, and having said that, does both the Ori and AP sets have this kind of package? I just bought a Sony 1GB M2 today and it ain't cheap! RM 199 from Sony Style! But it comes with 2 adapters, one for normal MS and one for MS Duo.

My bro bought the AP set and got the 1GB M2 with the package. So,both AP and Original set gives away the 1GB M2 card.

Thanks dude...

Even AP set also comes with 1GB M2 wo unless the seller makan it. You're lucky the M2 1GB only 199, i bought 512MB M2 for 189! OMG! WTF!

lol

tat was so long ago

1GB M2 tagged at RM 299 when it first launched
(which was around last year)

last nite i got see people selling Sandisk 1gb m2 rm 150 new 1.. claimed to be ori... no idea also..

HI ALL,

I just purchased a w880i this afternoon from Ampang Point. To all owners out there, wanna ask a question.

WHILE CHARGING when the phone is off.
Does the entire keypad illuminate RED backlight?
Mine only illuminates around da C(Cancel key), no. 3. and Activity Menu button area.
Putting it loosely the uppper right side of the keypad ONLY.

Appreciate if any W880i owners can check this out for me. Grazie.

Cool phones. Looks like SE has improving alot in mobile phone industry. Keep it up!

I got myself an overpriced HBH-DS970 too

Sound quality is great, no problem with pairing at all but anyone has idea how to display chinese font on the screen?

@samurai1337

will your phone get heated up easily after say, a > 10min chat on the phone?

my rokr e2 will get heat up very fast even juz playing games.. i think this phones wont coz the metal surface spread heat fast..

It doesn't really look nice ... but it's slim hehe

Phew ... no regrets buying w810 ... just that w810 is fatter than this phone and is not 3G. But if w880 got AF and flash ... then I'll really mind lol

This post has been edited by FlamingFox: Apr 17 2007, 01:19 PM

SE not bringing in the black version? everywhere i only see silver version...

IIANM it depends on your phone. Certain models when paired can display Chinese and certain models, can't.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, mine is also like that

From a review I read in local magazine,the quality of w880i 2mp camera is better than nokia 6300


got firmware update from wotanserver but no official update from SE website yet
sometimes when press on "More" the box lags. Sometimes auto turn-off.

This post has been edited by xpresside: Apr 17 2007, 10:11 PM

whut bout 3g call? izzit clear? compare with k800i? anione?

what about the alarm? can wake up lazy bummer ?

bought the phone...less then 1 hour spoilt edi...cannot turn on at all...happend when i tried bt 1 song to my dad....then it hangs and i need to pull off the batt...after that since cannot turn on at all........went back to da shop...they finish edi the stock....need to wait next 24 hours...

EXCELLENT PHONE! EXCELLENT LUCK!

i spit on it now!

This post has been edited by junkieG: Apr 18 2007, 11:31 PM

some of the shops in sg wang sells the black version. but mostly they'll bring in only 1 or 2 blacks. my bf's cousin wanted to get the black one but the shop took ni two only and sold it the day before she went there

black looks nicer than the silver one.