Hanging On The Telephone

Wow, just wow!

OK maybe not just wow!

I haven't upgraded my phone in the past two years as the wonderful K750i has always done been sufficient. The only feature which I would like to have would be wi-fi so that I could transfer files to and from my phone without having to use a cable and could connect to the Internet without having to use the expensive 3G network.

The phone that O2 have sent me doesn't have wi-fi, it's not one that I would have bought but there are some nice features to it that make it an upgrade from the old K750i. There are however also some things about the new phone that I don't like, already, and since I've only just taken the phone out of the box that's not a good sign.

The Good:

1) Although physically the same dimensions as the old phone, the W580i is a slide phone, the buttons are hidden until you slide them out. Only once have I accidentally dialled a number while my phone was in my pocket and it was another mobile, consequently costing me 3 pounds to leave a voice mail message of pocket lint.

2) This is a Walkman phone so sorting music is much easier. The phone has similar capabilities to an iPod, allowing you to sort by artist, album and track name. The phone also has "flight mode" which means you're turning off the phone part and able to use the phone purely as an MP3 player.

3) The headphones supplied are Sony ear-plug style. The phone is on charge at the moment so I can't plug the headphones in to it but even wearing them without playing music cuts the room noise considerably. The headphones are also very light and comfortable. The headphones which came with the Cocoon that I got earlier this year were also of the ear-plug style but appeared to be made by a generic company, the body of the ear piece was too big to allow it to sit comfortably in the ear.

4) I use my phone as an alarm clock, this conditions me to plugging the phone in at the side of my bed every night to ensure that it is charged. The W850i has allows you to set five different alarms. Each alarm can be a one off or repeat at any specified day or days during the week. Each alarm can have it's own tone, so I can wake up to the soft tones of Klaus Wunderlich but then get the chimes of Big Ben to tell me that it's lunch time.

5) Inside the phone is a motion sensor which counts as the phone is bounced, this is used as a step count. I've always liked the systems which count steps and calculate distance. I once kept a Tamagochi mainly for it's pedometer functions. The Fitness functions within the phone allow you to configure how long your average stride is when walking and running. Once the phone knows your stride it can then estimate the distance you've travelled and gives you the opportunity to measure the time taken and hence calculate the average speed. While this isn't a feature that I'd look for on a phone it's certainly an interesting one to have. A gimmick that also uses the motion sensor is that, when playing all of your music, you can literally shake the phone to have it shuffle up your play-list. All that's missing would be the sound of sand in a tin, that would have made it complete.

6) The processing power of the phone is far superior to the old K750i. The menus are responsive and applications load up quickly.

7) The screen is crystal clear and bright enough to see even in strong daylight.

8) Many of the Walkman branded phones that I've seen have been the awful orange colour, thankfully this one is grey with metallic blue detailing.

9) The customisable themes allow you to further increase the visibility of the screen by using high contrasting colours for the text and background.

10) (Had to make it to 10) Add to the above all the features that we come to expect from a cell phone, BlueTooth, USB computer connection, built in FM radio, inclusive software.

The Bad:

Maybe it's a bit harsh to call these issues "bad".

1) SonyEricsson have split their mobile phone range, you can get a Walkman phone and a Cybershot phone. While the Walkman phone still has a camera and the Cybershot phone still plays music, the features are concentrated to the relevant branding. The W580i camera is a 2 mega pixel camera which in itself is very good. The K750i also has a 2 mega pixel camera. The predecessor to the K750i only had a 1.3 mega pixel camera. The W580i does not have a light. I say light rather than flash as mobile phones tend to have an LED which stays on to illuminate the subject rather than a quick flash of light. An LED uses far less battery power than a conventional flash would do.

2) The data/power/headset plug for the phone is in the side of the handset rather than in the bottom. The more I think about this the less I like it. Not only does this mean that I can't use the desk stand which I have for the K750i, but it also limits me from using the clamp system that I have in the car if I'm also going to use a charger. Granted with Bluetooth connectivity the phone could stay in my pocket as I answer calls using the headset but that doesn't help when charging the phone. I'm going to look at the accessories for the W580i to see how the car kit works. I suspect it's a SonyEricsson special, perhaps an attempt to sell more accessories as generics are less likely to make a holster specifically for the side mounted connection.

3) The O2 Cocoon came with a massive 2Gb internal memory with an expansion slot to add even more if required. Sadly the W580i only has 10Mb internal memory. 10Mb, I don't know how long it's been since I stated a memory capacity in Mb rather than Gb! The phone was provided with a 512Mb expansion card, which is sufficient for a few days worth of podcasts but certainly lacking if you were considering playing MP4 videos. Memory cards are tumbling in price but I suspect that as these are specific to Sony devices then they will be at the top end of the scale in price.

That's the quick overview. Bearing in mind that I started typing this as I took the phone out of the box it's certainly not a definitive guide, more a set of first opinions. I've yet to load up the software, hook the phone up to the computer or look at what games come pre-installed.

Certainly more to follow.