Sony Ericsson W880i under examination :: GSM Helpdesk Nederland

05-03-2007: Slim, stylish and smooth, flashy retro colours and a lovely musicplayer, that is how the Sony Ericsson W880i can be characterized. Mobile Phone Helpdesk subjected the device to a full investigation.

Door Willeke de Haas - Sony Ericsson precisely indicates the those things that they are good at with the W880i. The company succeeded to put a full Walkman Phone in an extremely thin and trendy jacket. Available in the colours 'Flame Black' and 'Silver Steel', the candybar device is very appealing to the eye. The name 'Flame Black' is also a well chosen name, the back of the device namely has a flashy orange colour, but also feels very soft and smooth.

Sony Ericsson W880i

When we look at the box of the device for the first time, we can alreasy see that we are to encounter a fashionable device that is slimly designed and has beautiful colour accents. The magic of the device is to be found in the eyecatching design and this all is also processed up the box, that consists of a black colour with orange accents, just as the phone itself is.

First impression Sony Ericsson W880i

The Sony Ericsson W880i is a Walkman Phone that is placed in the mid-segment of the market. This means that the phone is fairly affordable, but despite this, the package still contains a headset and together with the 1 GB memorycards, that comes with the device as a standard, makes it all a true music experience. Furthermore, the package also contains a data cable, charger, some instruction manuals and three different sizes of earplugs. And, last but not least, Sony Ericsson also delivered a CD-ROM that is meant for the synchronization with the computer.

Contents Sony Ericsson W880i package

At the moment we turn on the device, one thing comes to our mind in an instance. When developing the device, Sony Ericsson must have thought about userfriendliness and the fact that most users do not read the manual anymore. When one turns the device on for the first time, some sort of guided tour through the menus of the device starts, that can come in very handy for those users who are not familiar with the menu structure of Sony Ericsson devices.

A mobile phone should have the opportunity to be combined with every taste and style of the consumer. That is why Sony Ericsson integrated several themes in the W880i. Amongst these, we can find the 'Walkman' theme with a light background and orange accents, the 'Citybeat' theme with a black background and red accents, the 'gSharp' theme that also has a dark background, combined with several colours and the 'Musaic' theme, which is also dark, but with yellow accents. Due to this, the W880i can be customized to the user's taste in its entirity.

’Walkman’ theme and ‘Citybeat’ theme

Sony Ericsson focussed on the real musiclover that want to enjoy music anytime anywhere with her Walkman Phone series. To make sure that the device is a united unit when the user listens to music, Sony Ericsson also made the perfect combination with the headset. The standardly delivered headset is the same as the one that comes with the W850i. The shiny black colour of the headset perfectly fits the W880i and is very easy to use. The remote control easily skips to a preceding or following track. With and without the headset, the device offers a sublime sound that is crystal clear. The special earplugs come in three different sizes and feel very comfortable for the user with regular sized ears. For the consumer with small ears, the earplugs can still feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Musicplayer on air

Everyone will know the following situation: you are at your familiy's or friend's house and the radio is turned on. You hear a nice track, but you cannot seem to find out the title or artist name that made it. In order to solve this problem. the W880i is equipped with an application, named TrackID, with which one can record a short part of this track. With this small piece, the W880i can search for the title and artist of the track and passes this information on to the user within only one minute. The user can also choose to download the whole track. With this application, the owner of the W880i always has his favourtite tracks with him. In order to use TrackID, a working internet connections on the device is needed.

TrackID searches for the recorded track

For beaming music from the computer to the mobile phone, Sony Ericsson standardly delivers a CD-ROM with the device. Together with the data cable, whole CDs or MP3 files can be transferred to the device easily. This is done with the programme Disc2Phone and it is done in exactly one moment. With the data cable, contacts, appointments and other files can be synchronized with the computer.

Besides the regular musicplayer, we would have expected to find an FM radio to make the music pleasure complete. This is where Sony Ericsson missed a point. The missing of the FM radio is maybe caused by the fast that the device is so extremely slim. A nice extra feature that Sony Ericsson integrated in the device is that the musicplayer can be customized when using it. There are three different skins available in the colours black, orange and white. These skins are all very clear in combination with the 262.000 colours TFT display.

Skins musicplayer

The Sony Ericsson W880 is a real Walkman Phone and fits the profile that the company set out in this. Sony Ericsson did not stop in this, they also integrated two cameras into the device. The VGA camera that is placed at the front offers the possibility to make videocalls. The quality of this can be named good, the one you are calling with is clearly visible and the images are synchronic with the coversation itself. The camera that is subtly placed at the back is a 2 megapixel camera with which nice photos can be made.

Sony Ericsson W880i makes photo

The camera also offers some extra functions, such as digital zoom, a selftimer and the possibility to record short video fragments. It is also possible to edit photos. The possibility to make photos in dark surroundings is somewhat difficult due to an absent flashlight.

Photo made with Sony Ericsson W880i

Photos and, for example, music files can be sent to other devices with help of Bluetooth. Photos can also directly be transferred to a printer, which prints your self-made photos instantly without even switchin on the computer. The printer does have to support this possibility. The use of internet and e-mail is also possible because the device is equipped with UMTS. By integrating UMTS into the W880i the use of internet applications is made even faster than with the older devices that only have GPRS.

It is a real fact that the device is a beautiful eye sight, the exclamation 'trendy' sparkles from the device. The quick keys at the side of the device give access to the camera and Walkman functions with only one press on the button. The navigation key of the device instantly changes into a play key for the musicplayer when the owner uses the Walkman function. At the side there is also place for the delivered memorycard, and the exit of this is nicely finished with a dismountable thin plate that has the same colour as the device itself. Something that is quite a pity us tgat the exit of the charger and headset does not have a thin plate like mentioned earlier. The playful finishing touch with the Walkman logo and the combination of the black and orange retro colours give the device a slim and sophisticated appearance, which is only nine millimeters thick.

Sony Ericsson W880i seen from all sides

Final conclusion
The W880i is a device that perfectly fits the mid-segment of Sony Ericsson. The device has a marvellous musicplayer with an even better sound. The package is highly complete due to the delivered memorycard and the headset in the same colour. Userfriendliness has been the keyword for Sony Ericsson while developing the device, the navigation is very easy and the quick keys offer just that little bit extra. The camera is fun for quick snapshots and the extra VGA camera makes video calling possible.

The appearance can be called staggering and we really complement Sony Ericsson for being able to put such an enormous amount of functions into a slimness of just nine millimeters. The flashy colours appeal to the young mobile brand and extra applications such as TrackID and Disc2Phone make the W880i a true pleasure for ear and eye. It is pityful that there is no FM radio and that the exit of the charger / headset did not get that special finish. The earplugs of the headset sompletely shut off the sound of the surroundings and offer the perfect sound quality, although they could feel uncomfortable for the consumer with small ears.

The buttons of the W880i are quite small, but they stand out fron the device's castings far more than with regular devices. The device is pleasent in SMSing, but we can imagine that those who have not such slim fingers could find this less pleasent.

According to us, the Sony Ericsson W880i is a very good acquisition for the fashion aware music lover!

The Sony Ericsson W880i is already available in the shops. You can find a full survey of all specifications at the Sony Ericsson W880i page.