- Bluetooth wireless technology
- Walkman music player software lets you take your songs with you
- VGA-quality camera lets you take and share photos and video clips
- FM stereo radio with RDS lets you preset up to 8 channels
Product Features |
Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
An upgrade to the venerable z520, the W300i adds a memory card slot and EDGE high-speed data. The W300i version also adds Walkman music player and styling. Other key features include Bluetooth, camera, internal antenna, and speakerphone. All this goodness is delivered in a package that is smaller and lighter than its predecessor. With dual screens and a VGA camera with video capabilities, the W300i is a serious next-generation phone. It's the perfect handset for folks who want to get all the latest wireless goodies in one chic package, and the perfect companion to Cingular Wireless service.
Design
The W300i's 65,000-color, 128 x 160 display is housed under the front cover while the outside sports a supplementary 101 x 80 color display that can display time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. The VGA (640 x 480) camera is housed on the front cover as well. The W300i uses an internal antenna-- nothing to snag or break off--and a five-way button just above the dial pad is used to control most of the phone's menus and features. Up/down buttons on the left side of the phone can be used for quick volume control and menu navigation. USB data and charging ports, as well as a headset port, are located on the phone's bottom edge. And because the W300i's front and rear faceplates are changeable with Sony-Ericsson Style-Up covers, you can dress it up to suit your style. The design also incorporates a unique carry handle on the top of the phone.
Messaging, Internet and Tools
The W300i has all the bases covered when it comes to messaging. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, video, graphics and sound via messages. When used in combination with the phone's built-in camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging is also supported and the phone ships with a built-in email client.
 Your phone, your music--all on the go. See the W300 video. |
The W300i's 65,000-color, 128 x 160 display is housed under the front cover while the outside sports a supplementary 101 x 80 color display that can display time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. The VGA (640 x 480) camera is housed on the front cover as well. The W300i uses an internal antenna-- nothing to snag or break off--and a five-way button just above the dial pad is used to control most of the phone's menus and features. Up/down buttons on the left side of the phone can be used for quick volume control and menu navigation. USB data and charging ports, as well as a headset port, are located on the phone's bottom edge. And because the W300i's front and rear faceplates are changeable with Sony-Ericsson Style-Up covers, you can dress it up to suit your style. The design also incorporates a unique carry handle on the top of the phone.
Calling Features
The W300i's phone book can hold up to 510 contacts with multiple entries per contact. A call list remembers your most recent missed, received and dialed calls. The phone's voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names. The phone also features a speakerphone for easy, hands-free talking. In addition to a vibrating alert, the phone supports polyphonic ringtones as well as MP3- and AAC-format ringers, allowing you to use portions of your favorite songs to alert you to incoming calls. There's even a bundled application that lets you mix your own ringtones with up to 16 tracks. A number of ringtones come preloaded on the phone and more ringtones can be downloaded from Cingular's MEdia service. Picture caller ID lets you assign a photo to specific callers. Similarly, a ringer ID lets you assign ringtones to callers. Lastly, users of Bluetooth headsets will find perfect compatibility with the W300i's Bluetooth abilities.
 Snap some great shots when you're out and about. |
The W300i has all the bases covered when it comes to messaging. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, video, graphics and sound via messages. When used in combination with the phone's built-in camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging is also supported and the phone ships with a built-in email client.
Getting on the Internet is easy with the W300i, as it supports the GPRS and EDGE data protocols. When used with a Cingular data plan and the phone's USB or Bluetooth data capabilities the phone can be used as a wireless modem for laptops and PDAs. T9 text entry, a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
A number of handy software tools are bundled with the W300i including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a calendar, and an alarm clock with a timer and stopwatch. Sony Ericsson Sync Station software lets you synchronize your Microsoft Outlook calendar, contacts, notes and tasks with your phone.
Imaging and Entertainment
The W300i was designed for serious fun. The built-in VGA camera captures stills and video to the phone's 16MB of internal memory. Picture effects and custom screensavers, backgrounds, and themes can be set up to fit your personality.
Java support is built into the W300i, making it a powerful gaming companion for both online and offline games. Games are downloadable via the MEdia service or you can use the handset's USB or Bluetooth data connections to load more games and files onto the phone.
Vital Statistics
The Sony-Ericsson W300i weighs 3.32 ounces and measures 3.54 x 1.85 x 0.96 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 9 hours of digital talk time, and up to 400 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
Product Description
Open up to mobile music The W300i is a fun Walkman® music phone. It comes with everything you need to enjoy your music wherever you go. It also has a camera and easy text and picture messaging. Take, save and share pictures of where you are. The W300i has Bluetooth™ built-in and supports USB connectivity. With a USB cable, move music from your PC to your phone and synchronize the phone calendar and contacts with your PC.
Product Details
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
71 of 72 people found the following review helpful
This phone does a lot of nice things, but is a master of a few of them.
Let me be clear on this. I'm not saying the phone is bad. In fact, it's very well featured, but don't expect it to be the "last phone you'll ever need to buy". This one will just last you much longer, even if it can't be used as a phone anymore.
Depending on where you buy it, it may or may not include a Memory Stick Micro or USB cord. So, shop around for deals on included accessories. All of the phones come with a handsfree cord and stereo earbud headphones. You can also use your favorite pair of headphones instead, even for making telephone calls, due to the standard 1/8" socket on the handsfree mic cord.
The phone is nice and light, yet still has some "substance" to it. The screen is bright and the buttons are easy enough to press, even with my thick fingers.
Sound quality is good. I don't get too picky about telephone sound quality, but I can tell you that I do hear the other party quite well. I just don't rate it on an audiophile scale like other people do. It's no better or worse than your cordless phone at home.
The menus are abundant and a bit confusing, but it's easy to get used to it. I'm only being honest. I would NOT dismiss this phone simply because the menus follow a slightly different standard than other phones.
Now to elaborate on some of it's better features:
1. The FM Radio - A nice little feature, even though you get to it through the "Games" menu. It has a fully tunable FM Radio built in. You can have it auto-program the presets to all the stations it can find. You can even name the stations as you wish. The reception is OK. In the office, I have a hard time getting some of the weaker stations. The battery in the phone lasts a long time in FM radio mode. For two days, 8AM-5PM, I had the radio playing through my desktop computer speakers (remember the standard plug I told you about), and the battery was only down to less than 1/2 full. I hear you can actually shut the phone feature off and it just becomes a radio/MP3 player with a much longer battery life. There is a minor drawback, in my opinion. I wish it had an internal FM radio antenna. The handsfree cord acts as the antenna. It will not let you turn on the radio until the HF cord is attached. It will automatically turn off the radio when you disconnect the HF cord. If you want to listen to the radio without headphones, you can switch to the built-in speaker from the radio menu. Set it on the table and it sounds like a handy little transistor radio. The sound quality is great through the headphones, though. I still like mine hooked up to the speaker system on my desk. I've had people ask where the radio is coming from, then I lift up the 'little' phone and show them.
2. MP3 player - Believe it or not, I didn't use this much. I didn't "shop around" and ended up getting my phone without an add-on memory card and USB cable. But I did put a few in the internal memory. It's a nice basic MP3 player that provides playlist capabilities. The sound quality is what you would expect from a portable MP3 player. But unlike most other MP3 players, this will play videos too. After converting some home movies to .3gp format for the phone, I was able to take the videos along with me. Maybe I'll convert some video podcasts and take them with me to view while I'm waiting in a restaurant or something.
3. Games - Let me interject the fact that the SonyEricsson website has great support for this phone. They even provide you with free games, screensavers, etc. to add to your phone. Gameplay is quite good for this phone. I'm sure it maintains playability for the faster paced games that can be purchased online. I didn't get this phone for the games. Therefore, I go with whatever free games vendors are willing to offer.
4. The Camera - What can I say. It's an adequate "substitute" for a real digital camera. If you need a picture or a movie in a pinch, it'll do it. There's even a "night mode" if the lighting is bad. There is no flash. My last cameraphone had a "flash", but the white LED it used was a poor excuse for a camera flash. If you don't subscribe to a media package add-on with your service provider, you can transfer the pics and videos to your PC via the.......
5. PIM Tool - Think of this like HotSync for Palm or ActiveSync for Pocket PC. You can pretty much do the same stuff. The "PC Suite" program that you can download free from the SonyEricsson website lets you connect your phone to the PC via USB cable, Infrared, or BlueTooth and transfer contact, appointment, and calendar information (from MS Outlook). On first sync, my scheduled meetings were now in the phone and it even picked up the notification alerts from the original appointment and makes a sound when a meeting is due. You can even "open up" the phone like a disk drive and transfer files to/from it using drag-n-drop within Windows (and MAC too, I believe). This includes pictures and videos. If your service plan supports it, the PC Suite software will provide a wizard to help you "tether" your phone to your PC to connect to the internet through it. That's a great feature for where there is no hotspot.
6. The phone - Can you believe this actually makes calls, too? I won't go into too many details since most phones are the same when it comes down to the actual phone call making features. It includes a large contact list, voice dial, Caller ID on the front display, etc.
One last thing, it's not activated by default, but you can turn on the Sleep Mode Clock to allow it to display a non-backlit time of day on the outside screen so you don't have to flip it open to view the time.
Oh yeah, it's a cool phone, in case I didn't mention it.
Let me be clear on this. I'm not saying the phone is bad. In fact, it's very well featured, but don't expect it to be the "last phone you'll ever need to buy". This one will just last you much longer, even if it can't be used as a phone anymore.
Depending on where you buy it, it may or may not include a Memory Stick Micro or USB cord. So, shop around for deals on included accessories. All of the phones come with a handsfree cord and stereo earbud headphones. You can also use your favorite pair of headphones instead, even for making telephone calls, due to the standard 1/8" socket on the handsfree mic cord.
The phone is nice and light, yet still has some "substance" to it. The screen is bright and the buttons are easy enough to press, even with my thick fingers.
Sound quality is good. I don't get too picky about telephone sound quality, but I can tell you that I do hear the other party quite well. I just don't rate it on an audiophile scale like other people do. It's no better or worse than your cordless phone at home.
The menus are abundant and a bit confusing, but it's easy to get used to it. I'm only being honest. I would NOT dismiss this phone simply because the menus follow a slightly different standard than other phones.
Now to elaborate on some of it's better features:
1. The FM Radio - A nice little feature, even though you get to it through the "Games" menu. It has a fully tunable FM Radio built in. You can have it auto-program the presets to all the stations it can find. You can even name the stations as you wish. The reception is OK. In the office, I have a hard time getting some of the weaker stations. The battery in the phone lasts a long time in FM radio mode. For two days, 8AM-5PM, I had the radio playing through my desktop computer speakers (remember the standard plug I told you about), and the battery was only down to less than 1/2 full. I hear you can actually shut the phone feature off and it just becomes a radio/MP3 player with a much longer battery life. There is a minor drawback, in my opinion. I wish it had an internal FM radio antenna. The handsfree cord acts as the antenna. It will not let you turn on the radio until the HF cord is attached. It will automatically turn off the radio when you disconnect the HF cord. If you want to listen to the radio without headphones, you can switch to the built-in speaker from the radio menu. Set it on the table and it sounds like a handy little transistor radio. The sound quality is great through the headphones, though. I still like mine hooked up to the speaker system on my desk. I've had people ask where the radio is coming from, then I lift up the 'little' phone and show them.
2. MP3 player - Believe it or not, I didn't use this much. I didn't "shop around" and ended up getting my phone without an add-on memory card and USB cable. But I did put a few in the internal memory. It's a nice basic MP3 player that provides playlist capabilities. The sound quality is what you would expect from a portable MP3 player. But unlike most other MP3 players, this will play videos too. After converting some home movies to .3gp format for the phone, I was able to take the videos along with me. Maybe I'll convert some video podcasts and take them with me to view while I'm waiting in a restaurant or something.
3. Games - Let me interject the fact that the SonyEricsson website has great support for this phone. They even provide you with free games, screensavers, etc. to add to your phone. Gameplay is quite good for this phone. I'm sure it maintains playability for the faster paced games that can be purchased online. I didn't get this phone for the games. Therefore, I go with whatever free games vendors are willing to offer.
4. The Camera - What can I say. It's an adequate "substitute" for a real digital camera. If you need a picture or a movie in a pinch, it'll do it. There's even a "night mode" if the lighting is bad. There is no flash. My last cameraphone had a "flash", but the white LED it used was a poor excuse for a camera flash. If you don't subscribe to a media package add-on with your service provider, you can transfer the pics and videos to your PC via the.......
5. PIM Tool - Think of this like HotSync for Palm or ActiveSync for Pocket PC. You can pretty much do the same stuff. The "PC Suite" program that you can download free from the SonyEricsson website lets you connect your phone to the PC via USB cable, Infrared, or BlueTooth and transfer contact, appointment, and calendar information (from MS Outlook). On first sync, my scheduled meetings were now in the phone and it even picked up the notification alerts from the original appointment and makes a sound when a meeting is due. You can even "open up" the phone like a disk drive and transfer files to/from it using drag-n-drop within Windows (and MAC too, I believe). This includes pictures and videos. If your service plan supports it, the PC Suite software will provide a wizard to help you "tether" your phone to your PC to connect to the internet through it. That's a great feature for where there is no hotspot.
6. The phone - Can you believe this actually makes calls, too? I won't go into too many details since most phones are the same when it comes down to the actual phone call making features. It includes a large contact list, voice dial, Caller ID on the front display, etc.
One last thing, it's not activated by default, but you can turn on the Sleep Mode Clock to allow it to display a non-backlit time of day on the outside screen so you don't have to flip it open to view the time.
Oh yeah, it's a cool phone, in case I didn't mention it.
70 of 72 people found the following review helpful
I recently replaced my RAZR with this phone and I couldn't be happier. I can hear the people I'm talking to so much better than I used to. Pre-loaded ringtones and graphics are kind of tacky, but I downloaded some from Cingular. But there is one thing you should be weary about. The buttons are very close together are might be a hassel to those with bigger hands than me. I have extrememly tiny hands and fingers, so this isn't a problem, but my boyfriend has a hard time using the buttons.
I'm also liking the Sony interface. It's harder to learn than Motorola, but I'm getting used to it. Overall - a great phone and seems pretty durable.
UPDATE: I've had the phone for over a month now and my 5 star rating still stands true. I haven't had hardly ANY dropped calls since I got this phone. With my RAZR, I'd have 2-3 per day! I've downloaded some rigntones and graphics to personalize it too. I haven't really found any use for the MP3 player or camera, although the camera IS terrible. But I never use it, so that doesn't bother me.
The look of this phone is one thing that I love. I've owned tons of cell phones in the past few years, and I mainly look for the appearances of the phone, because I have no use for the razzle dazzle of some phones these days. And I must say, I get more compliments and "oh, cool phone!" than I have with any other cell.
It works like a dream! You won't be disappointed for the price! You get what you pay for and MORE!
I'm also liking the Sony interface. It's harder to learn than Motorola, but I'm getting used to it. Overall - a great phone and seems pretty durable.
UPDATE: I've had the phone for over a month now and my 5 star rating still stands true. I haven't had hardly ANY dropped calls since I got this phone. With my RAZR, I'd have 2-3 per day! I've downloaded some rigntones and graphics to personalize it too. I haven't really found any use for the MP3 player or camera, although the camera IS terrible. But I never use it, so that doesn't bother me.
The look of this phone is one thing that I love. I've owned tons of cell phones in the past few years, and I mainly look for the appearances of the phone, because I have no use for the razzle dazzle of some phones these days. And I must say, I get more compliments and "oh, cool phone!" than I have with any other cell.
It works like a dream! You won't be disappointed for the price! You get what you pay for and MORE!
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
This is overall a very good phone. This is the third Sony Ericsson phone that I have owned and I think it lives up to their quality and track record. I'll go over the typical pros and cons:
Pros:
1. Battery life is amazing. I haven't had it drop any lower than 70% on its battery meter. And that's with frequent usage throughout the day talking and using the Walkman player. That's with putting it on the charger by the end of the day.
2. Call clarity is very good and fairly loud on the highest setting. Ringtones can also be pretty loud depending on which tone you choose.
3. The screen is clear, colorful, and pretty sharp, although not as sharp as other high- end handsets, it won't disappoint.
4. Menus are easy to navigate and are quickly responsive. I haven't experienced any lag between button presses and actions on the screen. It's very easy to browse your files on the built in memory as well as the memory stick.
5. The handset accepts memory sticks to increase the amount of storage. I have a 2GB Sandisk memory stick currently. Sony's documentation says that 512MB is the maximum storage because they have either not tested the higher capacities, or they were not available at the time of documentation. Some people have experienced problems getting some 1GB memory sticks to work, so you may have to try a couple of them out.
6. The earbuds that come with the handset are very good. They are very, very deep on their bass. They have silicone nubs on the end that help to create a more snug fit. I have an identical pair that I purchased a few years ago for $50. The only difference is that the cord is a little more stiff this time around and doesn't look as high quality, but I'm definitely not complaining. They're so much better than a lot of the other junk earbuds that other manufacturers supply.
7. The Walkman media player is pretty good and can run in the background while you perform other tasks on the handset. You can tell that Sony put a lot more thought into the Walkman than other manufacturers do, with the quality and options that it provides. You can create playlists within the program and sort by artist or tracks for playback. It also has a shuffle option. One of the best things for me was the equalizer. You can choose from: Normal, Bass, Mega, Bass, Voice, and Treble Boost. You can also manually adjust the settings if you wish.
8. There are several ways to connect your handset to your PC. You can use the USB cable, which may or may not come with your handset depending on where you buy yours, I ordered directly through Cingular and it was an added bonus. You can also connect through Bluetooth. When you connect the handset to a PC you can synchronize your Outlook contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes. You have several ways to add music or other files to your handset as well. You can add files with Windows Explorer or by using Sony's PC Suite software. One fairly undocumented feature about transferring music is that you can use Windows Media Player to synchronize your music library instead of using Sony's Disc2Phone software. The only difference is that Disc2Phone will convert non copy protected WMA files to a playable format on the handset. Windows Media Player will just transfer the WMA file over, which won't play on the handset. So probably most music library programs, with the exception of iTunes, will allow you to transfer non copy protected music files to the handset.
9. The FM radio is a nice addition and has a very good reception. You have to connect the headset since the antenna is built into it, but you can set an option to play sound through the loudspeaker of the phone. You can save your presets. It also has Radio Data System (RDS) which can show the name of the station and track/artist info if the station is capable of transmitting it.
10. Sony Ericsson is still one of the best out there in providing free and accessible software from their website. A lot of other manufacturers like to charge for basic file transfer software. Their website even has a lot of ringtones, images, themes, and games free of charge.
Cons:
1. This is a common problem with a lot of users. The battery cover is one of the most difficult things to get off. Some say it gets easier the more times you do it, so we'll see if that's true.
2. The number pad's buttons are flush with the casing, blend together, and don't have much identity when you're trying to dial without looking at the numbers.
3. You can customize the directional pad to open up specific menus when you're at the standby screen but you can't customize the middle "Jack" button. You know, that stupid little orange guy that you always hit on accident and then you get to see how many times you did it when you get your billing statement. This is a common thing on a lot of handsets out there, so it really shouldn't be held up against Sony Ericsson as it's more than likely enforced by Cingular to restrict that option.
4. The hinge where it flips open is just a little bit wobbly and not completely snug.
5. The camera is 640x480 VGA (about 0.3 megapixels) and is pretty basic. Since the Walkman feature has so much emphasis, it seems like they just tacked the camera on to sell the phone to a wider crowd.
6. When you connect the handset to a PC via USB or Bluetooth you are presented with two options on the handset and you must choose one of the options before you can proceed. The first option is File Transfer Mode which allows you to drag and drop files. The other option is Phone Mode which allows you to synchronize with Outlook or use the phone as a modem connection for the PC. I'm not sure why they separated these functions other than for the purpose of still allowing some functionality while you're on a flight. It would have been much easier if you could choose an option to force the handset to default to your most frequent choice. When you are in File Mode your GSM/GPRS signal is disabled, so it forces me to work quickly so I don't miss any calls. Another strange thing is that when you're in Phone Mode there is an option in the PC Suite software that allows you to browse and drag and drop your files. You can add your music, pictures, etc. that way, you just won't be able to use Windows Media Player or Disc 2 Phone to synchronize your music since it won't recognize the handsets internal memory or memory stick.
7. Synchronizing your contacts with Outlook was not the most pleasant experience initially. It took any contact from Outlook that had grouped entries within it and spread them out into individual entries on the handset's address book. For some reason it would also transfer the grouped entries to the handset, which was what I wanted, but I basically had to go through and remove all of the individual duplicates in the handset's address book. I even started over from scratch and deleted the addresses from the phones memory as well as the SIM memory and it would still transfer them to the handset the same way. Although I did find that if you set everything in the handset's address book to how you want it, you can choose in the PC Suite software to synchronize and make the handset the primary dictator on any changes. There is also the option to keep the contact that was updated most recently on either the handset or Outlook and update the old one. It may take you a while, but you should experiment and find which option works best before giving up.
Hope any of this helps in your buying decision.
Pros:
1. Battery life is amazing. I haven't had it drop any lower than 70% on its battery meter. And that's with frequent usage throughout the day talking and using the Walkman player. That's with putting it on the charger by the end of the day.
2. Call clarity is very good and fairly loud on the highest setting. Ringtones can also be pretty loud depending on which tone you choose.
3. The screen is clear, colorful, and pretty sharp, although not as sharp as other high- end handsets, it won't disappoint.
4. Menus are easy to navigate and are quickly responsive. I haven't experienced any lag between button presses and actions on the screen. It's very easy to browse your files on the built in memory as well as the memory stick.
5. The handset accepts memory sticks to increase the amount of storage. I have a 2GB Sandisk memory stick currently. Sony's documentation says that 512MB is the maximum storage because they have either not tested the higher capacities, or they were not available at the time of documentation. Some people have experienced problems getting some 1GB memory sticks to work, so you may have to try a couple of them out.
6. The earbuds that come with the handset are very good. They are very, very deep on their bass. They have silicone nubs on the end that help to create a more snug fit. I have an identical pair that I purchased a few years ago for $50. The only difference is that the cord is a little more stiff this time around and doesn't look as high quality, but I'm definitely not complaining. They're so much better than a lot of the other junk earbuds that other manufacturers supply.
7. The Walkman media player is pretty good and can run in the background while you perform other tasks on the handset. You can tell that Sony put a lot more thought into the Walkman than other manufacturers do, with the quality and options that it provides. You can create playlists within the program and sort by artist or tracks for playback. It also has a shuffle option. One of the best things for me was the equalizer. You can choose from: Normal, Bass, Mega, Bass, Voice, and Treble Boost. You can also manually adjust the settings if you wish.
8. There are several ways to connect your handset to your PC. You can use the USB cable, which may or may not come with your handset depending on where you buy yours, I ordered directly through Cingular and it was an added bonus. You can also connect through Bluetooth. When you connect the handset to a PC you can synchronize your Outlook contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes. You have several ways to add music or other files to your handset as well. You can add files with Windows Explorer or by using Sony's PC Suite software. One fairly undocumented feature about transferring music is that you can use Windows Media Player to synchronize your music library instead of using Sony's Disc2Phone software. The only difference is that Disc2Phone will convert non copy protected WMA files to a playable format on the handset. Windows Media Player will just transfer the WMA file over, which won't play on the handset. So probably most music library programs, with the exception of iTunes, will allow you to transfer non copy protected music files to the handset.
9. The FM radio is a nice addition and has a very good reception. You have to connect the headset since the antenna is built into it, but you can set an option to play sound through the loudspeaker of the phone. You can save your presets. It also has Radio Data System (RDS) which can show the name of the station and track/artist info if the station is capable of transmitting it.
10. Sony Ericsson is still one of the best out there in providing free and accessible software from their website. A lot of other manufacturers like to charge for basic file transfer software. Their website even has a lot of ringtones, images, themes, and games free of charge.
Cons:
1. This is a common problem with a lot of users. The battery cover is one of the most difficult things to get off. Some say it gets easier the more times you do it, so we'll see if that's true.
2. The number pad's buttons are flush with the casing, blend together, and don't have much identity when you're trying to dial without looking at the numbers.
3. You can customize the directional pad to open up specific menus when you're at the standby screen but you can't customize the middle "Jack" button. You know, that stupid little orange guy that you always hit on accident and then you get to see how many times you did it when you get your billing statement. This is a common thing on a lot of handsets out there, so it really shouldn't be held up against Sony Ericsson as it's more than likely enforced by Cingular to restrict that option.
4. The hinge where it flips open is just a little bit wobbly and not completely snug.
5. The camera is 640x480 VGA (about 0.3 megapixels) and is pretty basic. Since the Walkman feature has so much emphasis, it seems like they just tacked the camera on to sell the phone to a wider crowd.
6. When you connect the handset to a PC via USB or Bluetooth you are presented with two options on the handset and you must choose one of the options before you can proceed. The first option is File Transfer Mode which allows you to drag and drop files. The other option is Phone Mode which allows you to synchronize with Outlook or use the phone as a modem connection for the PC. I'm not sure why they separated these functions other than for the purpose of still allowing some functionality while you're on a flight. It would have been much easier if you could choose an option to force the handset to default to your most frequent choice. When you are in File Mode your GSM/GPRS signal is disabled, so it forces me to work quickly so I don't miss any calls. Another strange thing is that when you're in Phone Mode there is an option in the PC Suite software that allows you to browse and drag and drop your files. You can add your music, pictures, etc. that way, you just won't be able to use Windows Media Player or Disc 2 Phone to synchronize your music since it won't recognize the handsets internal memory or memory stick.
7. Synchronizing your contacts with Outlook was not the most pleasant experience initially. It took any contact from Outlook that had grouped entries within it and spread them out into individual entries on the handset's address book. For some reason it would also transfer the grouped entries to the handset, which was what I wanted, but I basically had to go through and remove all of the individual duplicates in the handset's address book. I even started over from scratch and deleted the addresses from the phones memory as well as the SIM memory and it would still transfer them to the handset the same way. Although I did find that if you set everything in the handset's address book to how you want it, you can choose in the PC Suite software to synchronize and make the handset the primary dictator on any changes. There is also the option to keep the contact that was updated most recently on either the handset or Outlook and update the old one. It may take you a while, but you should experiment and find which option works best before giving up.
Hope any of this helps in your buying decision.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
I don't Love this phone
I've had this phone for approximately 6 months and while it has some very nice features, overall I just don't love it. The MP3 player is great, I'll give it that. Read more
Published on February 1, 2008 by TomasDelSol
Good phone
I have an iPod and was not looking to replace it. I have had several uberphones in the past few years. All of them were never good at being either phones or PDAs or whatever. Read more
Published on January 26, 2008 by J. J. Marino
not very robust
I bought 2 of these, one for each child. within a year neither were functional one dead, one the callee can not hear the caller. Read more
Published on January 25, 2008 by D. Ohrt
Sony Ericsson W300i
First off I do not have AT&T so this has nothing to do with their service. I am on my 2nd W300i, both of them have started shutting off. Read more
Published on November 1, 2007 by Heather
Sharp, clear sound + works perfectly with Acura Bluetooth system
I recently bought an Acura TL sedan with HandsFreeLink (their Bluetooth system). My current phone was a Motorola V300 (non Bluetooth) through T-Mobile that had been out of... Read more
Published on October 21, 2007 by imvho
Finally, a replacement for my portable CD Player/Radio
I've been getting tired of carrying around my portable CD player/ radio, but I love it because I can listen to the radio if I want. Read more
Published on October 2, 2007 by Shaun Paul
be careful if you have a toddler
first it is easy to use and the sound is great but my toddler is teething and put it in his mouth for about 3 seconds i grabbed it but the phone is dead. Read more
Published on September 12, 2007 by T. Kelly
Sony W300i Phone
I purchased two phones six months ago and so far am pleased overall.
We returned two Samsung phones and paid an extra $80 each for these phones. Read more
We returned two Samsung phones and paid an extra $80 each for these phones. Read more
Published on September 7, 2007 by P. Stein
Very nice
I have read the other reviews and I think you should know, even though we all in theory have the same phone, they arent. Mine doesnt shut off itself unless i use the battery up. Read more
Published on August 19, 2007 by R. Foreman
Sony should make a Sports Model
I liked this phone because it was small and got very good reception with Cingular/AT&T service just about anywhere I went. Read more
Published on August 15, 2007 by B. Herder
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