Customer Reviews

Sony Ericsson W300i Walkman (AT&T)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

Ok, I am going to write a very short review and hopefully update it at a later point to give you more details.

I got this phone on Friday and fell in love with it right away. The interface is very intuitive and easy to use. I have tested the camera, the FM tuner, the MP3 player, the phone itself, the bluetooth and have had no issues. The phone has a very nice feel and look - surprisingly, it is both "cute" from a woman's perspective while "rugged" from a guy's viewpoint. The rugged look comes from the black color primarily while the cute part comes from the internal features.

All in all, both me and my wife LOVE the phone. It is better than my RAZR too.

This is a very nice phone. The walkman feature and the big memory provided makes it a pretty good mp3 player. Sound quality is superb and mine came with a 512meg card, plus 23 meg of internal memory. That's more than most phones in the same price range. The reception is very good and the phone come with all sort of accessories for FREE! I got the headset and the USB cable included in my box, and of course the memory card Micro 512meg. It is possible to customize the phone by replacing the faceplate. Mine has a zebra pattern now :)

The only week point I can see is the VGA camera. I was sold that phone as if it was a 1.3 mp camera, when it is only 0.3 in reality and the rest is done via digital zoom which render the image quality totaly unuseable if you use it in that mode. I use it in VGA mode and the quality is acceptable. The dynamic range of the camera in that phone is quite limited, not the same as with the Nokia 6103 which had excellent dynamic range. The W300i camera dynamic range is either too limited or the contrast boosted too high, either way it is not possible to fix this from the user point of view and the photos have either burned out whites or no detail in the dark, in any scene with a wide range of value. The camera in that phone is basicaly useless or just for info purpose if you wish to send a product description to someone for approval etc..you get the idea. The video recording and playback is ok.

The phone navigation is very easy to understand and to operate. Voice control works well too and with the provided headset, it is easy to dial the phone numbers just by pressing the little button on the headset and saying "home" for exemple. Those voice commands must be recorded first but that's very easy to set up and use. no need to risk having an accident while driving and dialing or not even the need to look at the phone to voice dial. Very good security when using it in the car. That works also for answering the phone as one only need to push the little button on the headset to answer and to hang up.

I downloaded a free program from the Sony Ericsson wed site developer section called DRM Packager. This program is easy to find on their web site or from doing a search in google if you do a search for DRM Packager, the first link is the Sony Ericsson link, and with this program you can prepair any mp3 music or segment of music to be used as a ringtone. It's super easy..just load your song, hit the button and voila..song is ready to be used as ringtone. Hey! no more paying big money for having your favorite song as ringtone. I can make my own ringtone from any mp3, prepair them (2 seconds) with DRM Packager and voila..upload it to the 512meg car or the internal memory of the phone and then use these as a ringtone. I now have tons of ringtones to shift with my mood :)

And last but not least, battery life is amazing! You will have plenty of battery life to use your phone all day and listen to mp3 music as you wish. IF you are listening to mp3 music and a call comes in, the music cut off so that you can hear the call and answer. On stand buy I think the phone can easily last more than a week. When listening to mp3 music a lot, the phone can last a full day no problem.

Over all it is a fantastic phone with lots of style and goodies, I would give it a 5 if it was not for the bad camera.

I do agree with other reviewers that the memory card required for this phone is expensive; but, sony does offer a bundle package that comes with the software, USB cable, and 1gb memory card all for 54.99 Considering I only paid 29.99 for the phone I was a little dicouraged by the fact that the memory card cost more than the phone. I changed my mind on that immediately after I transferred music onto the card and put it into my phone. The sound quality is excpetional. I'm not sure why other reviewers have negative feedback for the sound quality. This phone is so loud that I have to have it on the third volume level when I'm at work; and, that's still definately loud enough to hear. The ringer volume is loud as well. It does take some tinkering to figure out how to get the volume out of the miniscule factory default setting. However, if you read the manual you'll figure it out right away. There is also a guided video instruction manual available on Sony-Ericsson's web site. I do agree that the camera quality is poor; but, you can't expect much from a cell phone. If you want good picture quality then buy a digital camera. The radio feature is nice as well. I live right next to a radio station and the provided antenna cord has no problem tuning into other stations than the one that's near me.

The reason I gave it 4 stars- the top part of the flip (where the screen is) is wobbly. It doesn't affect how the phone operates...I just worry about it eventually breaking. I do however, have to comment on another reason that this phone is great. A week after I got this phone I dropped it in a rain puddle. I let it dry out, and it pulled through fine. The phone I had prior to this, the Motorola V3 Razr I did the same thing to (I've learned to be more careful with my phones) and immediately the LCD had exploded and it was ruined.

I would definately recommend this phone!!!

First and foremost, this phone works well as a phone. I have had W300i for more than two months and haven't had any dropped calls. Except for a few occasions (which may have been caused by the cell tower), the sound has been clear and the bluetooth also works well. The battery life is phenomenal compared to my previous phone.

I have also used and enjoyed the MP3 Player and FM Tuner. A headphone adapater is included in the box that allows you to use any mini-plug headphones with this unit. A decent set of in-the-ear headphones is also included.

Now for the complaints...

1) The buttons on the phone are very pretty, but difficult to use:
a) The number buttons on the keypad are flush with the face plate and overlap in vertical rows. This makes it hard to press the numbers without looking at the phone; I also have a tendency to occasionally misdial due to the overlapping buttons.
b) The power button is tiny and recessed. You almost have to use the tip of a pen to press the power button.
c) The control buttons on the side of the phone are also difficult to use without looking at them. The "up" and "down" buttons are not large enough and are flush with the side of the phone; I have to use the edge of my fingernail in order to press these buttons.

2) Walkman Features (MP3 Player/FM Tuner):
a) The sound quality of the phone's speaker is okay for voice, but terrible for playing music. I guess this is to be expected. Plan on using corded headphones or perhaps buying a stereo bluetooth headset.
b) You have to have the headphone adapter plugged into the phone in order to use the FM Tuner (even if you are using the speaker). This is because the wire acts as the antenna.
c) Phone takes Memory Stick Micro cards instead of the less expensive and more readily available microSD cards.

3) Accessories:
a) I bought the phone shortly after it was released. At that time, there were almost no accessories (like cases or holsters) available for purchase in stores. Even the Cingular store didn't have anything for this phone. Maybe the situation has improved by now.

It may not sound like it, but I am very pleased with this phone. I just can't help but think of how much BETTER it could have been if the buttons were more usable.

I love the look and small size of this phone. The sound quality and battery life are impressive (at least in comparison to the two other cell phones that I have ever owned). Most importantly, I dropped this phone FIVE times in the last two months since buying it (once on hard floor and the rest of the times on carpeted floor), but the phone still works perfectly. I dropped the phone so many times because it is smaller than other cell phones that I have held and it is very sleek and slippery -- so be careful! I have not used the camera for this phone and probably never will. The external display is cool, but you have to set it to display the reddish fluorescent time and date display when not in use. The address book is user friendly and can be quickly accessed by pressing the down arrow. Names of contacts are readily accessed by pressing the appropriate initials instead of scrolling all the way down the address book.

I do have some complaints, but not enough to reduce the rating.

First, the seller never included the USB cable and memory card with the phone and that is deceptive (I did not buy the phone from Amazon, but it seems like almost no vendor includes these lately). I could only store FOUR songs on the in-built memory. I got the USB cable for $5 including shipping from ebay, while the 512 MB memory card was out of stock at my local Cingular store so I am awaiting it (they said it costs $29.99 and is a Micro card and will store 125 or so songs). Opening the back of this phone is difficult and initially not obvious at all -- but this is a good thing as it probably makes the phone sturdier and less likely to be damaged by rain etc...

Second, I really dislike the excessive length of the headphones and wire they provide (you have to combine these two into one before being able to listen to music or radio) and the fact that other headphones can't be used with this phone due to the proprietary end of wire. Same problem with the proprietary USB cable that can't be used with other devices as far as I can tell.

Third, while listening to the radio, once you close the phone, it is hard to adjust the station with the buttons on the side. The easiest way to listen to the radio and change stations is to leave the phone open in FM Radio mode (via. the Entertainment option) where you can change stations with ease using the cursors. Once you close the phone, reopening it takes you to the main screen and you have to get back to the FM radio mode before being able to change stations. However, leaving the phone open while listening to radio is a bit uncomfortable while jogging or walking as you have to be careful and hold it continuously. I like to change radio stations continuously, so the latter is my way of doing things.

If you listen to radio from this phone at your desk or home, you have no worries.

Finally, I have not been able to find a way to see how long my last call lasted for (although you can see it in your monthly bill I suppose).

I have not gone through the phone's manual, so there might be solutions to some of the above problems that I am missing -- although I doubt it.

Overall, minor complaints in the face of an incredible buy (free with 24 month Cingular plan).

FYI -- You can call and have Internet access disabled in order to make sure that you don't go online by mistake (easy to do via the Media Net option).

Ok, I'm one for simplicity. I don't need the mp3 playing ability, camera, etc, but one cannot find a phone without the extras, sooooo......

The sound quality is good. I've had a few complaints about background noisy when I'm on the road, but not so bad that its impossible to hear.

The speakerphone is poor, bad, crap. I really need to use the speakerphone, but just can't do it with this phone. Its not loud enough and can be scratchy.

The ringer can be set to nice and loud. It even gives you a little warning about hearing loss when you max out the ringer.

I love it that it is light and easy to hold. The buttons are easy enough for me. Screen is clear.

It does get good FM reception and sounds pretty good if you are into that.

After a year-long, extremely frustrating struggle with seven Motorola cell phones, representing four different models (and a brief, unhappy foray into Samsung territory), I'm delighted to say that the Sony Ericsson W300i is a very good phone.

The W300i isn't as pretty as the Motorola RAZR and SLVR and it doesn't have the solid feel and beautifully designed keypad of the Motorola V551 and V557. Beneath its ugly duckling skin, however, the W300i is proving to be far superior to any of its similarly priced Motorola competitors.

My W300i can acquire and reliably hold a signal in fringe areas where all of my Motorolas either failed to detect a signal or dropped calls after only a few seconds.

The W300i's earpiece volume is much louder than that of any of my Motorolas, which is very helpful in noisy environments, and its sound clarity is as good as, if not better than, any of the Motorolas.

The PC Suite software was a bit of a pain to install and configure, but now that I have it up and running, I appreciate the fact that it can reliably sync my phone with my Outlook calendar. It can even correctly handle recurring appointments with exceptions, which Motorola Phone Tools never could manage to do.

Yes, I wish it had a nicer keypad and, yes, I wish it had a better camera and a higher resolution display. On the other hand, the Sony Ericsson W300i excels at the tasks for which I purchased it - phone calls and Outlook calendar synchronization.

As long as the W300i can do those two things reliably, I'll be happy - and I will never go back to Motorola!