Sony Ericsson W800i Walkman mobile phone

The Sony Ericsson W800i is the first in the company's series of Walkman phones: new mobile phones designed to offer quality music playing capabilities on top of the usual mobile phone features (which currently seems to be everything capable of using electricity!)

The W800i is a stylish deep orange and smooth white handset featuring the familiar Walkman™ logo. It offers an MP3 player capable of storing up to 125 tracks* of digital music or 10-12 albums to be taken from the user’s CD collection via easy-to-use computer software.

Sound quality is excellent. The W800i is supplied with quality stereo headphones and it is compatible with the proven, industry standard MP3 and AAC music file formats. Storage capacity is also plentiful as the supplied 0,5GB Memory Stick Duo gives capacity for around 150 music tracks, or 10-12 full length CDs from the user's existing CD collection. And loading music into the player is a breeze thanks to the supplied Disk2Phone software, which enables quick, convenient transfer of music CD's onto the phone via a PC. Keeping the collection up to date is no trouble at all as the software makes it easy to browse, sort, find, transfer and delete music files.

Battery life is a key consideration for owners and the W800i's battery has enough stamina for the longest journeys - it will play for 15 hours if the phone is switched on, or up to 30 hours if it isn't.

Although weighing in at less than 100g, the W800i also offers a 2 Megapixel camera complete with autofocus, picture light, active lens cover and digital still camera interface, so great photos can be taken in a variety of conditions.

The phone comes with 34MB internal memory plus 512MB Memory Stick PRO Duo, enough, claim SonyEricsson, for up to 10 CDs' worth of tuneage. Which leads nicely to a rather nice feature of this phone - not only can you download tunes (a presumably rather expensive affair, considering the cost per tune plus the cost of the download), you can also rip individual tracks from CDs on your PC via included CD-ripping software and USB cable. Instant tunes, no extra outlay - nice! That's not all though - the phone also comes with FM radio, a 2 megapixel camera, video recorder facility, and the usual array of what you'd hope for in a phone (SMS, MMS, GSM - you know, the usual!).
W800 camera

Sony Ericsson has kick-started its entry into the mobile music market with the announcement of the W800, the first Walkman branded mobile phone. It will now be possible to listen to music, handle phone calls and take great pictures and video, all with one device and with no compromise on quality. The Sony Ericsson W800 is the first product to combine a mobile phone, a high quality digital music player with up to 30 hours' battery life, and a 2 Megapixel camera. All of this is packaged in a slim, lightweight device with ultrastylish design.

"We looked carefully at what people want from a mobile digital music player and have designed a product that fits the bill," says Rikko Sakaguchi, Senior Vice President, Product and Application Planning of Sony Ericsson. "The W800 has great sound quality, is easy to use, has superb battery life and can store a large amount of music. It's an attractive, desirable device that combines high quality phone, camera, music and games player." Sony's world famous Walkman mobile music heritage makes the W800 a serious contestant in the digital music player market. Sound quality is excellent. The W800 is supplied with quality stereo headphones and it is compatible with the proven, industry standard MP3 and AAC music file formats. Storage capacity is also plentiful as the supplied 0.5GB Memory Stick Duo gives capacity for around 150 music tracks, or 10-12 full length CDs from the user's existing CD collection. And loading music into the player is a breeze thanks to the supplied Disk2Phone software, which enables quick, convenient transfer of music CD’s onto the phone via a PC.

W800i with headphones

Keeping the collection up to date is no trouble at all as the software makes it easy to browse, sort, find, transfer and delete music files. The W800's intuitive interface makes it a breeze to use the music player and the functionality of phone, music player and camera are carefully integrated. Also, owners need never miss a call when listening to music, as the phone ring is played through the stereo headphones. If the user chooses to take the call the music is paused for the call’s duration. The music player is operated with just one Direct Music button that plays, pauses and stops tracks, and player and phone can be used independently of each other, so for example the user can switch the phone off for a plane journey while still enjoying the music player.

Battery life is a key consideration for owners and the W800's battery has enough stamina for the longest journeys – it will play for 15 hours' if the phone is switched on, or up to 30 hours if it isn't. Although weighing in at less than 100g, the W800 also offers a 2 Megapixel camera complete with autofocus, picture light, active lens cover and digital still camera interface, so great photos can be taken in a variety of conditions. Users can extend their use of the W800 with useful accessories such as the MMC-60 Music Cable which connects the device to play out on a stereo hi-fi, and the HCA-60 Advanced Car Handsfree which allows music to be played through car speakers.

The W800 comes in the following variants:
  • W800i Triple Band 900/1800/1900 MHz
  • W800c Triple Band 900/1800/1900 MHz for China Mainland