Sony Ericsson W350i entry-level Walkman phone
Retro-flip design and quality music player hits the right notes
Review Checking into the Walkman phone range with a sub-£80 pre-pay price tag, the W350i’s appeal is built around its key music player features, a touch of slimline chic, and just enough eye-catching style.
At 11mm thin and weighing 75g, it’s easy on the pocket as well as the eye, while the design reintroduces a retro-style flip numberpad cover that was first popular on Ericsson phones a decade ago. Added to this are rounded front-of-flip Walkman buttons that give the W350i something of a standalone music player look.
W350i: not a phone that’s big on must-have features
Besides the music, though, it’s not a phone that’s big on must-have tech features. There’s no 3G, let alone Wi-Fi, while the basic, entry-level 1.3-megapixel camera with no video recording facility, highlights the no-frills approach to non-Walkman gadgetry.
Still, Sony Ericsson’s basic check-list of features supplied with this (and most all of its phones) is pretty decent for the cash – alongside the music player there’s an FM radio, video player, web browser, RSS feed support, email option and a variety of regular organiser features and applications.
Its skinny bodywork may echo the slim and modish W890i, but the materials used on the W350i are definitely more high-street than high-end. The shell has a tactile rubberised-feel which looks good, but the flip is made from flimsy, plastic, as is the back cover.
COMMENTS
Memory Stick Micro?
Sigh - when are they going to learn? Sony has learned the lesson of its proprietary ATRAC audio codec but when it comes to storage there's the rest of the world and then there's... the Sony Memory Stick. Nokia has abandoned its POP-port in favour of jack sockets and micro-USB. When it sees the light, I'll consider a Sony Ericsson phone.
better to spend £20 more
SE phones with i in the model let you use it as a bluetooth modem via connection setup tools on the cd, no need for a datacard, better getting w850i and £60 on a 8gb mem card
About time!
Now That S-E have stopped trying to compete with the premium "fanboi" phones, thwy can get back to what they do well, producing good, solid, no frills handsets.
flip-in eck
I'm loving the return to the flip cover - that's something that's been sorely missing in recent year. best phone i ever had was the old Z7 - not because of the features, although the menu system was cool, and not even because i replaced the silver case with an all-black matt one off ebay and the leds on teh screen with blue ones - but because it was great being able to flip it open with your little finger while you brought the phone up to your ear, and making a bedee beddee noise like from StarTrek :)
