Mar 05, 2006, 10:25am

I bought a new cell phone recently. The Sony Ericsson W800i.

State of the art in so many ways. I really do like this phone, and am just discovering how much it's going to be my "daily companion".

I wanted to make this post first to talk about the things I wish were different / changed / available on the phone, but that would give the impression I'm not happy with it, or am just a whiner. So I'm going to start off with all that is cool about this phone.

The cool stuff

- First, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.0 support. Very impressive.
- Kinda, sorta drive mountable on any Windows XP pc. But you need drivers first. Then you can surf the memory card as if it were any drive.
- 2 mpixel, autofocus camera with macro mode. Surprisingly little chromatic problems (that purple fringing); a bit too muddy an image for any kind of "pro" use, but quality and focus ability not yet seen on any other phone - the Nokia N90 included with it's crappy Zeiss lens.
- tuned for quality music playback. The audiophiles chime in that this has better music reproduction than the fanboy's favourite, the iPod
- great 'phones - the included headphones rawk.
- tight, tiny package
- awesome RF ability. My previous phone, the SE P900, would get 2 or 3 bars in my kitchen. The 800i gets 5, and the sound quality is awesome
 Games. One of the fastest Java midlet playing devices available today.
- Built in light. Makes a huge difference in candid snaps.
- Supports mp3. Big deal for Sony, mr. proprietary formate lover you.
- Walkman app built in is awesome. Great controls.

And a surprise....

I had no clue, but this thing becomes a feature rich wireless presenter device, seamlessly interfacing with Powerpoint via bluetooth. Kitchycool! I give a few presentations here and there, and have always been tied to the notebook. No longer!

And now, what I'd like to see on this wonder device

Okay, so that's out of the way. This is an awesome, state of the art, trend setting phone. What the iTunes phone should have been. But, there's lots I would like to see on this phone as well. If Sony Ericsson ever listens to their customers, here goes.

- wma support. Come on Sony.
- .ogg support. Pipedream, I know, but my car audio device (Phatnoise) supports it. Come on Sony!
- better calendar / tasks / projects apps. Okay, it doesn't have projects now, and the calendar app is anemic. I guess coming from the P900, I would think that...
- no calling card ability. My P900 and P800 had it. Come on Sony!
- Wifi. 'nuff said.
- Skype mode. Woot. With wifi, it would be awesome if there was a skype client on this phone to use it outside the cellphone grid.
- memory sticks? Sigh. I guess no chance there.
- separate 3.5mm jack for headphones ./ handsfree. It is a pain to have to choose between charging and listening to music / fm radio
- stupid shutter noise for the camera is too loud. I don't necessarily want silent, but I do want quieter.
- 3mpixel plus optical zoom.
- true sony "nightshot" ability (you know, those grainy green and black photos!)
- ability to play videos outside the QIC standard (ie, 172x120). The screen is ALMOST good enough to catch your fave sitcoms. At something like 160x220 pixels, it would work. Unfortunately, the phone doesn't support vids anywhere near this size.
- better choices on jpeg compression. Even the "fine" setting isn't good enough. 500kb for a 2.1mpixel image? No way.
- Support for Symbian S60 or better operating system. I want my .sis files.
- ability to change font display sizes. I think the default (and only) font is too big. This is a high res, small screen. Why display only about 10 characters across when you don't have to.

Still. Awesome phone. Most of what I ask for above, Sony would never deliver. Ericsson might though.

2 comments | reply

Mixelania

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