Phones.com » Cell Phones » Review of the Sony Ericsson W810

Small and compact, the phone sits well in the candy bar generation of phones; the phone fits snugly in the palm of a user's hand. 

The whole phone is finished in glossy black, while the buttons are dark gray and smooth rubber. Apart from that, there is a vibrant orange Walkman button, which will be described in greater detail in the Features section. The camera reposes on the back, which has a few stylized graphics as well. The W810 is a good-looking phone, in short.

The Sony Ericsson W810 is definitely no smartphone, but then again, it wasn't meant to be. The phone is intended to make and receive calls, and all other mundane phone-related functions, while also allowing the user to have a smart music player integrated into their boring device. 

When starting up the phone, the user is given a choice of whether to start the entire phone of just the music function. This small option makes a world of difference when traveling on an aircraft for instance. There is also a dedicated Walkman button, unmistakable with its bright orange hue. On the side, there is a play/pause button which will also bring up the music player. The sound quality of course is excellent, hardly surprising considering the manufacturer is Sony. Mp3 and aac support is also excellent. 

Moving on to the camera, which is of 2 megapixels; it probably doesn't yet deserve to be given the Sony benediction of 'Cybershot'. However, there is an accompanying LED flash and autofocus. The camera supports multiple modes, like black/white and sepia. There is a significant absence of colour undertones, retaining the photographs' authentic colours. 

Certain changes have been made from the previous models: firstly, the phone now has the ability to scan the entire device looking for multimedia content. Then there is an added Shortcut button, which was present on normal phones but not on Walkman ones. The main menu has been inspired by PlayStation iconography, cementing the fact that Sony is looking to integrate all its brands. 

The phone supports MMS, GPRS and EDGE too. It also has Bluetooth and and Infrared port on the top of the device. 

All Sony Ericsson phones have a proprietary port that serves many purposes: the device comes packaged with a computer cable, headphones and a charger, all of which plug into this particular port. 

The phone may be compact, but the battery lasts for a solid amount of time; 8.5 hours of talktime and 400 hours on standby. 

The phone is reportedly virtually indestructible, having survived vigorous knocking around and less than gentle treatment. 

While the phone is great, or rather was great when it was first released, buying it now would be fairly useless. Although if the phone is a second-hand one and the price is low, then by all means this phone is a sure winner.