Sample provided by: Multimedia shop, Vienna
Sony Ericsson is the only real competitor to Nokia. Motorola can bring out a nice device now and again and Samsung is still in the fight, but Sony Ericsson remains the top multimedia phone manufacturer. Multimedia brings sound, video and pictures together and this is exactly what the W880i is all about.
This is the thinnest Sony Ericsson mobile phone ever and it looks really cool. It uses a Sony M2 memory card, which is one of the smallest memory cards you can get. The One edition comes with a 1 GB card and in a retail store a 2 GB card costs about €40. 2 GB is a lot of music, but so far there are no 4GB cards available.
The first impression is that the phone is really thin and I believe that it is the thinnest phone I have ever had the chance to test. You need to open the phone to fit the SIM card and the battery. This is when you get disappointed, as your sexy phone has a plastic back cover. We expected magnesium alloy or something similar, but this is not too big of a deal.
The M2 card is inserted at the side of the handset and it can be removed while the phone is being used. The phone features USB connectivity via the Sony Ericsson data cable, so you will be able to easily transfer photos and music to and from the phone.
The Sony Ericsson W880i box includes
The W880i phone
Headset with a 3.5 mm headphone adapter
USB cable
1GB Sony Memory Stick Micro M2 card
Charger
User Guide
CD with a software
The phone weights a mere 73g and that is with the memory card istalled. The size of this candy bar phone is 103x47x9.4 mm (HxWxD).
The first thing you notice after having powered on the W880i is that the display is excellent. It is one of the best we've seen and the icons look great on it. Pictures also look great and we have no complaints about the display at all. The 262.144 colour, 240x320 Pixel resolution, 1.8 inch screen is utterly superb in every way.
The keyboard is the trouble spot. The metal keys are too small even for a ladies fingers and they are way too small for my fingers. The metal keys are definetley not comfortable for typing long messages. In SMS mode T9 is automatically enabled and on our test phone we could chose between German, English or Turkish T9. If you use any other language you will have to turn this option off.
Once you turn on the W880i it asks you if you want to enable flight mode or simply switch it on in phone mode. Once you've switched it on, you will be asked if you need a Wizard to help you out. The wizard helps you to set the time and date, as well as explaining to you how the W880i works. It will tell you what the back and C button are used for.
The 3D icons on the main menu are animated and they look quite cute. The menu is similar to that of previous models of Sony Ericsson phones and if you owned a SE phone, you'll get to grips with the W880i in no time at all.