Sony Ericsson W800
Encyclopedia
The W800 Walkman
Walkman
Walkman is a Sony brand tradename originally used for portable audio cassette, and now used to market Sony's portable audio and video players as well as a line of Sony Ericsson mobile phones...

, released in 2005 (2 August 2005 in the UK), was the first Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....

 phone to use the Walkman brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

. The phone features Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...

 v1.2 (with full Bluetooth 2.0 compliance), Infrared and USB connectivity.

It is very similar to the Sony Ericsson K750
Sony Ericsson K750
The Sony Ericsson K750, introduced in June 2005, was a high-end mobile phone, the successor to the now discontinued K700, and which was succeeded by the K800i in Q2 2006.Before official release, K750 was known by its codename Clara....

 but differs with regards to its media playback software and its cosmetic design changes. The major differences to the K750 are the included 512 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...

 Memory Stick
Memory Stick
Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998, and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks...

 PRO Duo, the introduction of the Flight mode function where all radio signals are switched off, and the stereo portable handsfree headset Sony Ericsson HPM-70, which features a 3.5 mm headphone jack, allowing the included headphones to be swapped for any other pair of headphones which has a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The Motorola ROKR E1 iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

-enabled mobile phone, its successor the Motorola ROKR E2, the Nokia N91
Nokia N91
The Nokia N91 is a mobile phone that was released to the public in April of 2006. It is part of the Nokia Nseries range of mobile phones. At the time of release, it was the most advanced music phone ever launched by nokia. N91 also won the 'Most Innovative Product' award in recognition of its true...

, the Nokia 3250
Nokia 3250
The Nokia 3250 is a cellular phone which features a unique 'twist' design that transforms the traditional phone keypad into a camera and dedicated music control keys . It can store up to 2 gigabytes of music and other data thanks to a microSD memory card slot, and features a two-megapixel camera...

, and the Samsung SGH-i300
Samsung SGH-i300
The Samsung SGH-i300 was the world's first smartphone with an embedded hard disk, and was developed and manufactured by Samsung Electronics. Announced and launched in 2005, it was also Samsung's first Windows Mobile smartphone to be launched in the European Union.-Specifications:* Windows Mobile...

 and its successor the Samsung SGH-i310 are its main competitors. The Sony Ericsson W800 was replaced by the Sony Ericsson W700 in April 2006 replacing the size of the memory stick with a 256 MB and eliminating the camera's autofocus function thus reducing the cost of the handset. Also, it is available in a different case colour option called Titanium Gold, in addition to the W800's Smooth White (burnt orange and cream). http://www.mobilegazette.com/sony-ericsson-w700i-0604x04.htm

The W810 proceeded after the W800. The Sony Ericsson W700 comes included with a 256 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...

 Memory Stick
Memory Stick
Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998, and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks...

 Pro Duo instead of 512 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...

.

The W800 officially supports external memory capacity of only 2 GB, while its successor the W810 supports 4GB. The key feature of this cellphone is the 2 megapixel camera with Autofocus, video recording function, and flash. The phone is also MP3 and AAC compatible and has up to 30 hour
Hour
The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds...

s playback time in Music mode. The standby and talktime the battery can support is 400 hours and 9 hours respectively.

Criticisms

Whilst being a highly capable phone, it does suffer from some of the flaws that the K750 does. The primary concern is that of the joystick. This has long been a contentious issue with some reviewers finding it hard to use and highly susceptible to damage over time, in as much as it will cease to function (however, the W810i resolves this issue). The other is that the construction quality, whilst physically solid, is prone to creaking and wear over time. The screen, again whilst of a good out of the box quality, is prone to fingerprints and scratching owing to the fact it is mounted flush within the phone, meaning if left to rest face down damage can occur. The dust gets trapped inside the screen easily and reduces visibility of the display. However these factors have not stopped it becoming highly popular. Also the phone has been found to randomly restart and turn off, especially while coming out of the clock on sleep mode.

Some users experience a high level of background hiss and quantization noise when using the Walkman feature at low volume levels, a problem that first appeared in a firmware update. No official fix is planned, though end users have provided solutions that can be applied by directly accessing the phone's filesystem. http://developer.sonyericsson.com/thread.jspa?threadID=28298 http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?forum=17&topic=123932 http://www.expansys.com/forumthread.asp?code=125173&thread=719.

Fake W800

A fake W800 has been released in China under the name of Music Mobile W800c.
It is similar in design to the SE W800 but is slightly taller. The Walkman logo on the bottom of the phone is flipped horizontally, 'Sony Ericsson' at the top of the phone is replaced by 'music mobile', the 'Walkman' on the side is replaced by 'Musicvideo'.
The fake phone has a 1.3 MP camera, FM radio and uses MicroSD cards.
The phones software also copies some elements of the SE W800, the default wallpaper is the default Walkman image, the main menu uses Sony Ericsson icons (Walkman, PlayNow, Contacts etc.).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK