Unboxing: Sony Ericsson W880i
Sony’s latest Walkman phone takes a different route from their past lineup with the W880i focusing mainly on size, without losing features. I really didn’t expect this phone to be so thin, it’s quite astonishing. The specs are unbelievable which include: 3G (2100 band only), a 2 mega-pixel camera with front-facing video calling camera, good speakers, expandable memory, and a boatload of good software. The camera isn’t the best but gets the job done, and the speakers are loud and put out decent sound. One problem is there isn’t too much low end even with the "Mega Bass" equalizer option turned on but, what can you expect from a device of this size. Now for the most important part, the buttons and keypad. After all, what good is a phone when you can’t dial a telephone number? That’s not really the case here. The buttons and keyboard are no doubt small, in fact the smallest i’ve seen, but they are actually pretty usable. You wouldn’t want to write long emails and messages here but it gets you by. Nice OS features include a built-in RSS reader, good web browser, a pretty good selection of themes, and of course Sony’s Walkman software. Call quality was good, and earpiece volume was good too. All in all, not bad a bad experience. Oh, I never want to see a 3G phone that’s more than double this size ever again. There is no excuse anymore to have such thick phones that countless manufacturers still spit out. HTC, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Siemens, LG, BenQ, TORQ, Pharos, you all listening? Click on for more unboxing and comparison shots!
i’m in singapore too.. but my w880i is in perfect condition. no such problem with the signals as described above.. of course can’t get enough signals in some “elevators”. may be some batch of phones is faulty, somehow.
Proud Owner for 3 days and I love it, I’m not into a phone being all the gadgets it has to be these days but this one pulls the balance off. I can;t wait to see whats available next year for my upgrade…
Help! anyone know have you can receive text mesgs without other people seeing them ? when you receive a mesg it show what its saying not very private any clues please
Guys, I have the w880i with T-Mobile USA. Reception is pretty bad. I have to switch sim cards to use my other Nokia to get signal…
hi guyz, jst got my mobile phone back after ‘repairs’ for the reception problem… apparently one possible cause for the lack of reception is whether u’ve mistakenly configured ur phone to use 3g settings when ur sim card is 2g and vice versa… thats wat happened with mine and i think the problem is now resolved… hope that helps??
great phone otherwise… still havin a couple of problems with the small keys, but getting used them so thats great !
problem with the signals yes its got problems with reception
i love the phone im SW fan but since i got this one most of the time im out of Reach
im living in Tripoli Libya
sighz, i’m still having problems with reception and signal and its really annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have the 880 (australia) and use with a mac.
however i cannot isync with ical. looking to isync actiontastic with ical then ical to 880.
any advise would be appreciated
Just wondering how the signal reception is in australia?
Any feedback would be great, as this phone sounds ideal
signal reception is also dependent on network
Size, weight and sharp screen are key selling points for this phone. However, after having the phone for a couple of weeks I find myself getting annoyed with the keypad when texting. The keys are too close together and small. Had further problem when I synchronised the phone with my email, as it greatly reduced the processing speed. Would give it 6.5 out of ten overall.
i got this w880i on 05.05.07, c/w a bluetooth handfree. great slim phone, make me fall in love with s.e. again. it will be perfect if the phone c/w with fm, plus the walkman shortcut button and the volumn button are made by the the keypad material (is metal, i think) insteads of the normal plastic material. onr thing, my 880i is frame black version, i noticed that the back (the orange side) is getting darker everyday.
signal reception problems – check (1) to make sure ur settings are correct ; and (ii) that ur’e using a 3G sim card… my problems seem to be fixed pretty much now that i’m using a 3G sim card – dunno why it took my so long to figure that one out!
This phone is very sexy and cool
Hi,
I have a problem with my w880i. There is a red phone symbol with a bouncing arrow on the top left corner of my phone. Does anyone know what is that mean?
The size, weight and display quality of this phone more than makes up for the slightly tricky keypad. The key action is very tactile, in any case, so you can get used to it. I’ve had mine for 4 weeks and have nothing but praise – and I am a cynical old IT guy.
I am trying to get the phone to act as a modem for my Linux (ubuntu 6.06) laptop using the cdc_ether module and the USB cable (as usb0). Has anyone else tried doing this and got it to work (I’m in the UK and on the Orange network)?
I can bring the interface up using a static IP address assignment (from ifconfig) but then the phone can’t get to the internet at all. It works again if I bring the interface down..! Maybe I should be using inet dhcp but I haven’t yet found how to configure this. Any ideas…?
Hi All
Just got this phone yesterday – coming from a long line of Nokia’s with big keypads i was concerned that the small buttons would be a problem. Initially they were, but after a few texts you get the hang of it, and im now able to pump out texts at a good rate.
Music player is great – good functionality and easy to transfer files.
One question i have: I am in Australia and i bought this phone on the Optus network.
The top right “select” button (Number 10 in the user manual) is a default link to Optus Zoo. Does anyone know how i can customize the function of this button?
I’ve sorted all the shortcuts – now i just need to get rid of this corporate branding trash!
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
i do not suggest to get this phone.
ive got one 2months ago and it turns off by it self if u put it in ur poket so dont bother buy it.
it its turns off by itself, there must be sumthin wrong with it… take it in to get it checked out – its a great phone!
Ive ordered it on the internet yesterday and i just realised that its not compatible with Windows Vista which i have… Is there any way you can still get songs onto it. Maybe through windows media player and sync? thanks
Yea im in the UK and ordered it on vodafone
Hey.
I got my 880i 2 days ago. Love it, but I can’t figure out the volume button… HELP! When I press it it just re-starts the song that is playing…
Anyone got any tips for turning up the volume!??
Ty.
if you want to increase the volume you need to press the button gently if you press it and hold it then it would change the song you are playing but if you just press it and release it quickly.. that’s it.
Thanks Tej ! X
I’ve now had this phone for a couple of days and going back to the Motorola V3 makes it look real clunky – and we thought that was great when it first came out.
The buttons are fine – and I have large hands – the screen is excellent and it’s good to be back to the Sony Ericsson way of doing things after the usability hell of the Motorola.
Recommended phone, I bought mine in silver/black.