Most of you have already realized that the the first Walkman branded Sony Ericsson is very much like a K750i with different design and a few improvements in the music player area. For this reason I also recommend reading my K750i Preview, since I won’t repeat all the stuff they have in common here. The ability to listen to your MP3 while the phone is switched off is not only convenient but it also boosts the continuous playback battery life from 15 to 30 hours, more than any other MP3 enabled mobile phone and better than many standard MP3 players. However, despite our fair expectations, there’s something the W800 lacks to be a notable music device.

Continue reading W800 preview [click on photos for high-res versions]

When I first heard the Walkman news a couple of months ago I immediately imagined a phone with “play, stop, next, previous” specific buttons in the outside. I assume you don’t need to be told why they are so important in a device that pretends to be an MP3 player. It’s so OBVIOUS I can’t believe Sony Ericsson didn’t work it out. Even some unknown company just put them in a Windows Mobile powered smartphone. The W800 does have a “play/pause” button in the upper left side but the K750 also has one. The shortcut to the music player above the joystick (which opens the custom shortcuts menu in the K750) doesn’t make a difference either.

It impressed me that with the K750i being the “imaging” phone and the W800i the “music” one, the camera side of the latter looks more real than the odd design of the back of the K750i. I do like the back of the W800, it shows off an informal style that matches the overall design while not looking cheap at all. The bad part is that the lens cover feels very fragile. An horizontal slider moves the little lens placed 3cm away vertically. Not a system as reliable as the simple sliding cover of the K75oi; one of the prototypes I used was already loose.

Getting back to what makes this phone a sort of Walkman, I’d say it’s not so much the features but the marketing approach. Firstly, they are going to sell the W800 in places near the common Walkmans and MP3 players. Secondly the packaging isn’t a green and white box with a printed photograph anymore, but an attractive translucid cylinder showing the actual phone. SE calls this “buy on an impulse� and I also see it as a key sales booster. But the added value comes with the included accesories. As far as i know, no other mobile phone in the world comes with a 512mb memory card, nor even 256mb. Also, few people using phones with memory expansion slots actually buy extra memory cards. The 0′5Gb Memory Stick Duo Pro (SanDisk branded) and the high quality stereo handsfree headphones ensure real musical joy straight out of the box. The optional RCA line-out cable enabling the connection to a Hi-Fi system may be useful to some too, although it should work with the K750 too.

The screen, as I mentioned in the K750i Preview, is just a little bit larger than the K700 one but considerably smaller than the Z/V800. The most notable improvement I could see was the higher contrast and the overall enhanced speed of all menus and actions, including the viewfinder in camera mode.

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