Sony Ericsson W600i

Technological trends continue to astound us by cramming ever-increasing features set into ever-shrinking packages. While 2004 was the year of the camera phone, 2005 has proven to be the year of the music phone. Evidence? The Motorola ROKR, the LG CE500, and the Samsung SCH-A950. It’s just fitting that Sony Ericsson would join, nay, crash the party with a music phone of their own. Hence, here is a look at their latest bad boy, the W600i.

What’s in the Box

Sony Ericsson W600i unit
Li-Ion battery
Battery charger
Stereo headset
Spare faceplate covers
User manual
Applications CD-ROM
USB cable

Test Drive

The test unit is a very sleek-looking white (dubbed as Orchid White), with clean and smooth lines. The W600i comes in three colors: Universe Blue, Orchid White, and Vibrant Orange. Considering the phone’s feature set and the fact that it is one of the earliest generations of music phones, the W600i is considerably bulky. The 360° swivel form factor helps to offset some of the bulkiness by neatly hiding the keypad. Speaking of the keypad, it is neither the best designed nor the most comfy. The navigation buttons are inconveniently placed on the screen half of the swivel, disrupting one-handed typing.

The W600i’s 176 x 220 pixel screen is easy on the eyes, and its 256k color capability (262,144 displayable colors) makes for a very colorful experience. The graphical icons used by the W600i are similar to those used in other Sony Ericsson models, but on the W600i the icon animation and menu scrolling feels much snappier. The icon menus may trouble users of other mobile phone brands for a while, but long-time Sony Ericsson users will feel right at home. The 1.3-megapixel camera, however, gives somewhat mixed results. The color quality of pictures in general is excellent. The camera supports the usual resolutions: 160x120, 640x480, and 1280x1024. At the highest resolution of 1280x1024, some fuzziness is apparent in the images since interpolation is being used. Images taken at that resolution are not guaranteed to be really high quality.

The W600i’s camera also has a night mode for shooting pictures in the dark, a 10 second self-timer, built-in flash, white balancing, digital zoom, and four shutter sounds. It could record videos at 176x144 and 128x96 resolutions. The night mode is useful for shooting in low-light conditions, but a strange quirk of the camera is that the shutter would close too slowly in areas with less than adequate lighting, resulting in blurry images all the time when used in such conditions.

Of course, the main selling point of a music phone would have to be, without a doubt, its music playing capabilities. The W600i is equipped with a music player that supports MP3 and Apple’s AAC formats. An FM-tuner also comes standard.

A nifty feature of the Sony Ericsson W600i is that it correctly reads the ID3 tags of MP3 files uploaded to the phone, and, just like a dedicated MP3 player, it is able to sort files by artist or title and even allows the user to create playlists. Audio quality is excellent, and a 5-band software graphic equalizer allows further tweaking to get a V-shape EQ that is optimal for music playback. The equalizer also features Sony’s proprietary Mega Bass enhancement feature, for really emphasized and booming bass. Another excellent feature of the W600i is the dedicated Walkman-style controls on the sides of the phone, just like a real music player. With other phones that do not have dedicated music controls, it would be necessary to dig through menus to find the music player program and control the playback from there. With the W600i however, it is not necessary to stop whatever one is doing just to find the music software; just push the controls on the phone. The current program stays put, uninterrupted.

The W600i comes with a set of in-ear stereo phones. Unlike other bundled earphones, the ones that come with the W600i are a total delight to use. They sound full and rounded, not thin and weak, and have a really punchy bass response to them that makes Mega Bass actually useful in such an application. One small issue is the poor placement of the earphone jack on the phone.

For all its audio playing goodness, the W600i just does not come with enough storage space to make on-the-go listeners really happy. The W600i comes with a paltry 256 megabytes of storage, only half of what comes with other brands’ music phones. To make things worse, the W600i does not have any external memory slots, so expansion is out of the question.

Another gripe is that voice quality of the W600i is sub par. Incoming sound is fuzzy, and the speaker’s voice on the other end always has a nasal quality about it. Voice reception is adequately loud, though, and the outgoing sound is sufficiently clear.

Other features of the W600i include the ability to play 3D games, three GSM bands, Bluetooth capability, real-world talk and standby times of 4 and 7 hours, respectively, and a light weight of 4.2 ounces, as well as other features common to most recent camera phones.

Final Verdict

The Sony Ericsson W600i, one of the Walkman-branded W series of phones, offers great mobile music features and playback with acceptable voice quality, good selection of mobile applications and games, excellently colored photos, and useful battery life, all in a hip, fun, and lightweight package. The phone’s shortcomings should not dampen one’s enthusiasm severely, but those seeking larger music storage and expandability may want to look elsewhere.

Our Sponsors

More Mobiles Phones Gadgets

Nokia N93
Featuring: film in a flicker. Trust Nokia to reduce the massive Hollywood sets into a size fit to the palm of your hands. Now showing, Nokia N93, the ultimate mobile phone for spontaneous and sophisticated video recording...

BlackBerry 7100
The Blackberry 7100 series of smartphones has a more phone-like form complete with their new 20-key QWERTY keypads. With these features and more, the Blackberries are now too much of a temptation even for the most adamant to stick to their mobile phones especially those who blacklisted the Blackberry because it was too boxy for a cellular-wireless handheld to their face...

Motorola RAZR V3x
This Razr is one killer, ranking at the top of the 10 sexiest gadgets this world has ever laid eyes on. This Motorola RAZR V3x had recently won the Best 3GSM Handset 2006 Award at the 3GSM World Congress just this year. Truly, it was aimed at melting the hearts of people who would easily fall over a gadget oozing with fashion and features. People like me, which is why I am so crazily into this Motorola RAZR V3x most especially with its disco flair that comes in a to-die-for hot pink version. You’ll surely heat up the streets if you’re taking this killer along in one of those hot party nights. If not, you’ll love just how it looks good just within your touch, sun up or sun down...

Nokia N70
When Nokia produces a brand new phone, even if it’s is just an improvement, a little tweak here and there, from the previous – the whole world watches. This time, Nokia N70 has the whole world’s attention with its elegant classy look as formed by the stainless steel bezel that surrounds its screen and keypad...

O2 Xda Atom
If you wanna have fun with your, as well as have some envious peeks glance your way, you’ve got to get the new O2 Xda Atom, a certainly eye-catching dandy for a phone. Have it in your repertoire of gadgets and you’ll surely be king of the hill with this one...

PalmOne Treo 650 Palm OS SmartphoneZ
Hear ye, hear ye: the newest and hottest Palm OS Smartphone is now available on the market. Introducing the palmOne Treo 650 Palm OS Smartphone another product of the successful series of Treo 600. This time, this Treo 650 has several key improvements that show vast improvements in technology since the release of its predecessors over a year ago...

Samsung SGH-T809
If looks can kill, the new Samsung SGH-T809 will certainly slay the competition in the market with its sleek new slider look. This maybe the phone that is too sexy for you as its futuristic look will make you look, and feel, like Bond, James Bond...

Siemens M65
When we buy mobile phones, we are always under the impression that these fragile things must be kept well in our pockets, if not in our hands. But the Siemens M65 changed all that being claimed as a mobile "designed for consumers with an active outdoor lifestyle"...

K510i
Finally, the Sony Ericsson has the perfect phone mobile that is both fun and functional. What’s more, it’s a great phone that comes with an equally great price. Get this smart and sleek lightweight mobile (90g) with clean-cut curves available either in Midnight Black or Polished Purple. It also comes with fantastic accessories which prioritize high-caliber cyber shots so you always have a camera close by for your quality photos or video clips with its 1.3-megapixel camera...

W700i
Get a blast with the W700i as you’ll get a new kind of musical spin. The latest in the Sony Ericsson line of Walkman® phones, this one comes with a gigantic room for storage for your favorite music which has the capacity for keep up to 64 of your songs. You can do this through its 256MB Memory Stick™ PRO Duo which is included in the phone kit. And when 64 songs are not enough for a music addict like you, you can go to a higher level of musical experience by using their 4GB Memory Stick™ PRO Duo media which are available in stores worldwide...

W900i
This is the ultimate mobile for music on the move. Introducing the new Ericsson’s group of Walkman music phones member which comes in a 3G-enabled W900i. This time, it has audio quality that surpasses even the most advanced digital music player with its state-of-the-art functions...

K608i
Urban elegance has never been more defined in a mobile than this one. Apparently, Sony Ericsson has been very busy at quickly adopting and evolving some of the best 3G enabled handsets you can find in the urban jungle...

K790i
Really, this is more of a camera than a phone. But then again, you wouldn’t know the difference anyway, because you’ll be much too excited with the features of this uber cool mobile phone...

W810i
The W810i, by virtue of its being Walkman, cam also double up as a stylish music player. A convenient to use Walkman digital music player, it also comes with folders for your artists and playlists. It is not only a digital music player, but also an FM radio, a music management software and a hive of a lot of cool accessories to make listening experience a shoot to the zenith of pleasure. It also comes with a 512 MB Memory Stick PRO™ Duo so that you can store up to 20 full-length audio CDs. For quality listening, meanwhile, you can use their stereo headset...

Z800i
Looks expensive, is expensive, but is certainly worth your every expense. This is the ultimate eye-candy phone, if looks can kill - you’ve got a killer here. Z800i is the ultimate mobile experience as you fix your senses to a feast neatly bundled in one Sony Ericsson. See for yourself, let your touch glide through its gleaming surface and marvel at the design and color brilliance...

Sony Ericsson K750i
Anything you could ever ask from a high-end camera phone, you’ll find them all at the new Sony Ericsson's K750i. But then again, what can you expect from one of the leading brands of mobile phones especially with their successful line of K750 phone series. However, mind you, do not dare mistake this as just another K750; for even as it shares much of its predecessors great qualities, it has better features on its own...

Sony Ericsson W700
Introducing the new Sony Ericsson W700 clad in a chic Titanium Gold design with Sony's superb audio quality along with a 2 megapixel camera. This eye-catching gadget will be available globally on the 2nd quarter of 2006 and by then an elegant white color variant would also be up on some markets. According to MobileWhack, this is the latest Walkman phone with a 2.0 megapixel camera that has been approved by the FCC...

Sony Ericsson W800I
Sony Ericsson is one of the few mobile phone companies with such an impressive pedigree. A merger of two giants: Ericsson, a mobile phone company, and Sony, the consumer electronics giant, Sony Ericsson is poised to take the mobile world by storm with its Walkman-branded line of music phones...