At this point in time, most mobile phone enthusiasts are fully aware of Sony Ericsson's Walkman line of music phones. You might even say that the company is known for them by now. What they have never been known for, however, is thin phones. Ever since the launch of the Motorola RAZR that seems like so many years ago, many of the manufacturers - particularly Samsung - have been racing to produce thin handsets. Sony Ericsson just kept chugging along putting out solid, and well tested, designs.
Flash forward to CES 2007, when the company showed the first photos of the W880, the subject of our review. It was a solid change of direction for Sony Ericsson. Sporting a bold, sexy, and, for the first time, thin design, it appears that Sony Ericsson W880 is finally ready to move the company into the thin-is-in game.
MobileBurn would like to take this opportunity to thank MobileCityOnline.com for supplying us with the W880 used in this review. Physical Aspects
At roughly 9.5mm (.4") thick, the first thing you notice about the W880's compact body is how thin it is - especially for a phone from Sony Ericsson, who is quite new to the thin game. Its 103mm x 47mm (4.1" x 1.9") body is clad on the front with a semi-gloss black finish and a grippy soft-touch orange coating on the back (a silver version is also available). The fixed-focus 2 megapixel camera's lens is located on the back of the W880, while the front plays host to the forward facing low-resolution camera used for 3G video calls. While most aspects of the W880 feel quite compact, nowhere is this more the case than on the front of the device. The 1.8" diagonal display might be small by most people's standards, but the d-pad and keypad keys are downright tiny.
Somewhat ironically, the very small size of the controls account for my largest complaint with the device. From a usability standpoint, the W880 is very difficult to use for people with either large hands and fingers, like me, or long fingernails (not like me). The d-pad's small upward protruding top and bottom edges help some of the time, but still leave me wanting for more room in general. The two softkeys and the dedicated web, shortcuts, back, and C (clear) key are also very small. Small as they might be, they are still significantly larger than the tiny metallic orange keypad keys. Visually these keys make for a striking design, but from a practical viewpoint they are inconvenient at best. For women with long'ish nails, the keypad could well prove itself unusable without relying on some finger gymnastics. No question about it, the Sony Ericsson W880 is a device that the potential buyer really needs to test out before making a purchase.
As one might expect of a phone with such small dimensions, the W880's display is also a bit lacking in size. The 1.8" transflective TFT display is very bright and sharp and can display up to 262k colors on its 240x320 pixel screen, but it also a bit cramped. This isn't a display that people with sub-average eyesight are going to appreciate, though I expect it will suit its target demographic of on-the-go music lovers pretty well.
Though small, everything about the W880 feels very solidly built, with the possible exception of the spring loaded volume control that is located near the top of the right side. Also on the right, near the bottom of the phone, lies a dedicated camera button that is a bit difficult to use due to its narrow profile and countersunk position. A similarly styled Walkman button is located on the upper left hand edge of the device. The countersunk design of the Walkman button is not a particular problem in this case since the user can look at the button when it needs to be pressed, which is not typically the case with a camera shutter button. The two other features on the left edge of the phone are the Memory Stick Micro card slot and the unusually positioned Fast Port connector that is used for wired headsets, charging, and USB connections.
Missing from the W880 is a dedicated power key, something that Sony Ericsson had been including on most of its recent designs. That oversight, while unfortunate, probably isn't going to turn away any potential buyers the way that the cramped ergonomics of the device as a whole might. At a mere 71g (2.5oz) in weight and roughly the same size as an iPod Nano, I can see how Sony Ericsson had some engineering issues to deal with in designing the W880. I just feel that too many sacrifices were made to keep the device small and light.
