Sony Ericsson W51S

Sony Ericsson W51S cell phone review

Living in Japan, the need for a cell phone quickly becomes apparent. During the job search process, the inability to quickly communicate with recruiters and employers is an enormous handicap. As a stopgap measure, I temporarily used Skype as my primary method of communication; but that was a poor substitute for an actual cell phone. I then decided to sign up for a cell phone with AU by KDD, one of Japan’s primary cell phone service providers.

A lack of knowledge with regards to the features and services offered by cell phones in Japan made the availability of English language menus my primary criteria in choosing hardware. Out of the few cell phones that offered this feature, the Sony Ericsson W51S fit the bill.

The W51S has a very simple and slim design that allows for easy use of its various features. The black version of this phone has a metallic finish that is very resistant to fingerprints and scratches (unlike my iPod). On the outside top half of the closed clamshell, there is a mesh-like finish that covers the entire top. Unlike other cell phones there is no digital display or screen on the top half.

When receiving a call, an email, or setting the alarm an otherwise invisible phone, mail, or alarm symbol appears on the outer casing. The bottom edge of the closed clamshell also flashes white.
On the outside bottom half of the closed clamshell there is a small digital display that shows information such as the time, date, battery life and caller id.

The lens for the 2 Megapixel CMOS camera is also found on the bottom half along with the housing for the Lithium ion battery. On one side of the closed clamshell are the plug in for the remote control earphones, the camera mode button, the display light button, and the housing for the Memory Stick Pro Duo Card. The phone comes with 120 megabytes of on-board memory.

Being a Sony product the phone uses Pro Duo memory sticks as opposed to the more popular SD memory. I picked up a 2 gigabyte card in Akihabara for roughly 5000 yen ($40) at the same time I saw a 2 gigabyte SD memory card for about 3000 yen ($25).

Also found on the side of the phone is an “EZ FeliCa” button which allows for the purchase of goods and service using the phone. On the other side of the closed clam shell is the USB plug in for connecting the device to the PC.

The phone comes with a large 2.7-inch screen with a 16:9 widescreen display. It measures 105 × 48 × 19.3 mm and has an official talk time of 210 minutes and standby time of 270 hours (the phone lasts about 6 to 7 days on standby, but if used as a music player all day battery life shrinks to a day). Typical of most cell phones today, the W51S has a small notch on the top corner that allows you to attach cute Hello Kitty-like accessories on your phone. (I see many Japanese do this and in some cases the accessories are larger than the phone.)

This phone comes with a battery charging dock and earphones with remote control.
Interestingly though, with AU by KDDI, the actual AC Adapter charger does not come with the phone – you are forced to purchase it separately for 1000 yen ($8). This may be an example of the “nickel and dimeing” that can happen in Japan.

I’ve found the service plans offered by AU by KDDI are more complex and more expensive than my previous phone contract in Canada. By signing on for a two-year contract, I did receive the phone for free, and similar to Canada, there is a penalty for cancelling the contract prematurely. Monthly prices vary depending on whether you are a first time customer or if you’ve been a customer for 11 months or longer.

The usage of minutes and the usage of packets (Internet based services) is separated clearly. For 3000 yen ($25) per month, I receive only 60 minutes of free talk time – but thankfully, the minutes that were not used in the last month are added on to this month’s total.

The high cost of calling appears to be a factor that forces most Japanese to text message or email as opposed to actually calling. To use email and other Internet based services there is a 300 yen ($2.45) default charge and most users sign on to a packet cost reduction service that costs 1050 yen ($8.59). With this service, the first 12,500 packets are free and additional packets used are at a reduced cost. If all you use is email, then 12,500 should be enough; but it is very easy to use up tens of thousands of packets instantly. I downloaded Final Fantasy II for my cell phone and visited a few websites, and these activities shot my packet use into the 40000 range instantly contributing to my 7000 yen cell phone bill.

I’ve used this phone as a music player, to send emails, to take pictures and to play a little Final Fantasy II (as a side note, I later discovered that FF II requires a monthly 525 yen ($4.29) fee, which I recently cancelled). I also visited a few websites to look at maps of places I wanted to go to. Websites look distorted on the phone but not completely unusable. As a music player, this phone performs very well combined with the remote control earphone accessory. Loading music on to the phone is done using an iTunes-like software called au MusicPort. Sadly, the software is not as user friendly as iTunes and is quite cumbersome to use. The biggest negative I’ve found is MusicPort only allows the use of m4a, wma, and wav files. MP3 files cannot be used, forcing you to convert your existing MP3 music collection. As a music player, the phone performs like a typical MP3 player with a standard set of features.

Sending emails can be done in English or Japanese. but the features for Japanese are naturally far more developed. In Japanese, by just typing a few letters, words and phrases you are likely to use instantly pop up. No such feature exists for English.

For photos, the camera allows you to take pictures with a resolution from 240x320 all the way up to 1600x1200. There is a loud shutter sound that goes off when taking a picture that it appears I cannot turn off (which I’ve been told is a feature to discourage men from taking ‘secret shots’ of unsuspecting women).

Getting a cell phone was a unique experience in my first couple months of officially living in Japan. Compared to cell phones in North America, the products and services available to the Japanese are far superior. I suppose that is one advantage of having a massive population on a small landmass – it is easier for cell carriers to rapidly implement infrastructure improvements and new technologies.