Sony Ericsson W300i music phone reviewed

The W300i may not be the most fascinating phone out there, but golly, it's good to see a midrange flip once in a while coming from someone besides Samsung and LG. The music-oriented W300i earned a 7.6 on CNET's 10-scale, earning praise for its "remarkable" call quality but getting knocked for its tricky button placement, lackluster VGA cam, flimsy feel (attributed to the phone's feather-like 3.3oz), and tendency to freeze for a few seconds on occasion. In our opinion, the dismal 20MB of internal storage doesn't really jive with its Walkman branding -- thankfully, the Memory Stick Micro slot is there to bail you out. No word on any US carriers picking the W300i up, but it's rockin' quadband GSM plus EDGE, so feel free to buy your own if you can stomach the $299 Sony Ericsson is asking.

[Thanks, Jen B.]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 19th 2006 1:36PM]

Unicel (rural area service provider) is selling the W300i for $199 with contract. Not bad for little carrier...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 19th 2006 2:48PM]

The phone will come with a 256MB M2 card, the Z300 model (non-walkman) is similar but w/o the card or headphones

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 19th 2006 3:52PM]

Sorry, it's the W600 not the W300...

[DonaldMick Posted Jul 19th 2006 4:08PM]

Two things:

1) "In our opinion, the dismal 20MB of internal storage doesn't really jive with its Walkman branding -- thankfully, the Memory Stick Micro slot is there to bail you out"
--- The w810 has the same 20mb internal, and I haven't heard any complaints about it. Although the lack of a high capacity (2 gb+) memory card in the w300 has me shying away for now.

2) It's already up for pre-order in Canada. $289 out the door, $199 w/$50 MIR on a 2yr, and if you sell your soul to Rogers for 3 years you can get it for $100. And they're throwing in a 512mb Micro + card adapter and everything else you need to rock out with it as an mp3 player.

[codelicoius Posted Jul 19th 2006 4:26PM]

Cingular will have this one up for sale shortly. The phone is really light; has pretty good software, including FM radio. Duel-display. But the camera quality is pretty bad, and the battery cover is REALLY HARD to open. It's made by cheap plastic I can tell ;) but overall very nice phone for mid-range price, and the design is elegant in a way.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 19th 2006 5:54PM]

I checked out the product info for upcoming phones at work (cingular) today. The w300i shows as coming soon. no release date listed yet or price though. It also showed the w810i as well.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 19th 2006 6:01PM]

I am using one. Although it was a prototype when I got it, it has never frozen. As someone who has been spoiled on the best SEM has to offer, I can say I was pleasantly surprised by how nice this phone is. You won´t be disappointed.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 19th 2006 6:52PM]

Suncom (a service provider in NC and SC) is also selling the phone for 199 with a 1yr contract and 99 for a 2yr contract.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 19th 2006 11:40PM]

So does this mean that the w600 is on the way out? Anybody?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 20th 2006 8:38AM]

sonofnone said:So does this mean that the w600 is on the way out? Anybody?

Well, Sony Ericsson is very well know to annonce cellphones a century before to launch them on the market.... We are still waiting for the P990i

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 20th 2006 6:00PM]

sony-ericsson's been dropping a lot of walkman phones (flip, twist, and candybars) lately. are they trying to create a pretense that their phones are sporty? i mean, they're doing a good job trying to get us to think that, but the truth is, most walkman phones feel very flimsy and cheap, this one being no exception.
i understand that appearance is a major factor, but c'mon, i'd rather have an ugly, durable phone (read: nextel) than this thing, which is sleek, but flimsy (read: cheapo).