Reviews and tests Sony Ericsson W350i. General characteristics Notebook and organizer
For some reason, the solution demonstrated by SonyEricsson had never occurred to mobile phone manufacturers before. And this move is really very simple, and to some extent it can be said that the model will already enjoy guaranteed demand from a certain target group. SonyEricsson W350i is a flip phone. And it is on this feature of the design that all attention is focused. For a long time this form factor did not enter the market. For some reason, one involuntarily recalls the times when devices with a rotator or sliders began to appear from manufacturers.
But as you understand, a phone with a flip is not a new solution at all. Seeing the SonyEricsson W350i, many people just wanted to buy it because of the flip. It has no innovations. This is all the good old software platform of the past generation A100. Specifications phones are just completely ordinary, and some are even more inherent in budget-class models, if we talk about a 1-megapixel camera. The device is positioned in the SonyEricsson lineup as an inexpensive music solution.
Everything new is well-forgotten old. This proverb can be 100% applied to this phone model. True, SonyEricsson decided to make the phone musical. Here is the use of the Walkman brand, a built-in player, a special headset.
Yes, they also decided to please buyers from Russia with a gift from Jennifer Lopez and MUZ-TV in the form of pictures, songs and what the sticker on the box says. In the first month of sales, the device flashed in popular clips as a "faithful" companion of the stars. But oddly enough, many do not care about these advertising sophistication. People wanted a flip. They got his reincarnation. How successful it was, we will understand in this review.
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Design and features
SonyEricsson W350i won't leave anyone indifferent because of its case. The phone is bright, looks unusual in the window. Probably, we all just lost the habit of flip, which the Japanese-Swedish concern gladly reminded us about. There are four different body colors available on the market, namely Graphic White, Electric Blue, Ice Blue and Hypnotic Black. The latter just got us to the test. This color scheme uses the already classic orange and black tones for the Walkman series. In principle, the color range of phones will satisfy any user. The complete headset is supplied to match the body color. SonyEricsson W350i is more of a thin phone, its dimensions are 104x43x11 mm and weighs 75 grams. In this way it reminds of its older brothers in the line: SonyEricsson W880i and W890i.
The build quality is on the level: the phone is very well knocked down, the gaps are minimal. Housing SonyEricsson W350i is made of high quality plastic. No squeaks are observed, which can not be said about the backlash. Back cover The battery has a vertical stroke of 1 mm, and the horizontal flip deviates by 1-2 mm. We dare to assure you that this is not so scary due to the design features, and does not cause discomfort. Let's leave the flip for dessert.
The front part is made of matte plastic. Judging by the structure, it does not get greasy as quickly, but has a tendency to scuff over time. The keyboard is made of glossy plastic. Divorces quickly appear on it. This is where the shortcomings end. The key travel is pleasant with a characteristic click, and they themselves are of the correct rectangular shape, slightly convex. The keyboard backlight is white and dim - the brightness is often not enough. The brightness adjustment sensor is located under the phone screen. A few words about the navigation key. This is a classic four-way key with a confirmation button in the center, made of corrugated plastic with a silver tint. The same plastic structure is found on the player's control buttons, on the flip. Hole conversational dynamics neatly located under the keyboard in the left corner.
The SonyEricsson W350i display is made using TFT technology with a resolution of 176x220 pixels (diagonal is 1.9 inches, 30x38mm) and displays up to 262 thousand colors. Up to 6 lines of text and up to 3 service lines fit on the screen. By today's standards, the size and screen resolution are not quite enough, but working with the phone is quite convenient. The display fades in the sun, however, it is not difficult to make out the information. Viewing angles are good both vertically and horizontally. The brightness of the display deserves a similar assessment.
On the right side, we have a Walkman button, and a standard Fast Port interface connector is also located here. The front part of the case is separated from the back by an orange strip made of mirror plastic, on which all the control elements of the sides are located. On the other side is the volume rocker.
The bottom end boasts only an unusual rounded shape, while on the top we have a slider button that blocks the controls, and a hole for a neck or arm strap.
The back side has a completely different plastic structure. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Soft Touch coating, slightly rubberized. Because of this, the phone lies well in the hand and is difficult to drop. Here we have a camera eye and a speaker spaced on different sides of the phone. The back cover of the battery has a good fixation, despite a slight backlash. To remove it, you need to apply some force.
The Sony Ericsson W350i comes with a 900 mAh BST-37 battery. The manufacturer's statements give such estimates of the device's operating time: 7 hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby time. Under conditions of coverage of Moscow operators, the device worked for 3-4 days at an average load: half an hour of calls, 20 minutes of games, 1 hour of listening to music. Thus, SonyEricsson W350i shows very good results in terms of time battery life. Charging time is on average 2 - 2.5 hours.
Under the battery cover are slots for a SIM card and a memory card. The phone supports hot swapping of memory cards. It uses standard format for all new SonyEricsson models, namely Memory Stick Micro M2. The kit comes with a card with a capacity of 512 MB, and the built-in memory is about 14 MB. The device easily supports larger cards, and the volume can reach up to 4 GB.
Now it's time to return to the central feature of the SonyEricsson W350i - the flip. From the point of view of mechanics, the flip is made of flexible plastic with an auto-adjustment. On the sides it has such peculiar protrusions, which are more convenient to grab when opening the phone. Open flip one hand can, but with some difficulty, you have to strain your fingers. Much easier to slightly pry it with the other hand. The flip is easy to remove. It is quite difficult to break it without a direct intention, since it is flexible, and if the phone falls open, then most likely the flip will simply fly off the device. How is the functioning of the player keys on the flip and opening / closing? Here we decided to do everything without wires. A special mechanism in one of the arms, when turning, just fixes in what position the flip is now. And the player's keys simply put pressure on the keyboard block, since the inside of the flip is made of a hard lining, which the keys press through. Is this whole structure reliable? Practice will show. It seems to us that if you do not fiddle with the flip in vain, then the phone will quietly serve for more than one year without failing at all, although there are already the first cases of the flip failing to work.
From a functional point of view, a lot is tied to the flip. When the flip is closed, the player (or radio, depending on the application used last, as well as the connected headset) is activated. If the player played music before, then when you open it, it will continue to play it. That is, closing the flip simply takes you to the player's menu, and opening it - to where you left off at the last moment. At first, such lack of freedom seemed illogical. But without opening the flip, you can't control your phone, so there's nothing to worry about. Lock slider locks external buttons phone, when you open the flip - the control of the device is available again. Engineers from SonyEricsson acted very thoughtfully in this regard.
The package bundle of the phone is not bad for its class and includes:
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Call service, phone book
The contact service is an organization already familiar from the old models of SonyEricsson phone book. The search is carried out on the first 10 letters of the contact, and a sequence of letters of choice appears. You can go to the creation of a new contact in the phone book at the beginning of the list, very practical contact tabs with various information are used here. The phone supports 1000 phone book entries and 2500 numbers in total.
You can assign the following information to each entry:
The phone book has a standard set of functions for managing contacts, whether it be: deleting, transferring, changing a name, selecting a group of contacts. SonyEricsson W350i has the ability to create groups of subscribers. You can symbolically assign a name to a group and send SMS, nothing more. Oddly enough, but this is the most weak side phone book.
The contacts book supports the speed dial menu, the choice of memory for saving contacts, and the management of contacts both in the phone's memory and on the SIM card. The phone has a function Reserve copy contacts to a memory card with subsequent recovery, a kind of back up of the phone book. In point special numbers it is supposed to create lists of permitted, yours, service and emergency numbers.
The list of calls is presented in the form of already familiar bookmarks. Calls can be displayed as a general list of all calls, or only incoming, outgoing or missed calls.
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Messages
In the Messages menu, you can create both regular SMS and MMS text messages, messages voicemail, or receive / send E-mail. Web feeds based on RSS bookmarks are also available here. If there are no messages in the folder, the name is displayed in a dark font color.
Text messages are limited to 594 characters for a total of 11 messages. Emoticons are automatically replaced with animated images. To turn on the T9 language, you need to hold down the "asterisk" key. To change the language or input mode - a similar action only with the hash key.
You also have the option to add images, sound effects, animations or ringtones that are available in the phone's memory. Let's not forget to mention the templates, the addition of which is in the corresponding menu item.
Using the MMS standard is no problem. You have access to an area for entering text, and below it is a set of icons for adding various files: pictures, sound, video, a picture from a camera, a voice recorder. The size of the message is limited to 300 Kb. You can create multiple slides.
Setting up the E-mail client is carried out sequentially on one tab. Everything is very simple. Choose a name account and email address, and then specify the login, password, outgoing and incoming mail servers. You will also have to select the connection type (POP3, IMAP4).
The client receives and sends letters with large attachments without any problems. Cyrillic, with the exception of KOI8-R, is displayed correctly. You can create multiple accounts that have advanced customization options.
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Communications
When you connect your phone to a computer using a USB cable, you will be presented with a choice of operating modes: phone (work as a modem) and file transfer (access to the phone and card memory via a standard explorer). The file transfer speed does not exceed 500 Kb/s.
Wireless module installed Bluetooth version 2.0 with EDR support. The module supports working with wireless stereo headphones, it is possible to use the power saving mode, minimize the file receiving window. SonyEricsson W350i supports the following profiles:
The second menu item is the Web browser. The main menu is a SonyEricsson add-on. The first point is a search from Google or an instant transition to the web page you are interested in. Links to entertainment resources of the company are displayed below.
The browser converts pages for vertical viewing into a single page. If this resource has an RSS source, then the corresponding icon appears in the lower left corner, and you can easily add this feed to your list. It also supports full screen mode, display only text, scaling. Images on the web page can be saved, and the address itself can be sent via SMS or using Bluetooth.
IN general settings browser, you can choose to display various information, control cookies and cache memory, select GPRS connections. Page loading is quite fast due to the support of the EDGE standard.
Web feeds is a list of RSS bookmarks where you can set the update interval, delete a bookmark, or create a new source. Detailed information about each bookmark is available in the functions.
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Organizer
There are 5 alarm clocks to choose from. Each can be assigned a time, repeat on certain days, a melody, as well as the name of the alarm clock and a picture. In idle mode, the bottom area of the alarm clock displays a bell image and the ringing time.
The calendar has the ability to display the current day, month or week with an hourly schedule for each day. When adding an event, you can choose a topic, the exact start time and duration, a reminder time about it and, accordingly, a date. On the next tab, you can enter information about the location of the event, its brief description and repetition during the year, month, week or day. The search in the calendar is carried out by date, and it is also possible to find a memo by its name. Deleting unnecessary events is quite simple. You have the option of deleting events of the older 1 day, week, or deleting all events.
In the Tasks application, you can create events or call reminders, the date and time of a reminder about them is entered here. It also displays the degree of completion of the task and basic information. Any task can be submitted by everyone possible ways. Add text to your notes, the maximum size of which is 254 characters. As for the rest this application completely copies the Tasks.
In the timer, you simply set the time, press "start" and the phone in standby mode displays, in the same place as the alarm clock, a countdown.
A stopwatch is as simple as a timer. You can only create 9 intermediate values (circles). The stopwatch works quietly in background, and the corresponding icon is displayed.
The calculator does not get out of the general trend of simplicity and practicality. It contains all arithmetic operations, with the ability to save the result to the phone's memory.
Code memo can "protect" your information. You enter a 4-digit code, a control word in case the code is forgotten. That's all - your storage of secret information is ready, only now you had to think and use the possibility of entering a code without strict reference to the number of numbers, which would increase the safety of information several times.
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: games and applications
In the Entertainment section there are several applications that have become classics and the hallmark of the company. Of course, the games are located right there. The SonyEricsson W350i comes pre-installed with three games: Extreme Air Snowboarding, Guitar Rock Tour, QuadraPop. All games in our opinion are not so bad. You can always install more if you want.
Extreme Air Snowboarding is an arcade snowboarding simulator.
Guitar Rock Tour - you perform on behalf of a rock band at concerts, earning prizes and money. The point of the game is to hit the strings in time.
QuadraPop is a classic Tetris style arcade game from SonyEricsson.
The TrackID application is very indispensable if you listen to a song on the radio and do not know its name or want to assign the correct name to the track, then by connecting via the Internet, the application uses a fragment of the song and displays a page with the artist, album and song title. Of course, the service is more applicable to foreign performers.
A simple video player is designed to play videos in 3gp format. However, the application is able to isolate a frame from a video, save it to a memory card, and it also supports auto-scaling, and full screen mode.
MusicDJ is already a favorite program for creating tunes. Everything remained unchanged, only the graphic design of the application improved. You have 4 different instruments to choose from, melody tempo editing is also present.
The voice recorder allows you to record sound and set it as a ringtone. Recording is in Arm format.
Due to the lack of a video recording feature, there is no application like VideoDJ. The manufacturer did not regret PhotoDJ either, in view of the camera, although many people might like it, despite the maximum resolution of the image.
In the Applications section, you can find 2 pre-installed programs. Converter allows you to convert various indicators, such as: length, volume, weight, temperature, speed and others. Music Mate 2 is an application for playing notes on the piano or chords on the guitar, and also in this program there is a simple mixing console and a metronome.
The Java machine performance results for the SonyEricsson W350i are presented in the following table, they are quite acceptable:
Tab. JAVA SonyEricsson W350i |
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| Characteristics | ||||
| Platform | MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1 |
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| Tests | ||||
| JBenchmark 1.1.1 |
2696;
text/572, 2D/620, 3D/464, FillRate/436, Animation/604 |
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| JBenchmark 2.1.1 |
678;
Image/246, text/435, sprites/317, 3D/340, UI/12382 |
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| JBenchmark 3D 3.1.0 |
HQ/153 LQ/244 Triangle ps/19276 Ktexels ps/127 |
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| JBenchmark HD 3.4.3 | Smooth Triangles/31959 textured triangles/18760 Fill rate/127 kTexels Gaming/51 |
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SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Multimedia features
SonyEricsson W350i is a musical solution. It turns out that the basis of multimedia applications is just programs for working with sound. There is no multimedia menu here. Access to files is carried out through the explorer, the functionality of which is described in the user interface. We can only add that it does a pretty good job of displaying photos and working with them.
The Walkman 2.0 player is quite a convenient and proven solution, which is also used here. By pressing the Walkman button or by finding the desired item in the menu, you get to the section called My Music. This menu contains various categories: artists, albums, tracks and your own playlists. In each category, you can add an item to the current playlist.
In the playback mode of the composition, a white progress bar is located in the center of the entire width of the screen, below it on the left is the time elapsed from the start of playback, and on the left is the remaining time. At the bottom, you can also view information from the file tags with the corresponding icons: song title, artist name and album. Above the progress bar is the album cover image (can be turned off in the visualization settings), the playback mode and the position of the track in the playlist. The music player supports various playback modes (repeat a song or an entire list, random playback).
SonyEricsson W350i has several preset five-band EQ modes: Normal, Bass, Mega Bass, Voice, Treble Boost. You can choose from three types of player design. Any track can be immediately transferred by mail, Bluetooth or MMS.
The design of the player has 3 types. The preset themes display the track name, artist and album.
The phone has FM-radio, highlighted as a separate menu item. The radio supports the function of scanning the radio channel, outputting RDS information. You have the option to store up to 20 radio stations in the phone's memory, as well as use the TrackID function, which did its job perfectly when checking the work, identifying the song title, artist name and album.
Sound quality is average. What used to be initially considered a good side of the Walkman branded phones has remained at the same level or worsened somewhat. The volume of the phone is good, even a little too high. The headset showed itself quite well in the field, though the volume was lower in native headphones. And so do not flatter yourself - it's still the same old Walkman, which "does not stand still." In the player mode with headphones at maximum volume SonyEricsson W350i worked until the battery was completely discharged for about 13 hours.
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Camera
The SonyEricsson W350i has a 1 megapixel (or rather 1.3) camera with a CMOS matrix. The camera does not have autofocus. Three photo resolutions are available - 320x240, 640x480, 1280x1024 pixels. You can also select the image compression quality: high or normal. The phone has a night mode, which can do little to help you without autofocus and flash. There are 4 camera shutter sounds to choose from, you can't turn it off. You can reset the shot counter in the camera settings, as well as choose where to save the shots - to your phone or to a memory card.
The camera interface is quite simple. At the top are indicators of light sensitivity (EV -2; +2) and zoom, which is available at resolutions of 320x240, 640x480 (max. 4x magnification). Light sensitivity is adjusted with the side volume key, and zoom with the joystick Below are icons for the number of remaining shots, the current resolution and the location where the shots are saved. The help menu can be called up by pressing the "0" key.
Shooting mode: normal or a series of 4 frames, available at a resolution of 640x480 (key "1").
Selecting the image resolution (key "2").
Night mode (key "3").
Timer for 10 seconds.
Effects: normal, black and white, negative, sepia.
White balance: auto, clear, cloudy, fluorescent, incandescent.
The quality of the pictures, as you know, is not good by today's standards. True, no one requires something special from such a module. Rather, a question arises for the manufacturer, who decided to install such a module in the SonyEricsson W350i. The camera does not support video recording.
SonyEricsson W350i:: Overview:: Impressions and conclusions
The quality of communication does not raise any claims and is comparable with other products of the company. The vibrating alert is average in strength. The volume of the phone is enough to hear the call in a noisy street.
Now let's summarize the impressions. The phone turned out to be clearly ambiguous, and this is what needs to be shown in the conclusions, reducing everything to a common denominator. This is a budget musical solution with an acceptable price and a rather attractive body feature - with a flip. SonyEricsson W350i has a pronounced specialization - to play music. Here is the use of the Walkman brand, and positioning by the company, and promotions, and controls that are usually found in the players, and, finally, the functional use of the flip when closing. The kit also maintains the overall concept. When the apparatus acquires a specialization, it voluntarily or involuntarily loses something in other areas. This principle also works with our SonyEricsson W350i. It is noticeable that many functions have been cut. An example of this is the camera, some applications.
What can competitors offer? Basically, only Nokia 5310 can directly compete with SonyEricsson W350i. They are in the same price range, only the phone from Nokia is slightly more expensive. The average price for the SonyEricsson W350i is about 6000 rubles, while the competitor costs about 1000 rubles more. On the side of Nokia 5310 and best camera, and more full version platforms, mini jack for headphones 3.5 mm. SonyEricsson W350i boasts an unusual design, more convenient player and radio.
Who will like it? It should first be said that the device turned out to be niche. Many will buy it because they like it, unusual design. Some will see it as a renaissance of flip phones, if they don't shy away from the design. Young people will notice in the SonyEricsson W350i a bright phone with a music player for reasonable money. And someone will open everything at once. One thing is clear - the model leaves few people indifferent.
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Contents of delivery:
- Telephone
- Charger
- Instruction
- USB cable
- Memory card M2 512 MB
- Media Manager/PC Suite disc
Positioning
This phone surprisingly evokes nostalgia among those who have been using communications for more than a dozen years. About ten years ago, flip phones were popular on the market, and Ericsson was the trendsetter here. For various reasons, such devices were forgotten for a long time, consumers, and manufacturers themselves, were carried away by the release of clamshells, sliders. Model Sony Ericsson W350i is one of the first attempts to evoke nostalgia and also the first device in a whole series inexpensive models for young people. I will make a special reservation that the models of this series are united not on the basis of the presence or absence of a flip, but on the basis of positioning on the age group. The design of solutions can be different, the main sign is that the look of the phones is unusual and they are quite thin. That is, an attempt to create small devices with a particular function. In the W350i this is music, there will be the same solutions with the camera and other applications. The idea is original and to some extent not beaten. The manufacturer is trying not just to create a model of the middle segment by cutting down on the characteristics of older devices and adding a certain design, case, but to create a lineup. That is, everything is as above, but for certain group people (youth), with certain price limits.
Unfortunately, the creation of such series always leads to a compromise. It is necessary to choose either cost or functionality. Sony Ericsson decided to focus on the quality of design, materials, and, secondly, on functionality. So it turns out that solutions like the W350i will not be massive, this is a shot at a certain niche. Don't let the word "collection" fool you. We can talk about a set of niche solutions united by one idea. You might like this explanation better. This is the fundamental difference between the model and devices of the past, for example, Ericsson T10s.
At first glance, it seems that both devices were created for young people, bright colors, focus on the same segment, but the similarity is apparent. The Ericsson T10s model was very popular not only among young people, the price also played a role, this advantage is not present in the Sony Ericsson W350i. However, let's see how Sony Ericsson sees the buyer of this phone:
“The W350i is great for young people aged 17 to 25 who want to have a trendy music player and mobile phone in one device. They are fashion conscious and want stylish design, high sound quality and all the features that can be found in a modern mobile device.”
Very well defined audience. From ourselves, we can add that these are users who are not concerned about the availability and quality of mobile Internet, they do not need it. To a greater extent, these are people who choose exactly the musical device, and not a combination of everything and everything. First of all, the phone and then the player. This leads to the logical conclusion that the product is niche, it cannot become mass in the market, where all-in-one devices are popular, and the majority of young people try everything and everything, are actively interested in new functions. I have rarely met young people who already understand what they need in life at this age. From such an understanding, only the possibility of buying devices like the W350i, not the maximum in terms of capabilities, is special. This is a kind of worldview, you need to come to it, you cannot be born and grow up with it.
Design, dimensions, controls
The unusual design of the model catches the eye from the first minutes of communication with her. Velvety plastic interspersed with bright inserts. The phone fits comfortably in the hand, it is small - 104x43x11 mm, weighs 75 grams. It is a thin device, in this way it is similar to Sony Ericsson W880i, W890i, models from other manufacturers. To some extent, this is a trend, people love such solutions, but at the same time they do not want to sacrifice ergonomics. The presence of a flip with musical keys placed on it is a good compromise.
The flip is active, that is, by opening or closing it, you can start/stop a conversation. Music keys work not only in the player, but also in the radio. The design is surprisingly thought out: close the flip, and the player is on the screen in front of you. If you listened to the radio, you will see its interface. This is extremely convenient.
Flip thin, small. It cannot be said that it gives the impression of an unreliable or, on the contrary, reinforced concrete, ordinary plastic. It is impossible to break the flip inadvertently, for this you need to make some effort. A little secret, not described by the manufacturer, has to do with how the flip works. First, there are no contacts or wires in it. You can verify this by removing the flip from the phone completely. To do this, you can pull it in the joint and that's it.
Secondly, you see a purple turning mechanism on the left. So he provides the "activity" of the flip when answering calls. But how do buttons work without wires?
Everything is very simple: the buttons push through the plastic and press the keys located below them. Cheap and cheerful. In the area of the musical keys, a film is pasted from the inside, it is easily pressed through, and the buttons press the numeric keypad.
The first question that comes to mind is the reliability of the design in case of falls. We tried to throw the phone from the table onto the hard floor, the flip sometimes flies off, it can be safely put back in place. They did not experiment indefinitely, it was a pity for the apparatus. Another thing is the mechanical resistance to pressing, how many button presses the substrate will withstand. At least 60.000 holds for each key. It is difficult to come up with a situation in which the number of clicks on one button will approach this number during the service life of the device. Therefore, doubts can be thrown away, the mechanical design is strong.
Wishes should include my moaning that the phone can not be put on a flip. That is, the opening angle is small, but sometimes I would like to use the flip as a stand. Gymnastic exercises for balance when the phone is on a flip (90 degrees of opening) should not be taken into account.
Designers did their best and offered 4 color options. They have very symbolic names - Graphic White, Electric Blue, Ice Blue and Hypnotic Black. Hypnotic Black is the first device to enter the market, we had the same one. It's black plastic with orange accents, which are immediately recognizable as the color of the Walkman. The color variety in this model is excellent, good options one is better than the other. In all cases, the headset has a microphone block in the color of the case. It's also nice.
A different type of plastic is used on the flip, it is not velvety, over time the plastic is rubbed here, it becomes not matte. This will be especially well seen on black, the plastic begins to shine. Not practical, but beautiful, you have to choose one thing, as usual, but it's a pity. The flip opens with one hand, you can close it either with your hand or on your cheek or on your clothes. No difference.
The Walkman key was moved to the left side. There is also a standard interface connector.
The lock key is a ribbed slider, placed on the upper end, right there is a hole for the strap. On right side took out the paired volume control key. On the back of the device, you can see the camera lens and the speaker of the phone.
Display
The display displays up to 262,000 colors at a resolution of 176x220 pixels (diagonal - 1.9 inches, TFT, 30x38 mm). This allows you to display up to 6 lines of text and up to three service lines on the screen for most modes; to view Internet resources, while working with email, with messages, it is possible to display more lines due to smaller font. In the sun, the screen behavior is pleasant, it remains readable.
The main disadvantage of the screen is its size, otherwise it is lively, the colors are not bad, the display is acceptable for its class.
Keyboard
The numeric keys are adjacent to each other, but they are comfortable, the ergonomics are not bad. Unfortunately, the device is built on the A100 platform, which means it uses the backspace key, which creates confusion today. By pressing the End key, you do not go to other menus, this is confusing. The navigation key is convenient. Keyboard backlight white color, not very bright. It is regulated by a built-in light sensor, it can be seen on the left under the screen.
Battery
The phone has a BST-37 lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 900 mAh. According to the manufacturer, it can provide up to 7 hours of talk time and up to 300 hours of standby time.
Under the conditions of Moscow networks, the device worked on average for two and a half - three days with a moderate load (up to an hour of calls, about 30 minutes of games, 20 minutes of using a browser, a couple of hours of listening to music). In European networks, the operating time will be at least one and a half times higher in all modes due to better network coverage. Music playback time is up to 20 hours. Full battery charging time is about 2 hours.
Memory, memory cards
The phone has about 14 MB of memory available to the user, the package includes an M2 card with a capacity of 512 MB. Supports "hot" replacement of memory cards, despite the fact that they are located under the battery cover. The maximum size of maps is 4 GB (later and more with the appearance of corresponding maps).
Data transfer
With a USB connection, you compulsory order must choose whether files on the memory card will be accessed, this is the data transfer mode, or work with the phone will continue (Phone mode - work as a modem), or the Print mode is turned on (photo printing), there is also Media Transfer mode (work in MTP, for example, with Windows Media player). In the first case, the phone turns off, you see the memory card and the phone's memory. Despite the declared support for USB 2.0, the data transfer rate does not exceed 500-550 Kb/s. In the second case, there are various USB settings to access the network, the phone acts as a modem.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth in this model is version 2 and supports EDR, you can set the high power saving mode in the menu. The A2DP profile is also supported, which allows the use of wireless stereo headphones. The data transfer rate is about 100 Kb/s. The model supports the following profiles:
- Basic Imaging Profile
- Basic Printing Profile
- Dial-Up Networking Profile
- File Transfer Profile
- Generic Access Profile
- Generic Object Exchange Profile
- Handsfree Profile
- Headset Profile
- JSR-82 Java API
- Object Push Profile
- Personal Area Network Profile
- Serial Port Profile
- Service Discovery Application Profile
- Synchronization Profile
- SyncML OBEX binding
Performance
The typical performance for the latest generation of the company's devices is positively different from most models on the market. There are no restrictions on the size of the JAR file, the size of the HEAP file is from 512 KB to 1.5 MB.
Camera
The simplest camera with a resolution of 1.3 megapixels, it does not even have a video shooting mode. Three image resolutions are supported - 1280x1024 pixels, 640x480, and 320x240 pixels. There are two types of file compression, effects (B&W, Negative, Sepia), white balance. In general, there is nothing to talk about the camera, its presence is nominal, the pictures are of average quality for such a product.
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Preinstalled apps, themes
The model is built on previous version platforms from Sony Ericsson, namely A100. All its possibilities follow from this, they can be found in a separate material.
The games are represented by three applications - Guitar Rock Tour, QuadraPop, Extreme Air Snowboard.
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Musical possibilities
good headphones included in the kit, not typical of budget or inexpensive devices of this kind, this is the HPM-64 model. The player is Walkman 2.0, but it was difficult to expect otherwise, work with wireless headphones is supported. The quality of music playback is average, while the volume is clearly too high, the maximum volume is slightly higher than on other models in the line. It makes no sense to describe in detail the capabilities of the player, this is done in the description of the platform.
The radio works well, compared to the Sony Ericsson G900, C902 the overall radio volume level is lower by about 30 percent, nothing else can be said about it, everything is the same in terms of functionality.
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Flip is a kind of plastic cover that covers the keyboard of a mobile phone and leans back on a hinge. Previously (when the grass was greener) these were put in many phones, but then they somehow went out of fashion. All "flip" models on our market over the past few years can be counted on the fingers - and most often second-tier manufacturers turned to them.
Today, any mobile phone can be considered musical in one way or another, but models with a minimal array of memory and the absence of an expansion slot for it or without the ability to connect 3.5 mm headphones are pseudo-music-backgrounds. We will move away from marketing and conduct a more stringent selection, bringing together the brightest representatives of a full-fledged genre of recent times. And today we are considering the most affordable of these solutions, below the average price - about 5,000 rubles.
For some reason, the solution demonstrated by SonyEricsson had never occurred to mobile phone manufacturers before. And this move is really very simple, and to some extent it can be said that the model will already enjoy guaranteed demand from a certain target group. SonyEricsson W350i is a flip phone. And it is on this feature of the design that all attention is focused.
Phone Sony Ericsson W350i at first glance causes a vague feeling of deja vu. Indeed, a device with a hinged lid can hardly be called a novelty on the mobile phone market. But the break in the production of such models was long enough so that when they returned, one could remember: "everything new is well forgotten old."
Mobile phones that can play the MP3 format have long become commonplace. However, "be able to reproduce" and "be music-oriented" are two different things. For the second, you also need convenient control, the presence of all necessary accessories in the kit, decent sound quality.
There was such an anecdote about the son of a new Russian who, having broken a scoop in the sandbox, pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket, threw back the flip and began to dig with it. Ten years have not passed, and already sometimes it is necessary to explain who the new Russian is and what a flip is.
The musical novelty from Sony Ericsson cannot be called a retro phone. And yet, a cursory acquaintance with this pipe brings to mind memories of five years ago. The fact is that the W350 is made in a long-forgotten monoblock form factor with a flip - a flip-down plastic cover that closes the keyboard.
Perhaps one of the brightest hybrids of a player and a phone among music phones of recent years. Moreover, this is not a specific phone for an audiophile, like, for example, Nokia N91, but quite a simple youth solution for an average price range. Are you already wondering what is remarkable about this phone?
The phonebook memory has a capacity of 2500 numbers that can be assigned to 1000 contacts. Each contact can be given a name, mobile, home, work phone numbers, not counting the other phone column. Next on the list is the fax number, e-mail, web page, picture displayed on half the screen when incoming call...
Type
Deciding on the type of device (phone or smartphone?) is quite simple. If you need a simple and inexpensive device for calls and SMS, it is recommended to stop the choice on the phone. A smartphone is more expensive, but it offers a wide variety of options: games, videos, the Internet, thousands of programs for all occasions. However, its battery life is significantly less than that of a regular phone.
phone case type with hinged lid Housing material plastic Office navigation key SAR level 1.46 Number of SIM cards 1 SIM card type
Modern smartphones can be used not only regular SIM cards, but also their more compact versions micro sim and nano SIM. eSIM is a SIM card integrated into the phone. It takes up almost no space and does not require a separate tray for installation. eSIM is not yet supported in Russia. Glossary of terms for the category Mobile phones
plain Weight 80 g Dimensions (WxHxD) 43x104x11 mmScreen
Screen type color TFT, 262.14k colors Diagonal 1.9 inches. Image size 220x176 Number of pixels per inch (PPI) 148Calls
Melody type polyphonic, MP3 ringtones There is a vibrating alertMultimedia features
Number of main (rear) cameras 1 Resolution of the main (rear) camera 1.30 MP Functions of the main (rear) camera digital Zoom 4x Audio MP3, AAC, FM radio Voice recorder yes Games yes Java apps yes Headphone jack There isConnection
GSM 900/1800/1900 standard Access to the Internet WAP 2.0, GPRS, EDGE Interfaces
Almost all modern smartphones have Wi-Fi and USB interfaces. Slightly less common are Bluetooth and IRDA. Wi-Fi is used to connect to the internet. USB is used to connect your phone to a computer. Many phones also have Bluetooth. It is used to connect wireless headphones, to connect your phone to wireless speakers, and to transfer files. A smartphone equipped with an IRDA interface can be used as a universal remote control remote control. Glossary of terms for the category Mobile phones
Bluetooth 2.0, USB Protocol support POP/SMTP, HTML Modem yes Synchronization with a computer There is Connector for external antenna There isMemory and processor
Number of processor cores 1 Built-in memory 14 MB Memory card slot There isMessages
Additional SMS functions text entry with dictionary MMS yesNutrition
Battery type Li-Ion Battery capacity 900 mAh Talk Time 7 h Standby time 300 hOther features
Speakerphone (built-in speaker) yes Auto redial yes Airplane mode yes A2DP profile yes Use as a USB storage device There isNotebook and organizer
There is a book search Exchange between SIM card and internal memory have organizer alarm clock, calculator, task schedulerAdditional Information
Equipment telephone, battery BST-37, mains charger CST-60, portable stereo hands-free HPM-64, 512 MB memory card with Jennifer Lopez songs and photos, interface cable, software disk, manual Track ID Features Announcement date 2008-01-07 Sales start date 2008-04-01Before buying, check the characteristics and equipment with the seller.
There are times when you are stubbornly tempted to create something fresh and different in product design. Yes, you are also driven by engineers who constantly bring you down from the heavens of creativity to the realities of ergonomics. Then come marketers who turn the design from a fresh, innovative idea into something unfussy. This is how commercial product design is born, including household appliances, cars, furniture and, of course, Cell phones. To take just a few of the latest innovations in mobile phone design: the flip protective glass communicators and budget phones descended from the first-born clamshell Motorola Star Tec. The idea of the slider went straight from the image ones, but the flips, it would seem, stepped aside due to a banal inconvenience. Think of models like & , where the manufacturer actually invited users to vote with their money on the need for a flip. The buyers voted in that question convincingly enough, thereby taking the flips to the shelf of history.
And then the idea was picked up by LG, which began to develop all its product lines at an accelerated pace since last year. Following the photographic flagship, the company was also preparing a musical solution of the middle price range, designed just in time for the summer season. From the history of LG, we are only interested in the idea of creating music phone the average price range, since this particular moment will be of interest a little later. Now is the time to return to Sony Ericsson, along with the Walkman sub-brand.
The middle price segment is being mastered by the company slowly: if earlier all sales were drawn by Ultimate solutions, today there are no such uniquely successful products, but there is a line. Sony Ericsson's product line is already measured by several dozen different products, mainly located in the Middle End segment. In fact, it is on these variations of once successful solutions that the diversity of the company's phones is built, while brand fans with fading optimism are waiting for really fresh solutions. Here, the company faced the usual problem of a market player with limited opportunities, unable to keep all the price segments in which the company operates within one single unit. And since the technical update only appears in the plans for 2010, the company can only improve those niches where the influence of the brand on customers is still felt.
One of these areas is the niche of relatively inexpensive mass phones for calls, with good software functionality. The niche, oddly enough, has long been held by Nokia, starting with the release of that very one. And since the competitor's position is strong, it is necessary to break the road in other ways, preferably successful a priori. One of these ways was the idea of creating an inexpensive monoblock with compact dimensions, bearing the proud Walkman label. It would seem that there is already a model on the market that does not fall only under the definition of a monoblock, which means that initial success in such a faceless solution is not enough. We needed at least some zest, and we found it.
Here we recall the saying about the well-forgotten old, since inspiration for the creation distinguishing feature Sony Ericsson designers obviously started looking for a middle-class product among modern solutions. In light of the musical positioning and appearance, it was decided to add prominent player control keys, while maintaining the ergonomics and overall aesthetics of the phone. Perhaps, taking a convenient slider as an option, the company decided to look for inspiration among old models, where they stumbled upon a flip.
The key moments at which the introduction materializes into the description of the appearance of the hero of our today's review is a flip in an inexpensive product. Things that used to be somewhat apart from each other have merged today in one of the smallest Sony Ericsson phones, apart from the long-forgotten baby. We are talking about the W350i, about the appearance of which it is time to tell in more detail.
Appearance
Phones are small, there are narrow, and there are just thin ones. In this case, it is incorrect to say that we have a uniquely small phone in front of us, although the elongated narrow shape, reminiscent of a banal ruler, evokes a feeling of compactness, which is not characteristic of most modern phones. Meanwhile, the elongated shape is visually distorted by the minimum number of body elements, which makes the device visually wider and more balanced than it might seem on the basis of dry dimensions. We will not talk about the design of the phone itself, but we will definitely consider all the main points of the specific appearance.
The Sony Ericsson W350i is made in monoblock form factor (or almost monoblock) with dimensions of 103.7 x 42.6 x 11.2 mm, making it similar not only to most phones on the market, but also to some models of FLASH players.
At the same time, the width and thickness of the phone do not go beyond the minimum ergonomics, unlike the tiny one. Maintaining a comfortable width ensures a comfortable position of the phone in the hand, and matte plastic with a rough texture, pleasant to the touch, complements the positive emotions from working with the device.
The absence of metal elements makes the device subconsciously fragile in the hands of most of those who have worked with the phone for more than 10 seconds. Compact dimensions are backed up by a small weight of 75 grams, which allows you to carry the phone in almost any pocket of clothing, including a shirt pocket and a lighter compartment in jeans.
With the same pocket of jeans, everything is not so simple, which is to blame for the already narrow long shape of the case. When walking, the phone persistently crawls out of the pocket by a third, although a similar height behaved much calmer in this pocket.
Perhaps the reason is that in addition to the phone, you can also put a gas lighter or any other object of similar size in your pocket.
The entire front surface is equally divided by a small gap, which we will talk about a little later. The upper half of the body is notable for a transparent plexiglass insert, above which there is already a plastic insert with a long narrow slot for the earpiece. The speaker is protected from any dust by a fine mesh.
The location of the hole from the very edge does not interfere with comfortable talking, placing the phone in the usual way. Just below the speaker is a 1.9-inch TFT screen with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels. The display is claimed to be up to 262,000 color shades, although by eye we are dealing with an ordinary 16-bit palette. The screen characteristics are slightly different from those used in the W380i, but at the same time they are the same as the matrix.
The colors are somewhat faded, but there are no complaints about the color temperature and brightness. Moreover, the color reproduction is similar to the 2.2-inch screens in the company's phones based on the A200, such as .
In the sun, the screen behaves with dignity, allowing the user to read text information under direct sunlight.
The viewing angles of the matrix are far from budget: 160 degrees in both planes. Under the lower left corner of the screen is a small light sensor that does not want to adjust the brightness of the backlight of the screen and keyboard, depending on ambient lighting conditions.
Here we got to main feature phone, namely to the flip. Many users remember this element by the model, where a microphone and a magnet were built into the flip, providing a spectacular opening at the touch of a key. It is worth considering that such a flip was rather an exception, since it was possible to do the same without a flip at all, since nothing was built into it.
Things of the past, of course, are an interesting thing, but we are interested in today, and we are considering a phone from Sony Ericsson, with the W350i index.
So, there is a flip that evenly covers half of the front surface of the phone case. In the upper part, along the edges, the ears fit, allowing you to open the flip with one hand, without any complaints. The opening mechanism is equipped with the simplest magnetic finishing, located on the loop on the left side.
The full-thickness hinge itself looks more than impressive, and the silver trimmed inserts on the flip ears somewhat dilute the overall superiority of plastic in appearance phone. This element of the body is interesting for the presence of large flat player control keys, located almost in the middle of the surface. An interesting fact is that the keys are devoid of any board with contacts, and the inner surface of the flip consists of a simple colored film, which provides a noticeable move for such simple false keys.
They, in turn, contact the buttons of the main unit, which are assigned certain actions that are available when the closing sensor is triggered, which fits in that very loop.
Opening the flip, we meet single block keyboards, mainly made of transparent keys with horizontal curves and a colored backing. A silver navigation key with a slightly recessed confirmation key in the center is knocked out of this row. It is convenient to work with such a navigation element due to the soft middle stroke with a distinct silent click. All other keys, in addition to an even more pleasant soft stroke with a clear silent click, can boast of large sizes and good tactility, which allows you to dial a number if necessary without looking at the keys. The backlighting of the keyboard is white, and the glow of the LEDs is dim and dotted, which is expressed in a terrible uneven illumination. It is convenient to work with the bottom row of keys due to the elevation in the transition to the flip loop.
Between the rounded block and the * key there is a microphone hole, the location of which is not affected by the flip, since you can talk on the phone either with the case open or without a flip at all.
Let's turn to the ends of the case, along which a thin silvery strip of edging passes, not affecting only the round lower end.
On the upper end there is a large hole, designed for threading a strap loop into it on the hand. Interestingly, the dimensions of the hole are sufficient to install camera straps, albeit using all kinds of hooks while threading.
A slightly protruding embossed lock slider, reminiscent of this element in Nokia N91, organically fit into the piping strip. It is convenient to work with the slider due to moderately tight travel and good tactility.
The left end of the case accommodates a slightly protruding small player/radio call button from the top edge, and a Fast Port connector for connecting all wired accessories is located closer to the bottom.
Working with the phone with the left hand, if the headset is connected, is quite difficult, largely due to the narrow body of the phone.
On the right side there are paired volume keys with gentle edges and a sharp recess in the center, due to which it is inconvenient to work with this element even when talking, holding the phone in right hand. The button travel is tight, and the click is almost not felt.
Let's move smoothly to the rear surface of the phone, in the lower part of which the polyphonic speaker holes are pleasantly located. However, the holes are easy to block when carrying the phone in your pocket, thereby reducing the sound volume by half. From the opposite edge of the case, a slightly recessed peephole of a megapixel camera, edged with a silvery ring, fits. Most of the surface acts as a battery cover, which can be removed with a small recess under the nail on the right side of the case.
The cover clings without problems, after which it is pulled out of the slots of the latches with an unpleasant crack. By pulling out the lid in this way, you can once again be convinced of the fragility of the body, since it is made of soft glossy black plastic.
In our case, the azure color of the body is the usual etched color, the probability of abrasion of which is close to zero.
Under the lid, we see a classic ODM variant - a Sony Ericsson phone, possibly from the same factory that produces . This is evidenced by the use of a lithium - polymer battery BST-37, with a capacity of 900 mAh.
The battery charge lasts for two days, with 20 minutes of calls a day, half an hour of using other phone functions, and two hours of listening to music through an A2DP headset.
If you use the bundled HPM-64 wired headset with earbuds, the phone lasts almost 18 hours in music playback mode.
Above the battery compartment is a simple slot for a SIM card, and next to it is a platform for installing an M2 memory card, up to 32 GB.
User interface
The Sony Ericsson W350i is based on the common A100 platform, which is very similar to the W380i clamshell. Simplifying everything and everything led to the disappearance of the Activity Menu key, so the function is there, but you won't be able to see it. In standby mode, the upper area of the screen is occupied by indicators of the level of signal reception and battery charge. Between the indicators are icons of various notifications about all kinds of events or the activity of other functions. By pressing the volume key, you can find out the name of the phone model, and at the same time the memory status. The branded detailed indication of the battery charge as a percentage has gone after the Activity Menu, which is caused by the use of a different power controller.
At the bottom of the screen there are labels for soft keys, above which the date, time, or the timer/alarm indicator are displayed. Navigate key deflection can be assigned to launch most phone functions.
The main menu is represented by 12 icons, the drawing of which depends on the presence or absence of their own icons in the theme used.
The user interface can be greatly diversified due to functional themes that affect not only background images, but also cursors with icons of the main menu.
Profiles are still limited to 7 add-ons, each of which can be modified in a number of ways:
- ringer volume
- increasing volume activation
- vibration alert
- key sound
- forwarding
- White list
- a way to answer an incoming call (by a separate key, or by pressing any button except the end call).
You can change the name of 6 profiles, but the icons remain unchanged.
Call service
The phonebook memory has a capacity of 2500 numbers that can be assigned to 1000 contacts.
Each contact can be given a name, mobile, home, work phone numbers, not counting the other phone column. Next on the list is the fax number, e-mail, web page, half-screen picture for an incoming call, individual ring tone, voice tag, work and home address, 51-character note, and a birthday reminder.
Call lists are presented by standard sorting by incoming, outgoing, missed calls, as well as display in bulk.
Messages
There is a good tool for creating SMS / EMS messages. As before, it is possible to display emoticons as pictures. As before, the limit on the size of the created message is 594 characters in Cyrillic and 1188 characters in Latin.
The service for working with MMS has not undergone severe simplifications. This is a nice-looking interface for the complex composition of messages up to 300 kb. You can add both existing audio, photo, video materials, and directly launch tools for their creation (camera, voice recorder).
Messages correctly display any language pack of Unicode encodings, while with KOI8-R everything is just as sad. All attachments can be saved to the phone's memory - this is a definite plus.
Organizer
A traditional alarm clock with five possible reminders, in each of which you can set the actual trigger time, repeat on selected days of the week, idle time before a second alert, and any supported melody can be used as a ringtone.
Calendar
Two types of display: display of the month, or table of the week, with the hourly schedule of each day. By hovering over the desired day of the week, you can quickly create a reminder. Reminders also shine with a wide degree of customization. You can set an arbitrary name, start time, duration, notification in 5-30 minutes. before starting, set the specifics of the reminder repeat (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), as well as add information about the location of the event. For dessert, it is possible to add a short description of the event. As you can see, reminders are, if not ideal, then as close as possible to those, given that this is not a separate organizer, but one of the functions of a mobile phone.
Notes
Ordinary text notes. The length of each cannot exceed 254 characters.
Timer
Ordinary timer. Set the time, accurate to the second, and admire the report in standby mode.
Stopwatch allows you to create up to 9 intermediate values.
Calculator nothing remarkable. Everything is also a simple tool for performing simple calculations.
The memo of codes is interesting only by the presence as such. Otherwise, the four-digit password most eloquently indicates the seriousness of these closed notes.
Communications
The phone has Bluetooth 2.0, which supports most profiles, with the exception of direct access to file system, with administrator rights to create and delete files, folders.
The average data transfer rate is 40-60 kb/s.
Cable
Games
There are three pre-installed JAVA games familiar to us from other Sony Ericsson phones.
Extreme Air Snowboarding
A simple snowboard, with pseudo-3D graphics.
Completing the ranks is Gameloft's guitar simulator, where you are prompted to press the keyboard buttons in accordance with the displayed chord similarities.
Performance
jbenchmark1: 2676
Text: 582
2d shapes: 627
3d shapes: 422
Fill rate: 436
Animation: 609
jbenchmark 2: 416
Image manipulation: 241
Text: 427
Sprites: 318
3d transform: 33
user interface: 1314
jbenchmark 3d
Jbenchmark 3d hq: 155
Jbenchmark 3d lq: 247
Triangles pear second: 19149
Ktexels pear second: 1184
jbenchmark hd
Smooth Triangles: 27076
Textured triangles: 18721
Fill rate: 674 Ktexels
Gaming: 75 (2.5 fps)
In the application section there is a collection of midi-samples Music Mate 2 and a unit converter.
Multimedia
The player is a key function of the phone, for which, in fact, a flip with external pseudo-keys was used. When you turn on the phone without a SIM card, you can fully experience the Fly Mode function by simply closing the flip and having an ordinary Walkman 2.0 player at your disposal. Since the soft keys are not available when the flip is closed, there are no labels for them when working with the player in this mode. All other management capabilities are quite sufficient to perform all the basic actions. For example, to switch from the playback window to the library, it is enough to press the dedicated Walkman key, and vice versa, the transition from the library to the playback mode is assigned to the same key.
When you start the player, we see a music library that is automatically updated when you insert a memory card, and even just when you turn it on. Sorting by albums, artists, genres, composers is available, as well as displaying all tracks in one list. Selecting and canceling the transition to a section is possible not only with the OK key and the back button, but also with right-left deviations.
The playback window is made in a crowded set of large track titles, album artist, serial number designation in the list, and a progress bar. In the right corner, a small window of album art is crowded, and the upper part of the screen is invariably occupied by system indicators. The covers are derived from the file tags, so folder.jpg in the album folder is useless.
From the sound settings there is an extended stereo, as well as a five-band equalizer, without the possibility of manually adjusting add-ons or creating your own setting.
Other settings mainly affect only the color design of the player's interface. There is an option to turn off album covers and change the color scheme of the player using three available themes.
The sound quality is quite comparable to other A100-based phones from the company, although the W350i has a slightly lower dynamic range, and the upper frequencies unusually remain in their places, despite the overload suppression system in the sound drivers of the software platform.
General results
| Frequency response unevenness (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: | +0.35, -3.04 | Medium |
| Noise level, dB (A): | -86.2 | Fine |
| Dynamic range, dB (A): | 85.7 | Fine |
| Harmonic distortion, %: | 0.013 | Fine |
| Intermodulation distortion + noise, %: | 0.727 | Badly |
| Interpenetration of channels, dB: | -6.6 | Very bad |
| Intermodulation at 10 kHz, %: | 0.211 | Medium |
Overall rating: Average
frequency response
| Frequency range | unevenness |
| From 20 Hz to 20 kHz, dB | -9.28, +0.35 |
| From 40 Hz to 15 kHz, dB | -3.04, +0.35 |
Noise level
| Parameter | Left | Right |
| RMS power, dB: | -82.5 | -82.5 |
| Power RMS (A-weighted), dB: | -86.2 | -86.2 |
| Peak level, dB (FS): | -69.5 | -69.5 |
| DC offset, %: | -0.00 | -0.00 |
Dynamic Range
| Parameter | Left | Right |
| Dynamic range, dB: | +82.4 | +82.2 |
| Dynamic range (A-weighted), dB: | +85.8 | +85.7 |
| DC offset, %: | -0.00 | -0.00 |
THD + Noise (at -3dB)
| Parameter | Left | Right |
| THD, %: | 0.0151 | 0.0135 |
| SOI + noise, %: | 0.0285 | 0.0276 |
| SOI + noise (A-weighted), %: | 0.0250 | 0.0230 |
Intermodulation distortion
| Parameter | Left | Right |
| CII + noise, %: | 0.7274 | 0.7278 |
| CII + noise (A-weighted), %: | 0.3587 | 0.3590 |
Interpenetration of stereo channels
| Parameter | A lion. | Left->Right |
| Penetration at 100 Hz, dB: | -5 | -5 |
| Penetration at 1 kHz, dB: | -5 | -6 |
| Penetration at 10 kHz, dB: | -6 | -6 |
Intermodulation (variable frequency)
| Parameter | Left | Right |
| CII + noise at 5 kHz, %: | 0.1665 | 0.1601 |
| KII + noise at 10 kHz, %: | 0.2088 | 0.1997 |
| KII + noise at 15 kHz, %: | 0.2840 | 0.2740 |
Nothing interesting can be found out from the RMAA 5.5 report, since we are dealing with a device that does not claim to be a desirable purchase by a lover of high-quality sound. On the other hand, the quality of the audio path is quite enough for those who are much more interested in the presence of bass, and the volume level sufficient for use in the subway. Wireless headsets, whether or not, do not respond to volume changes from the phone, and the sound in them is lame from the lack of those very high frequencies. HPM 82, on the contrary, switches compositions correctly, so it can be used as a replacement for the complete HPM64.
The phone also has a built-in FM-receiver with RDS support, which allows you to store up to 20 radio stations in memory.
Camera
The phone has a simple 1.3-megapixel camera that does not even support video recording. The role of the camera is directly related to the use of the received images specifically in the phone.
The viewfinder in shooting mode takes up half of the vertically oriented screen, and deflecting the navigation key changes the digital zoom, or brightness. Among the settings, a standard set is available, consisting of white balance, color effects, shooting modes, resolution selection and compression quality.
[+] enlarge, 1280x1024, JPEG, 104 Kb K790i . However, the lack of volume is compensated by the soft transmission of the interlocutor's voice with a good study of the main frequency range. The polyphonic speaker plays a little above the average volume level, but it does not play like in most of the latest phones from the company, but with clear bass that is clearly distinguishable when listening. An analogy arises in memory with, where the speaker does not differ much in quality, but is slightly louder. In theory, the phone has a vibration motor, but its presence is of little use, since it vibrates with a small tremor and you can feel it only by holding the device in your hand.
conclusions
The compact and spectacular Sony Ericsson W350i can rightly be called one of the most interesting offers in the summer season among all mid-range phones. On the side of the W350i, there is a resemblance to ordinary players, a funny flip, a good A100 software platform with an acceptable screen. A potential buyer will not be upset by the case materials with a variety of color options, and the Walkman brand itself still holds its position in the ranks of unassuming users. If you need a small phone for talking and listening to music, the W350i can provide you with good player control ergonomics and acceptable sound quality. If you are interested in the flip, you will not get anything interesting from it, since in this model it only complements the general concept.
It is not difficult to describe the portrait of a potential buyer, since the phone has been available in many stores for the second month already. These are young energetic people aged 15-26, not burdened with a thorough study of each candidate for purchase with the desire to find the best Ultimate solution. They just need a small lightweight phone with headphones and a memory card included. The main purpose of the W350i in the hands of such users will be calls, accompanied by a spectacular opening of the flip. It's funny, but the pre-installed content with songs by Jennifer Lopez is quite consistent with the picture of the majority of buyers. If you are interested in this phone as an addition to the solution of the upper price segment, be prepared to face the fact that you will get tired of the phone after a month. Yes, and the impressions of the flip will go in a negative direction.
Measurement specifics SAR level V Sony phones Ericsson affected the final result for the W350i. Still, 1.42 W / kg is more than a significant value.
© Tikhonov Valery, Test Lab
Date of publication of the article - July 9, 2008