Sony Ericsson W710i (Unlocked)

Sony Ericsson is on a roll with its music-centric Walkman phone line, and in the past year and a half, the company has been introducing new models as steadily as the beat of a drum. Its latest entry, the Sony Ericsson W710i, puts a unique twist on the Walkman series. In addition to a series of fitness applications, it also comes with a sturdy armband for listening to music on the go. And of course, you get the usual assortment of quality Walkman phone features in an attractive, if a bit blocky, flip phone package. In all, it's a solid effort, despite a few missing features and an unimpressive external display. As of this writing, there's no carrier for the W710i, so it will cost you a hefty $399 for an unlocked model.

Sony Ericsson is still easing into the flip phone game, and the W710i is just the second Walkman flip phone after the Sony Ericsson W300i. But where the entry-level W300i skimped, the W710i delivers in both its high-end features and its accessible design. On that note, the W710i has a smart form factor with a unique white and gray color scheme. Admittedly it's a tad boxy, but it's not a design we'd grow tired of. And while it borders on bulky (3.4 by 1.9 by 1 inches; 3.6 ounces) it's easily portable, it has a solid construction, and it feels comfortable when held to the face for talking. A small looped antenna juts out at the top of the handset.

The design of the W710's external display was a bit baffling. It's plenty big (1.5 inches, 128x128 pixels), but it has a monochrome resolution for showing the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID. While one on hand it's easy to read in almost any light, the lack of color support means it doesn't show photo caller ID and it can't act as a viewfinder for self-portraits. You can change the backlighting time, but the font size and brightness are not customizable. The camera lens sits just above the display, and in a disappointing move, Sony Ericsson did not include a flash or self-portrait mirror.

Surrounding the external display are dedicated Walkman buttons that give you full use of the player when the phone is closed. Not only can you open and close the player, but, unlike with the W300i, you also can pause, fast-forward, and rewind tracks. It's a very welcome improvement for a flip phone, and we liked the basic design of the buttons themselves. Besides being large they have a rubberized covering that makes them quite tactile and easy to locate by feel. Other exterior controls consist of a nifty slider lock mechanism on the right spine (like that on the Sony Ericsson W600i) and a volume rocker on the left spine. There's also a dedicated camera shortcut on the left spine but unfortunately it's unusable when the phone is closed.

The W710's interior display measures 2 inches (176x220 pixels) and shows 262,144 colors. Though a tad overly bright, it's clear and vibrant and great for viewing photos, playing games, or browsing through the standard but user-friendly Sony Ericsson menus. You can change the brightness only. Below the display and the oversize hinge is the well-designed navigation array. There's a four-way toggle surrounding a central OK button, two soft keys, and dedicated Clear and Back controls. As with other Sony Ericsson handsets, the W710i lacks Talk and End buttons; instead the soft keys perform those functions. The toggle is tactile and decently sized, and it can be programmed to give one-touch access to four user-defined functions. The other buttons are also large, and fortunately they are raised above the surface of the phone. Finally, you also get dedicated buttons for the opening the Web browser and a secondary menu of user-defined shortcuts. The latter control is especially useful, but both buttons are too small and are set flush with the surface of the phone.

The keypad buttons are also better than on many previous handsets from the company. As they're raised above the surface of the phone, it's easy to dial by feel, and we liked that there was some separation between the individual columns. What's more, a bright backlighting eased dialing in dim situations. On the other hand, while he had few misdials, we weren't in love with the keypad entirely. Besides being a bit slippery, the plastic buttons felt somewhat cheap for such a high-priced phone. Just below the keypad are a power button and a dedicated Walkman control. But like the aforementioned Web browser button, they're too small for larger fingers. The Memory Stick Micro slot is located on the left spine, but you must remove the battery cover to access it. Though you don't have to take out the battery as well, it's not an ideal location--the cover is rather flimsy. The charger/headset port is on the bottom of the phone, but you can only use one device at a time. Also, the phone's sole speaker is on the rear face.

The W710's memory card slot is behind the battery cover.

Basic features for the W710i are similar to those of other handsets in the Walkman phone series. The phone book holds a hefty 1,000 contacts with room in each entry for five phone numbers, e-mail and Web addresses, a job title and company, work and home street addresses, a birth date, and notes. The SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts, and you can organize callers into groups. For caller ID, you can match contacts with one of just 14 (72-chord) polyphonic ring tones or assign them a photo or a video. Just remember that photos and videos do not show up on the external display.

Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a calendar, a task list, a notepad, a timer, a stopwatch, a calculator, and a voice memo recorder (space is limited by the available memory.) On the high-end side, the W710i comes with a speakerphone (usable after you make a call), PC syncing, full Bluetooth with a stereo profile, e-mail, a code memo for storing sensitive information, and USB cable support. Fitness applications include a pedometer for running and walking, a sports trivia game, and a fitness trainer for tracking your workouts. There's even a bizarre yet interesting application that will you calculate how long it would take you to walk to various world locations from your home city.

Of course music is the main attraction on the W710i. Its Walkman player is near identical to that on other Walkman phones (see the Sony Ericsson W810i for a full report), except that it doesn't offer Sony's Mega Bass. Also, as on previous models, you must use the included USB cable and the company's Disc2Phone software to load music onto the handset. Internal memory is capped at 10MB, so it's advised you use the included 512MB Memory Stick Micro card. You also get the FM radio that is near standard on Walkman phones and a Music ID application for identifying likeable tunes you can't name. There's also a quirky Music Mate application that shows the correct finger position for various guitar chords and piano chords while playing the notes. You can even use the phone as a metronome.

The W710i's camera doesn't have a flash.

The 2-megapixel camera shoots photos in three sizes (2-megapixel, 1-megapixel, and standard VGA). Other options include two quality settings, three color effects, a night mode, white balance and brightness adjustments, 12 fun frames, a 5X zoom, and four shutter sounds (there's no silent option). There's also a self-timer, a multishot mode, and an option for taking panoramic shots. The camcorder takes clips with sound and offers a set of editing options similar to the still camera. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at just over 1 minute, 30 seconds; otherwise you can shoot for as long as the memory permits. Picture and video quality were good, with acceptable colors and little blurriness, but we miss having a flash, and the camera interface wasn't as attractive as that on the W810i. Yet the W710i does come with PhotoDJ and VideoDJ applications.

We liked the W710i photo quality.

You can personalize the W810i with a variety of themes, wallpaper, and screensavers. As always, you can purchase more options and ring tones from Sony Ericsson via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Alternatively, the phone comes with a MusicDJ application for composing your own ring tones. Gamers can enjoy three Java (J2ME) titles, Alpha Wing 2, Tennis Multiplay and Treasure Towers, with additional titles available for purchase.

We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) W710 world phone in San Francisco and New York City using Cingular's service. Call quality was good in both places, with admirable clarity and volume. Reception wasn't a problem either, even in a building notorious for spotty coverage, but on a few occasions the phone took longer than expected to connect. Callers could tell we were using a cell phone, but they didn't report significant problems except that they had more trouble hearing us when we were on a busy street. Only rarely did callers sound a bit hollow on our end. Speakerphone calls were surprisingly loud and clear, and Bluetooth headset calls were satisfactory as well.

Music quality on the W710i was on a par with other Walkman phones, though the lack of stereo speakers is disappointing. We still wouldn't chuck our stand-alone MP3 player altogether, but the W710i is fine for commuting, working out, or on plane rides. We also tried the included stereo headphones and were pleased overall, and we love that the phone comes with a stereo Bluetooth profile. Music player navigation, however, was occasionally sluggish.

The W710i has a rated talk time of 10 hours and a promised standby time of 14.5 days. In our tests we eked out 9 hours of talk time.

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