Sony Ericsson's W350 Walkman reviewed

Sony Ericsson W350 Walkman

Sony Ericsson W350 Walkman

Sony Ericsson W350 Walkman

Sony Ericsson W350 Walkman

It's the return of the flip phone – or at least that's what Sony Ericsson wants you to think. The Sony Ericsson W350 is an entry-level music handset, targeted at the youth market, that aims to bring a little retro style to the budget conscious handset segment. The amusing part is that most of the W350s target market would have never had the chance to use a flip phone, and it's functional benefit in this instance is questionable. None the less, the W350 is certainly unique.

Physical Aspects

As previously mentioned, the Sony Ericsson W350 is an old-style flip phone – with a plastic cover over the keypad that opens toward the bottom of the phone, unlike clamshell devices where the cover opens toward the top and protects both the keypad and screen. Sony Ericsson has used this design to allow for music control keys to always be available on the outside of the flip, though this negates the use of the flip as a type of key lock. Instead, a small key lock switch is placed on the top of the device. This lock switch only applies to the external keys, so if you open the flip, the main keypad is enabled.

The flip, which does make the device unique in the current market, also proves to be the handset's first big issue. The flip, even with its built-in music controls, is extraordinarily thin and flimsy. When closed, the flip wobbles over the face of the phone somewhat, and when open it just hangs there feeling very unstable. When knocked, the flip comes easily off it's hinge, which thankfully doesn't harm the device, but overall it provides more of an annoyance than anything else and really brings the overall feel of the phone down to a cheaper level. Whether you want it to or not, closing the flip activates the Walkman music player, meaning you cannot see the phone's standby screen when the flip it closed.

Ignoring the flip for a moment, the rest of the Sony Ericsson W350 feels quite nice in the hand. The battery cover on the rear of the device is a little lose, but overall the soft touch finish and basic bar design feel good. Our W350 had the black/orange color scheme, but the handset also comes in a more subtle white/silver design as well as an even louder black/purple look.

With the exception of the d-pad, the phone's keypad has large and easy to press buttons with a very blocky, rectangular design. The d-pad, on the other hand, has an elongated shape that made it hard for us to press the down direction without hitting the center select key. This select key is also depressed into the d-pad slightly, making it even harder to press on its own without using the tip of your finger. The d-pad also sits hard up against the ridge of the screen on top, making it hard to press the up direction.

The rest of the phone's body is very simple, with a Walkman shortcut key and charging port on the left edge, and volume control keys on the right.

The Sony Ericsson W350 packs a 176x200 pixel TFT display that is capable of showing 262k colors. While the display is small, it is quite bright and readable, even in direct sunlight. People used to larger displays will be disappointed with the W350, but it satisfies it's goal quite well – for standard text messaging and calls, it does the job well, but don't expect to be watching videos (due to significant ghosting) or viewing photos for extended periods of time.