Sony Ericsson W8 Walkman Review
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Introduction:
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The Sony Ericsson W8 is an attempt to revive the Walkman brand and bring it to the world of modern smartphones with the help of Android – its rather outdated 2.1 Eclair version, to be exact. Built by using the Xperia X8 as a template, the W8 promises to deliver outstanding audio performance while being an affordable entry-level Android device at the same time. At a glance, the handset grabs the attention with its brightly colored back panel and its easy to use interface, but will it leave a good impression in our minds once we are done playing with it? Lets take a closer look and find out for ourselves.
Design:
The Sony Ericsson Xperia W8 basically looks like a differently colored Xperia X8 with a Walkman logo slapped on it, and the more we use it the more obvious this becomes. We have the same 3-inch scratch-resistant capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320x480 pixels and the practically identical thick, lumpy body with a slight curve at the back. Even though the TFT LCD display should display a spectrum of 16 million colors, there is a noticeable amount of dithering when viewing color gradients. Besides that, the screen looks yellowish and the color temperature leans quite a bit towards the warm side. Another drawback of the display is that if it has been off for a while, it flickers for a few seconds once you turn it back on, supposedly because of a poorly engineered backlight dimming technique. Nevertheless, the display resolution is more than satisfactory for a screen of this size – graphics look smooth and even the smallest of text is easily readable. Using the W8 Walkman outdoors might get a bit tricky if the sun shines too bright, but turning the brightness all the way up should help to some extent.
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The Sony Ericsson W8 Walkman is built entirely out of plastic | ||
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You can compare the Sony Ericsson W8 Walkman with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.
The body of the Xperia W8 Walkman is built entirely out of plastic, even though its back cover slightly resembles anodized aluminum. The slight curves on the back of the handset make it comfortable to hold, yet being a humble 3-incher means that people with bigger hands might have a hard time using it. With a weight of 3.7 ounces, or 104 grams, the Xperia W8 weighs just enough so that you can feel how it is resting in your pocket.
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Next to the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8520 |
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The sides of the Sony Ericsson W8 Walkman | |||
Well, there seems to be nothing impressive about the Xperia W8 Walkman so far, but it is the audio performance of the device that we are more interested in, right? Lets put it to the test and see if the Sony Ericsson W8 can bring it.
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41 Comments
1. TFK (unregistered) posted on 14 Jun 2011, 09:40 0 0
No mega bass and equalizer, and android 2.1 ? Sorry sony... I'll stick with my W550i.
2. vishnu (unregistered) posted on 14 Jun 2011, 11:00 0 0
reviewer
whats the difference between walkman phones and xperia line up interms of sound quality..
whats the model of headphones used in w8
which one is better -w8-when comparing with music phones of nokia such as 5800xm and x6
plz dont forget review mix walkman interms of sound.Can you suggest me a best music phone?.thanks
34. Sudeep (unregistered) posted on 04 Oct 2011, 00:47 0 0
Sony Ericsson is always best in music quality but if u want loud sound then sony is not ur choice i recommend to Sony only if u love music in walk man i dont mean its not best in others its always great mobiles in my sense and i am a great lover of music as well as sony
3. LXH (unregistered) posted on 16 Jun 2011, 19:32 0 0
ridiculous no pinch-to-zoom web browser
13. Vishesh (unregistered) posted on 28 Aug 2011, 03:10 0 0
its touch and slide zoom touch the browser... icon for zoom will appear slide up to zoom in and down to zoom out
4. SFAN (unregistered) posted on 16 Jun 2011, 23:36 0 0
A WALKMAN BRAND PHONE SANS EQUALIZER IS A DISAPPOINTMENT. YENDO WHICH COMES HALF THE PRICE TOO HAS EQS. SE SHOULD HAVE ADDED CUSTOM EQUALIZERS AND ALSO MEGABASS FOR IT TO QUALIFY AS WALKMAN.
WHY CALL IT WALKMAN THEN. WHAT A SHAME IF YOU HAVE TO DOWNLOAD AN APP LIKE MIXING OR SOMETHING FROM THE ANDROID MARKET ON A WALKMAN DEVICE FOR EQUALIZERS AND POWER BASS.
5. Esther Yeung (unregistered) posted on 25 Jun 2011, 21:29 0 0
not a good choice, memory is full all the time due to andriod 2.1. Can't install anything to SD and andriod market app2sd can't be install on it. Call up Sony Ericsson hotlines and they are not sure when the updates will be. Useless and not recommended anyone to buy it.
6. FJR (unregistered) posted on 03 Aug 2011, 01:47 0 0
Better buy acer liquid mini e310
Only difference Rp 200.000
sorry bad english
Im Indonesian people
7. Shawn (unregistered) posted on 15 Aug 2011, 21:21 0 0
What is the whole idea of Walkman W8 over the Xperia X8? I see there is no advantages of the hardware side, is the same with the X8 and yet the price is so much different with just a Walkman branded, Sony make no sense loaded the Walkman features on Android and the Walkman is poor. Why should pay more $60 for this? Since Sony loaded Android OS on its mobile we can actually find a better music player in Android market with just less than $2.00 on pay version with support and updates. The cheaper X8 can be upgrade to Android v2.1 or later. SO WHAT IS THE WHOLE POINT...SONY??
8. Raghavendra rajendran (unregistered) posted on 20 Aug 2011, 08:18 0 0
i will say that this phone much suitable comparing ith other phones of same range. It is so nice to its appearance.I LIKED THIS PHONE VERY MUCH
9. nareshreddy (unregistered) posted on 20 Aug 2011, 23:32 0 0
pl z suggestion me
i want buy to sony Ericsson w8 walk-men series. is it good mobile or not?
plz suggestion me
10. DINESH.S (unregistered) posted on 22 Aug 2011, 09:17 0 0
Hi, SONY ERICSSON TEAM , SEE GUYS I BOUGHT RECENTLY THE W8 WALKMAN SERIES, I DON'T KNOW HOW IT WORK, AND I READ ALL THOSE PREVIOUS COMMENTS. I WAS NOT IMPRESSED, IF THE WALKMAN SERIES WAS NOT UP TO WHAT I EXPECTED MEANS, SURE ILL MAKE A SERIES ACTION AGAINST YOUR PEOPLE. I GET BACK YOU SOON BYE.
12. Xunsu posted on 26 Aug 2011, 12:03 0 0
I have the X8 its not a bad phone consdering you can get it for £60 these days, and this W8 is only one with a diffterent coloured back and a walkman brand stuck on it and a slightly different UI...Hardware wise its IS a X8 so there would be little to no differences in them, for sound. they are the same in terms of hardware
14. Faries (unregistered) posted on 30 Aug 2011, 09:55 0 0
Without mega bass the walkman series is utter waste..i made a mistake buying yendo W150....If you are looking for that sony quality sound, you will be dissappointed..i am not sure about the operating system part in W8..
15. Mani (unregistered) posted on 30 Aug 2011, 12:10 0 0
Iam realy disappointed with Sony Ericsson w8's sound quality,it's very bad,i d'nt know,why it's call walkman? No equaliser and no megabass,so china phone is better than Sony Ericsson w8.
16. gpg (unregistered) posted on 01 Sep 2011, 08:55 0 0
Thx for all comments, i thought that this new brand of SE is as good as is rumors before it comes. But, by all of those comments, i realize that many of weak points on it. Dear Sony Ericsson teams, you have many of homeworks to give your customer satisfaction of your Walkman series. This is a bad issues of your newbie android walkman series phone. Please improve!! Especially on its sound quality!!
17. Prasoon Parihar (unregistered) posted on 02 Sep 2011, 23:16 0 0
Hi there
I have recently bought a new sony ericsson w8 walkman phone.
I wanna clear that its not actually a walkman phone. Its only the advanced version of xperia X8 (with walkman software).
The performance is great, no hang up, works great with HD live wallpapers.
For mega bass, you can download any equalizer from android market from the following link.
https://market.android.com/search?q=equilizer&so=1&c=apps
18. vishal jain (unregistered) posted on 03 Sep 2011, 08:50 0 0
should come up with extra menly vivid colours..
19. Gopi Srinivasan (unregistered) posted on 05 Sep 2011, 02:37 0 0
Hi,I bought this phone last week. Screen clearity and Sound quality is better. But there is no option for Equaliser and no use of Walkman UI or SW. Battery is poor. Old version of OS 2.1. no Multi touch. Outdated technology. better go for Samsung pop or Ace with same rate range. if you are sony lover then for new x10 mini or Arc. W8 is worst
