Design
The w800i is a candybar-style phone almost identical to the K750i in terms of dimensions and overall physical design. The phone is 1.8" w x 3.9" h x 0.8" d and 3.5 oz in weight, and is finished in white with orange and silver trim. In addition to the standard Sony Ericsson logos, the phone is branded with the Walkman logo on the front and along the left edge. Similar to the
K750i, the w800i is a bit heavier in the hand than one might expect from its size. By no means a heavyweight, this phone does have something of a heft that speaks to the powerful electronics inside of it.
The front of the phone is divided almost equally between a gorgeous 262K TFT LCD screen on the top and a keypad on the lower half that's topped by a five-way joystick and five function buttons. Keypad buttons are white with black lettering while the naivgation stick and softkey buttons are silver with black labeling. The exceptions are the orange-topped nav stick and the top-center mounted Walkman button, which is silver with an orange "Walkman W" logo. Buttons are a little on the small side, but easy enough to use even for people with large hands (like me) so long as they're not obsessive text messagers. Users familiar with the K750i will be happy to know that the w800i's joystick doesn't cut into the "2" key, making this keypad a bit more user-friendly overall.
Turned over, the w800i is easily mistaken for a compact digital camera. The back panel is white plastic with an engraved SE logo and the green/silver SE marble logo along the bottom edge. Above that, the camera lens housing is finished in silver and orange plastic. The lens assembly itself is a circle done in multiple shades of silver including a square mirror (for self portraits) that sits just below a circular lens cover that is retracted by a thumb switch mounted to the side of the assembly. The lens cover switch is very easy to access, and the phone switches into camera mode when the cover is retracted, which is very nice. An LED camera light sits above the lens.
What's nice about this cameraphone treatment is that the handset looks like a phone and acts like a phone, but doesn't bulge out quite so much as many cameraphones, the K750i included. The 2.0 megapixel CMOS sensor and the rest of the camera-specific electronics are the same as those found in the K750i, but the w800i's housing is both easier to use and a tad slimmer.
The phone's left edge has a single button for music Play/Pause at the top, and a rubber-capped Memory Stick Duo slot on the bottom. A power button and IR port are found on the top edge of the phone, and the bottom edge is taken up by SE's multi-connector port.
The overall look of the w800i is fun. The phone isn't as flashy as a Motorola RAZR or some of the newest Samsung and LG sliders, but it's not as reserved looking as the K750i or other black and grey monotone candybar phones. The orange and white isn't for everyone, but I like it quite a bit.
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