Review: an afternoon with the Sony Ericsson W518a
Sony Ericsson's W518a is a clamshell phone offered by AT&T for $100 with a 2-year contract. A $50 mail-in rebate halves that price. It has a 3G radio, 320 x 240 display, GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and external music controls for use as an MP3 player.
On the Walkman front, it can access Napster and other streaming services, has an FM radio, and can be controlled by shaking it just so: clever! The W518a also has a full set of basic info management apps, instant messaging, a sound recorder, and so on.
Its flagship feature, however, is a custom Facebook app that aims to make this decidedly dumb phone a lot faster and smarter when it comes to integration with the social networking site.
The best part of it is a carousel of recent status updates that remains on the home screen, automatically updating itself. As a result, whenever you open it up, your timeline is right there, jumping from item to item every few seconds. It's also easy to upload photos and make status updates from the App proper, but you can't control the home screen carousel manually. It also relies on the website for more advanced Facebookery.
Apart from this well-tailored but limited app, the W518a's best feature is solid Sony-style design. In other respects, it's tough to like.
Thoughts:
• There's a bunch of other apps, mostly media-oriented: JuiceCaster, mobile banking, a ringtone maker, MobiTV, WikiMobile, XM Radio, Yellowpages, etc.
• Closed up, it's small and attractive compared to other low-end clamshells, with a no-nonsense black exterior, external audio controls, and a glowy monochrome display. It's as classy as plastic can be.
• The keypad is brushed metal, with recessed keys. Though a sane world would not include convex keyboards of any kind, it's not that bad.
• Menus are a bit slow, but not annoying so. Video uploads only to MySpace or Snapfish.
• AT&T also has "Share," a new Facebook application that it's pitching hard with this handset: it looks like some sort of viral marketing thing for the media you can download with it. Not my cup of tea, really.
• The big annoyance: it's a Walkman with no headphone jack and no free headphones. With this basic clamshell phone, the same up-front price as an iPhone 3G, one must pay extra for proprietary accessories just so you can listen to it properly. Every time one of Sony's appendages releases a Walkman that doesn't have a real headphone jack, a fairy dies and becomes an ulcer in Sir Howard Stringer's stomach.
Complaints like this aside, it's a good choice if you want a small, cheap phone that doesn't look like a toy.
Product Page [AT&T]
Detailed specifications [Sony Ericsson]
xdmag
#1 – 10:10 AM August 10, 2009
It's been years since I last saw a Sony Ericsson phone that comes without headphones. Methinks this is an AT&T kit.
leffel white
#2 – 9:03 AM September 11, 2009
Where can i get headset for w518a micro m2 memory
and usb cable for this phone