Sony
Ericsson W880i / W888c
Discontinued 6th February 2007
We had a preview
of the Sony Ericsson
W880i last month, and now Sony Ericsson
have revealed the full technical details of this new
"Walkman" phone.
The Sony Ericsson
W880i is an ultra-slim and exceptionally light 3G phone
at just 9.5mm thick and an astonishing 72 grams in weight.
The light weight is more surprising given that the W880i
has a stainless steel finish.
The display is a 1.8" 240x320 pixel TFT panel
in 262,000 colour, and the W880i
has a two megapixel primary camera with a secondary
camera for video calls. A 1GB Memory Stick Micro card
is included in the box, which by our calculations is
enough for about 16 albums worth of high-quality audio.
The W880i has stereo Bluetooth
and an enhanced version of the Walkman player.
The W880i is a UMTS
2100 MHz 3G phone with tri-band 900/1800/1900 MHz GSM,
but there's no word of a "W880a" version for
North America. The W888c is a non 3G tri-band GSM version
of the W880i with the video calling camera omitted,
aimed at mainland China.
Talktime on GSM is quoted as 6.5 hours with 17 days
standby time and up to 20 hours of music playback. 3G
use and Bluetooth will reduce the battery life, of course.
The
other features on the Sony
Ericsson W880i are very
similar to other handsets in the current crop of "Walkman"
phones - there's a web browser, email client (with push
capabilities), RSS newsreader, speakerphone, video streaming
and of course a comprehensive multimedia player.
There are some compromises with the Sony
Ericsson W880i though
- the main one is the size of the screen. Although it's
a 240x320 pixel display, it is only 1.8", compared
with the 1.9" display on the lower end W610i and
display sizes of over 2.0" on many other phones..
however, the slightly smaller screen has advantages
in weight and power consumption. There's no flash on
the main camera (and 3.2 megapixels would have been
much nicer), and unlike some other "Walkman"
phones, the W880i doesn't have an FM radio. The other
missing feature is the lack of quad-band GSM and the
W880i doesn't have EDGE support either - so this is
very much aimed at UMTS 2100 users only. This is nit-picking
really - if you want some of these features in a Sony
Ericsson "Walkman"
phone, then you have plenty of other choices available.
In terms of looks, the W880i
combines Sony Ericsson's typical understated design
with a distinctly stylish finish. Combined with the
ultra-slim form factor, and the W880i will clearly have
plenty of "wow" factor. The W880i will come
in two colour schemes of "Steel Silver" and
"Flame Black".
Sony Ericsson say that the W880i should
be available in the first quarter of 2007 in selected
markets.
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|
Sony
Ericsson W880i at a glance
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Available:
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Q1
2007
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Network:
|
GSM
900/1800/1900 + UMTS 2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ UMTS (3G)
|
Screen:
|
176x220
pixels, 262k colours
|
Camera:
|
2
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Slim
monoblock 103 x 47 x
9.5mm / 72 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
Memory
Stick Micro
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Yes
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Battery
life:
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6.5
hours talk / 17 days standby
(GSM)
|
|
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