Sony Ericsson W890i Review

I find it irritating that the only people who share their views on a product, tend to be those who have had problems. I have had the W890i for just over two weeks and am very happy with my purchase. My previous phone was the K810i, which is still servicing me faithfully as my spare. Now, a lot has been made of the lack of Xenon/LED flash or auto focus on the W890i. If this is important to you then naturally this isn't the phone for you. Then again, if photography is your passion, perhaps a dedicated camera would be in order. One advantage of not having a flash or auto focus, is that this is truly a point and click affair, with minimal lag between pushing the button and the picture being taken. I consider the addition of this camera as a bonus on a dedicated phone, rather than a hindrance. The build quality of the W890i is far superior to that of the K810i, which itself was far from shabby. It feels solid in the hand and has a pleasant, cool touch to it. The silver brushed metal case is very attractive, and has minor gold detailing which gives the phone an enigmatic, understated look. The rear cover has two locking clips, one at either side, which keeps the cover secure in place when sliding the phone out of a tight pocket (one minor gripe with the K810i). Another bonus is the location of the memory stick. This is situated under the rear cover, but unobstructed by the battery which allows for hot swapping. The Sony Ericsson logo on the rear cover is slightly raised, which may cause scratches if slid across a wooden surface, but that is really nit-picking. The overall size of the phone is a major selling point. It is only a tiny bit larger than the W880i, but is around half the depth of the K810i and also benefits from having rounded edges on each corner. This makes it easier to pocket, but the sound of the internal speaker does lose a little grunt and sounds a little 'tinny'. The best way to hear music is naturally by dedicated headphones, and this brings me to a well known gripe with Sony Ericsson phones. They are still insisting on using their bespoke connectors, rather than provide a 3.5mm port (this connector on the side is the only dent in this phones looks). This means that you are unable to use your own standard headphones, though naturally, the quality of bluetooth headphones are improving, and are also becoming more affordable. The provided headphones are comfortable in the ear, and the quality of sound produced is very rich and warm, perhaps not to a dedicated iPod standard, but as near to it that I have experienced to date. The PC software provided isn't the best, though I haven't had as many problems with it as other reviews (on other sites) have reported. I would hope that this software indifference will be addressed by Sony Ericsson in the near future. Now onto the main reason why I bought the W890i, its use as a phone. I have been very impressed by the quality of reception provided by this phone. The clarity of sound during a call is better than any other phone that I have used to date, and I am as yet to experience not being heard clearly by anyone. I would also like to add that this phone doesn't seem to get overly hot during very long conversations. Battery life seems to be good, though perhaps not spectacular. Though I must add that compared to all of the touch screen phone swamping the market at the moment, the battery life is excellent. A previous reviewer has mentioned that the W890i will accept the BST-40 larger capacity battery which should provide better performance over the standard BST-33, and I will definitely be looking into this. The lack of wifi will upset some, but as I only use my phone when on the move, it hasn't influenced my judgement. The speed of internet access I find is reliant on the sites visited, but over all is very respectable. Many of the so called 'missing' features - wifi, flash, auto focus, 3.5mm port - would almost certainly have increased the size of this phone, and for me, that would have been a shame. For its size, I'm really impressed at how good this phone is.

Verdict: An excellent 'phone', good 'music player', and average 'camera'. Its very attractive and has great build quality. I fully recommend the W890i.

if you are just looking for a normal phone + good music player then I think this is good product for you.

BUT, if you want a good camera, responsive album viewing, good loud speaker quality, then this phone is definitely OUT.

And also, the phone is not very stable. Always get reset by itself once in a while. At first, this looks like a "Wow" phone to ppl, have tried to pass it to few ppl to test and at the end, nobody want it and have to sell it away....

Like Ben, my W890i has reboots. But now its got to the stage where it happens every 5 minutes. I found that if I updated my phone software it would stop for a while. You can do this by downloading the program off the sony erricson website or there is an update service under the general tab in the settings. This only helped for a short period and I recommend you back up your files or write down your contacts first if you do this because it will delete them. Also, I am very annoyed at the music quality of the phone because it is quiet and tinny compared to other walkman phones. Another problem I have is when i take pictures, I find because the phone is so small and thin that when i take a picture the phone moves slightly and the picture will be slightly blurry, and this is annoying for me as i use my phone as a camera a lot because I can't afford a digital camera (I'm 15 btw, too busy with school to get a job!). I am considering getting a new phone because this is just getting to annoying that i want to throw it out of the window, luckily my boyfriend is willing to give me his old phone, also sony erricson, and hopefully I won't have any problems with it!! Hopefully what I have said has been use to some people, but unless you don't mind your phone rebooting every 10 minutes, I suggest you don't get this phone, but of course go for another phone in the SE range because i have had them for about 5 years and I think they are the best phones around and very easy to use! Lots of love, Danni xxxx

I had the exact same problem with my W8901 where i was getting the emergency calls only message. When i put my chip in my old phone that worked fine! The ironic thing was when emergency calls were trying to get through to me, my phone would go straight to answer phone then when i tried to retrieve the message i couldn't! It was so frustrating! When i contacted Sony they told me the phone needed a software update. I didn't want to get into that, so took it back to the shop where i bought it from. Luckily the phone was under warranty with them for a year. After it was sent off to be repaired twice and was returned to me with the same problem they gave me a new phone, a W910i. Touch wood its worked fine up until now but it’s been a horrible first experience with a Sony Ericsson, think I’ll stick to Nokia's after this!