Sony Ericsson W902 Review
Phone rating: 
In a nutshell: Sony Ericsson's premium Walkman phone is one
of the best music phones of all time, bundled with high quality headphones,
an 8GB memory card, FM radio with RDS and a brilliant 5 megapixel camera
too.
Review: October 2008.
Available in Volcanic Black, Wine Red or Earth Green, the W902 is a
3G music phone with a classic "candy-bar" shape. The W9xx
series of phones includes Sony Ericsson's premium Walkman phones, so
we immediately have high expectations for the W902. We're going to view
the W902 as the successor to our favourite Walkman phone ever - the
W810i. The W810i was perfect.
Even though it was fat and only had a 2 megapixel camera, for its time
it was brilliant, and we want the W902 to be as good now as the W810i
was back in 2006. But is it?
Well, the W902 looks quite a lot like the old W810i. It's a classic
shape, with nice buttons and very easy-to-use Walkman controls. It's
a bit bigger than most similar phones, but nice and slim, so we'll forgive
that. It weighs 100g, which feels just right to us. When you've spent
this much on a phone, you want one that feels solid, after all! The
screen is good, although at 2.2 inches it isn't the biggest. But remember
that this is a music phone first, so it's not about how it looks so
much as how it sounds. Which brings us on to ...
... the W902's music player is the latest version of the Walkman player,
and everything is here - you can play, rewind, fast forward, equalise,
shuffle tracks and create playlists on the phone. There are eight equaliser
presets. The FM radio with RDS shows which station you're tuned into,
as well as the name and artist of the song playing. We're disappointed
to find that the built-in memory is just 25 Mbytes, which is frankly
mean. However, Sony Ericsson have been more generous in bundling an
8GB Memory Stick Micro card with the phone, which is enough to store
roughly 2,000 MP3 tracks - more if encoded in AAC format. The audio
quality is really excellent, as the W902 uses the latest generation
of audio technology - Clear Bass & Clear Stereo - previously heard
only on Sony Ericsson's flagship Walkman
phone, the W980i. On top of this, the W902 comes with the premium
HPM-77 headset supplied. This is an outstandingly good headset. The
icing on the cake would have been a 3.5mm headset jack so that you could
plug in any headphones of your choice, but hey - the HPM-77 is an excellent
headset anyway and it's free with the phone!
There are plenty of other music-related features available. PlayNow™
lets you download games, ringtones and other content to your phone -
although you have to pay for this content. TrackID™ identifies
a song (track, artist & album information) from a few seconds recording.
Shake Control lets you change music track by shaking the phone when
you press the Walkman key. SensMe™ lets you create playlists based on
tempo and mood. Flight mode lets you listen to music (or play games,
etc) whilst the ability of the phone to make and receive calls is switched
off.
Most Walkman phones compromise on the camera quality, but not the W902.
The camera has a 5 megapixel sensor, autofocus and a flash. This is
virtually up to the standard of the C902 Cyber-Shot phone, so there's
really nothing to complain about at all here. As well as the autofocus
and flash, there are a couple of photo gadgets to help you get the best
possible photos. BestPic™ automatically takes 9 photos in rapid
succession, so that you can choose the best one to keep. PhotoFix adjusts
light balance and contrast after you have taken a picture to get the
most natural looking result.
Another gadget that's included in the W902 is the Walk Mate step counter
computer. This stays on all the time and counts how many steps you've
taken during the day. You can monitor your daily activity and set targets.
Just keep the phone in your pocket to keep counting. Did you know that
10,000 steps per day is the recommended target to stay fit? This is
pretty hard for most people to achieve, so counting steps is a good
way to motivate yourself to do more. Oh, sorry, are we starting to bore
you? Back to the phone then.
The phone is pretty slimline as we mentioned earlier, so we're anticipating
that the battery life won't be too amazing. If you're using 3G this
might be the case, but switch to 2G and you'll have no problems at all.
That may not be 100% satisfactory, but it's just the way that slimline
3G phones are. If you want a big battery, get a fat phone!
Connectivity options are Bluetooth and USB. There's no WiFi, so if
that matters to you you should be looking at the Sony
Ericsson C905 instead.
In conclusion, we really like the W902. It's a much better phone than
the old W810i that we have such fond memories of, so if you're upgrading
from an old Walkman, you can have confidence that this is a good one
to choose. Why not 5 stars? Well, we wanted more memory and we think
that the phone's pretty expensive. The memory problem is mostly overcome
by the 8GB memory card included. The cost issue won't really apply to
anyone buying on contract. So we're probably just being too fussy here.
If you like the look of the phone, pretend that we rated it 5 stars
and just get it!
Features of the Sony Ericsson W902 include:
- 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and digital zoom
- Video capture & video calling
- Display: 262,144 colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.2 inches)
- Music player
- FM radio with RDS
- Polyphonic ringtones, MP3/AAC ringtones
- Speakerphone
- Sound recorder
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, email
- 3D Java games
- Picture wallpaper
- Organiser functions: Alarm, Calculator, Calendar, Contacts, Stopwatch,
Notes, Tasks, Timer
- Memory: 25 Mbytes plus Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support
(up to 8 GB)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, Modem
- Internet: Web browser, RSS feeds
- Vibration alert
- Flight mode
- Quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) plus 3G HSDPA
- Size: 110 x 49 x 12 mm
- Weight: 100g
- Talktime: 4 hours (3G) - 9 hours (2G)
- Battery standby: 360 hours (3G) - 380 hours (2G)
- Video calling: 2.5 hours
Sony Ericsson W902 User Reviews
Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this
phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so
please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive
language, and please, no advertising!
Average rating from 49 reviews:
Reviewed by Hasanromy from Bangladesh on 20th
Nov 2011
Nice
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Reviewed by hassan from maldives on 23rd Aug 2011
W902 sony ericsson / we can't receive text messages
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Reviewed by Dennis from Ghana on 5th Jun 2011
This fon is good
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Reviewed by Jacinto from Angola on 16th Feb 2011
Excelent Phone.
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Reviewed by Rijad from Bosnia on 22nd Jan 2011
It's good phone, at first side buttons stoped working, and yeh, it did
restart itself, but then after getting him back, they gave me new, adn
told me its new version adn those errors are repaired, it's dumbphone,
light, and easy to use, has all functions i need. 4/5
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Reviewed by Matt from Sweden on 3rd Nov 2010
In summary: the most rubbish phone I ever touched!! At first It was
restarting by itself and now keys stopped working. This phone can easily
win the prize of worst phone evaaaaaarr!
Rating:  Reply
Reviewed by badiuzaman from pakistan on 11th Aug
2010
this is very beautiful mobile bettry timeming very good
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Reviewed by Jordan from scotland on 16th Jun 2010
I got this phone atm, gettin shot of it shortlt tho, seemed like a good
fon at first but some of my keys stoped workin for no reson and now
it keeps switching its self off even after ive done updates. ive had
this problem with a few song phones. complete watse of money if u ask
me
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Reviewed by Priya from India on 12th Jun 2010
This phone really sucks!! Waste of money!! Expect for the 5MP camera,
this phone is useless.
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Reviewed by Brox from Croatia on 10th May 2010
I have also W902, and had noticed some problem. Camera button does not
work normally, meaning you must press it much harder than normal to
work. Cam button is working on normal press (I have tested it on keyboard
lock), but activating camera does not work on that. Is this software
provblem or what? Anybody else had that particular problem?
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Reviewed by GP from UK on 14th Apr 2010
Great Phone. Loved it to bits. have had it for a year and half now.has
hung a few times but very rarely for about 2 mins. I have dropped it
quite a few times as the sides r a lil slippery or maybe my grip isnt
very firm, and the last time i did, its display has gone, but thats
all my fault. I m soooooo missing it now......
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Reviewed by Atish from India on 6th Jan 2010
I brought this phone 5 ,onths before its started giving problem like
keys are not working all the time like 9,send key ,backkey,contineously
displyaing mesage like please press yes to record sound,while listening
track songs changes automatically, volume keys are not working, restart
autmatically sometimes Again its not launch in india I buyed it in 17500
without bill Service center will not able to detect the proper cause
Sony service centr in india are so DHILLLE Log My name is atish Jaiswal
Mumbai my old number :9371238854 email:jaiswal.atish@gmail.com helpout
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Reviewed by SOMEONE WHO HATES THIS PHONE -.- from Singapore
on 6th Jan 2010
THIS PHONE SERIOUSLY SUCKS TO THE MAX CORE, i just bought it for 6months
and it's.... so sucking Keep on auto restarting itself -,- It respones
VERY EXTREME SLOW ! even though, the camera is quite attractive, overall,
i think there are much more better and reasonable priced phone than
this phone
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by nader from Iran on 2nd Dec 2009
Hi, Finding an Slim and 5MP Camera is not easy. Sony Ericssion Made
it and it looks good like what mans want :-)
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Reviewed by ????? from ????? on 17th Nov 2009
best phone........... i thougt if i can had it............ love it..............
good review................ tq.......................
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Reviewed by azanshaz from malaysia on 28th Oct
2009
this phone sucks!! i've had it for 5months. at first it was ok, but
i've formatted it 4times already. always software problem! browsing
the media is also slow and transferring media using bluetooth is also
veryyy slow! at this moment, i can't switch it on! OMG! this is the
worst phone i've ever had!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by death from mauritius on 22nd Aug 2009
tooo koool....loved it............
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Reviewed by Teesharo from Hungary on 28th Jul
2009
For those, whose phone has the restart problem: First backup the files
from the memory card, then format it by the phone (not by a computer).
I had the same problem, but since I have formatted the memory stick
by the phone, everything is OK. It is a great phone, though I don't
like the built quality of it, it should be sturdier.
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Reviewed by Phil from UK on 18th Jul 2009
Superb phone. I was very apprehensive about moving from Nokia, but I
don't think I'd ever go back now. It's very reliable, it sometimes starts
being slow, but only for a few seconds, then it's back to normal again.
I got it as a company phone, and so I'm using it one hell of a lot,
despite that, I get a full day's battery out of it. My previous Nokias
needed charging whilst I'm in my office. I don't use it for fancy features,
but there are some great things on it. I love TrackID! For me, it does
exactly what I want it to do. My only gripe is that I can't PIN protect
the keypad, which is a little bit annoying. Other than that, I love
it!
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Reviewed by francois from mauritius on 14th Jun
2009
great phone! but there are things that i dont like.. its slow when browsing
music, photos, videos in media.. i got a bug yesterday that emptied
my battery, the power saver stayed light up all along the night..i didnt
realize it.. another problem is the connection between the phone and
the handfree cord...it became loose after a week.. autorotate is slow..
but over all these, im satisfied with the phone.. good camera, but not
xenon flash great sound in headphone, though ipod is still better ^^
i like the remote control application :P were playing with it last night,
control my pc from my phone >< so nice!!!lol,anw i think every new phone
has this application .. even if its slow sometimes(lags), its far more
rapid than other phones.. i love the design!!! so, improvement to be
done: has to include more ram and another more rapid chip...^^ thats
all!!!
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Reviewed by ambisha from england on 14th Jun 2009
ive finnaly got the w902 its fantasctic camera is brilliant nice music
features i hope walkman can keep it up
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Reviewed by james from england on 18th May 2009
This phone is sooooo gooood :)
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Reviewed by rakesh from india on 11th May 2009
lovely
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Reviewed by Flamur azemi from Kosova on 10th May
2009
wery nice mobil sonyericcsson
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Reviewed by Glac from Maldives on 7th May 2009
john from huddersfield go eat somethibg. The phone is awsum....................
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Reviewed by john from huddersfield on 29th Apr
2009
this phone is rubish, do not buy it trust me 5mp looks like a 2mp music
player not as good.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Ali from United Kingdom on 17th Apr
2009
I have this phone and till now m using it. Its a nice one to choose
after your w810. Me ma self used w810 for 3 years. And now its the one
thing which will satisfactorilly be the perfect replacement.
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Reviewed by Gopan from Oman on 27th Mar 2009
its really good.....but there should have been xenon flash and even
the sound is a bit low...it gets switched off by its own during certain
intervals!!
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Reviewed by beetlebabe from uk on 7th Mar 2009
Functionally fantastic phone - great camera, walkman etc. Love the style
too. Sadly I'm getting rid of it because it keeps switching itself off
at random times.Hence the 3 stars and not 5 which it would have been.
Gutted because otherwise it really is one of the best phones I've had.
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Reviewed by rups from UK on 3rd Mar 2009
Had this phone for 4 months. I agree with previous comments - it's almost
perfect. I'm not going to repeat all the praises, so let's go straight
to flaws: - music control buttons on the side are sometimes oversensitive.
I carry mobile in my jeans. When walking, playback tends to stop because
of accidentally pressed buttons. - as mentioned in previous reviews,
back cover is slightly loose. I put folded piece of paper underneath
it, that helped a little. - there's no information about time of missed
call, if the same person tried to reach me more than once. Only last
time is shown. - phone sometimes freezes and gets slow especially when
there's an active application in background. - software for PC is a
bit messy and not user-friendly. - presence of WIFI, would make me more
than happy. But hey - there are no perfect phones, aren't there? :)
Apart from few flaws W902 is almost perfect. Full recommendation!!!
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Reviewed by Neil from Czech Republic on 1st Mar
2009
I have had this phone for two weeks and I am very happy with it in general.
The player is brilliant quality and plays back with detail and clarity
normally only found on cd. The camera is very good and the general functions
of the Phone are great. Battery life so far is better than my prevoius
S.E V 630. now to a few down points:1), the phone has a mind of its
own sometimes and turns itself off !(an incident that has happened with
alarming regularity!!) I will be taking it back next week to see what
Vodafone have to say about it !2), the connection for the hands free/headphone/charger
is already playing up!!( even though I handle this phone with kitten
gloves and have done exactly what is recommended in the user manual!)
3), the software is a bit of a problem when downloading music but might
be a glitch with my p.c ! I am generally happy with the phone apart
from these few irritating points.
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Reviewed by big up pakiz from unknown on 26th
Feb 2009
this is the best walkman phone going. . . I strongly reccomend you to
buy it
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Reviewed by ya mum from a h on 15th Feb 2009
the best phone in the world it beat the samsung tocco/ i hav both of
the phones this phone is really load i advise u too get it :P :D :)
:s
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Reviewed by Mobile Test from English Island on
5th Feb 2009
Best all round Sony Ericsson on the market the w902. You get a 5mp camera
with a flash , the best audio walkman and its a slim n loud mobile with
a chemically toughened scratch free screen. Voice dialling is so simple
and no others mobiles have this feature anymore that enables you to
record your OWN VOICE at the press of a button and then dial the contact
(unless EDITOR can suggest any other phone models with good voice dialling
which i cant find)and best of all if you have 100 contacts in your phone
you can have a different ringtone for them and ALSO a different mp3
or voice recorded SMS alert for them too !!!!!! COOL COOL phone by SOny
Ericsson and its......FLAW FREE
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Reviewed by lily from england on 1st Feb 2009
this phone is aaammmmaaazziiinnnggg:) i mean having a really goood music
player and a 5 mega pixel camera!!! wow!!! i love this phone and the
sony ericsson W980i even the the camera on that one is awful :) xx
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Reviewed by Paulo G from UK on 31st Jan 2009
Brilliant phone in every way. Nice feel, good screen, excellent user
interface, great camera. Buy one!
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Reviewed by Andrea from England on 22nd Jan 2009
This is a really great phone - the best Sony Ericsson i've had for some
time (its up there with the the W810). The new Walkman software is really
good along with the easy to use menu system. The software is rock solid,
the sound quality is excellent and with 8gb storage you have room for
more than enough music. To be honest almost everything is good with
this phone - the battery life, HSDPA access, the browser, the list goes
on... Time for the bad points: It has no flight mode (so although it's
a Walkman phone you can't use it on a plane), it has a flimsy battery
cover and there are no WIFI or GPS features. I'd give it 4.5 stars if
I could but as I can't i'll have to give it 5 as I really do like this
phone!
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Reviewed by Hayley from England on 14th Jan 2009
I've had this phone since Christmas, and personally I find it amazing!
I definitely recommend this phone. It's got everything, I really wanted
a Walkman phone, but most of them have a 3.2mp camera, and this phone
has 5! Love this phone so much!
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Reviewed by Scotty2hotty from Baku on 4th Jan
2009
Ive been a nokia fan for 8 years but took a gamble on the W902 and havent
looked back at all. Im not into having music phones (thats what ipods
etc are for) but this phone is a top gadget, and the looks are awesome!
Turn off the wallpaper and have a black screen and its the mutz nuts!!
Its on par, if not better than nokias for being user friendly - absolute
ease! Text messaging is a joy compared to some phones. I totally cant
fault this phone at all except for the profiles, you cant have a different
ring tone for each one, whatever tune u set as ur ringer is used for
all profiles. I swap sim cards between a Omnia for business and the
W902 for pleasure and i find the W902 the more enjoyable device! It
gets 4 stars, if it had wi-fi and a internet connection of the Omnia
then it would be the best phone on the market!
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Reviewed by James from Malaysia on 29th Dec 2008
I Love the SE w902~ it is one of the best phone ever! fantastic handling
with no slowup at all! error free!! and I love the camera! on par with
most of the camera phones. IMO ranks better than nokia - sorry guys
this stole my heart from nokia. keep it up se walkman!
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Reviewed by Beth from Scotland on 26th Dec 2008
i got this phone the other day. and its one of the best ive had. good
battery life, great camera, and the music player is excellent! the only
trouble im having with the phone is getting my memory card to work.
having tried 2 or 3 in the phone it still doesnt work. apart from that
the phone is superb and i recommend it to everyone !
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Reviewed by Ry from Manchester , UK on 4th Dec
2008
After trying many phones this year i think i finally have the one for
me ive had the w910,w980,w595,c902 so far im a Sony Ericsson an purely
because of their Voice Dialling feature that no other brand of phone
has where you can record your own voice not the hit and often miss speaker
independant dialling , the w902 does best what i need it to do... it
rings loud , its a lot slimmer than you would expect , the screen is
nice n bright , call quality is superb and mp3 playback is best on the
market ,textin can be super fast the quickest SE i have used it keeps
up with you for a change , the camera is excellent and the alarms work
unlike the c902 !!! The only gripes i have are the dual led flash aint
no xenon dark situations still aint lit well enough for pics and the
rugged feel is plasticky were slightly rubberised would have been better
and given more grip and the position of the loudspeaker means if the
phone is left on its back then ringtones get muffled, these are not
faults just things SE should have learnt but i guess if they release
a phone that does everything then no other model will sell hence each
model missing something another has.... ill be keeping this w902 a while
as i thinks its great and the memory is fantastic. Roll on 2009 and
lets see what SE can offer id have gone for the c905 but its bulkiness
put me off aswell as its keypad , a phone should be slim not a big lump.
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Reviewed by stacy from uk on 29th Nov 2008
this phone is great i had it for 1 week know and im not sick and tried
of it its full of stuff that you dont get sick and tried of it and it
looks really nice as a phone not big or fat i say get it
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Reviewed by Kevin from Swansea on 22nd Nov 2008
Had the phoe a couple of weeks now, and think it is fantastic, had the
w810 when it first came out, and tried nokia's & samsung's in between,
but my heart is with the trusty sony ericsson's, fantastic feel to this
phone, easy to use menu, brilliant 5mp camera (who needs 8mp?), and
stores loads of music with the 8gb mem card included, it's gonna be
hard to beat this in such a compact handset. 5 stars from me.
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Reviewed by oscar from st.thomas on 15th Nov 2008
eyepoping,amazing
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Reviewed by joe johnson from england on 23rd Oct
2008
this phone is absulutley amzing it has all the features you can possibly
want e.g. music player 5mp camera and 3G. This phone holds up to a 8GB
memory card which can hold about 2,000 songs. I would really reccomend
this phone event tohoe i think the ball in the middle of the centrepad
might weare out after a bit but it is still an exellent phone. The older
version the w810i was a good phone but very chunky now the w 902 is
a slimline phone and can still hold loads of music. Normally walkman
phones have rubbish cameras but not with the w 902 this has a 5 megapixel
camera which is as good a the cybershot c905. So all togeter this is
a great phone and you should so get it.
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Reviewed by Westy from England on 20th Oct 2008
Took delivery of my W902 recently. Glad I chose it. Its possibly the
best phone I've ever had and looks simply stunning. The camera is excellent
and the flash more than adequate. The music player is superb, It rivals
my iPod but could do with perhaps going a little louder. All other function
are excellent too, Googlemaps, Youtube etc. Texting is lightening fast
thanks to the extremely responsive keypad. I have nothing negative to
say on this phone at all really. Best SE since W810i (which I still
have) I highly recommend this phone if you want a very good camera and
excellent music player with loads of memory (8GB card) and enough extra
stuff to keep most people happy, lets face it how many of us really
use all the other stuff anyway.
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Reviewed by Sikamena Siyumbwa from Zambia on 14th
Oct 2008
I've had my W810i for three years now and we've basically been inseparable.
It's time now to move on, though, and this looks like a keeper! I can't
abide sliders, ungrippable super slims and flips. Candy bar is my thing,
and I've waited a long time for this natural successor to my trusty,
near-perfect W810i! I just wish it had Wi-fi and the 8MP camera from
the C905, but that's just me being greedy. It looks great; I love the
glossy finish, but I fear the black paint on the central toggle pad
will be worn through in no time, just as the metallic finish on the
W810i's cursor pad eventually gave up. Maybe there is a little touch
screen functionality to reduce the load on the cursor keys? In Zambia
we don't have 3G yet so the presence of EDGE is reassuring. I just hope
and pray that the initial batches don't have major manufacturing snags.
Thanks Grattus for your review and for giving me hope.
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Reviewed by Grattus from England on 12th Oct 2008
I have had this phone for just under a week and can thoroughly recommend
it! Lots of other reviews state that it is just the C902 in a different
body but that is not the case. I would say that it is an upgrade to
the K850i and therefore superior to the C902. I don't know if SE used
the same camera module that is in the C902 but they must have tweaked
the algorithm as it is better than the C902 and up there with the best
around. The video is also very high quality and with the photo light
you can use it low light conditions. The W902 beats the C902 in that
the keypad is vastly superior, giving good feedback when buttons are
pushed (allowing quick texting), battery life is far greater (although
the same battery is used in the C902!?) and of course the media player
is excellent. It also has Google maps pre-installed to help you find
your way around although this appears not to use GPS but the nearest
phone signal towers as it thought I was 5 streets away from my actual
location. Internet access is quick as the W902 has hsdpa for your browsing
needs. The only downside I have is that the back cover is slightly loose
but I imagine I shall be able to cure that with a replacement cover.
Anyone who had the W810i and has been wishing there could be a new,
improved, updated version of that world beater does not have to wait
any longer. It is here!!
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