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A combination cell phone and music player, the Sony Ericsson W810i, the latest in the company's Walkman phone line, delivers just about everything a gadget-lover could want. A super-small beauty, the W810i crams a lot into a surprisingly tiny package. You'll get a music player with an external memory card, a 2-megapixel camera, and Bluetooth. But as this phone isn't yet offered by a major carrier, you'll need to shell out if you want to get it.

The W810i is a candy bar-style phone measuring only 3.9 x 1.8 x 0.8 inches and weighing in at 3.5 ounces. We love its sleek black styling and its generous cool factor; it feel like a phone for night-clubbers who know the best undiscovered places.

A vibrant 262,144-color screen measures 176 x 220 pixels, and the default theme is a bright complementary orange.

Our only fault with the phone is the button layout. When a phone has this many functions, creating a simple and intuitive button layout is a problem.

The designers tried to solve it by creating two round buttons to the left and right of the directional pad that are really three button in one. But clicking them is awkward, and we're disappointed that there's no dedicated End button that always brings you back to the main screen. This is a quad-band phone, and we always got clear calls and strong reception in our testing.


Front view, showing the music player interface.

Frequent travelers will appreciate the phone's airplane mode, which lets you listen to your music while leaving the phone receiver off. We're betting the stewardesses will still tell you to turn your phone off, but you can try to make them understand that only the music player is working.

The W810i comes with a 512 Memory Stick Pro Duo card, which can hold approximately 120 songs (AAC or MP3 non-DRM-protected tracks). You can upgrade to a larger card. The rear speaker actually produces a pretty good sound, about the same as FM radio, with good clarity and a decent range of treble and bass. You can also plug in the included stereo headset for a much richer listening experience.

You load songs from your PC, using the included software and USB cable. Song transfer is easy, although we couldn't get the file transfer software to work. Saved tracks can be used as ringtones. Surprisingly, there's no way to buy music through the phone.

Other features include Bluetooth (although, sadly, the phone doesn't support Bluetooth stereo profiles, so you can't use it with wireless stereo headsets) and several fun apps like MusicDJ and PhotoDJ. The phone comes with two games, both of which are actually fun. Some additional games are available as free downloads.

The 2-megapixel camera takes dramatically better shots that the 1.3-megapixels found on many other phones. One nice touch: the camera flash can be used as a flashlight. It's just right for those moments when you need a little help in a darkened place.


Rear view, showing camera, flash, and speaker.

At the moment, the W810i is only offered by a few small carriers, so most people won't be able to buy it with a discount. The full price is $499. That's steep, but at least you know that no features have been disabled by carriers trying to herd you toward their online services.

A press representative told us that the phone would likely be offered by a major US GSM network this fall, and would probably sell for between $149 and $199 with a service commitment. If you can wait, that would be a great deal on a music-playing phone that's attractive inside and out.