New Phone: SE W600

A review I just posted to Amazon:

So far, after 4 days with it, I like it very much. This is a very good phone. It also tries to do many other things, and is fairly successful at some. My primary needs were: reception, battery life, and reliability/build quality. My secondary "wants" were Organizer, FM radio, and camera. The rest of the features the w600 has fit into the "That's nice" category.

As a Phone -- RECEPTION: compared to my call-dropping Motorola T720, the W600 has great reception in and out of the house in Madison, WI. I haven't been out of the city to test it though. BATTERY LIFE: So far, even with heavy play (Bluetooth transfers, FM radio and mp3 play) the battery life is impressive. RELIABILITY: The build quality seems good. I'm concerned about the swivel design, the exposed screen, and the charge/data/headphone plug since I had such horrible experience with Motorola's similar design. Why doesn't Sony use a USB jack? Or a standard headphone jack? It seems to me that those are both well-proven designs. RINGTONES: The included ringtones are not to my liking (they suck), but I love making ringtones in GarageBand. I wish it had a "Vibe then Ring" option so I could feel it ring, but hear it if I didn't feel it. I worked around it by making a ring in GarageBand that begins with 10 seconds of silence though. MEDIANET: Many complain about the MediaNet button getting pressed accidently. I wish it were customizable. I ended up disabling it by removing services. If I ever do choose to enable services and cannot disable that button, I will probably super glue it up so I don't press it accidently. However, you can also use the lock slider to lock it from connecting, or set the keys to lock automatically in 10 seconds. MISC: I like the ability to customize with themes, but wish there were more information (and customizable) on the screen besides the time.

ORGANIZER: It syncs smoothly with my Mac with Bluetooth and USB (thanks to the iSync plugin that some wonderful person made). Bravo! It is easy and intuitive to set a one-time or recurrent alarm, and the Alarms are loud. Adding entries is not difficult -- except that the swivel design puts the keypad at a lower level than the screen, which makes it hard for me to use. And I agree with others that the recessed design of number keys make them hard to use without a lot of attention to the task. FM RADIO: I was worried about the reception of the radio. I like to listen to NPR more than mp3s, so I've been looking for a good radio radio rather than an iPod. The reception is great -- better than many other radios I've tried. The interface is very well designed and intuitive. My only complaint is the connection/plug -- why oh why not a standard headphone jack? I understand that it's needed for an antenna, and am fine with the little extension bit (also a mic for the voice recorder?), but it adds unneeded bulk. And I'd like to use BT headpiece for FM listening -- can I do that if I have the antenna part in? Haven't tried it yet. CAMERA: 1.3 MP is not bad. The video is fair enough (for a phone), and sound is adequate. Controls are a bit strange still -- maybe I'll get used to them.

OTHER: An unexpected bonus is the LED flashlight. I wish it were easier to quickly use though, in fact I wish it were easier to move between all the functions: phone/camera/radio/mp3/flashlight. I ended up setting it up as a shortcut, but shortcut keys are rare and precious. I'd love a hack to make the MediaNet key a momentary light switch. WALKMAN: The mp3s are fairly easy to transfer (but not from iTunes), although the Sony software isn't Mac compatible. I haven't figured out how to get the Artist/Album/etc. tags to work right, but haven't spent any time trying to do so.

DESIGN/FEEL: I think I'd like the w800, or a flip-phone version of this. I like the orange and the texture of the case. The loop antenna is kind of cool to me. The speakers are loud and clear -- maybe too clear, as it sometimes sounds like static (is voice communication sound controlled by the mp3 player's equalizer? If so, maybe I can adjust that). The volume button toggle switch doesn't respond tactile-ly enough, and I hit it accidently when I squeeze to press the radio button on the other side. The voice dial is *very* difficult to figure out, and tells me to "say the name after the tone" but never gives me a tone unless I have the headphones on. Even with the headphones, it took many tries to get the voice names entered in.

OVERALL: It's a good device. I like it. I hope SE refines it, and makes a flip version to better protect the screen, and offer easier access to the keypad.