Sony Ericsson W350 Cell Phone Review - Value & Comparisons
|
Marianne Schultz Published on November 12, 2008 Comment on this |
|
|
|
|
Value (7.0)
The W350 is currently free through AT&T with a 2-year contract. In our view, free is the best price ever, and our only hang-up is the lack of accessories it comes with. Or doesn't come with, rather. With its minuscule amount of internal storage, an memory card is a must and one does not come with the W350. If you want to listen to your music without blaring it out through the external speaker for all to hear, you'll need headphones, which also do not come with the W350. Also, with its single proprietary port and no included adapter to allow the use of standard headphones, you'll have to find a special pair that will fit it and can't use any old pair you probably already have. This is cheap and lame in our view, since actually using the W350 in the way it was intended as a music-oriented device will require additional expense, so the free part is a bit deceptive.
Nokia 5310 - The Nokia 5310 is another downright Lilliputian music-oriented phone offered by T-Mobile. It may not have the Walkman name or be able to download music over the air, but it can record video with its camera and play back some of the most common video file formats, and it comes with a plethora of accessories out of the box so you can use it as intended right away. As a GSM device, it will offer the same level of connectivity flexibility on international trips as the W350 and is a compelling alternative with almost matching music functionality.
LG Chocolate 3 - The LG Chocolate 3 is a music-oriented flip phone offered by Verizon. It's a little on the pricey side in comparison to the W350, currently sold for $129, but it does come with a good selection of accessories in the box and operates on Verizon's high-speed data network for much faster downloads, including music.
Sony Ericsson W580i - The W580i also offers the same Walkman functionality as the W350, but in a different package as a slider phone with a slightly larger screen. It doesn't offer the same level of battery life, but it can capture video with its camera and comes with headphones and a memory card in the box. AT&T is currently selling the W580i for free as well, and unless having one of the tiniest phones out there is really important to you, the W580i is a better choice in comparison.
Samsung Beat - The Beat, currently offered by T-Mobile for free, looks and feels like an entry-level device and its music capabilities are not nearly as slick as the W350's. Though its camera can record video and it can play back some common video formats, its still image quality is worse than the W350's, which isn't that good to begin with. Combine this with poorer battery life, and the Beat doesn't look all that good in comparison, despite the matching price.
Samsung M520 - Currently offered for $49.99 by Sprint, the M520 is a nice-looking slider phone capable of downloading music directly and TV viewing through Sprint's TV service. Like the Samsung Beat, its music player software is not nearly as nice and it takes forever to access it. It operates on Sprint's CDMA network, a network standard not common outside of the U.S., so it's not a good choice for international travelers, but it does have GPS, something the W350 does not have. We'd recommend the M520 over the W350 only if GPS is essential for you - other than that, the W350 is a better device overall.
| Previous Next | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
