Camera Phones Plaza

Although Nokia is currently rebranding the high multimedia range, you can still find excellent phones with or without touch screen. The latest Nokia N series phones represent a good investment for an average 2.5 years. Unfortunately, Nokia released the N86 in the beginning with a different market name, N86 8 MP, and then it changed it to N86. This kind of stunt is doing badly for their product sales. The average consumer doesn't even take into consideration the Nokia N86, because it was not marketed enough and also was rebranded from camera oriented phone, with an excellent 8 MP, to another plain N series device. Basically the N86 is the updated version of the N85. The "new" phone brings a few different adjustments than the first model (at core this two phones are one and the same, but Nokia is trying to convince everyone that the N86 is the successor of the N85 8 MP).

This particular model is getting into the megapixels race, where the N series is losing at this moment. Nokia policy is about improving the image quality by implementing new technology in the camera lenses and not in gathering more megapixels. However, it is difficult to induce your own policy on a market where all the other manufacturers already announced, and even some delivered, 12 MP phone models. Even so the 8 MP N86, with its difficult launch on the market, is a rather oriented camera phone who promises a lot and delivers average. The 8 MP camera is not the most advanced in terms of hardware and features but it helps the N series take a battle position against LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

For the time being Nokia is still the leader on the market. The only reason is that Apple doesn't have more iPhone range phones. Although this phone is part of N series range, it has a lot of disadvantages, like: the camera feature set is old; image processing is not at its peaks right now; only VGA video recording with 30 frames per second; no xenon flash; HSDPA at only 3.6 Mbps; horrible legibility display in sunlight; neither DivX support nor XviD; no smart dialing and no office document editing (Nokia, I know you have the E series, but let's face it, no document editing on a high end device is just wrong). If I were to say that N86 is the direct descendent of another Nokia device, I would probably choose the N81. There is a resemblance between the two models not only in terms of dimensions but also in design and construction. In terms of dimensions there is no difference between N85 and N86. It has a height of 103.4 mm, wide of 51.4 mm, deep of 16.5 mm and it weights almost 149 g (a little too much). In general, the N86's style is very similar to the one found on the Nokia N97 or Nokia 97 mini. It sports a black non-glossy back cover; therefore it won't be slipping from your hands any time soon. However, on the front cover you do get the glossy finger print magnet finish, but also a metal display frame. The shutter key on the right side of the phone is comfortable enough, with distinct half and full press.

The volume control keys are above the shutter key, their also comfortable to use with any hand you might hold the phone. On the top the N86 sports beside the power key, a micro USB slot and the 3.5 mm input jack audio. None of the connection ports are covered by plastic or other materials. On the back of the N86 we get the 8 MP camera lenses, with dual LED flash, hidden under an active cover. The lens cover is active and will start the camera or unlock the phone. Nokia uses a trick to hide the multimedia keys. It embedded all the keys in the second slide of the phone. Therefore the down slide will offer the keypad while the up slide will offer the forward, rewind, play and stop. However these four keys have photo integrated function as well (zoom in, zoom out, trigger and other). The phone will know when to assign the functions depending on the lens cover position.

The Nokia N86 is shipped with an AMOLED display. Its diagonal reaches 2.6 inches. The display also boasts a 240 x 320 pixels resolution with up to 16.7 million colors offered. A nice feature is the scratch resistant surface but also the built in accelerometer sensor for auto rotate. The N86's display offers middle sized fonts, that remain visible at all angles. The display accommodates up to 8 text and 3 service lines. The N86 runs in 2G networks - GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and 3G networks - HSDPA 900 / 2100 and HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100. The phone is equipped with a standard battery Lithium - Ion of 1200 mAh (BL - 5K). The official standby time goes up to 312 hours in 2G network and up to 264 hours in 3G network. The talk time goes up to 6 hours and 18 minutes in the 2G network, and up to 3 hours and 54 minutes in the 3G network. If you are interested in listening to music continuously then be prepared for 25 hours of playback until a complete shutdown. The video recording time goes up to 180 minutes for the top resolution, while the playback time goes up to 7 hours. The keypad is pretty good. But then again, usually sliders don't come with great keypads. The alphanumeric keypad uses a standard 4 row 12 key layout.

There is quite enough space between the different rows and columns. For a better press feedback, Nokia should have implemented bigger keys. The Nokia N86 uses a single ARM 11 434 MHz processor with no dedicated graphic accelerator. It is not a great improvement from the 369 MHz offered on the N85, but it is still enough to ensure a smoothly menu slide. The phone reacts quickly, if not instantly, to most icons from the menu. The Symbian OS v9.3, S60 release 3.2 is very much the same like the older software. Actually Symbian always changes very little, from one version of software to the next one. If you want a bigger difference in the user interface department, you should probably test an 2006-2007 Nokia with Symbian and the N86's Symbian version. Nokia imbibed an 8 GB internal memory in the new N86, and about 128 MB of random access memory. You also get a card slot in order to expand memory using micro SD cards or Trans Flash (up to 16 GB). The N86's connectivity is ensured by the Class 32 GPRS, HSCDS, Class 32 EDGE with 296 / 177.6 kbits, HSDPA with 3.6 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g support (UPnP technology), Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, and micro USB 2.0 port. The offered digital camera has 8 megapixels with a 3264 x 2448 pixels (2592 x 1944 pixels, 2048 x 1536 pixels, 1024 x 768 pixels, 640 x 480 pixels), wide 28 mm Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and dual LED flash.

It also features variable aperture, geo tagging, and ISO 800. The N86 can record video clip in VGA resolution with 30 frames per second. Nokia is selling the N86 with a bare minimum retail package. This is not a good marketing move, because a high end model like N86 needs some nice included accessories. Beside the actual handset, the shipping box also contains a regular charger, a USB data cable and a two piece headset that lets you change the headphones but keep the remote. You can also find the OVI suite, as well as a hard copy of a user guide. Nokia doesn't ship the N86 along with no memory cards. Overall, the N86 is not a phone that will impress you. No, not at all, by far. Let's just say it is not its job to impress anyone. However, if you are looking for a pretty good 8 MP camera phone with good specs, middle range price (~375 euro), then the N86 might seem a solid investment.

Nokia 5730 Xpress Music was released on the market in order to consolidate the QWERTY line of Nokia devices. If you are familiar with Nokia E75, then you already know what 5730 is all about. The individual market success of both devices is limited. However, Nokia's goal is to release affordable QWERTY smartphones on the market. By doing this, Nokia steps ahead in the future and leaves behind its competitors. Even more, Nokia offers good devices that might still some of the Windows Mobile phone customers.

The Nokia 5730 Xpress Music is shipped with Symbian, therefore it is a good alternative of a less expensive, music oriented, QWERTY featured N97. Because it is marketed as a middle level phone, Nokia 5730 Xpress Music will not shine in any department, but it will be a solid feature provider for this range. Whatever you want it packs it all: music, web, gaming, and connectivity. Its main disadvantages: fingerprint magnet, glossy, cheap plastic, no Div / XviD support out of the box, average camera performance, poor battery life and no TV - out functionality.

The only reason Nokia 5730 is a music orientated phone is because Nokia delivers the same list specs in all the forms possible. Therefore you just might come across with other Nokia phone with the same specs but with different design. From a management view this is a great strategy. Because it is easier and cheaper form them to create and deliver a variety of phones in a short time. However, don't get confused; the Nokia 5730 Xpress Music is not a competitor to the 5800 Xpress Music. Both devices have their customers. As a general feature, the 5730 Xpress Music runs in 2G network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and in 3G network (HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100).

The Nokia 5730 Xpress Music is a good looking phone with a very distinct Xpress Music styling. The phone is a good reminder of Nokia 5630 Xpress Music. Although it is made entirely out of plastic, the phone not only looks but also feels solid. The 5730's focus on music is represented by the 3 player controls. On the left side of the phone are the volume keys and the dedicated camera key. At the bottom edge there is the 3.5 mm audio jack, while the 3.2 MP digital camera with a LED flash are integrated on the back side of the phone. The QWERTY keyboard is flawless. On the front side of the phone, under the 2.4 inch display the 5730 Xpress Music has about 6 system keys, including the call and end keys and the two soft keys. Nokia implemented the power switch in the end call key. Nokia invested time in the QWERTY keyboard development. Tactility is adequate and for the most part the keys have nice and solid press. The keys on the four row QWERTY are large and provide excellent feedback. Text selection for cut, copy and paste is extra smooth. A great feature of the 5730 is the vast number of customizable options for the slider action. You can choose to launch any application when sliding the keyboard and set it to return to home screen when you close it. The Nokia 5730 Xpress Music is equipped with a TFT, 16 million colors display. It has 2.4 inches and a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels (OVGA) with accelerometer sensor for auto rotate. In direct sunlight, even if colors get washed out, the display remains perfectly readable even on the brightest of days. This is a likable display that will not bring you any discomfort. The 5730's display has up to 8 text and 3 service lines with a readable font. The 5730 Xpress Music ships with a standard battery of Li - Ion 1000 mAh (BL - 4U).

The official stand by time of this handset reaches up to 300 hours in the 2G network and up to 270 hours in the 3G network. The talk time in the 2G network goes up to 5 hours and in the 3G network up to 4 hours. The total music play time is about 25 hours, while the video recording (in top quality settings) is about 150 minutes and 180 minutes in video playback mode. For an average consumer, all the numbers above mean about 3 day usage before a charging needed. The 100 MB internal storage can be expanded up to 16 GB by using a micro SD (Trans Flash). The 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU is fast enough (unfortunately doesn't reach the 600MHz on the 5630 Xpress Music). The CPU is really good because the navigation in the complex S60 3.2 user interface is a walk in the park. No slow motion feedback, no system crashing, everything works just fine. The 5730 Xpress Music has 128 MB of RAM included; therefore an improved operating system performance. In Symbian terms 128 MB is virtually impossible to deplete even with several applications running in the background. An excellent feature on the Nokia 5730 Xpress Music is the 3.15 MP digital camera, with a resolution up to 2048 x 1536 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and a LED flash.

The camera also records videos at VGA resolution with up to 30 frames per second. Because this phone is Xpress branded you can expect to find a great music player with a huge number of supported audio formats, including MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA. With features like Say by Play you can easily use the built in speaker to use the voice recognition. The connectivity is ensured by the Class 32 GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE (Class 32, 296 / 178.8 kbits), HSDPA 3.6 Mbits, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g support, UPnP technology, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, and v2.0 micro USB. The Nokia 5730 Xpress Music also features embedded GPS with A - GPS support and Nokia Maps. The call quality is not an issue for 5730 Xpress Music. Ring tones sounded loud, while the 5730 vibration alert is average. Beside the actual handset (5730 Xpress Music), Nokia included in the shipping box an 8 GB micro SD card, USB cable and a regular 2 mm pin charger. Overall this phone is great. You have excellent specs wrapped in a nice design and at a lower price tag then the E series E75 or N series N97. Nokia 5730 Xpress Music is a true solid investment.

The Apple iPhone success reached its third year and yet no manufacturer reached the same success with any of their products. To do so, Samsung reevaluated its marketing approach. The iPhone owners are active people who look for great products with certain "it" factor. Therefore Samsung launched a new line on the market, the Jet line. The first product to be released in this new line is a junior model in this range, the Samsung S8000. The Samsung S800 Jet sure knows good timing and promises a little bit of everything: entertainment, style and easy handling. As far as functionality goes, the Samsung S8000 Jet is equipped with an 800 MHz CPU, an upgraded interface, advanced animation effects and exceptional specs.

The S8000 Jet has a great 5 MP camera with D1 recording, Wi-Fi, GPS. The main disadvantages of this phone are the under the cover back micro SD slot and no preinstalled GPS navigation software. Samsung stated that the phone's processor can work with applications directly and enjoy parallel architecture. Indeed the Samsung S8000 Jet comes with a Qualcomm MSM 6246 with 800 MHz frequency processor and 512 MB of random access memory. Although this device is not considered to be a smart phone, it's faster and more powerful than any other smartphone on the market (although it is not a smartphone, the iPhone 3GS has only 128 MB of RAM).

The Samsung S8000 Jet sports a full Flash support, DivX and XviD video codecs and great music package. The dimensions of this phone are rather common for a touch screen device. With a height of 108.8 mm, wide of 53.5 mm, deep of 11.9 mm it weight about 110 g. This weight is small because the S8000 case is made entirely out of plastic. Therefore when you will hold the S8000 it will feel strange. The Samsung S8000 Jet plays in a semi-luxury line; therefore a full plastic case is not a good feature. Even so the phone feels solid. The battery cover is a fingerprint magnet, while the phone's display cover has a special coating (like the one in the Apple iPhone 3 GS).

The edge is bordered with a strip of glossy black plastic (what else); this is the only thing that separates the S8000 Jet's design from the other Samsung phones. There are not many buttons on this phone, the start - end call keys and the return key under the display, on the left there are the volume controls, while on the right side there is the display lock switch, camera shutter key and cube activation button, for activating the Motion Gate feature. On the top the phone sports a 3.5 mm jack along with micro USB socket under a plastic flop. The Samsung S8000 Jet is shipped with a AMOLED resistive touch screen with up to 16 million colors and a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels (WVGA)  and a diagonal of 3.1 inches. The display sports the new improves Touch Wiz v2.0 user interface, accelerometer sensor for auto rotate and Motion user interface and proximity sensor for auto turn off. The Samsung i8910 HD has a bigger screen than S8000 Jet in terms of diagonal but offers a lower resolution. The Samsung Jet's display is very convenient to use with its automatic brightness adjustment. Even so the S8000 Jet display gets washed out under direct sunlight, but is still more readable than TFT displays. Tanks to the AMOLED technology, the Jet's display offers excellent image quality. Just like the Samsung M8910 PIXON 12 display, the S8000 Jet display offers a new technology for the resistive display feature. No more need for a stylus, because the Jet's display accents only finger input. However you will not be able to use the touch screen with a pair of gloves.

The Samsung S8000 Jet uses an 1100 mAh Li - Ion battery, with standby values in the 2G network up to 422 hours, while in the 3G network can reach 406 hours. The talk time is good for an 1100 mAh battery: up to 8 hours and 20 minutes in the 2G network and up to 5 hours in the 3G network. In general this device will stay up and running for about 2 days. It takes about 2 hours to completely charge the battery. Just like the Samsung M8910 PIXON 12, the Samsung S8000 Jet is shipped with the latest version of the Touch Wiz interface. The Samsung Jet has the same home screen layout as the PIXON 12 camera phone. You have three different screens that you can switch by using the special key. You can add as many widgets as you like and assign a different icon for each. You can have both shortcut widgets and application widgets. It is all p to you. Remember that this new improved user interface is fully customizable; therefore you can make your phone (with menu) unique.

The phone runs in both 2G network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and 3G network (HSDPA 900 / 2100). The connectivity is ensured by GPRS Class 12 (4+1 / 3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, EDGE Class 12, 236.8 kbps, 3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps with HSUPA, WLAN - Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and v2.0 micro USB. The Samsung S8000 Jet is equipped with a 5 MP digital camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, and LED flash. It also sports features like geo-tagging, face, smile and blink detection. The phone enjoys a landscape camera interface and allows the user to search through all the settings and change some of the photo options.

There are many modes for you to take a picture, single shot, multi shot, panorama shot, smile shot, mosaic, and frame. The image quality is very good with the Samsung S8000 Jet camera. The images have nice contrast, precise colors and proportional details spread in the picture. Remember that Samsung offers the M8800 PIXON and M8910 PIXON 12 for their excellent cameras. Therefore the middle class entertainment phone is sufficiently equipped with this good camera. The Samsung Jet can record D1 (720 x 480) videos at 30 frames per second. However the quality of these videos is not that great. Some features packed in this small device work flawlessly and are good statements for why you should buy this phone. The organizer has an excellent number of useful time managing applications; the Samsung Motion Gate is Samsung own recognition engine. Basically, it allows the user to move around the phone, scroll through tracks in playlists and pause playback by tapping, flipping and shaking the phone.

The phone book, call log or the messaging departments are excellent organized and have all the features needed. The music player was upgraded than the one used on the M8800 PIXON. It sports different icons when browsing your tracks and a new way of displaying album art. It also searches better by filtering in the exact category you are searching, album, genre, tracks or artist. The Samsung S8000 Jet is delivered in two internal memories, 2GB or 8 GB. Samsung succeeds with its first new line entertainment phone. The Samsung S8000 Jet is a good alternative to LG KM900 Arena and maybe, for the not so Apple hard-core fans, customers, iPhone 3GS. Samsung delivers in the S8000 Jet's box, beside the actual device, mandatory charger, micro USB cable, 2GB micro SD, a two piece headset, leather carrying case, and the latest Samsung PC Studio.

With all the new touch screen phones Nokia is releasing nowadays, few of us direct our attention to the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. This phone deserves more attention because it represents a milestone in Nokia development towards the touch screen devices. After more than 14 months on the market, Nokia 5800 Xpress Music received an inheritor, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition. However, the Navigation Edition device is still a 5800. Also Nokia reduced this model's price making it even more attractive. At first, when it was launched, the 5800 was presented as a solution to Nokia users who wanted touch screen in their new Nokia phone. Even more, Nokia rushed and announced the 5800 Xpress Music as a solution to non - iPhone fans.

Mistake after mistake, Nokia finally succeeded in the fall of 2009 to market the 5800 Xpress Music in the right category. A not so pricey phone, with good features and an on-going testing touch screen with the biggest drawback: a stylus. For an average consumer, but music lover this phone will be a bargain, especially in the Christmas time when sales are going to take down this phone's price dramatically (even without a pay connection contract). The main disadvantages of this phone are not little at number. You got limited 3^rd party software availability; the user interface with not that great of an experience; touch screen sensibility is by far the best in its class; rubbish web browser; no smart dialing; bad image quality in GPS and no geo tagging; no voice guided navigation license; doesn't charge from the micro USB cable; no installed document editing. The bad features regarding the GPS are resolved in the 5800 Navigation Edition.

The 5800 Xpress Music doesn't have the most nicely figured designed. It has an elongated body, therefore your 5800 screen is going to be narrow and tall (giraffe, anyone?). the whole case is made out of plastic without any metallic or chromed accents in it. The build quality is pretty good. The 5800's case doesn't make any funny noises if you press the phone hardly. Therefore, the 5800 Xpress Music offers a solid impression.  Even with this impression, once you have touched the Nokia 5800 case you will ask yourself why it is made out of such cheap plastic. The front of the 5800 is dominated by the 3.2 inches touch screen. Above the display, the phone sports a small earpiece, a video camera, a touch sensitive Media key and a couple of sensors. The Media key is common used nowadays on touch screen Nokia phones. Basically this key triggers a menu of shortcuts to media and web. All of you who know a thing or two about S60 user interface will appreciate this key. Under the display, the 5800 packs three keys, the call key and end key, while the middle button stands for the menu.

Because everything from this phone is made out of plastic, the keys might feel a little stiff. On the top of the 5800 Xpress Music we can find the power key, micro USB port, the charger plug and the 3.5 mm standard audio jack. The right side of the Nokia 5800 contains the volume keys, the screen lock switch and camera key. Not even one manufacturer considered by now to implement the lock screen feature as a part of the power key.  Apple still brings to the game the best solutions. The bottom of the phone features the microphone; while on the left side we have the micro SD card slot and the SIM compartment. On the back side, the Nokia 5800 sports beside the 3.2 megapixel camera, a dual LED flash (not exactly Xenon material but it will do its job).

The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music comes with a 3.2 inches TFT resistive touch screen that delivers up to 16 million colors at a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels. It also features proximity sensor for auto turn off, accelerometer sensor for auto rotate and handwriting recognition. Unfortunately the resistive screen technology means headache. This means that you have to put some extra pressure to the screen in order for it to register your command. This technology is used on phones when the manufacturer wants to accommodate a stylus. Also the legibility of the display under direct sunlight is rather poor. The screen accommodates up to 14 text and 3 service lines. Overall the Nokia 5800's Xpress Music display if good for viewing images, video and browsing long lists. The 5800 handset is shipped with a Li - Ion standard battery, 1320 mAh (BL - 5J). The official standby time in the 2G network goes up to 406 hours, while in the 3G network the battery lasts up to 408 hours.

Also the stand by time for the 2G network goes up to 8 hours and 45 minutes, while in the 3G network goes up to 5 hours. Because this is a music oriented phone you can listen continuously to 35 hours of music. Also you can record up to 210 minutes at top resolution and quality settings. The video playback time goes up to 5 hours. The handset's battery life lasts for an average user about 3 days. The 5800 runs in the 2G network (GSM 580 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) but also in the 3G network (HSDPA 900 / 2100 and HSDPA 850 / 1900). Nokia ships this unit with only 81 MB internal memory, but offers up to 16 GB with micro SD or Transflash memory cards. However you can go ahead and purchase a 32 GB memory card, because this phone identifies it. If you don't like how the operating system works, don't blame the hardware from the 5800, because it's not the CPU and not the RAM's, it is just purely poor quality of the Symbian new operating system for the touch screen devices. In time this software could get better with further updates. The CPU implemented in the 5800 Xpress Music is an ARM 11 434 MHz with 128 MB RAM.

The connectivity is ensured by Class 32 GPRS, HSCSD, Class 32 EDGE, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP profile, and v2.0 micro USB connection. Nokia 5800 Xpress Music has a 3.15 MP digital camera, with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and LED flash. The camera is a nice feature, but not something to rely on. The only thing that saves it is the large range of settings, offering from manual white balance and ISO to exposure compensation, sharpness and contrast. However video recording is quite good. The 5800 Xpress Music can record at VGA resolution at 30 frames per seconds. The organizer, phonebook and call records are great, you can't really ask for more. Also the music player gives good quality music. However for a music oriented phone it should offer more features. With a huge number of supported formats you will hardly ever come across an audio file that the 5800 won't recognize.

The phone has five equalizer presets installed, but you can also create your very own in a matter of seconds. After a long carrier, the 5800 Xpress Music lives it final months, but it lives them great. It is still an attractive phone for average consumers. And the price drop is more than excellent. The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music is shipped with an 8 GB memory card, micro USB cable, a TV - out cable and a two piece hands free with 3.5 mm jack on either end. Nokia also included in the containing box a carrying case made out of rubbery plastic, a stylus, a mandatory DC charger, a mini DVD presentation and the PC sync software. Give it a few more weeks and you will get this handset for a great price.

If you are looking for a midrange music oriented music phone you should probably read this article. When you say music phone, and it is not iPhone, then you say Sony Ericsson Walkman. The Sony Ericsson W508 is a great music minded folder type phone. Sony claims that this phone is not for the youth who normally go for models such as Sony Ericsson W380. However the W508 is here to replace the W380.


The Sony Ericsson W508 offers the full Walkman package at a bargain price. In terms of specs the Sony Ericsson W508 is similar with other Sony Ericsson slider phones, W910 and W595. Unfortunately all this three devices compete with each other; therefore in terms of sales this means disaster for the W508. In fact the only appealing features (in comparison with the other Walkman models) are its form factor and a 3.2 MP digital camera (way better than the old 2 MP camera on the W910). Also potential buyers might like the Style Up covers.

The Sony Ericsson W508 is shipped with a spare one. So why did the W508 arrived in the Sony Ericsson portfolio? Believe it or not, the W508 was created to save the W980 reputation. Sony Ericsson believed that their music player flagship, W980, will generate significant sales. Unfortunately they marketed with a high price list, therefore poor sales is the word of choice for the W980 sales success. But Sony Ericsson did not learn from the lack of success of the w980. They have positioned the new W508 at a price point higher than that of its two slider type predecessors with almost identical list specs. So we have a not flagship, music oriented slider, with a no nonsense design for middle aged men, with an asking price of an unsuccessful flagship music phone.

I am starting to wonder if Sony Ericsson actually has a marketing plan, or if they just change the draft depending how the wind blows. Beside itself, the main disadvantage of this phone are: the camera who lacks autofocus or for that matter LED flash, low grade video recording at only QVGA with 15 frames per second, no web browser screen auto rotate and no document reader (shocking). However the W508 tries to be a user friendly phone, by having ways to interact to you (like Track ID - to find certain tracks, Sense Me - so you can pick songs based on your mood, Shake Control and Even Gesture Control).

The W508 design is somewhat close to the design of the Sony Ericsson W980; the same layout of touch sensitive controls, two color choices (Poetic White and Metal Grey), approach this phone device to the flagship's design. A unique feature is the removable extra front cover. You can now choose whatever color or pattern you like (sunny orange, architectural purple, forest green, midnight summer, splashed art, radial blue and others). The phone's case is made entirely out of plastic. The front cover is a rather light glossy plastic; the back cover is made out of rough plastic.

The opening mechanism is not a high luxury feature. The opening is done only manually (can anyone say back to 2004). Even more cheaply is the sound of the plastic case when you open or close the phone. The dimensions of the Sony Ericsson W508 are average for a flip phone. It has a height of 93.5 mm, wide of 50 mm, deep of 14 mm with a weight of 98 g. On the left side of the phone we have the dock connector, while on the right side we have the volume control keys and with a switch for the touch sensitive controls. The three keys of the music player are a play / pause key and skip coward and backward keys that also work for seeking. The Sony Ericsson W508 has a TFT display with up to 256 K colors. It sports a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels wide of 2.2 inches.

The screen size allows it to accommodate up to 9 text and 4 service lines. Overall, the main display boasts vibrant colors, it has a good color reproduction and it performs decent under sunlight. The secondary display is monochrome with a diagonal of 1.1 inches and a resolution of 36 x 128 pixels. It offers information such as: time, battery charge, and signal strength and network type as well as song information during playback. However its legibility under sunlight is bad. When it is not lighted it even blends in with the plastic case. The Sony Ericsson W508 is shipped with Li Ion battery (BST 39) with 920 mAh. In the 2G network the standby time goes up to 400 hours, while in the 3G network it has the same standby value. In the 2G network the talk time is up to 10 hours, while in the 3G network the value lowers to 4 hours. If you will listen to music continuously, then the battery will get drained in 22 hours. The W508's battery needs two and a half hours to charge itself up. The W508 is equipped with a 3.15 MP digital camera, with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels.

The camera also sports 1632 x 1536 pixels, 1280 x 960 pixels and 640 x 480 pixels resolutions. You have a few settings available in the camera interface: shutter sound, white balance, effects (negative, solarize, sepia and black and white), timer, night mode and shooting mode. The W508 can record video at 320 x 240 pixel resolution with 30 frames per second. The videos taken with the W508 are average quality. The Sony Ericsson device sports a not hot swappable card slot, memory stick micro M2 up to 16 GB. The new walkman 3.0 software sports DRM 2 support as well as support for MTP, which makes for direct music transfers with Windows Media Player. The player supports a big collection of file formats and has several equalizer presets.

The Sony Ericsson W508 runs in the 2G network (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and in the 3G network (HSDPA 2100 and HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100). The connectivity is ensured by the GPRS Class 10 (4+1 / 3+2 slots, 32 - 48 kbps), EDGE Class 10 (236.8 Kbps), HSDPA, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP and USB. However the Wi-Fi is missing from the connectivity package. The Sony Ericsson W508 doesn't offer any significant upgrades than the already released slider models. The success of this phone is purely fictional. This device is for a small category of people. They will like it and buy it, but at the end of the day this phone will not be a market success. At bests it will have the same faith of the Sony Ericsson W980.