We’ve all seen phones that have some kind of music-playing capacity. The Sony Ericsson W850i is different! This eighth installment in the successful Walkman range is an MP3 player first, and a phone second, however, the folks at Sony have cleverly not skimped on any phone functionality either.

The Walkman navigation button is the main feature of the closed phone, with a single touch starting the music application. Sliding the phone open reveals the standard keyboard. Those with large fingers might find the small, round buttons a bit of a challenge, especially since they do require firmer than normal touch. The phone is on the smaller side, and measures 98mm x 47mm x 21mm, although it isn’t as slim as some competitors. It’s not light either, weighing in at 116g.

Features are positively packed into this 3G phone. Although it is first and foremost a Walkman, the W850i also has a 2 megapixel camera. This version of the phone doesn’t have an auto-focus function or flash, but there is a light for night shots, 4x digital zoom and a whole bunch of photo modes including night, sepia and burst shooting. A smaller VGA camera is mounted on the front of the phone for video calling. There is also an FM radio, video recorder and player, with remote control. The phone has 16MG of internal memory, as well as a 1GB memory stick.

Given that it’s principal function is to play music, there is an impressive array of features associated with music. Music is stored in a traditional tiered structure (albums, artists, tracks and play list menus), however, there is also capacity to stored tracks downloaded from PlayNow (Sony’s new download service) in MP3 or AAC format. You can easily transfer your music from your PC to your phone, with the additional of its associated album art.

Heard a song on the radio that you can’t remember who wrote? Simply sing or play a few lines of the song and using a very cool piece of software called TrackID, the W850i will search a music database to tell you the title, album and artist name. The phone also features A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) which means that you can wirelessly stream your music to Bluetooth headphones. Sound quality is good, and is on par with previous versions of this phone. The included earphones are also of good quality and their sound is crisp, with good bass.

Battery life is fairly standard, with seven hours of talk time and up to 350 hours of standby time. This means that you will probably only need to charge the handset every couple of nights. Given the extent of the features of this cool little Walkman phone, this lifespan is quite acceptable.

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