Sony Ericsson W518a GoPhoneWalkman 3G Go Phone Review3.2 MP Camera, Music Player, Full Web Browser, and GPSHey! The Sony Ericsson W518a Gophone does more than just look cool, it actually is cool, but it also gets some troubling user reviews. The phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, a music player with stereo Bluetooth, full HTML browser and GPS navigation. I'll go over the features and then take a closer look at those user reviews. Let’s start with the GPS first. Voice Guided GPSYou get turn-by-turn directions in addition to local business search. So, if you’re on your way to your friend’s house and want to pick up some . . . donuts, you can probably find a place.And don’t worry if you forgot to bring along your camera, because the phone has a good one. 3.2 Megapixel CameraThat’s right, the Sony Ericsson W518a GoPhone has a 3.2 megapixel camera. At that resolution you can take some really nice photos and even make some nice prints.Video Capture and PlaybackYou can even take video with the camera phone and view them on the phone or download them to your PC. Here's a sample:
Walkman Music PlayerThe music player on the this phone can play MP3, WMA, and the various AAC-type files. The Sony Walkman 3.0 allows you to conveniently manage your songs on the mobile phone, but it’s not clear what to use on the PC end for uploading.8 GB StorageYou can store up to 8 GB worth of music and video. Note that since it’s a Sony, it takes a Memory Stick micro rather than a microSD card. With ShakeControlThe phone also must have an accelerometer to detect movement, because there are also shake controls for shuffling songs, etc. An FM RadioIf you prefer to get your music or news beamed in, or just don't feel like listening to your own playlists, you can use the FM radio, or, if you sign up for a streaming service, listened to streaming radio. Either way, you can listen wirelessly. Plus Stereo BluetoothStereo Bluetooth is pretty much standard for an mp3 player phone. Done with taking pictures and listening? How about getting on the web with their . . . Full HTML BrowserUnlike many phone which just support the WAP browser which shows a subset of HTML, the Sony Ericsson W518a GoPhone is able to render full HTML, though it’s still easier to look at sites that are optimized for mobile due to the screen size.Good DisplayThe display is 320 x 240 pixels which is pretty good for such a compact phone. 3G DataThe pages should load pretty quickly via the AT&T 3G network. You do have to be in an area where they offer 3G coverage and you have to sign up for their Media Net package. MessagingYou can do text and multimedia (MMS) messages. You can insert photos, and video and sound clips into your MMS messages, and the network should be able to deliver them fairly quickly. Instant MessagingLike most GoPhones, once you’ve got the online package, you can also do instant messaging on AOL, Yahoo, and Windows Live. You can also get your email from those services. You can even do . . . Video SharingInstead of first recording a video and then sharing it, you can do live video sharing with your family and friends. If you're not the sharing kind then you can download your stuff via USB ConnectivityYou can opt to transfer files to and from your Sony Ericsson W518a GoPhone via USB. The Sony Ericsson W518a - Black - GoPhone - Prepaid (Refurbished) Let's see if the basics are taken care of as well. Basic FeaturesManualYou can download the Sony Ericsson W518a GoPhone Manual (pdf) here. Here are a few more basic features.Voice DialingSurprisingly, the W518a supports voice dialing and voice commands. I don’t usually associate this feature with phones on AT&T’s network, so this is great.The Sony Ericsson W518a GoPhone is a small phone considering its many features. Size and WeightIt weighs just 3.35 ounces and measures 3.7 x 1.9 x 0.6 inches. Battery LifeBattery life is pretty good. You can talk for up to 4 hours at a time. The standby time is over 16 days. These times will be shortened considerable by listening to music and taking pictures, but so what? You can always recharge it every night, and you're ready to go the next day! You can get the Sony Ericsson W518a - Black - GoPhone - Prepaid (Refurbished) Some Caveats - User ReviewsI've taken a look at the W518a user reviews at the GoPhone site. The average customer rating for the phone is a solid 4 out of 5 stars, but there's more to the story than it appears. I was a little surprised to see three recurring problems.Phone FreezesMany of the reviews mentioned that the phone sometimes freezes up. How frequent and how important this flaw is depends on the user, but it does make me a little leery. After all, when a phone becomes unusable, it isn't really a phone anymore. This also can explain the discrepancy in some ratings as some users will continues to rate the features highly but give a phone a low overall rating. AT&T, however, calculates their average rating on the basis of the average of all the feature ratings, and not on the user's overall rating. So one use gave this phone about 4 out of 5 stars for all its features and a 1 out of 5 overall rating because of a couple of problems including this. However, his rating will count as 4 out of 5 stars.Small KeysThe keys on the phone are quite small, especially the ones on the top, and a few people have reported difficulty with using them. This, frankly is the tradeoff with having a compact phone. If you want a tiny phone, you're usually going to get tiny buttons.Short Battery LifeThough the official battery life rating is pretty good as noted above, it will be a little less in actual usage. A couple user have found it to be short enough to complain about. Keep in mind, however, with a high-powered phone, expect a shorter battery life if you're going to be using its fancy features. You'll get close to its rated battery life only if you use it just for calling. The solution to this is to simply charge it every night.So those are the majority of the complaints. The tendency to freeze is really the only major concern, but you can try it out and use the AT&T's guarantee if you have any problems. Got Your Own?Great! Tell us about it.Your Sony Ericsson W518a ReviewsShare your opinion about this phone! Return to the GoPhone review page.Return to the Best Prepaid Cell Phone Plans home page. |
