For those of the younger generation, the Walkman™ is a small personal cassette player with headphones capable of stereo playback launched by Sony in 1979.  It is the invention that paved the way for the contemporary Multimedia Player.

The Sony Ericsson W550i Walkman™ Phone is the second release among a current line of three Walkman™ Phones.  With the Walkman™ brand emblazoned on the face of the W550i, it’s really no bombshell (at least for people who lived through the 80s anyway) that this is a musical mobile.

Sony Ericsson W550i Walkman™ Phone

The W550i boasts itself of being the top of its class in sound quality on any production mobile phone to date. This mobile phone comes with most things you need for a very impressive mobile music experience - superb stereo headphones (which doubles as a headset), brilliant stereo speakers, 256MB onboard memory which can store you up to 80 MP3 and AAC tracks, the Walkman™ digital music player which lets you organize and play your tunes and even soup them up with an integrated equalizer equipped with MegaBass™ and Stereo Widening capabilities, and the Disc2Phone software which rips music from your PC to your phone.

The Walkman™ digital music player functions are accessible at anytime via a dedicated Walkman™ button.  You can send and receive messages, take pictures, play games and browse your phone as you listen to your music. Your music then pauses when you take a call and continues from the same place when you hang up.  Impressive!

The phone also has a radio which lets you preset up to 8 channels of your favorite FM stations. It also receives Radio Data Support (RDS) feeds sent out by radio stations which appear in the FM radio screen in your phone so you’ll receive a variety of information ranging from news, weather feeds, and information about music tracks and artists.

The W550i’s swivel-action form feature gives you a wide choice of ways to use the phone - closed, open or 90 degrees style.  The 1.8” 262,141 color TFT screen lights up for the best possible video and graphics viewing.  Dedicated gaming buttons are conveniently in place for fast and action-packed 3D gaming on the go.  Horizontal two-handed playing on the W550i gives you a true game-console experience.

When you want to capture some action, the W550i is also an impressive 1.3-megapixel camera with video recording and digital camera functions such as 4X digital zoom, shoot modes, night mode, self-timer, effects, white balance and a photo light for indoor flicks or snaps.  As with most mobile phones, the camera is housed at the back, but the W550i has a side mounted dedicated camera key which allows you to hold the phone and take pictures and videos as you would with a conventional digital camera.

Messaging is very easy once you get a hang of the W550i’s user-friendly interface.  The keys are well lit and well spaced for ease in keying information for any type of message.  In addition, the VideoDJ™, PhotoDJ™ and MusicDJ™ features also helps you combine elements such as video, music, still images and text to compose multimedia messages in an instant.  The phone can store hundreds of images and video clips. Browsing them can be fun using the thumbnail gallery or you may opt to view your images in a comfortable full-screen mode. The phone kit comes with Adobe Photoshop album Starter Edition software for storing and editing your images in your PC.

The unit also has everything you need to make calling easy – a clear speakerphone loudspeaker and a lightweight headset for handsfree comfort, and shortcuts to favorite contacts.  Images can be added to any contact in your phone book so their picture turns up on screen when they call.

Aside from the customary mobile phone features such as an alarm clock, calendar, tasks and appointments, profiles, notes, timer and stopwatch, light, calculator, and code memo the W550i also makes it easy for you to enhance your mobile phone experience by downloading MIDI and MP3 format ringtones and Java™ based games online through PlayNow™.  Playnow™ is an exclusive Sony Ericsson mobile entertainment download service that connects via GPRS.  This elite feature gives you quick and easy access to updated offers of premium mobile phone entertainment.

At 120 grams, the W550i works on GSM 900, 800 and 1900 networks and has every possible connectivity option to make your music, imaging and online experiences smooth and easy. A USB cable is supplied with the kit, and the W550i has both Bluetooth™ and infrared for a wireless connection.   When you connect your W550i to a PC using the supplied USB cable, transferring images, music and theme files becomes as easy as drag and drop.

The W550i also has replaceable Style-Up™ Covers to suit your mood.  These come in three colors namely Universe Blue, Orchid White and Vibrant Orange (which is the color now synonymous to the Walkman™ brand).  Two come with the kit and interestingly enough, changing the phone’s covers changes the entire feel of the phone with the Vibrant Orange cover giving a rubberized grip feel and the Orchid White a slippery glossed finish.

Aside from its plump appearance, the only real issue with the W550i is the absence of expandable memory.  The manufacturers should have known that a phone this good should have had at least that.  Once you get past these, you’ll see that the Sony Ericsson W550i Walkman™ Phone a very capable phone that is easy to use and is packed with useful and innovative features.

That’s another notch up for the mobile music market!