We get hands-on with Sony Ericsson's W350i

Also on the table at Sony Ericsson's booth is the new ultra-light flip, the W350i. We've covered the important tech bits on this thing already and we were pretty stoked about its slim svelte look, but sadly, this fella still needs some tweaks to make it just right. We wanted to get at least a couple pics of the user interface, but it wasn't cooperating with us at all, any attempt to get the handset's demo rolling ended up in complete video madness. We can overlook software glitches as the handset isn't close to hitting retail, but this phone's flip is cheap, and I mean real floppy cheap. When in the closed position the flip doesn't actually seat -- we saw this on two different handsets -- nor does it have an I-will-last-a-long-time feel. Those points aside -- and it may be those issues go away before it hits retail in the second half of this year -- we're really digging the look of this set.

Gallery: We get hands-on with Sony Ericsson's W350i

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[paragraph @ Jan 7th 2008 12:18PM]

Sadly few phones have an "I will last a long time" feel any more.

Moreover, i've never thought Sony/Ericsson to be a quality phone company, more a niche company, or the company that makes those cheap free phones no-one ever gets execpt for me, and old ladies.

[Stephen Liu @ Jan 7th 2008 12:48PM]

You're kidding, right? Sony Ericsson's phones are mostly in the medium to high-end range. They don't have much in the "cheap free" range compared to Motorola, Samsung, and LG.

[perfectionist @ Jan 7th 2008 1:01PM]

Besides some stuff on AT&T, they only make higher-end phones. 3MP cameraphones with Xenon flash, W880i musicphone, etc.

I would place them in the top tier of phone manufacturers.

[Nicholas Phan @ Jan 7th 2008 12:52PM]

you must be joking. I believe I read an article stating that Sony Ericsson phones were the most expensive on average. And they do make quality phones. I

[simon @ Jan 7th 2008 12:54PM]

You need to get a W810i. Their old enough that they are inexpensive and they are solid.

Simon

[James Cameron @ Jan 7th 2008 1:35PM]

I'm still happy with my w800i. Common Sony, I think it's about time that you get on with a touch screen phone and compete with the iphone. The the touchscreen Mylo is a nice starting point.

[Anthony @ Jan 7th 2008 1:51PM]

Go Ericsson T39. That old school flip will never die.

As for quality- generally SE are pretty good, but while I love my K850 I occasionally have to give it a solid "twhack" on the back to make the shutter open- not something I like to do.

[James Yopp @ Jan 7th 2008 1:55PM]

Am I to gather from the pics that the phone keypad is not backlit? What gives with a whole gallery without a single legible shot of the keypad?

[KC @ Jan 7th 2008 2:16PM]

The irony here with Engadget is that while they bitch about low quality, uninspired cameras, that's exactly the same type of cameras that they use for their CES photos. Come on. Get a better camera, use a flash when necessary. We want pictures from CES, and we want GOOD pictures from from CES.