Amazon.com Product Description
Optimized for music playing with external music keys, stereo Bluetooth support, over-the-air music downloads from Napster Mobile and eMusic Mobile, and Shake Control, the Sony Ericsson W518a clamshell phone for AT&T is also packed with gaming, multimedia and social networking offerings that make this phone a thin little entertainment powerhouse. And it’s easy to manage the music in your phone–one click starts the Walkman music player, enabling you to play, rewind, fast forward, equalize, shuffle tracks and create playlists ust like in any other digital music player.
This phone can quickly download video, music and more over AT&T’s lightning quick HSPDA 3G network. This GPS-enabled phone can access the AT&T Navigator service for turn-by-turn directions as well as its Video Share service, which enables you to send video of yourself to another compatible phone while making a voice call. Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder, memory expansion via Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards, built-in Facebook application, access to mobile email and instant messaging, and up to 4 hours of talk time.
The Sony Ericsson W518a is optimized for music playing with external music keys, stereo Bluetooth support, over-the-air music downloads from Napster Mobile and eMusic Mobile, and Shake Control. |
AT&T Services
Keep up to date with your friends with a Facebook application that has a rotating status carousel right on the standby screen. |
This AT&T phone can handle high-speed data connectivity via AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband data network, which is available in most major metropolitan areas. The AT&T 3G network uses the dual-band 850/1900 MHz 3G network (UMTS/HSDPA), which provides download speeds ranging from 700 Kbps to 1.7 Mbps, and upload speeds ranging from 500 Kbps to 1.2 Mbps. This makes it possible to enjoy a variety of feature-rich wireless multimedia services, and it gives you the advantage of offering simultaneous voice and data services.
In areas where the 3G network is not available, you’ll continue to receive service on the AT&T EDGE network, which offers availability in more than 13,000 US cities and along some 40,000 miles of major highways. Providing average data speeds between 75-135Kbps, it’s fast enough to support a wide range of advanced data services, including video and music clips, full picture and video messaging, high-speed color Internet access, and email on the go. You’ll also enjoy quad-band GSM connectivity, which allows you to make calls in more than 190 countries and access data applications in the more than 135 countries where AT&T offers international data roaming.
With 3G connectivity, you’ll be able to access AT&T’s Video Share service, which enables you to send a live, one-way video stream to another compatible phone during a standard voice call. The service also allows you to switch the direction of the video stream during the same phone call. (Customers must be in an area served by the company’s 3G network and have a Video Share-enabled phone.) While using Video Share with family and friends is a fun way to communicate, it’s also very useful for business. For example, a majority of users in the architecture, engineering and construction industries rated the ability to share live video through Video Share highly, according to research commissioned by AT&T. Video Share lets you see progress on a job site or review the day’s work without having to drive from an office or other site to do so.
You can take advantage of the AT&T Navigator GPS software and service, a full-featured premium navigation application that includes audible turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates and re-routing options, and 3D moving maps (additional charges applicable). AT&T Navigator offers several other features to make your commute more enjoyable and reliable, including mobile access to Yellowpages.com. Additionally, AT&T Navigator is the only mobile phone-based GPS service that provides integrated speech recognition for address entry and points of interest search.
With 3G connectivity, you’ll be able to access AT&T’s Cellular Video (CV) service and the Internet while on the go. Cellular Video features content from CNN, The Weather Channel, iFilm, Comedy Central and exclusive premium content from HBO and much more. And you get access to AT&T Mobile Music, which enables you to buy tracks while on the, access the Napster and eMusic subscription music services, stream music video, discover what’s playing with Music ID song-recognition software, and find out what’s hot with The Buzz music news portal.
The phone has a built-in web browser for MEdia Net downloads and mobile web browsing. AT&T’s MEdia Net service enables you to receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more.
Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder, Bluetooth stereo music streaming, and memory expansion via Memory Stick Micro (M2) media. |
Phone Features
The Sony Ericsson W518a is a unique, all-in-one device that enables you to stay connected and express yourself on the go. The thin clamshell W518a sports an internal 2.2-inch LCD screen with a 240 x 320-pixel resolution, and it’s complemented by a 1.1-inch OLED screen (128 x 36 pixels) on the exterior of the clamshell that displays current time, incoming calls, currently playing music, signal strength, and battery life. The phone has a 100 MB internal memory, which can be expanded via optional Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards up to 8 GB in size. The internal phonebook can store an almost unlimited amount of contacts, and it features multiple numbers per contact, support for caller groups, and picture/ringer ID capabilities.
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Packed with social networking features, just open the phone to view Facebook friends’ status updates and profile photos. And one click from the W518a’s standby screen allows social butterflies to update their Facebook status. It’s also easy to upload photos to your profile directly from the W518a’s 3.2-megapixel camera.
This Walkman phone offers a full-function digital audio player that’s compatible with MP3 and AAC files, and it includes Sony Ericsson’s innovative “shake to shuffle” feature. With Shake Control activated, just flick your wrist and a vibration lets you know that the track has been changed–a new song from your current playlist is randomly selected and automatically played. Playback settings also include an equalizer, playlists, stereo widening, and shuffle and loop modes. This Walkman phone features MegaBass enhancement for added depth of sound, a flight mode that lets you keep listening to tunes with the phone’s network connectivity turned off, and the PlayNow feature that enables you to download new music tones directly to the phone.
The phone features a unique Gesture control that allows you to mute calls with a wave of your hands or snooze its alarm without having to interrupt what you’re doing. When a call comes in, a simple movement of your hand back and forth over the phone mutes the ringtone. Similarly, sweep your hand over the phone when using it as your alarm clock to put it into snooze mode.
Additionally, the integrated accelerometer allows you to shake or tilt the W518a to simulate motion while playing video games. The intuitive Media User Interface rotates depending on how you’re holding the phone, so you can see everything you need at a glance. Auto rotate works for photos, videos and games.
Handsfree communication is easy thanks to the integrated speakerphone. This phone also provides Bluetooth wireless connectivity (version 2.0), and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, and file transfer. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. You can connect your laptop (either via Bluetooth or wired USB) and enjoy dial-up networking–surf the Internet, send email, and access files from a server (additional charges or subscription applicable).
The built-in 3.2 megapixel camera captures stills and video–and playback of video or still pictures is only limited to the memory card size (or capped at 20 seconds for sending via MMS). You can choose from four resolution sizes and two quality settings for still photos, and it also features white balance and brightness adjustments, digital zoom (up to 3.2x), night mode, panorama, and multi-shot mode. With the phone’s built-in GPS, images can be “geo-tagged” with the exact location where they were shot. Video clips can be shot at up to QVGA resolution (320 x 240 pixels) at 30 frames per second (fps).
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The phone also ships with a built-in email client with support for POP3 and IMAP4 protocols, while the included Access NetFront Web Browser allows you to surf full HTML web sites. It also supports RSS feeds, allowing you to use your phone to view up-to-the-minute news and other content from selected Web sites and blogs. Just subscribe to the feed and let it come to you. Support is built in for sending and receiving text, video, graphics and sound via messages. T9 text entry, a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit–a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
Other features include:
- Flight mode allows you to safely use the non-wireless functions of this phone (such as music, games, or organizer functions) on an airplane during flight
- Mobile Email and Instant Messenger for quick and easy access on the go (instant messaging via AOL, Windows Live, Yahoo!)
- USB mass storage capabilities
- Built-in FM radio
- Access to YouTube streaming videos
- Organizer tools: calendar, calculator, alarm clock, tasks, timer, notes, stopwatch
- Personalize with downloadable games, graphic, ringtones and applications
Vital Statistics
The Sony Ericsson W518a weighs 3.35 ounces and measures 3.7 x 1.9 x 0.6 inches. Its 920 mAh lithium-polymer battery is rated at up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 400 hours (16+ days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies as well as AT&T’s 850/1900 MHz 3G frequencies (UMTS/HSDPA).
Customer Reviews
Great Phone, with a few quirks…
I bought this phone to replace my previous walkman phone (a w300i). That old phone was trusty and has served me well for over 2 years but I felt that I needed to modernize a bit. The 518a is the first reasonable walkman flip to come to att in a while. And I have to say that its a pretty good phone.
Design: Excellent, the battery cover is a matte black that appears to be pretty scratch resistant and the front cover is black although changeable to various styles (just switch up the covers). It is quite glossy and picks up some fingerprints, but they really don’t show as the black is a not piano finish (i.e. ipod touch). The top has 3 touch sensitive buttons which aren’t the most responsive buttons out there, but I guess that’s good to avoid accidental hitting.
Construction: Not bad. The battery cover is mind bogglingly thin. Almost paper thin. The phone hasn’t been dropped yet, but I do believe that its quite well built. The hinge doesn’t wobble like my old w300i’s. (finally sony got this hinge issue fixed). The keypad feels sturdy although there is a little creak to the keys. But overall, I don’t think its the actually covering of the phone that is keeping this thing together but rather the slim compressed factor of the phone itself.
Reception and Call Quality:
I’ve had no problems thus far with this. The 3g works well in Hartford County, CT. I haven’t had any dropped calls or issues on my end so far. The speaker isn’t as loud as the w300i’s but its adequate. Overall, calls have been loud and clear (near Nokia deliverance quality).
Interface:
The menu, with flash backgrounds unactivated is responsive enough. I did feel that there seems to be a periodic lag but its quite minimal. The real issue is when flash themes are activated. The phone lags like a mother. Hopefully sony ericsson will release a software update to rectify this.
Walkman player: There is a dedicated walkman key on the 4 way rocker (up). I felt that the interface was well designed with the player updating and integrating with my memory stick media files effectively. Again, the issue that always seems to come up with this phone is the lag. I’m not sure if this is software related or simply a limitation of accessing the memory card files, but the walkman interface seems to lag incessantly. ITs not terrible, but it certainly isn’t responsive as my old w300i. There also seems to be a lag between hitting the external walkman controls (3 touch sensitive buttons) and a response from the walkman player. Again, this phone just released so hopefully sony gets its act together and issues some software udpates. Some other notes on the walkman player, I’ve had no issues with music playback thus far. Audio quality has been excellent through the fastport to 3.5 mm headphone adapter I’m using. Megabass isn’t as good as clearbass, but it does the trick for us bass heads. I would say that the actual menu system of the walkman player is actually superior to sony’s dedicated walkman mp3 players( i.e. we get on the fly playlists, delete controls, you know… simple things that sony has a knack for screwing up usually). Right… one more thing… I have a hunch that some sony engineer decided that if they provided us with quality keys on the keypad, they had to skimp on something else. I think there was a definite cost cutting on the loudspeaker for this one. My w300i’s speaker is much better than this. The 518’s speaker distorts and seriously lacks some clarity when playing music. I’m not sure if my unit is defective. But if I change the volume, the music fade out feature seems to have the effect of distorting the speaker with some kind of crackling noise. I think this is again a software issue…
Other issues:
Now that I’m on issues… I don’t know why the heck Sony insists on using their garbage fastport for charging and headsets. Its 2009 Sony! Get with the program and ditch the proprietary jack and give us a 3.5mm headphone jack and microusb charging port. Honestly, when other manufacturers are ditching their proprietary garbage, sony insists on using fastport. Maybe they have a warehouse full of adapters to get rid of and that’s why they insist on fastport?
Battery life: No issues, looks like its lasting as per Sony’s specs. For those of you on EDGE phones nows, anticipate a reduction in battery life when upgrading to 3g devices.
Camera: No autofocus, no flash. Pictures with light come out well but seem to have a some contrast and sharpening issues. At least its not vga. Just be prepared to hold the phone really really still if you want a clear shot.
Navigation: CNET’s review noted that the key were flat. Yeah… they’re flat as heck. I honestly had a lot of touble using the 4-way navigation pad simply because some idiot at Sony forgot that people without child sized hands would be using this phone. Try the phone out. Some people with fat fingers will seriously have issues using the navi pad, to the point that they may have to return the device. I personally got used to it, but it would have been nice if sony sometimes focused on practicality more than style.
My verdict: Great phone overall, I’ve been a fan of sony ericsson phones and this phone for 50 bucks (I’m a continuing customer) is a good deal. (gps, 3g, walkman player, fm radio… ) I’m giving this phone 4 stars. 1 star deduction for the menu interface lag. I really wonder if manufacturers even bother with product testing sometimes… I’ll update this review as I use the phone more.
Love this phone!
This is a great phone. It reminds me somewhat of the Motorola Razr that I bought 3 years ago, but it is operates much better. The Walkman feature is wonderful, although the jury is still out as to whether it will support an 8 gig or 16 gig memory stick M2. Same with the talk time–Sony Ericsson says 10 hours, AT&T says 4 hours. The audio clarity is superb.
