| Sony Ericsson W700i Review
**First the looks and build. I personally feel that this phone looks better than the w800i due to the colour combination. I really like the Titanium Gold shell. The keys are sturdy. Other than the colour combi everything is exactly the same as the w800i. One nice feature about this phone (and w800i as well) is the camera shutter. A small flap covers the camera lens which doesn't touch the any camera part in anyway. A small sliding notch controls the flap. I must say the overall build of the phone is really sturdy. I've dropped the phone thrice from a height of about 3-4 feet and the phone has been intact! Bravo!
**Next comes the features. The outer build is exactly same as the w800i. So the camera button, Volume/Zoom, Play/Pause, memory stick slot location is exactly same and actually very thotfully placed. The flashlight (consisting of 2 white LEDs) is a very good acompaniant for the 2 Megapixel camera, wid 4.3mm focal length and digital zoom. The colours even in totally dark room are very well reproduced, thanks to the flash!. The camera lacks AutoFocus tho. But lack of autofocus enables us to click burst photographs! It comes wid a 256mb memory stick pro duo upgradable to 4GB, the highest in the category. Theres also a memory stick pro adaptor provided which enable the pro duo to be used in devices which support pro only. The GPRS speed is pretty decent. The phone lacks EDGE tho.
**Audio is the strong point of this phone. The bundled Fontopia HPM-70 earbuds produce excellant sound. The bass is the best I've heard in any of the earbuds till now! To me, they sounded better than the iPod Shuffle's earbuds! There are 3 ear cushions provided: small, medium and large. Use the one depending on the size of ur ears! Also the earbuds haf a stereo pin so that any 3.5mm dia phone jack can be connected. So u can connect any standard headphone/earbuds/speakers or even ur Hi-Fi system to the phone directly! The phone is walkman branded and hence included the MegaBass(tm) feature producing excellant bass effect! There are various modes for the Equiliser. The best I've heard! Using the right MP4 conversion software you can get real crisp videos. The display is brilliant wid 262k colours, better than any Nokia phone I've ever seen!
**The UI is typicall Sony Ericsson. And those who've used any SE phone before will feel at home! PhotoDJ, VideoDJ and MusicDJ can keep u busy for a while. A dedicated Walkman button takes you to the walkman media player whereever u are and returns you back to the same screen when pressed again. The radio feature is another added advantage. The J2ME engine is quite good. I got an average score of 3886 in JBenchmark 1.0.3 176x176x65k Double Buffer.
**Using the bundled USB Cable and an internet connection, the phone's firmware can be updated to the latest one sitting at home via the Sony Ericsson Update Service software provided on the CD. As of now the latest firmware is R1CA021. The battery used is Li-ion BST-37 and provides decent backup for a phone wid so many power consuming features. There are various power saving features built into the phone such as Turing off the clock in standby, decreasing display brightness, bluetooth power saving (by allowing only one connection at a time).
**Various Advantages/Disadvantages are summerised below:
+ Decent Looks
+ Great Audio + Walkman Brand
+ 2 MP, 4.3mm focal length crisp camera for still pictures and videos
+ Support for MP4/AAC format, Low Bit Rate MP3s are also supported + Support for DRM
+ Stereo Pin for connection of various audio output devices
+ Sturdy body + Tactile keys
+ Innovative flap for camera lens protection
+ 256mb Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo bundled, Support for upto 4GB, 34MB internal memory
+ Excellant display, Bright 262k LCD
+ Power saving features
+ Excellant flash light, good reproduction of colours even in total darkness
+ Can update firmware wid bundled USB cable, SEUS software (Net access required)
+ Fast Processor
- No AutoFocus
- No EDGE
- No support for AAC+ format
- No changable covers available in various colours
- No Macro Mode for close up shots
- Propritory SE OS, No symbian (I dunno whether its a + or - feature!)
- Old SE Chargers/Data Cables cannot be used | 
Linear Mode
