Sony Ericsson w850i Walkman Edition Mobile Phone

Since I was going to be spending two months in Canada the time had come to replace my decrepit old GSM mobile. On a recent trip to Taiwan I took some time off from sight seeing to track down a new GSM phone. Taipei had a great selection of GSM phones, most of which were unlocked, contract free, and reasonably priced. I was even lucky enough to get a great price quoted by one of the few mobile merchants that spoke English.
Although some of the PDA style mobiles had very tempting features, I did not recognize the names of the companies. Since I would not have a chance to return the mobile before I left Taiwan I stayed away from such phones in the fear that the reputation free Chinese manufactures my not actually deliver on their promised functions.
After searching many different stores I decided to purchase the Sony Ericsson Walkman Edition. This is Sony’s first attempt at a ’slider’, and in my opinion it is a success. The phone features a 2 mega pixel camera, 3G, video calling, MP3 player, FM radio, and both Bluetooth and IR. The mobile takes Sony Pro Duo Memory Sticks, and included a 1GB stick as well as a high quality set of noise canceling headphones.
Some reviews of the phone have criticized the interface and the controls, but I have had little trouble using them. It only seems logical that the interface would feel natural with extended use, while most reviewers spend only several hours or days with the phones they review. The only problems I have had with the w850i is with the camera, most of the time it does a fantastic job, but it lacks auto focus which has ruined more then a few photos for me. I discovered another flaw in the phone when I took a video of my grandma playing air hocky. The phone encodes video in QCIF! I have not heard of QCIF either, but it appears to be some sort of Quicktime related codec that has low resolution and will not play well on anything but Quicktime. Although programs are available to convert the video most of them are home made and not very easy to use.
Despite some problems with the Camera overall the phone has been working out great. One point that impressed me was the BST-33 battery’s long life. The battery provides 350 hours of standby, 30 hours of music, and 7 hours of talk time. For a much more comprehensive review (7 Pages!) of the w850i take a look at GSM Arena’s coverage.