Tech: Sony Ericsson W810i cell phone

I've been waiting to get a new cell phone for a while, but hadn't been able to find the right combination of features at a decent price. Since I was out of my contract with AT&T Wireless (since purchased by Cingular) I thought it was stupid to pay $200 for a new phone since I was going to have to get a new contract anyway (as part of Cingular's required conversion). But Cingular wouldn't cut me a break, so I held off. And now I've just heard that they're changing their name back to AT&T, but that's another story.

So over the Christmas break my current phone, a Nokia 6200, started to act funny, the screen would go blank randomly, and other problems. It had been pretty reliable to this point, but was now over 2 years old and since it replaced my land line, it has seen its share of use/abuse. Finally time to bite the bullet and get something new.

I headed to FatWallet and found a great deal on a Sony Ericsson W810i from Amazon. Only $25, with a $25 rebate. This deal had formerly been reserved for new activations, but they recently changed the promotion, so I was eligble for the discount even though I was technically a current customer.

Then I picked up a Sandisk 4GB Memory Stick (stupid proprietary hardware formats) on sale at Fry's for $90 less a $20 rebate to load up the MP3s for jogging. Then a Jabra BT125 bluetooth headset on sale at Best Buy for $30. It's not the top of the line, but perfectly acceptable for the occasional hands-free call.

So far, I've been pretty impresed with it. Call quality is good and MP3 playback is also nice. The interface isn't as slick as an iPod, but I'm willing to make some sacrifices in the name of one less gadget. The 2MP camera is also decent, although it's really only useful in well-lit environments. There is a small flash but it's range is no more than about 5 feet.