Launched at the same time as the Sony Ericsson W880i Walkman phone, the new W610i is the handset's fatter brother, but is the additional size worth the bother? We get phoning to find out.

Our quick take

With a fatter design and a paired down spec sheet compared to the W880i, this is clearly a catalogue filler rather than flagship model from Sony Ercisson.

That's not to say that it’s a bad phone, far from it, but it's for those who perhaps can't afford the W880i and want to upgrade from their W810i for a slimmer more software-packed model.

Good, but don't expect to get many head turns down the pub.

Sony Ericsson W610i mobile phone - 4.0 / 5

FORAGAINST
  • 2 megapixel camera
  • large screen
  • blogging tool
  • TrackID software
  • Keypad prickly to use
  • nothing out of the ordinary

Measuring 14mm against the W880i's 9.4mm, the W610i carries almost all of the same features as the W880i including that 2 megapixel camera, a thin, almost prickly to use keypad and the now iconic black and orange colour scheme (it's also available in silver and black for those not so daring).

Of course size isn't the only difference - the Sony Ericsson W610i doesn't sport 3G connectivity instead opting for quad-band, and you'll only get a 512MB memory card in the box instead of the 1GB card as with the W880i.

Being a Sony Ericsson, the phone comes packed with a bunch of the company's software, now found on all models as standard, and this includes the TrackID application that allows you to find out the names of tracks by recording it and then sending it via text to a database, as well as, the company's blogger tool that lets you upload images directly to your Google Blogger account.

Interface-wise it's exactly the same as the latest batch of phones from Sony Ericsson and overall we found it very easy to use, including the music software.

To recap

Good, but don't expect to get many head turns down the pub