As you'd expect from a phone carrying the Walkman logo, there's a digital music player and a built-in FM radio. Putting music onto the W550i is easy, as CD-ripping PC software is supplied with the phone. Using the Bluetooth connection you can drag and drop MP3 tracks from your PC to the phone. Flight mode lets you use the music player whilst on an aircraft.

The phone also has a good 1.3 megapixel camera plus a video camera. There's an easy-to-use menu for the camera functions, and a dedicated camera button. The screen is large (1.8") and high quality, with 262,000 colours.

The W550i is also designed for games, with dedicated gaming buttons. Games are played with the phone horizontal, making it easy to hold like a games console, and also making best use of the screen. You can use Bluetooth for wireless multi-player games.

The phone is easy to use, with an icon-driven desktop and an intuitive menu. A file manager application is used to move music tracks and other items. Voice control can be used to answer or reject calls, and to make calls from your phonebook.

In conclusion, the W550i is a good phone for music lovers. Although there's no memory card, 256 Mbytes is more than most phones and is enough to make this into a useable MP3 player (enough for around 75 tracks). The sound quality is excellent. The camera is good, though not as good as the W800i's, and the screen is also good, though not as large as that on the S700i. The phone is generally very easy to use, although the keypad is not ideal for texting. However the W550i is not a reliable phone. Many users have suffered from a problem where the screen turns white and the phone has to be replaced, and some users have reported temperemental Bluetooth connectivity. The Sony Ericsson W800i is a much better option.

You can find the best online deals for the Sony Ericsson W550i at Shopping.com.

Features of the Sony Ericsson W550i include:

• Walkman media player with Mega Bass™ and stereo widening


• FM radio with RDS


• Stereo headset supplied


• 1.3 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, photo light and picture editor


• Video camera with VideoDJ™ video editing software


• Sound recorder


• Display: TFT, 262k colours, 176 x 220 pixels


• Speakerphone


• Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, instant messaging, email


• predictive text


• 40-voice polyphonic ringtones


• MusicDJ™ MIDI melody composer


• Animated wallpaper & screensaver


• 3D Games: embedded & downloadable


• Picture phonebook


• Personal organiser functions


• Changeable covers


• Memory: 256 Mbytes


• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB & infrared, modem


• WAP 2.0, GPRS


• XHTML browser


• Vibration alert


• Triband


• Size: 93 x 47 x 23 mm


• Weight: 120g


• Talktime: 8 hours


• Battery standby: 375 hours

Rating: 3/5