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internal keypad reveals itself the moment you unfold the phone. It is pretty big and features
large spaces between keys, which makes typos impossible. Unfortunately, the buttons are a
little bit illegible if not exposed to good light conditions, and a little bit hard to press.
The layout of the keypad is the usual, embedded into all Sony Ericsson's handsets, with
one exception: the power button that can be found right under the big D-pad. There are also
2 contextual keys, the Back key, the C (Correct) key and 2 dedicated keys that gives the
user direct access to Internet browsing and Task manager. If you press the upper part of
the big D-pad (marked with the 'w' letter) it will open the MP3 player application, but you can
also designate other shortcuts for the rest of the D-pad (left, right, down). The clamshell
features a small prominence at the base right under the keypad, which hinders any possible
contact between the 2 parts of the clamshell, thus keeping the keys clean and safe from
scratches.
The opening mechanism is sturdy enough so you will not feel any jog even after heavy use.
The only drawback I have noticed is the back cover, which opens by inserting your nail into
a small gap found on the left side of the phone, right above the volume key. Because the
back cover is made of pure plastic and is very slim, this action might seem very dangerous
when executed in a hurry and repeatedly. Basically, every time you try to pull out the battery
to put in a different SIM or want access to the M2 slot card, you have about 50% chance to
severely damage the back cover. Overall, Sony Ericsson W380i is one damn good-looking
clamshell, which might seem unusual for the low mid-level handset.
Display and Camera
If you are used with Sony Ericsson's latest Walkman series handsets, then you will be a
little bit disappointed by W380i's display performance. Besides the fact that it is rather small
(1.9 inches), the TFT main screen only supports 176 x 220 pixels resolution, but 262k
colors. Benchmarks revealed that both latest SE models – Z555i and W380i features the
same kind of display, thus scored similarly in performance.
Compared with other phones launched by other brands, SE W380i's results are below
average, but seem to be better than devices like Nokia's Prism collection or Samsung's
mid-level handsets (e.g. SGH-U100). While the internal display is barely visible, the small
mono OLED (128 x 36 pixels) external display is totally useless when exposed to strong
sunlight.
The 1.3 Megapixel camera features 4x digital zoom, but only when you choose the biggest
resolutions (QVGA 320 x 240 pixels or VGA 640 x 480 pixels). The camera lacks autofocus,
flash, and video recording capabilities.
There is no doubt about it: Sony Ericsson's W380i camera is not meant for taking pictures. I
believe that the only reason this phone has a camera is for the Gesture Control feature,
which requires it.
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