Sony Ericsson W508 review: Above the fold

The Sony Ericsson W508 walks and talks midrange though by no means does it keep a low profile. What we have here is the full Walkman package at a bargain price and the rest of the W508 specs may as well be irrelevant if music is the first thing on your list.

A true Walkman at heart, the W508 takes after the Sony Ericsson W980 in many ways and even adds a dash of color to the Walkman experience - in fact, the StyleUp covers make it a regular chameleon. 

There are eight StyleUp covers to choose from and the W508 always ships with a spare one in the box. And in case you wonder what's with all those paintjobs, let's not forget the W508 is in a twin predicament and has an identity to assert against the T707. That one we just reviewed, so we're sort of in for a sequel, though in Walkman flavor this time.

   
Sony Ericsson W508 official photos
Key features:
Quad-band GSM and 3G with HSDPA support 
3.15 megapixel camera 
2.2" 256K-color TFT display with 240 x 320 pixel resolution 
Secondary monochrome OLED external display 
Scratch-resistant surface for both displays 
Touch sensitive external music control keys 
Hot-swappable M2 card slot (up to 16 GB), 1 GB included 
Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) 
Walkman music player with Shake control and SensMe 
FM radio with RDS 
Gesture control 
Accelerometer for screen rotation 
Basic multi-tasking support 
Smart dialing 
Threaded messaging 
Exchangeable StyleUp covers 
Main disadvantages
Camera doesn't have auto focus or LED flash 
Low-grade video recording (QVGA@15fps) 
No web browser screen auto rotate 
No document viewer 

The Sony Ericsson W508 is a friendly phone that has many ways to interact with you - TrackID to find the track you've just overheard at the caf?, SensMe so you can pick songs based on your mood, Shake control to change tracks at the flick of the wrist plus touch-sensitive music buttons and even Gesture control to mute calls with a wave of your hand.