Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson made some of the best cell phones of their time. They introduced the CyberShot camera phone series which stuffed in a digital camera, and a Walkman phone which brought MP3 player capability (which was sensational at the time),

Even today, the audio fidelity of their Walkman phones is unmatched, even rivaling the Wolfson DAC (though I'm very biased towards Sony's Mega BASS technology, as a bassist).

Recommended Models

Note: Most Sony Ericsson phones need a $5 converter to use 3.5mm audio jack headphones. It plugs into the charging port.

Unfortunately, space is limited to a $40 16GB M2 card on Sony Ericsson phones, since Sony tried to push it's proprietary M2 format through these phones. M2 cards are incompatible with microSD cards, and are too small to be converted.

• First Generation - The very first Sony Ericsson phones on the market. Since they were forerunners, these have many shortcomings, and it might be better to look for a 2nd or 3rd gen phone instead (unless you're a collector). Adds Walkman and Mega Bass.
  • K750i/W800i - These phones use Memory Stick Duo, which can be easily converted into microSD card. Unfortunately, even with the Walkman mod and new acoustics, the Second Generation outshines it in file management and sound quality. Not that these phones are bad; they are almost equal to a Wolfson DAC on a Samsung Exynos.
• Second Generation - These phones are in the middle range, and can be found for $30-50.
  • K850i - The only phone that supports microSD card. Unfortunately, this one was a bit buggy, so mods are required just to keep it stable.
  • W580 ($30) - This phone is probably the best value, since it comes with a Walkman player with perfect acoustics out of the box. All the other phones require some difficult modding to fix bugs in the acoustics...
  • W595 ($50-80) - Improved version of the W580. Unfortunately, I've never tested it, but I bet it's great.
• Third Generation - The very best phones that Sony Ericsson ever made. Can be found for $80-130. Adds Clear Bass.
  • C902
  • C905/W995 - The C905 packs in an 8.1MP camera with Xenon flash. The W995 adds Walkman with gapless playback, and even a 3.5mm audio jack, so no more converters.

K750i/W800i

If you have a K750i, you will want to convert it into a W800i, so you can get

If you have a W800i (or converted K750i), you will want to install some bugfixed acoustics, taken from newer phones, to kill a slight static noise during silence.

Downsides

• W800i Walkman - No non-Latin Language support (was never released in East Asia?)
  • Requires all music to be placed in the format: ms0:/MUSIC/<artist>/<album>. Can get a bit inconvenient.

W995

full list of mods

The first thing you're going to want on this model is some good acoustics.

Sony Ericsson Spiro and Zylo

These have the special ability to use MicroSD cards and the lossless FLAC format. A must have if you have CDs to rip, or FLACs to listen to.

Walkman Workarounds

The SE Walkman is compatible with MP3 and AAC audio formats (as used in MP4/FLV videos). Unfortunately, most Sony Ericsson phones are not compatible with FLAC, and don't really have an alternative lossless format. Maybe other lossless AAC formats might work? Needs testing...

Sometimes, you are going to need to tweak the acoustics to get the best sound quality. This is different for each device, so check those guides.