Sony Ericcson K750i goes into retirement, W518a phone incoming

I said goodbye to an old friend last night and hello to a new one. I finally, after four years, bit the bullet and decided it was time for a new cell phone. I bought my current phone, a Sony Ericcson K750i, in May 2006 as an unlocked phone without a SIM card because at that time it was the only 2-meg camera-phone available in the U.S.

All mega-pixels are not created equal and I found the reviews to be correct about the Sony camera in the K750i, it takes great photos of sufficient quality to make a very good 8x10" print. Try that with your cellphone, I dare ya. It's really a great camera-phone and I have the photos to prove it.

But as you can see from the first photo here, the K750i a candy-bar design, which I had to learn to live with. As my gut has since expanded further over my belt than it was in 2006, the problem of "gut dialing" has grown worse. I gut-dialed the preacher one morning at Oh-Dark:30 while I was fixing breakfast. He is not an early riser and laughed about listening to me crack eggs, but I'm positive it did not make his day. The buttons on the sides of the K750i will speed-dial anyone and everyone on my contact list sooner or later. I check my call list daily to find out who I gut-dialed.

So after trying many different styles of belt cases and finding that none of them will stop this annoyance, I finally decided yesterday to bite the bullet and get a new phone. I had two features that were non-negotiable. Can't be candy-bar design and must have a 2-meg or better camera.

I got on the AT&T wireless site last night and picked out a new Sony Ericsson, just because I like to stick with a brand if it works. Also, I discovered to my chagrin that clam-shell phones are going out of style in favor of the candy-bar design with touch screens. Imagine what my gut could do with a touch-screen. I'd be calling China hourly.

But AT&T did offer a Sony Ericsson in a clamshell design with a 3.2-meg camera. Done deal.
My new Sony Ericsson W518a was shipped sometime last night by the folks at the website who apparently never sleep, according to an email I got this morning. The "W" stands for Walkman as this model is also a music phone, but all I want it to do is make calls and take good photos.

As it has a 3.2 megapixel Sony digital camera I'm hopeful will be as good and maybe even better than the long-lived K750i.

And maybe the phone will also work in West Virginia and New York state, which for some unknown reason the K750i would not. I guess it doesn't like hill billies and Noo Yawk Yankees. Being as I have some cousins in West Virginia and my wife's family has a summer home in Noo Yawk State, that little quirk was definitely an annoyance I can do without.