Sony Ericsson
W880i

The W880i was unveiled in February 2007 and immediately won plaudits for its attractive design and its ultra-thin (9.4mm) styling, which was cited as being “thinner than a CD case”. Thin phones were a clear trend that this point in mobile phone history and Sony Ericsson tapped into that with this model. It was capable of storing 900 full-length music tracks. The phone, which was a continuation of Sony Ericsson’s popular Walkman line of devices, supported 3G technology and featured a two-megapixel camera (with no flash) and also a front-facing VGA camera for video calling. The tiny keys were a little controversial and some users found them difficult to use, but in most cases were prepared to accept that trade-off for such an attractive and sleek design. The W880i was a strong competitive move by Sony Ericsson and placed further pressure on arch-rival Nokia who was struggling with a bulky portfolio at a time when the rest of the market was offering considerably thinner device platforms.