Sony Ericsson has done an extremely good job at reinventing Sony's classic Walkman brand for the modern age. Coordinated aesthetics, quality products and above all an exceptionally good media player mean that Walkman phones have the edge for music fans considering an alternative to the ubiquitous iPod.

The W300i comes in at the lowest end of the Walkman range, but is still a notch or two above Sony Ericsson's entry-level products. It's similar in look and feel to the budget Z530i, though the cheaper phone gets by with a 65,000-colour screen and tri-band connectivity and has no radio or flight mode - the W300i features improvements on all of these and more.

Looks-wise, it utilises Sony Ericsson's latest take on the orange and black or white livery of the Walkman series - with a little less orange than on some models, which has got to be a good move. It feels incredibly light, especially surprising since at first glance it looks a bit on the squat side.

There's a good-sized if aesthetically questionable loop at the top for hanging the phone from your neck by a lanyard, though you'll have to supply your own, as it doesn't ship with one.

There's a large orange music play/fast-forward/rewind control on the side, which will control your sounds without the need to open the flip. This also doubles as your voice control activator if you press and hold while the flip is up.

Incidentally, pressing the side button while the music player is off allows you to display additional info on the monochrome outer screen, such as memory status and today's appointments. There's a large infrared port on the opposite side of the play button, but no other external controls.

By the way, as well the standard-issue W300i, you can get also the phone in a special Robbie Williams package courtesy of the former Take That-er's multimillion pound deal with T-Mobile.

The back-plate has that Prince-style squiggly R that Robbie's using as a logo these days, as well as exclusive Robbie ringtones, wallpapers, stick-on transfers for the casing, a live MP3 track and a live video from the beginning of his world tour in Durban, South Africa.

Features

Flip the lid of the W300i and there's a nice big 36x29mm 262,000-colour screen and a very distinctive looking keypad. It has an unusual overlapping keys design that looks like a great use of space, but actually takes a bit of getting used to, and you'll need to keep your eyes on the buttons until you get the feel of it.

The navigation pad too is sunken and looks good but proved a little fiddly to use in practise, and we regularly overshot our aim on the navigation menu. With practise though, you'll find additional quick key combinations that can be accessed via some deft pressings of the nav pad, including the camera, messages, voice record and contacts, with the option to programme other operations.

In contrast to Walkmans past, the dedicated music player button is a very tiny affair squeezed down the bottom of the keypad, as is Sony Ericsson's customary dedicated switch-on button.