I'm not sure how the vendors procure product. Mine was shipped from Victoria, BC and arrived in seemingly genuine Rogers shrink-wrap, complete with instruction booklet. The actual SIM was mounted within a full-size smart card withthe standard pop-out to free the smaller module.

I used to work in smart cards (electronic commerce, pre-paid payphone cards etc.) and wondered if these are older generation cards, smaller memory or something along those lines.

My SIM activated just fine in my W810i, and I'm not too concerned about storage in the SIM, since I'm shopping for a 4GB MSPD module. Now that's a story - I just received a fake from a vendor in Markham, ON :eek:

The ebay Rogers SIM cards are unused cards that come in the box. People trade up their phone all the time but they keep their SIM cards. The phone dealers are selling off these. I picked up my 4GB duo pro during FS boxing day.

I received my W810 2 days ago. Everything looks and works nice, but I am not too thrilled about the connector used for the earphone. Also, my 25 year old Sony ear plug sounds much better than this one supplied, but the cord on a regular ear plug would be too long on top of the silly connector and the cable. Makes it cumbersome to carry around. Oh, well, Sony does do odd things sometimes.

I'll be shopping for a 4 GB card as well (since 500kB can only hold 3 of my cd's ripped to mp3), another one of Sony's "invention". SO, if you gentleman know where a good deal is, please let me know.

BTW, is 4 GB the largest that W810i can take? or is it the limit of Sony's duo pro?

According to Sony 4GB is the limit for that phone. Be sure to check Costco. They recently had a rebate. It may still be in effect.

Thanks Jake. I checked Canadacomputers and they have a sandisk 4 GB. I'll check costco as well.

BTW, I turned on Megabase and the earphone sounds pretty good:)

I checked around for the possibility of a "hack" to allow 8GB, but came up empty handed, so I guess 4GB is it. Still that's good enough for a few tunes and pics.

I checked Costco last weekend and they had the 4GB, but I don't think it included the full-size adaptor. Had to take the cardboard to cash register to see product.

I just got hosed on eBay, buying for $xx shipped, but it's a fake. I have no idea what's actually in the package, but there were ~5 clues on the outside, including wrong Sony part # and UPC# for a 1GB card. The seller offered a full refund, but I might take it further and either give it to my RCMP buddy or call the SONY hotline.

BTW, thanks Jake for the very plausible explanation on the source of cheap SIM cards.

I had to remove the pricing discusion. If you find a deal post it in the Digital Deals forum. Thanks.

Correction to my earlier post;

I checked the Costco website, and the Sandisk 4GB MSPD card they're selling DOES contain the full-size MS adaptor.

Costco everyday price is same as current FS/BB lowest sale price; only difference is they're selling equivalent Sandisk vs. Sony product.

I went to Costco today and bought a Sandisk 4 GB Pro Duo@ $59 which is the lowest I've seen so far.

Anyway, I tried to load my mp3 music using the disc2phone software, and it is very slow. I got fed up, took the card out and plug it directly into my computer's flash reader, and just dropped my mp3 files on it, and it works, and fast.

Anyway, my mp3's are all in vbr format, and it works too, whereas the disc2phone software does not handle vbr. I guess that software is really uselss.

I think the issue is more w/ the phone than the SE application.

I don't use disc2phone, but had my W810 connected to my PC via the USB cable. Transferring 160MB of files (23 mp3 files) took about 6 minutes. This to a genuine SONY 4GB MSPD device.

Pulling the MSPD from the phone and inserting into my PC's flash-media drive, I transferred another 126MB (20 files) in under 2 minutes.

My conclusion is that the phone's USB and/or Flash drivers are the bottleneck, so now I do all my file transfers with the flash-drive.

I have the Sony W810i. Excellent sound and the pictures are not that bad at all. Problems - it crapped out after just under 1 year, would not start up, software problem apparently. Has been in for repair for approximately 2 months now? It may just be an issue with this one. Overall, I always enjoyed the phone and the music I could listen to everywhere.

I decided to look if there are new software from SonyEricsson. Went to their website, and downloaded newer versions of PC Suite and Disc2phone. I also downloaded Update Services to see if they have upgraded the Walkman, so I followed instructions from the Update services software, connected the phone and it says my software is already the latest, but there is no exit button, only "back and Restart" or "update anyway". So I chose "update anyway". It started to download the software from the website, and then started to update the phone, but in the middle it says error and retry:confused:. At this point, I decide to quit and unplug my phone from the pc. After that, the phone will not start:confused:. So, I started everything again, and this time, it updated my phone, and it seems to be working, hopefully, no glitches. Next time, I will not be as brave, or there will not be a next time. The stupid thing is that the software does not tell you what version is it, and if there is a newer version available, until you start the whole update service process.:(

PeterK: 2 months for repair? where did you send it to? I never had much confidence in Sony, except for their TV's. I had a Walkman back in 1979, and it did not last long, and then in 1998, I had their first portable cd player, and it only lasted more than a year, both past the warranty when they quit. This time, I have an extra year from my credit card company. I hope it will last for 3 years. By the way, my old phone is a pretty good Samsung A460 (pretty expensive at the time). It lasted for about 4 years. Anyway, I hope they will fix yours soon. Please keep us updated when you do get it back. BTW, did they give you a replacement phone while your is under repair?

e268,

What version does your phone now show? Did your phone originally come with the chinese games? Does it still have the games after updating?

e268, the phone went into Rogers as it was just under the warrant line..like 1 day short..thank God. They did not give me a replacement phone. I guess when I get it back I should be looking for rebates on my monthly charges?:confused: I had not used the phone for quite a while as I was away, then tried to power up and the LCD just kept flashing. Thats was it. No more phone. Im not sure how having it off for a long time should affect the software:confused:.

Jake: I only have 2 games on mine, no Chinese games. All my music are still there after the update. Software version CXC1250317 A4EA031. Any chance sending me the Chinese games:p

PeterK: I thought Rogers is supposed to give you a replacement while yours is under repair. I saw it either in their website or in their shop.

BTW, is there anyway to keep music under different folders? I know they have this option in Walkman V2, but thought there might be a way to get around it.

Here are some free java ones you can download.

http://www.mobilerated.com/sonyericsson-w810i-games.html

if you want more games, apps, themes etc.

myw810 (http://www.myw810.lasyk.net/)

they have one of those for almost all SE phones

Thanks guys for the link. I'll take a look later on at my leisure. I have now solved my problem with "album". I loaded my mp3 music by folder, which is an album. It works for most of them, but there are a few that gave me trouble, and I have to go in and edit the tag's to make it work. So "artist" are actually all my folders (albums), and one level down are the actual music as arranged in the original album.:)

I have been trying for a few days to delete an email sent to me by Sony Ericsson (a welcome message). It is stored under email. I marked it for delete, but I cannot find any keys to delete it. It bothers me because an email envelope shows up on the screen all the time and I want to get rid of it. Please let me know how you got rid of yours. Thanks.

press the "C" button