Lanny's Sony Ericsson W300i Walkman, which was working perfectly, before charging the battery, was damaged, on 02 November 2007, while the battery was being charged, for approximately one hour, with the Sony Ericsson battery charger that came with the phone. When it was turned on, after charging the battery, the screen was White for a second and then blank for a few seconds and then White again. He posted in a forum on Mobile Review and the people who replied told him this is a common problem, with Sony Ericsson GSM cell phones. It is called the White Screen Of Death or WSOD. That network operator, Movistar (Telefonica Moviles Colombia), sent the phone to their Service center in Bogotá and Lanny was told that it could not be repaired. The Technician who made that determination apparently had no experience with Sony Ericsson cell phones! Lanny did a lot of research on the web and learned that frequently WSOD is due to a problem with the Firmware and can be fixed by Flashing the Firmware. A very special thank you, to Wotan Server! On 24 December 2007, for 7 Euros ($10.35 USD at that time) Lanny purchased one Credit from them and his Sony Ericsson W300i Walkman is working perfectly again! If you have a Sony Ericsson cell phone with WSOD, you can Download and install their Wotan Client, USB Flash Driver and step by step Quick Reference Guide, before you purchase a Credit from them. You can begin the process and verify that the EROM (Extended ROM) in your phone has a RED CID. If your phone has a BROWN CID (BROWN phones are for Developers), their service will not be able to repair your phone. It works with the USB cable supplied with the W300i. Lanny then paid someone locally, who has the software and special cable required, to unlock his W300i, and he is now using it on the Tigo network. WSOD seems to occur when: (a) Charging the battery (b) Connecting the phone to a PC and then disconnecting and (c) Turning the phone on and off. Probably one should minimize those actions, with cell phones made by any company.
SE-NSE is a site dedicated to technical aspects of Sony Ericsson cell phones. If you need to replace (Flash) the Firmware in your Sony Ericsson cell phone, and/or Debrand (replace Firmware modified by a network provider with Generic Sony Ericsson Firmware) it, you may be able to do it, free, with the XS++ program you can Download from their site. They have links to other sites related to Sony Ericsson cell phones.
If your phone should get wet, immediately remove the battery and the SIM card and memory chip and dry off the phone as much as is possible, with a paper towel or a dry towel. Then, leave it open, to dry, for several days. Something we did not try was to put the wet phone into a plastic container full of Rice or Cat Litter. Put the phone on top of the Rice or Cat Litter and then put the lid on the container. The idea is the Rice or Cat Litter will absorb moisture from the wet phone. Lanny's W300i was in the water, twice, for a few seconds each time, in a vinyl holster. That had nothing to do with his W300i getting WSOD, six months later.
During September 2005, we changed, from CDMA phones to GSM phones, with our primary cell phone network. CDMA technology, the most common in the United States, permits conversations with a very weak signal, in the noise. GSM technology requires an extremely strong signal, 15 dB above the noise. CDMA phones usually have shorter talk time with their batteries, but, they are better. in weak signal, rural locations. GSM phones are the easiest, when one gets a new phone, because the contacts and other information are on a SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module), which can be inserted into the new GSM phone. After Lanny's Sony Ericsson W300i Walkman was damaged by the White Screen of Death, he bought a Nokia 2610, from another cell phone company. The contacts from his old phone were copied from the old SIM card, to the memory of an unlocked cell phone and then copied from that phone, to the new SIM card for the new phone.
The Walkman phones are wonderful for music! Sony Ericsson seems to have a Quality Control problem with these wonderful W300i phones, because Pilar's phone sometimes did not have a signal, when Lanny's phone had the signal and could be used and both phones were on the same network and in the same place. In case of an emergency, we now also have backup GSM phones, with another cell phone operator. Lanny's new backup phone is a Nokia 2610. Pilar has a Nokia 3200b. The Nokia 3200b has a strange keypad and it looks flimsy, however, it is a rugged phone. All of our Nokia cell phones have very high capacity batteries. Melissa wanted a cell phone for her 6th birthday and she received a Firefly, supposedly very easy to use (buttons on the front to call Mother and Father, great for young children who cannot read) and very safe for children, because parents can set it to send and receive calls, only to/from phone numbers that are in the phone's directory. However, Melissa (and her parents) found the Firefly to be very hard to use and problematic and she is now using a Nokia 1108.
Melissa's Nokia 1108 has been Unlocked and it can now be used on either of our GSM network's. Lanny unlocked his Nokia 6800 (now available as a spare GSM phone), using the free service for older Nokia GSM phones based on the DCT4 platform (3200, 6800 and many others) at GSM Liberty and we tried to unlock Pilar's Nokia 3200b, which was imported by the superstore where we shop (probably from the USA), but it is so restricted, that it will not even work with another SIM card, from the same network provider. (MSIN Lock, which is SIM Specific). Apparently, it will require someone with a special cable and software, to unlock the Nokia 3200b. Possibly it is also locked, in Firmware, to a network in the USA, as well as to our network in Colombia. Both of our Sony Ericsson W300i Walkman phones have been unlocked and also the Nokia 2610 has been unlocked. The most common way to unlock a Sony Ericsson phone is with a Patch. After the phone is unlocked, if the Firmware is updated, the phone will probably be locked to the original carrier again and need to be unlocked a second time.
Our Nokia DCT4 phones are Dual band or Tri band models. The Sony Ericsson W300i is a Quad band model. These are called "World" phones and they operate on the four (4) most common GSM bands: 850, 900,1800 and 1900. Unlocked, they will work on the majority of GSM network's in the world. There are countries where some or all of the GSM service is on other GSM bands. For example, in Denmark, Israel and South Korea; some or all of the service is on the GSM 2100 band. If we travel, we can purchase a Prepaid SIM card in the country we are visiting and save a great deal of money, because we will not need to pay Roaming and other charges to our network providers at home.
Caution: If you try to unlock an older Nokia phone based on the DCT4 platform, do not try more than four (4) unlock codes during a session. If you are not successful with the 5th unlock code, the phone will lock up and you will need to unlock it with a special cable. Also, you may be in violation of your service agreement and void the warranty, so if your phone is under contract, read it, before you try to unlock any cell phone!
Owners of GSM phones should confirm that the IMEI number of the phone is the same as the number shown on the box. Sometimes, phones are switched and the number on the box is incorrect. To view the IMEI number, press *#06# It's a 15 digit number. If your GSM phone is lost or stolen, when you notify your cell phone provider, they can block the IMEI number of that phone.
Our understanding is that for GSM networks, Nokia phones have the best software. And, for CDMA networks, that Kyocera phones have the best software.
Our Sony Ericsson W300i's have 25 MB of internal memory and a 256 MB Memory Stick Micro (M2™). In a phone with a camera and music, the more memory, the better! Pilar has the tiny Sony Ericsson MPS-60 portable speakers for her W300i phone. They are powered by the battery in her W300i. The sound level they produce is impressive, for such tiny speakers. The display on the W300i is almost impossible to read, if you are in direct sunlight. For example, it is almost impossible to see the list of contacts, if you want to make a phone call, in direct sunlight. The box Lanny's Sony Ericsson W300i came in says that it was made in Mexico, however, when he removed the battery, it says that it was made in Malaysia. The display in the Nokia 2610 is also impossible to read in sunlight and it is impossible to know the status of the battery, when the battery is being charged.
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