Got my Cingular-branded W810i yesterday, prior to that I was using a generic, unlocked W810i. Some of the changes, I must say, are quite annoying. The options and menus of the phone have been rebuilt to make it impossible to avoid using MediaNet - the links are just everywhere, and it's nearly impossible to tell which one will hit the browser, and which one is a local application. Most disappointing change: the "Favorites" key (little silver-colored key on the right side) - one major plus for me when compared to W800i (and a very welcome addition from K-series) is now a dedicated, orange-colored Media-Net button - and there is no way to get the favorites back. Walkman is no longer on the menu - it is a sub-option of "Cingular Music", along with a ton of useless "shop/community/apps" links through the browser; Radio is buried under "Entertainment", "Cingular Mall" takes a center stage on the menu, browser menu became "MEdia Net". Because the menu is rebuilt, the style of it no longer changes with the theme (as it does on a stock W810i). Of the cool things: Mobile Email (another menu shortcut) now allows you to have a direct access to Yahoo/Hotmail/AOL/AIM, and provides pull notifications (probably consuming a few extra bits of network traffic along the way), MSN Messenger is a dedicated application in Messaging menu (but then again, this will probably drive the conversation through a more-lucrative SMS channel rather than MEdia Net). Bottom line is, if you have an unbranded SE W810i, and don't plan to get unlimited MEdia Net package, then stay with it. Otherwise, Cingular's version of W810i might be OK - considering the cost difference between the units - although it will be quickly made up through the money spent on internet services and features, which is exactly what they would want you to do.
If anyone from Cingular is reading these posts: WE WANT FAVORITES MENU BACK!!!
