US mobile users in need of an affordable music-oriented phone should be happy to find out that the largest North American carrier (AT&T, of course) has just released a new handset for them: Sony Ericsson W350.

The retail price of W350 is $229.99, but with a contract agreement for two years, the phone can be bought for $79.99. However, AT&T offers an online discount, which makes the new Sony Ericsson free of charge, if acquired together with the said contract agreement.

The $0 price is only available for the Ice Blue version of the W350, while the Electric Black one is sold for $29.99.

What will users get for this attractive price? First of all, a weird flip-down design. Secondly, a case that measures only 10 millimeters (0.39 inches) in thickness. Thirdly, a set of pretty good features (for an affordable phone).

So, the features of the new Sony Ericsson include: Walkman Player 2.0, music-dedicated external keys (on the flip cover), Mega Bass, TrackID, PlayNow access, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, FM Radio with RDS, a 1.9 inch TFT display with 176 x 220 pixels and 256K colors, push email, NetFront browser, Instant Messaging, RSS reader, handsfree, organizer, tri-band GSM connectivity with GPRS and EDGE, USB 2.0, a 1.3 Megapixel camera, 14MB of internal memory and Memory Stick Micro card support. The W350 packs a battery capable of offering a talk-time of up to seven hours or a stand-by time of up to 300 hours.

In the next few months, AT&T will probably come with even more color versions for the W350 (besides the two mentioned ones). I say this because the American carrier is known for offering its Sony Ericsson phones in lots of colors - the W580i, for example, is available in black, white, pink, red, jungle green and gray.

Users interested in reading an exhaustive review of Sony Ericsson W350 can do so at this address (lots of live pictures are included).