Has anyone out there, like me, a SOny Ericsson W890i that just restarts on it's own.

Sometimes when in use, the phone locks, the display goes black (with backlight), the vibrator motor starts, then the phone restarts after various little LED lights on the outside of the phone have illuminated.

Other times, the phone can just be sitting on the coffee table, totally unused for a good hour or two, and it just restarts as above.

Is it a common issue with this handset?

I know this is fairly common with other SE handsets.

My old K850i used to do it for a hobby - it was improved with a firmware update from Sony Ericsson Update Service but wasn't perfect. The other thing is to make sure you don't have too many messages in your inbox and sent items - this seriously made the K850i struggle and it used to crash more often until the text messages were cleared down.

My new C902 did it a few times - this was solved by moving my wallpaper to the phone's memory from the memory card.

A few ideas for you there - not sure if any of them will help. Good luck.

this has been a common complaint with SE handsets

SE's own website support even has a "what to do if the phone hangs or freezes" page

have you checked your phone to see if it is already on the latest firmware?

The Handsets on the latest Firmware.

I spoke to O2 and they offered a swap straight away, may be it's a known thing?

my w910i done this all the time wound up getting a new phone completly

yes it is a known issue, a lot of complaints

suggest you take the swap