Sony Ericsson W950i

'Sony Ericsson has been releasing quite a few eye-catching phones of late. Out of the lineup, the W950i is probably one of its more unique offerings.

For one, it is a smartphone that has Walkman capabilities. And as part of the Walkman family, the W950i offers no less than superb audio quality – something that is lacking in most smartphones.

Also, unlike smartphones which are bulky, the W950i looks rather sleek with its slim monoblock body.

It actually looks very similar to Sony Ericsson's M600, but in a more refined manner when it comes to how the keypad is designed.

Like the M600, the W950i is broad and easy to hold. Having a wide body also means it is able to host a bigger screen, which is always a plus point.

Sony Ericsson made a wise choice by giving it an overall solid black-coloured casing with just a few orange highlights.

I also like that it has a jog dial that can be used to scroll through contact lists and other options.

What I didn't like about the phone was its keypad. Justlike most of the phone, the keypad is flat with just a few dot-like protrusions to guide your fingers during key presses.

Though stylish, the keys were hard to use as it did not have much tactile feedback, so I had to rely mostly on its stylus.

Regardless, the W950i looks very classy and expensive –but then again, it is, at its recommended retail price of RM2,699.

Some good, some bad

Wow, that's expensive, you say? But perhaps that's the price to pay if you want a phone with a whopping 4GB onboard flash memory.

Yes, you can go all crazy with storing your favourite songs and even movies in the W950i. And you never have to delete a SMS message again.

Unfortunately, this may also be why the W950i does not come with an expansion slot for external storage.

Another gripe is that the W950i does not come with a built-in camera.

Though I much prefer to take photos with a real digital camera, I must admit that it is still convenient to have a phone with an integratedcamera.

Also, you would not be able to make video calls, which makes the 3G capability seem quite useless.

Sure, you can argue thatyou can surf the Internet and watch mobile TV with 3G. But why not put in WiFi instead then?

Grouses aside, the W950i has one of the nicest-looking display for a smartphone.

It comes with a brilliant 2.6in touchscreen that is very suitable for browsing websites and watching movies.

Another good point about the W950i is its speakerphone. When I drive, I can put the phone on the seat next to mine and the person I call can still hear me as clear as if the phone was right next to my face.

However, I found thatthe phone is not as loud assome of the other Walkman phones when playing music through its integratedspeakers – though its stereo headset more than makes up for this by producing excellent audio.

One for newbies?

The W950i runs on Symbian OS 9.1 and has a similar user interface to the P-series phones from Sony Ericsson.

One of the differences when compared to the P-series, for example the P990, is that the W950i has a "Walkman" icon in place of the "Calendar" icon in the main menu.

This in a way, seems rather redundant, since the W950i already has a similar iconon its main screen by default plus a dedicated Walkman button!

Though I've had experience with a variety of mobile OSes, I must admit that I had to resort to the manual to use the W950i.

Some parts of its user interface are intuitive enough, but I still had trouble getting used to it. It took me about two weeks before I was able to navigate the phone effortlessly.

This is especially true when it comes to text input. If you are used to the handwriting text input in PDAs (like me), you would have to forget just about everything you have learnt.

Without referring to the manual, it took me a while to figure out how to scribe some letters.

Looking at the manual helped, but even after several weeks, I still have problems with some characters.

Interestingly, a friend of mine who has never used a PDA had less of a problem. Granted, he still got some letters wrong, but he had better results on his first try.

Conclusion

If you want a phone that can subsitute an iPod, the W950i is definitely it.

Then again, with its hefty price tag, you would wish it came with a little more – perhaps WiFi, a decent camera or a memory card expansion slot, at least.

Pros: Impressive storage space, brilliant screen, superb sound quality.

Cons: No EDGE support, no camera, no WiFi, expensive.'quoted from the star online