Our Review of the Sony Ericsson W960i
The W960i is the latest weapon in Sony Ericsson's Walkman phone armoury, and it certainly comes out firing from both barrels.
The W960i is the latest weapon in Sony Ericsson's Walkman phone armoury, and it certainly comes out firing from both barrels. From first glance you can see that this is a handset that is focused on features. The form of the handset is it has to be said, relatively basic. The W960i is fairly similar to the W950 or even the P1 in its proportions. It also weighs a mere 119g which is an achievement considering the massive list of features the W960i possesses. It has a glossy black finish which combines well with the racier white edges on the side.
The front panel is definitely from the minimalist school of design; the display obviously dominates the handset but aside from that the W960i has the feel of a blank canvas. The W960i has ditched the flashy orange livery that is present on the other Walkman handsets so the visual look of the W960i is quite muted. There is a row of touch sensitive keys below the screen but they are so subtle as to be almost invisible. Thankfully they light up when the Walkman function is in use. The central touch sensitive key is dedicated to the walkman function to make getting to the player that much easier.
In terms of specifications, the W960i is the heavyweight of the Walkman family. A whopping 8GB hard drive has been included to handle your music needs which puts the W960i right into the same category as the iPhone. In addition to this 128MB of RAM and 256 MB of flash memory have also been included. Unlike Apple's heavyweight, the Sony Ericsson W960i has full 3G compatibility and an inbuilt 3.2 megapixel camera.
The camera itself has the great user interface software that you would expect from a Sony Ericsson handset. It has similar graphics and functions to previous Sony Ericsson handsets so if you have used a previous Walkman phone you won’t find yourself confused. The camera itself comes complete with a dual LED flash and autofocus, as well as all the camera functions you would expect such as white balance. It also has some interesting colour effects including sepia and black and white. Although the W960i does not have a Xenon flash it manages to adequately cope with difficult lighting conditions.
Multimedia features on the Sony Ericsson W960i are further bolstered by the addition of an FM radio with RDS and trackID music recognition. TrackID has appeared on most of the Walkman mobile phones and it is always a welcome feature. If you hear a song you don't know, trackID will tell you what it is called and who sings it!
Pros
Massive 8GB hard drive with full 3G compatibility. A 3.2 megapixel camera.
Cons
Doesn't have the style and grace of the iPhone so it won't wow your friends on looks alone.
Our Rating
Style:
Features:
Quality:
Reliability:
Battery Life:
All things considered, the W960i offers far more than any otherpreviously released Walkman phone. If you can forgive the lack of an iPhone style touchscreen interface then this could be the phone for you.
