Sony Ericsson w960i Review

Overall Rating

The size and the quality of the screen are awesome! It is the first Walkman phone with 3.2 MP camera with auto-focus and zoom among other features. Yes, it has 8GB memory, with an excellent transfer speed compared with the previous walkman phones: I got around 5.8 MBytes per second while copying one album. The Music player is very nice. The task manager allows you to leave open applications and return to the point you left it anytime, or even let's say, copy text from one application to another. The big RAM of the phone helps to keep open any application that you have opened at least once since you switched on the phone, making almost spontaneous the (re)opening of this application. You can connect to WIFi networks, and the Bluetooth is very handy. You can add a 2nd language for predictive text. Also you can set 2 areas of importance to you in the Clock: home and current location.

The design-user friendliness of the phone in some issues is not the best. For example, when you write a word using the keyboard prediction function, either you will have to use the jog dial to accept the suggested word, which is bit far from the keys, or you have to tap on the screen to select it (you could use space, but you might not want to add space after this word). I have mistaken a few times to hit twice in both cases, which results to Send the text (incomplete!), as the "Select button" changes to "Send". Additionally, it is a bit confusing the variety of ways you can exit the setting or an application you are currently using, as it's not consistent: the return arrow on the top right of the screen can be replaced from a Done option on the bottom left, or from a small X button in the top right corner of the pop-up window that appears. I don't like the fact the while playing a song, and you navigate inside the walkman application, the media buttons are deactivated. The processor is a bit slow, it takes few seconds to open some applications for the first time. It's not suggested for someone that sqitches it off frequently as it takes considetate time to open. I find annoying the way you can enter a new word in the case there is already a word assigned to the same key-sequence: you have to navigate yourself with the following way: "More", then "Text Options", and finally "Spell Word". It has only 3 available alarms to set. Although the power button is well protected and not easily pressed when you have the phone in a bag, let's say, you have to keep it pressed for 1-2 seconds to get the menu where you decide if you want to switch it off.

My previous phone was a Sony Ericsson W850. My first impression when I first tried the W960 in the store was not the best, but after I got it on my hands and I started getting used to the touch screen, I loved it!!! I had few difficulties though, as there was a problem when writing specific strings tha resulted to failure of the opened application. I mentioned that to O2, and they quickly replaced it with a new one, as I had it for less than 2 weeks. On the other hand Sony Ericsson replied to my email within 1.5 days, saying that I should download and install the update service. The pictures I have taken are very nice for a phone that is mainly designed as an Mp3 player. The shortcuts on the desktop are very nice, and the menu to assign them is well designed. I like the fact that I can have a preview of the Walkman application in a sub-area of the home screen on the phone, where if you tap on it the media buttons are activated. Definitely recommended by me!!!