Sony Ericsson W960i Review

Sony Ericsson is one of the top mobile phone companies in the world. The main feature of Sony Ericsson’s mobile phone sets is that each of the models emphasize on one criteria: picture, music, smart phone for businessmen. If you are a camera freak then the ideal buy for you is the Sony Ericsson cyber-shot. The Sony Ericsson music phones have great sound quality and multimedia features. The earlier smart phones of Sony Ericsson were not so powerful and the flaws in the Wi-Fi chipset was a big disaster. The Sony Ericsson W960i has gotten rid of all these problems. The phone set was first announced in June 2007 and came in the market in late November. The price of the phone is less than $600 but it can rise upto $800 based on the location. Here is a review of Sony Ericsson W960i.

Dimension:
Breadth: 16mm (0.6")
Width: 55mm (2.2")
Length: 109mm (4.3")
Weight: 119g

The Sony Ericsson W960i looks like a black candy bar. This trim handset nicely fits in one hand. A sleek looking phone but sturdy as well. The keypad of Sony Ericsson W960i makes a little clicking noise while you use it. The Sony Ericsson W960i has everything you can expect from a smart phone. Mobileburn says:

The W960i offers a bevy of hardware buttons, though not the ones you would normally expect from a smartphone. The front of the device features a regular numeric keypad, with a back button, Walkman button, and 'c', or clear button taking up the top row. Between the screen and the keypad are three dedicated media playback keys. These are touch-sensitive and are only active when you have the Walkman application open. The right side of the W960 houses the volume up/down buttons, as well as the camera shutter key. There is an extremely handy scroll wheel on the left side of the handset, which you can press in to select items. The power button is on top, and there is a proprietary Sony Ericsson plug at the bottom of the handset.

The Sony Ericsson W960i comes with 2.6" QVGA touchscreen. You may not feel comfortable while using the buttons on the touch screen. The display is very good but you can not see it under direct sunlight. You will find a front facing video camera on the top left corner of the display for video calling and the 3.2 megapixel camera is located on the back. The main camera comes with dual-LED flash. The loud speaker of Sony Ericsson W960i is located on the back slightly below the camera. The Sony Ericsson W960i comes with a stylus which is kept along the edge of the phone, near the speaker. The stylus looks like a plastic toothpick that you find in Swiss army knives.

The Sony Ericsson W960i can be a great music companion. It comes with so many easy to use features. It has a built in Walkman music player, music playlist. The album art can be displayed on the touch screen. The built in FM radio supports RDS that allows the user to listen to their favourite radio stations and view information. One of the major features of Sony Ericsson W960i is TrackID. Powered by Gracetone, the TrackID allows the listener to record few seconds of the song they like. The music then sent to TrackID comes back with title, artist name/band name and album name. Your mobile phone review further says:

The W960i comes with a music PlayNow™ feature which allows the user to buy or audition ringtones in three simple clicks of a key which is the fastest way for the user to download the latest ringtones onto their phone. The phone supports MP3, polyphonic & AAC ringtones which provides the user with a wide choice of sound on their handset. The user can enjoy a wireless music experience by using the Bluetooth® stereo A2DP connectivity which is available on this stylish music phone. The user can use the Mega Bass™ feature allows the user to enjoy high quality bass frequencies through the phones speakers or when using the headphones. The Sony Ericsson W960i comes complete with Disc2Phone software which allows the user to enjoy a drag & drop music transfer from their CD's to their handset.

The Sony Ericsson W960i is truly a 3G phone. It has 3G video call facility with any 3G video calling compatible user. The Sony Ericsson W960i also provides Bluetooth facility, WLAN and USB. You can connect the phone with any other compatible device to transfer or download files through Bluetooth or USB connection. The WLAN will give internet facility. The phone works under various mobile network structure such as, GSM 900, 1800, 1900 & UMTS 2100. Softpedia says:

Sony Ericsson W960i runs on a Symbian 9.1 OS with UIQ 3.0 platform, which is similar to P1i's platform. It features the same interface, but fortunately not the same latency. What was annoying when using SE's P1i smarpthone, the slow processing speed of the interface and the long responding commands, doesn't happen onto this new W960i handset. And when multi-tapping the screen gets you no results, you just have to wait, and wait, and then wait some more. Don't get me wrong, Sony Ericsson W960i smartphone is not a speedy handset, but it's nowhere near P1i.

Overall, 8GB memory, walkman player, autofocus camera with dual-LED lights, and Wi-Fi makes the Sony Ericsson W960i one the best music phones from Sony Ericsson but the keypad lighting, back button, audio port, and low battery life can become real headache.

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