Design
Looks-wise the W910i is much more sedate than previous Walkman phones, which tended to be a very bright, almost radioactive orange. The colour of our review model is what Sony Ericsson refers to as Noble Black. Ascribing nobility to a handset is a bit much, but it does look elegant without being boring. For those who like a bit of colour, it's also available in "hearty" red.
The profile is slim and streamlined at 12.5 millimetres. Given the tapered design of the bottom, the charging and headphone port has been moved from the base of the handset to the left side. This is fine for juicing up your W910i or loading it with PC data, but plug in the headset and the phone is over a centimetre wider in your pocket.
The non-number keys are unusually small, especially in light of the ample space surrounding them. A circular silver five-way navigation key is flanked on either side by teeny send and end buttons that are crammed right up against the soft keys. They look small enough to cause problems, but fared surprisingly well during testing. Even more miniscule are the power and Walkman keys hiding on the top of the handset -- blink and you'd miss them.
The W910i uses Sony's Memory Stick micro, which slots into a socket on the right. Included is a nifty USB adaptor so you can remove the card and plug it into a USB key rather than connecting your phone to a PC for data transfer.
Features
The standout features on the phone are -- of course -- music-related. There's a new menu style for browsing your multimedia, which will look familiar if you own a PS3 or PSP. A2DP allows you to stream songs wirelessly to a pair of funky earcans. In Walkman mode you can move the phone around to switch tracks -- tilting it to the right will go to the next track and tilting to the left will take you back. If you want to shuffle your tracks you can activate the randomise function by shaking the handset like a Polaroid picture.
As well as organising your tunes by artist, title and album, the W910i sorts them visually by mood, representing each track as a dot on a Cartesian plane not seen since the days of plotting parabolas in year nine maths. The x and y axes have been relabelled sad-happy and slow-fast, and you can navigate among the dots, selecting tracks to include in an emotion-driven playlist. This makes it easy to create song sets for every occasion, from post break-up anguish to getting ready for a night on the town.
Just like the iPhone, or the iPod Touch, the 240 x 320-pixel screen operates in vertical or horizontal mode, and can switch automatically according to how the phone is held.
Turn the phone over and you'll find a 2-megapixel camera at the top left corner -- a lower spec than we would have guessed, even for a music-focused phone.
Performance
We don't want to be killjoys here, but while the Walkman's shake function is fun for a few minutes it's ultimately nothing more than a gimmick. It's also hardly a time- or energy-saver given it requires you to hold down a button while simultaneously tilting or shaking. A simple press of the relevant navigation key requires less effort and will attract fewer odd looks in public.
One thing to be aware of is that this thing does not play nice with Windows Media Player. If you want to be able to use all the nifty music features, you'll need to install Sony Ericsson's media manager software and register it online. This is hardly a brand-specific issue -- we've had similar experiences with Samsung phones lately -- but you'll feel a bit put out if you have your tracks, videos and playlists meticulously organised in Windows Media Player.
In general we were impressed with the W910i, which brings Sony Ericsson's commendable Walkman UI to a finger-friendly form factor. The tilting and shaking isn't anything to e-mail home about, but there is much to like beyond the quirky bits.
Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!
motodude911
04/09/2008, 08:36 PM
rating
10/10
the best phone......iam using this phone since 4 months and ive never encountered any problems..
Pros: -light weight
-excellent themes
-good battery life
Cons: .................
Report offensive comment
dannybubu
04/09/2008, 04:38 PM
rating
2/10
ive had this phone for about 6 months and i've encountered the same problem many times! very frustrating...terrible phone
Pros: looks good
Cons: software keeps crashing...taken it to repair 3 times and it just keeps happening...
Report offensive comment
Everyman
31/08/2008, 01:51 AM
rating
9/10
Very good phone but still a few steps behind perfectness. 2.0 mpix camera is enough for mms, email use. The sound is good and comparable or even better to many DAPs on the market. FM reception is good and clear. This phone is also great for mobile gaming fans. Light and slim design adds to portability.
Pros: Great LCD screen with big viewing angles
Good sound quality
Superb gaming platform for j2me and flash lite games
Good media player/viewer
Design!
Intuitive, fully customizable UI
Cons: Some numeric keys a bit hard to access
No flash for camera
Sometimes crashes
Problems with supporting M2 cards bigger than 2GB
Too high noise level
Poor speaker
Organizing photos in media player may be painful (it's better to use file browser)
Report offensive comment
dwinlhen
30/08/2008, 05:18 PM
rating
8/10
I already have my N95...but i lyk the looks of this cp....very much for a lady lyk me. i dont need a camera....uses it only for call ant texting...i dont have a problem with the battery...its nicer
Pros: its completly nice
Cons: no cons if you want nice camera, just buy a 5megapixel cp.
Report offensive comment
sallijessi
29/08/2008, 09:29 PM
rating
1/10
worst phone i have ever owned in 12 years. Do not recommend to anyone. Have had nothing but problems with this phone. Never again, and back to nokia.
Pros: None to mention
Cons: software issues, phone switching off constantly, poor battery life. Really think twice before getting this phone.
Report offensive comment
helen
10/08/2008, 07:33 PM
rating
9/10
i just purchased this phone today. im proud of myself for buying it! it is really good so far. no problems or anything.
Pros: - loud
- everything about it so good.
it is sophisticated and everything!
Cons: - the screen smudges easily
- no cons yet. hopefully non already
Report offensive comment
KS,,
07/08/2008, 06:07 PM
rating
8/10
I really want this phone, But will i get bored with it? I'm worried about the camera not being gd and the music setting being to complicated... I have commitment problems is it worth getting?
Report offensive comment
itsmrj
06/08/2008, 07:43 PM
rating
10/10
This phone is a market leader, in technology and looks. Look and compare the features it has compared to the latest motorola! It is the same if not better. The latest hot rod on the market (the iPhone) features the same screen adjustment system as this mobile. The only thing letting this market leader down is the 2.0MP camera it features, Sony should have put at least a 3.15MP in it! But hey, its a music phone not a Home theatre system! Great Phone. 10/10
Pros: -Operating System
-Skins
-Organiser Features
-Media Enhancments
-Memory
(chamberlain.mrj@gmail.com)
Cons: -Low MP Camera compared to others in its range
-Battery Life is reported to be bad (rumour)
(chamberlain.mrj@gmail.com)
Report offensive comment
sira
05/08/2008, 07:36 PM
rating
10/10
CAN I BUT THIS PHONE
Pros: IS IT VALUE FOR ME BUYING THIS PHONE
Cons: WAT IS THE COST PRICE
Report offensive comment
Melissa K
03/08/2008, 12:27 AM
rating
9/10
Okay I am thinking of buying this phone and apparently (according to whirlpool.net) all the crappy faults of the phone freezing and everything is in a batch. there is a new batch out in Australia and it is HIGHLY recommeded you persist in asking and recieving an answer to whether or not your phone is in the new batch.
I think I will get it with Virgin though I don't know if I want it on a plan or not
Report offensive comment