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Archive for the 'SONY Ericsson' Category

Jan 22 2009

Sony Ericsson W595 Review

The W595 is a simple upgrade to some of Sony Ericsson’s other Walkman handsets. In fact you might say it’s the same as an earlier model the W890, only in a different form factor. The Specs are almost identical with a few minor distinctions. Take a look.

Design
Little of significance has changed since the W580 — the devices genuinely look like brothers from the same mothers. The camera has shifted positions, the USB socket has moved, and the overall enclosure has a slightly different shape. But if you’re looking for ground-breaking changes, keep walking, ‘cos there ain’t nothing to see here.

It’s still a decent design though, with a fine key layout. Speed texting is easier on some other handsets, but it’s nothing a week of practice won’t solve. Our biggest, most epic complaint is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone socket. You may remember this criticism from many, many other Walkman phone reviews.

We feel it almost wasn’t worth updating this phone unless you were going to add something as game-changing as a place to put headphones without a repugnant plastic adaptor. And reattaching the battery cover gave us several minutes of annoyance thanks to some tiny, easily breakable plastic positioning clips.

Features and Performance
Interface
There’s absolutely nothing new with the interface. It’s still quite vibrant, colorful and animated as any of the other SE handsets. So I can say, in compassion, it’s not slow but it’s not fast either. One of the biggest problems was, as I mentioned earlier, the very erratic light sensor. It seemed like all the ambient light surrounding our world was going a little nuts and hence caused the display to constantly become brighter and dimmer alternatively. Although the handset has an accelerometer, it’ll only function for web pages and the media menu. That means you’ll be constantly turning the handset one way or another for viewing.

Once again Sony has gone with their proprietary USB/Charging/handsfree port that will allow you to use the handset for one function at a time. It’s a good thing that the handset charges through USB in this case. There’s no dedicated camera key for the 3.2 megapixel camera, just a Walkman button for shake control. If you’re under the impression that the same key will activate the audio player you’d be wrong. I even held it for few seconds and it did nothing. A set of volume/zoom keys are located on the same side.

Performance
If you’ve used any Sony Ericssons over the last couple of years, you’ll have no problem working this one. It’s essentially the same phone in a new case. There are various menu themes, most of which are clear and easy to navigate.

We have no complaints over sound quality, but bear in mind the bundled sound-isolating earphones, while above average, are still pants compared to a decent pair costing as little as £40. The phone sounds much better than the earphones let it, so upgrading is advised.

Ups:
Good Battery Life
Camera is decent
Audio player is good
Entertaining games and apps

Downs:
Rear panel is extremely difficult to open
No hot swap for M2 card

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Jan 09 2009

Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot Mobile Review

Form Factor
While at first sight the C905 may come off as a bit bulky, weighty and thick (18mm), it however does have that feel good factor that will immediately take away all doubt of it being something one would construe to be an uncomfortable-to-use handset. It also weighs in at just 136g. The 2.4-inch TFT LCD display sports a 240 x 320 pixel resolution with 262K colors.

Just above the display, on either side of the earpiece are shortcut keys for quick access to various camera settings. The C905 is a brilliantly smooth slider phone with a well designed keypad that’s large enough to accommodate even stubby fingers like my own. The keys themselves are well placed and space is utilized to the fullest.

On one side of the handset are the volume/zoom keys, shortcut to the gallery, camera mode switcher (video to still) and the camera’s shutter release. An M2 card slot and SE’s proprietary port are located on the other side.What really appealed to me was the camera, that’s very neatly hidden by a sliding panel at the rear. The bottom portion actually moves inside to accommodate the top.

Just slide the silver panel down (smooth) and voila, an 8 megapixel camera lens with a Xenon flash is revealed. Apart from the 2GB M2 card that accompanies the handset is a sleek memory card reader for the same (swivel design).
SE has also finally answered our pleas to do away with their one-port-for-all system. The port is still present of course, but the charger now has a secondary port built in for plugging in the handsfree whilst the handset charges.

Pros:
Superb audio quality, Good design with a smooth slider

Cons: Camera takes a few seconds to start up

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