Sony Ericsson W900i

I bought this phone as an upgrade around 4-5 months ago, and have to say that despite its weight and iPod-aping white colour scheme it is one of the best phones I have used.

I guess the question is, what does it do that's so great?

APPEARANCE (vanity vanity vanity)

Like I mentioned, the phone is iPod-white, which may or may not be to everyone's taste. It is dominated by a large and crisp (252 thousand ...
...reveal the keypad. The rear features the camera and speaker, whilst another smaller camera is visible just above the screen.

The actual menu interface is very clear, with large icons, but the standard theme leaves much to be desired. Fortunately additional themes are provided, including animated ones and they are easily downloadable online (sadly I've grabbed a Louis Vitton one).

FEATURES (it is a phone after all)
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I bought this phone as an upgrade around 4-5 months ago, and have to say that despite its weight and iPod-aping white colour scheme it is one of the best phones I have used.

I guess the question is, what does it do that's so great?

APPEARANCE (vanity vanity vanity)

Like I mentioned, the phone is iPod-white, which may or may not be to everyone's taste. It is dominated by a large and crisp (252 thousand colours I'm reliably told) screen, which swivels 180 degrees to reveal the keypad. The rear features the camera and speaker, whilst another smaller camera is visible just above the screen.

The actual menu interface is very clear, with large icons, but the standard theme leaves much to be desired. Fortunately additional themes are provided, including animated ones and they are easily downloadable online (sadly I've grabbed a Louis Vitton one).

FEATURES (it is a phone after all)

Well first and foremost it's a phone, and a talented one at that. Basic calling is simple and easy, with the added benefit of voice dialling and excellent sound quality. The phone features a speakerphone for hands free operation, which is useful if your, say, on the loo! In terms on phone numbers it can store an awful lot, I'm not sure of the exact number since it depends on a few factors like how many MP3's you have, but what is astounding is the amount of information you can hold per number. Multiple numbers are par for the course these days but the W900i lets you store email address, web address, company/home address, birthday, a photo and "other" as well as a voice command.

Text messaging is similarly easy to use, with the phone supporting the T9 dictionary as well as the new fangled "long" texts (which are many smaller texts joined-up). This is seamlessly integrated into the phones' software, so you don't need to go to "Messages", "Create", "Text" to write one, you can simply scroll to the name in the phonebook and choose "send text" as an option.

This integration I'll be coming back to, but is one of the things that really makes the phone a pleasure to use.

Sooo… texting. As I was saying, texting is pretty easy and straightforward. As you'd expect, you can send the same text to multiple recipients, save them as drafts and so on. The phone can store around 200 texts, the memory for this seems to be separate from the main memory.

As expected, MMS makes an appearance and is sadly no different to the clunky, complicated efforts present on most phones. What is pleasant to see is the level of detail you can go into, with animations, sound, video and of course plenty of text all supported. Of course these can only be sent to another phone wih the same capability, should you try send one elsewhere it seems to end up in a mysterious Vodafone live limbo gallery online.

3G (a boyband surely…)

The phone is 3G comapatible, which means……..little unless you're in coverage. As it stands, Vodafone's coverage doesn't cover large swathes of the country, so check this before you buy! Now, if you are in coverage, then the phone really starts to shine. I'll start with that old chestnut, video calling.

Dismissed as a gimmick, this is actually a fantastic feature allowing you to see in real time the other person (should they have another 3G phone). This uses the slightly smaller camera on the front of the phone. The video is slightly grainy, and the audio is output over the speaker meaning all and sundry can listen to your conversation, but wow. What a difference. Now this was the killer feature for me. Since my other half lives miles and miles away, not being able to see her is a pain. But now, I can!! And it's great (*cough* yes you CAN use it in a sordid manner but we are all adults here thank you). Downsides to this feature are that it is expensive, at 35p a minute same network 50p other network last time I checked.

3G also manifests itself in the speed of your mobile web connection. It is far faster than GPRS or WAP connections, allowing you to download much richer content. This particular phone allows you to stream TV to it (albeit at a cost) as well as download music and video. What is cool is watching the news on the bus home from work (ITN allow you to do it mostly for free). Sadly no free football goals yet, but I can hope….

MP3 (those ipods get everywhere…)

One thing I neglected to mention about this phone's appearance is the small "W" walkman logo on the keypad. Yes, it claims it's a walkman! MP3 playing phones aren't too unusual in this day and age, but the W900i's implementation is extraordinary. The phone comes with a huge (for a phone) half gig of memory to store your music, and this can be further expanded up to 2.5gb with an appropriate memory stick DUO card (around £80 for a generic 2gb one. Don't buy from Vodafone though. Expensive ;))

The player itself is accessed through a dedicated "Walkman" button, or through the menu. This provides you with an orange-themed bit of software that reads ID3 tags (names, artists etc), organises playlists, repeat, shuffle and so one. It has an equaliser. Remember 80's hifi's? Well, Mega BASS is back, and upon activation the sound quality dramatically improves. All in all, an excellent implementation with excellent sound quality, especially through the supplied headphones. These are the "in ear" type, meaning you wont hear much from the outside world should you choose to use them. The supplied remote also features a LCD screen which displays music information.

Lastly its possible to run the MP3 player without turning on the phone. Useful if you on a plane for example.

CAMERA (running out of silly quotes…)

The phones integrated 2 Mega Pixel camera is based upon a full-fledged stand alone camera. It only works when the phone is closed, using the large screen as a viewfinder. Picture quality is excellent, I've even managed to print acceptable 6x4 prints with it. Anyone who has ever used a digital camera will feel at home, with the shutter button placed intuitively at the top of the phone. For posers, self portraits can be taken using the smaller camera at the front of the phone, but these are lower in quality. A nice touch is photo morphing software, which allows you to distort and generally much about with the photos. The supplied flash is bright and works well. The major downside to the camera is that there is a slight delay when you press the shutter, meaning its easy to blur photos. This is something I've experienced with most phones though.

As an aside, the camera can also take (grainy) video with sound, which you can then send as an MMS (integration is the word).

GAMES (dammit I want a PS3)

Do you have a PC? Do you play PC games? If so, chances are you'll have a GeForce or Radeon sitting inside. Wait. So does the phone. That's right, the phone features an nVidia "Go-Force" graphics chip, meaning 3D games are finally possible on a mobile!

For such a device, the graphic are astounding, it's just a shame the phone only includes demos rather than full games. The games include Asphalt 3D, a racing game, Snowboarding, and my favourite, minigolf. All show off the phones 3D capability nicely.

APPLICATIONS (what is this, Windows?)

The phone features an absolute bucketful of applications, most of which are self explanatory (eg calendar, stop watch, alarm, calculator, and so on). What's nice again is the integration. A birthday added to a contact is automatically added to the calendar. In addition, you can use your MP3's as an alarm.

Beyond these, the phone features videoDJ, musicDJ, and photoDJ, allowing you to mix video, produce (basic) music and edit photos. Note the photo morphing program mentioned earlier is a separate one.

The phone supports Java, so additional applications are downloadable. I have Firefox running on mine.

OTHER STUFF (and on, and on, and on, kinda like Ariston)

There are so many features to this phone its next to impractical to really list them all, but I'll try.

The phone is massively customizable, in addition to themes and wallpapers, you can set different sounds for when you open the phone, alter the order of your shortcut menu, when you receive a text, and this all from your MP3's as well as the phone's built in ringtones (which are rubbish :D you cant have everything)

The phone has Bluetooth and infrared connectivity, as well as standard wired connectivity. It paired easily with my PC and the phone is recognised with out using the supplied software.

The battery life is a bit poor, but given the features it is acceptable, although I have to charge it every other night (I use it moderately). The battery indicator is inaccurate, although newer software may solve this.

As a final point, and for the sake of completness, it is pretty robust and durable. I've dropped mine a few times and it still keeps on going. This may be down to the size and weight though.

OVERALL

I'm very very happy with this phone. It has a feature set that is second to none, BUT…

But?

It IS big. This is down to preference, so be warned. It is weighty too, coming in at around 150g. It is also pricey, around 350 I think with no contract.

If you are looking for a feature packed device and can stand the iPod finish and size, then this is the phone for you. If, however, you just make calls and send 1 or 2 texts, then I'm afraid its not.
 

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