Sony Ericsson W995 - DigitalVersus

Sony Ericsson W995

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Specifications
Camera sensor	8 MP
Weight	113 grammes
Dimensions (mm)	97.0 x 49.0 x 15.0 mm
Talk Time	9h
Standby Time	370h
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Internal memory	118 MB
Memory Card	Memory Stick Micro M2™ 16 GB
SAR Level	1.18 W/kg
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Tristan François
Updated: September 25, 2009 - Test date: September 17, 2009

The W995 as a phone

The W995, like many small easy-to-use phones, is very practical and effective when it comes to making and receiving calls. Dialing a number is easy: you can find the buttons with your fingers no problem and don’t even need to look at the screen.

Management of contacts is also simple, perhaps a little too much so. At least you don’t risk getting lost in the menus. And of course, we shouldn’t be asking too much of it - it ain’t no Blackberry!

When making calls we had no problems hearing the person on the other end.

Sony Ericsson has bagged the best seats for musicphones with its W range, recycling the Walkman brand from the mother company, just as Cybershot has done with its K/C range. We are nevertheless still waiting for a musicphone that matches the audio quality of a player. Maybe the W995?

Red all the rage

Red is all the rage right now: Logitech with its limited edition red Squeezbox, Pioneer with its iPod dock, Apple and its special edition RED players… The Satio on the right in the photo below almost stands out in bordeaux! The W995 has not been allowed to err and is available in any colour you like… as long as it’s red. Its brushed aluminium casing is very smart indeed but takes it out of the featherweight class, with a weigh-in at 115 g.

Nokia N86 vs Sony Ericsson W995 vs Nokia XpressMusic 5530 vs Sony Ericsson Satio

The different parts of the casing are well-assembled, as is the slide system (no play). Shame about the buttons then, as is too often the case with Sony Ericsson, they’re small and it isn’t as easy as it could be for big fingers. The volume button, short cuts to photo and audio and the large connector for the usual Sony Ericsson proprietary multi-use socket are all on the sides of the phone. The navigation buttons are taken straight from previous SE phones.

From the front, note the handsome but small buttons

FLAC when?

After quite a sharp start-up, the interface comes on screen. At first sight, there’s nothing too alien: although the graphics (background, icons, font) have changed, the navigation system is the same as on my good old V800 that’s from another era. It’s effective, sure, but a little spring clean wouldn’t do any harm. Fans will be happy. The multimedia player is the same as on previous W models (high-end versions) and indeed isn’t very different from the player on the other Sony phones. The player has everything you need but only a restricted number of formats are supported

The W995’s aging interface, in spite of the new icons

Phone and music, yes, internet… hmmm

The screen is bright, not very big but big enough for the main usages of the W995, namely phoning and listening to music. If you’re looking for a phone to go on the net with, however, look elsewhere: internet without a physical keypad or touch screen, with such a small screen is more than annoying. For occasional use, like downloading music or ring tones, it’s fine.

The W995, navigator on

The W995: a real walkman phone?

Let’s be clear, the W995 isn’t anywhere near as good as a real music player. You only need to speed a few pounds to get a player with better audio quality. The player might be easy to use but a shortcut button isn’t enough to turn the W995 into a musicphone. It’s as if manufacturers think that a musicphone is nothing more than a multimedia phone with all its functions (except the music part) taken away, especially when you see the 8 Mpixel sensor that gives just about okay results. Why so many megapixels when a sensor with fewer but that took better photos would have been enough?

There are two more points on which the W995 could shine: the external speakers (speakers, yes!) and the headphones that come with it. The speakers are indeed very good, well above the average and don’t saturate, even at high volume. The headphones however are the same in-ear pair as always, with their banal audio quality and over-supple silicon ends. As we said further up, the connector is a proprietary one but you can replace the headphones as they can be removed from the micro-remote. And for those who want to plug straight into the phone, there is a standard minijack at the top of the phone. The W995 also has a very good FM Tuner.

While Samsung, LG and Blackberry all equip their phones with in-ear headphones – and these telephones are everything if not musicphones – it's time Sony Ericsson went a bit further.

Compare the Sony Ericsson W995 in our Face-off

The W995 is also A-GPS equipped, but here again, the feature is best on a larger screen. It is however useful as a fallback.

Although Sony Ericsson certainly remains the musicphone brand with its W range, it is going to have to do something in terms of innovative features or audio quality to hold back the huge wave of XpressMusic mobiles from Nokia, beginning with the X6 and its 32 GB of internal memory. Because, for the moment, the W995, although a good phone, is nothing special when it comes to playing music.

Pluses

Nice finish

Solid

Simple navigation

Replaceable headphones

Minuses

Nothing to make it a musicphone (1 shortcut apart)

Headphones need replacing!

Heavy