Sony Ericsson W995 ~ Cell Phone Reviews

Sony Ericsson W995

6

Written on 6/02/2009 01:56:00 PM by poison_ivy


I have previously gotten myself a mid-range Sony Ericsson phone, the Sony Ericsson G705 and have really no interest in other Sony Ericsson phones until the Sony iDou shows up but I found myself playing with a friend's Sony Ericsson W995 and here's what I have to say about it.

Design

The Sony Ericsson W995 is a thick phone. It's a bit thicker than my G705 but has a larger screen at 2.6 inches. I like the brush metal effect of the design, much better than the smudge magnet that is my G705. The display is nice although pales in comparison with the Samsung Tocco Ultra. However, in direct sunlight, the Sony Ericsson W995 has a bit of an edge. What's interesting is that the W995 seems to be the first Walkman phone to have a 3.5mm headset jack onboard. Previous Walkman phones had to make use of Sony Ericsson's proprietary adapters. I was afraid of the battery cover of the W995. Thoughts of the cheap looking plastic cover of the W595 came to mind but thankfully, the back cover is metal though it's still a pain to remove compared with the easy slide and lock of the G705.



Features and Performance

The Sony Ericsson W995 is first and foremost a Walkman phone. The onboard 3.5mm audio jack is a testament to the fact that Sony Ericsson is serious about this phone being a music player. The music player is really nice and offers custom equalizers. There are dedicated hardware music keys which is great since this is a music phone. I've already tried out the shake control on the W595 and this feature is not something that appeals to me. It's a cool feature but not that useful. Audio quality is superb, something you should expect from a Walkman phone. External speakers also does a good job though it's not loud enough that the W995 can become your boombox.

The W995 has all the connectivity features you can imagine: 3G, HSDPA, Bluetooth with A2DP, WiFi, and GPS with A-GPS. I like how simple the WiFi interface is, you just turn on the WiFi and the phone automatically finds the available networks.

And now, on to the icing of the cake: the 8 megapixel camera. It's too bad that I wasn't able to transfer any photos of the W995 to compare with the Samsung Tocco Ultra Touch Pics I have but then again, that's not very conclusive unless I take a picture of the same subject. I can't say much about the picture quality of the the W995 since I wasn't able to see the images on the big screen but the phone has autofocus, geotagging and a LED flash. However, there are some on-camera features that are lacking on the W995 which is present on the Tocco Ultra such as smile detection and ISO settings.

I might as well compare the Sony Ericsson W995 with the Samsung Tocco Ultra, although the Tocco Ultra has no WiFi, I think the latter is more a video-centric phone as its AMOLED screen is great for watching videos and you can watch DivX videos directly without converting it. The W995 lacks DivX support although it is a better music phone than the Tocco Ultra.

Conclusion

I don't know why Sony Ericsson tried adding an 8 megapixel camera on a Walkman phone. What would happen to the Sony Ericsson C905? Of course, there are some who says that the camera quality on the C905 is much better than the W995 but still, the W995 would definitely take some thunder away from the C905.

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6 Comments

  1. Jack |

    I just ordered my w995. I'm pretty excited. Will let you know more once it has arrived.

     
  2. Anonymous |

    My friend just got this and I compared picture quality with my C905. The W995's picture quality has a bit more noise--at least, in my opinion.

     
  3. Anthony |

    The added 3.5mm audio jack is something I welcome though design-wise it looks like every other Walkman phone that Sony Ericsson released. I'll just wait for the iDou.

     
  4. Anonymous |

    I'm contemplating on getting this or the Samsung Jet. I've been leaning more towards the Jet because I really want a touchscreen phone.

     
  5. Anonymous |

    The W995 is one of the top phones to get in 2009. Top looks, top camera and one of the best walkman phones ever made

     
  6. Ali |

    i just waiting for w995 because my uncle bought for me in england and i live in pakistan there for i will wait one month for him

     

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