Sony Ericsson W950i Walkman

Just the way a whole lot of peeps were waiting for the P990i to rock their world, an equal number of Sony Ericsson fanbois have been eagerly looking out for the top-of-the-line Walkman phone, the W950. Now that it's finally here, let's see if it is really worth the wait.

The Sony Ericsson W950i is the first Walkman-branded smartphone, running SymbianOS v9.1 UIQ 3.0, in the market. It is based on the M600i, which we reviewed (and weren't terribly impressed by) earlier. In fact, the two devices are the same, with only a handful of differences between the two:

• a 4GB internal flash memory and no memory card slot
• a normal numeric keypad with T9, instead of a QWERTY keypad
• Walkman-branded phone, so it has extra media playback keys.
• FM Radio
  

Read the M600i review for more info on the general device, as we will only be focusing on the differences in this new Walkman phone.

Design

As mentioned, the device is the same as the M600i, so the physical dimensions and design of the W950i device is the same. The device has an iPod-ish form factor: it's not too compact, but at the same time it isn't uncomfortably huge, unlike the Nokia N91. The comparison to the N91 is inevitable because of the 4GB storage capacity in both the devices. The W950i is only available in one color: a dark shade of purple, called 'mystic purple'. It looks brown, but it's actually dark purple if you look at it closely.

The W950i sheds the full QWERTY keypad of the M600i and gives you a normal numeric keypad. The side columns of keys have been removed and now you only have a Walkman (or 'media' key) and a C key instead. The keypad is flat and sort of retro 'touch-sensitive', comparable to the RAZR or the recent Samsung Ultra Edition 9.9, but unfortunately it is not as good as the former. It is not comfortable to type on, because the keys are a bit small and the lack of any border demarcations can make you accidentally press the wrong keys. The other problem with the keypad is that it's of a very thin material compared to hard plastic keys on other phones, so the chances of the keys getting worn out, revealing the actual buttons underneath are very high.

There are media keys right below the screen of the phone: previous, play/stop and next. These aren't visible when the phone is in stand by mode; they light up only when you're using the phone. However, these aren't dedicated keys, as the Walkman branding would lead you to believe. These are actually the 1, 2 and 3 numbers respectively that double up as those keys. The problem here is that, in normal phone mode i.e. the stand by screen, these will always work as numeric keys and key in numbers; you need to press the Walkman media key to go into Walkman mode and only then do the keys work as play/stop etc. There is another button on the right side of the phone that's a dedicated play/stop button, which works regardless of what mode you're in, but you can't go previous/next unless you go into Walkman mode. This is inconvenient and I don't think a lot of people who are used to the simplicity of the iPod are going to choose this.

Since the W950i is the same as the M600i, it has a large QVGA (240x320) touch screen and a bright orange colored stylus. The phone, being a UIQ 3.0 smartphone, also takes in handwritten input and presents an on-screen keyboard if required. It also has the jog dial that's common to all UIQ phones. The jog dial reminds me of the Creative Zen Xtra that I had for a brief period of time. Music can be controlled using the jog dial in a very similar manner.