6 Jul 2008
The Sony Ericsson W980 aims to meet the demands of a high-end mobile phone with its sleek looks and full features. The handset's slim casing comes in a glossy piano black coating which gives its classy looks. It is a very convenient and compact phone that measures 92mm tall by 46mm wide and 17mm thick. Considering that fact that it is loaded with full features, the W980 only weighs 100 grams with battery included. Designed with a creative exterior, the W980 is sure to give the right impression to its users.

The mobile phone's front area features an external TFT 262k colour screen with a resolution of 176 x 176 pixels. This external screen blends perfectly well with the opaque glassy surface making it barely noticeable when turned off. Located just below the external display are touch-sensitive navigation controls, which will allow users to access music functions without the need to flip open the phone. Furthermore, the FM radio can also be accessed without flipping up the phone because of its dedicated key found on the side.

Situated on the front panel's edge is a transparent stripe with colour LEDs for its cool light effects. An orange LED is assigned as a music player indicator which flashes according to the beat of the current track playing.

When the handset is flipped open, it reveals the keypad and its main screen. Found above its main screen is a secondary camera for video-calls. Below the main screen is an ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts screen brightness according to lighting conditions. This is very useful because, as brightness is reduced battery consumption also decreases.

Located on the right side of W980 is a FastPort connector which combines port charging with data transfers and earphones. This will come in handy when the user wants to listen to radio or music player while charging its battery. Other keys located on this side of the phone is a lock slider which is used for unnecessary key presses, a toggle key for FM radio or music player, and Lastly, the volume control.

Positioned on the back side of W980 are the camera lens and light sensor. Also on this side is the Sony Ericsson BST-38 Li-Polymer battery which allows 9 hours of talk time and 300 hour of standby time. It also performs about 4 days of moderate use and 20 hours of music playback.

The handset comes with a 2.2 inch primary TFT 262k colour screen and a QVGA resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. Although the screen size isn't really impressive, its display has excellent brightness and contrast levels making it highly readable in direct sunlight.

Its keypad offers excellent touch orientation and press feedback. The keys are sized comfortably and there is enough space between keys which means typing errors are almost impossible to happen.

The W980 houses the most advanced Sony Ericsson user interface. It provides an extensive set of phone styling options and settings. As with other models, the W980 also comes with a flight mode which turns off transceivers.

As with the Walkman range, the Sony Ericsson W980 boasts for its multimedia feature. It is equipped with a built-in accelerometer which allows instant access to music, videos, photos, games and the web. Its image gallery is spotless as it offers impressive tools and customization capabilities for picture management.

The mobile phone comes with the highly intuitive Walkman version 3.0 music player. It supports a wide array of formats and offers a number of equalizer presets which appears as full-screen graphics. It also provides a dedicated key for easier music access. As with previous Walkman versions, it also offers filtering options for your playlist. Another improvement on its music player is the Shake control feature which allows the user change the current track by shaking the phone. Other Walkman enhancements include the TrackID, PlayNow and SenseMe feature which allows the user to search for a track based on a certain mood instead of searching by genre, artist or album. It also offers an FM radio with RDS support and FM transmitter.

The handset is well equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera which does not include an auto focus and flash. However, it provides camera settings, photo fix, slide show, and picture blogging. It also offers an exciting video player which provides a slow motion and screenshot capability.

Overall performance of W980 is impressive. Sound and audio quality are crisp and clear, user interface is amazing, the Walkman music player is great and it offered fantastic extras. To put it simply, the Sony Ericsson W980 will surely stand out of the crowd.

Find out more about the Sony Ericsson W980i at sonyericsson.com
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