6 Jul 2008
Released in 2006, the Sony Ericsson W950i is ultimately a fabulous mobile phone with a music player to affirm Sony Ericsson's Walkman creation. Its capacity to store files is huge enough with its 4-Gigabyte flash memory, which is estimated to be about 1,000 tracks or songs. This storage capability puts the W950i at par with iPod Nano. It has built-in FM radio to boot, which is a plus in terms of it being a music phone.

The Sony Ericsson W950i's design is a fusion of music and business concepts, meeting its target markets' needs efficiently. Additionally, Sony Ericsson W950i supports various office applications which include full web browsing, email, third party applications that are Symbian and attachment viewing.

Access to the World Wide Web is convenient with the W950i's web browser, the Opera 8.0. Full browsing on the web is a breeze with the large screen that creates a full display, and the stylus which is used to scroll the Web page or to click links. To most users, this is an outstanding implementation of web browsing with respect to mobile phones. The Sony Ericsson W950i is 3G-enabled as well. Furthermore, it supports Java applications, and is pre-installed with Java 3D games.

The Sony Ericsson W950i is one of the slimmest smartphones today, with a thickness of 15 millimeters. For a 3G, music player type of phone, the W950i is considerably lightweight and compact, which perfectly fits right when handheld. Internally, the W950i mobile phone is characterized by keypads that are flat, which users find convenient to use and quick to familiarize. The Sony Ericsson W950i has a handwriting recognition feature. The screen displays objects in sharp and bright colours, which is ideal for navigating and graphics-viewing.

Being Sony Ericsson's flagship Walkman mobile phone, the W950i's music player works remarkably. It supports a host of popular audio formats in top sound quality. It possesses all features that are expected of Sony Ericsson's pride, such as Mega Bass, graphic equaliser, convenient playlist management, and drag-and-drop enabled for quick transfer of audio files from the computer to the phone, which is done through USB.

The 3G capability of Sony Ericsson W950i allows its user to download their favorite songs easily and quickly. A stunning feature of the W950i handset is its Walkman player's support for music album art, where it allows album covers to be displayed on the handset's screen while the song in that album is being played. This song and album recognition element is a breakthrough in music phone technology. According to most reviews, this particular feature is most ideal for, thus appreciated by, most music lovers -- youngsters and adults alike.

Perhaps one of the coolest things about the the Sony Ericsson W950i is that also has the feature called TrackID which recognises songs or music coming from other sources. When held close to the music source, the W9501 will match the currently playing song with its existing database. When a match is found, the W950i shows the song title, artist and album.

Similar to other sleek phones like the Sony Ericsson K800i and Nokia's N93, the W950i does not have a built-in camera. But that aside, it is highly recommended for those who don't need this missing feature and wouldn't mind not making video calls. Another downside of the Sony Ericsson W950i is that being a Symbian phone, its user interface can be very slow at times, and risks occasional shutting down or freezing in some instances.

It is interesting to note that some mobile phone reviews have enthused that the features of Sony Ericsson W950i are what P990i phone should have had. Its being a Walkman phone with modern features might have new users spending time to familiarize the handset, but owners have attested that it will only be a matter of time before mastery of the W950i's functionalities becomes a user's cup of tea.

Observers believe that one of the Sony Ericsson W950i's strength is its touchscreen feature, along with its quality music player. Notably, one doesn't need to own a music player and a mobile phone because of the Sony Ericsson W950i. In more ways than one, the Sony Ericsson W950i is a delight to use and to own.

Reviewer: Eugene Waclawski - Glasgow, UK
Reviewed on: 12th September, 2008
Rating: 9/10
I have found this to be an excellent phone. The 3G capability means very quick internet access. The Organiser features are easy to use and the touchscreen is a benefit. The traditional phone layout of numbers with groups of letters means that for some texts the touchscreen keyboard is a quicker option.

I was concerned that the numbers may wear off but this has not been the case.

The 4GB of memory is really good. The on-board speaker is sufficient for most listening but headphones (including bluetooth) are good for stereo sound.

The phone does not have a camera whihc is one reason I bought it as my employer has a no-camera phone policy for confidentiality. Not a problem and if I want to use a camera phone I can change to a back up I have.

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