Mobile Phones

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is the most talked-about handset form the manufacturer. And why not, it is the first from Sony Ericsson to use the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system since dropping the UIQ software that was found on its previous smartphones.

First and foremost there is no denial, the handset looks fantastic. The amazing and scintillating design will attract the consumers. The compact handset, houses a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard within its small frame. When you will hold the handset in your palm and it feels solid.

Apart form a dedicated camera button and a volume rocker switch, it also has a standard mini USB port for syncing and charging the device along with a full sized headphone jack.

The keyboard is naturally one of the device’s key features and you only have to apply a small amount of pressure with your thumb to slide it smoothly out from under the main body of the phone. As it slides out it causes the screen to tilt slightly upwards so it sits at a nice viewing angle.

The flat rear gives you a comfortable use of two-fingers typing keeping the handset on the desk. The Xperia’s screen may be smaller than those found on other smartphones like the iPhone 3G, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in sharpness, as it has a stunning resolution of 800 x 480 pixels.

A lot of goodies in X1 like good connectivity with support for Bluetooth, WiFi and HSDPA. A built-in FM tuner and the 3.2 megapixel camera has both autofocus and a flash and takes snaps that are a good bit better than your usual cameraphone fair.

Onboard GPS for use with the preloaded Google Maps software is surely and advantage. And to top-it-all, the battery performs very well even while being used with advance functions.

The X1 does not give you good software and interface options and that is really frustrating at times. The only really useful panel isn’t even pre-loaded on the phone, instead you have to download it from the Xperia website and install it yourself.

There are a couple of other niggles as well. Despite using a Qualcomm processor rated at 528MHz the handset has a tendency to feel a bit sluggish. Sometimes applications seem to freeze up for a while as it sorts itself out and switching between programs can also be slow.

The X1 certainly lives up to the hype as it’s a great looking phone and packed full of useful features. However, the hardware is really hamstrung by the phone’s operating system and the X Panel interface that Sony Ericsson has added is over the top.

Price Range : Rs. 11778

The Sony Ericsson W910i is a quad-band phone with HSDPA, made for faster browsing and data download capabilities.

The W910i is a slider handset and the slider action is smooth & satisfying. It is a very light weight phone and looks really good with its slim design. With well-spaced number pad sitting under the slide mechanism, it offers a comfortable use. Keys are flat and produce a loud cracking sound when pressed.

W910i hosts excellent front controls and comes with round navigation button under the screen and music playback controls. The famous, Sony Ericsson’s tabbed screen offers direct navigation to several features like three of the tabs offer alerts, access to running apps and user identified shortcuts. This is an outstanding feature when you have a big list of options and you can set up your shortcuts how you like them and you can breeze around. There are two more keys above the screen for video calling camera and speaker, mainly designed to be used by both hands for gaming. The navigation pad lets you move through the music files and cal also shake the handset to waffle through tracks. A small Walkman key on the top lets you moves through tracks by shaking the phone. This is a very good option when keypad is locked but is fiddle to press and difficult to use when slider is open.

W910i sports a 2.4 diagonal inches screen display with 262K colors is a moderate option but not at part with top-notch category.

A good deal here is when you twist the phone in your hand the screen can automatically flick into landscape mode, then back into portrait. It comes with and in-built memory of 35MB and external Memory Stick Micro option, with which a 1GB card is included.

W910i sports a mediocre 2-megapixel camera with no flash or self-portrait mirror. However, the picture quality is bright & clear both outdoors and indoors.

With easy option, you can blog your photo directly. W910i also has a reasonable battery life with a little over nine and a half hours of music from a full charge.

Xperia X2 is a strong successor and valuable upgrade of Xperia X1. There are two versions of this device, the first is standard version known as X2i and other is the North American version known as X2a. This handset is using latest version 6.5 of the operating system and improvements are made in this phone to deliver richer functionality. Design of Xperia X2 is little bit different from Xperia X2.

This phone has 3.2 inch touch screen providing resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and 65K colors. The basic flaw of the handset is horizontal bent sliding keyboard which is never ideal for dialing and this is the main weakness of this phone. But it is comfortable for users to write emails, messages and to do web browsing. The slider mechanism is smooth and keyboard keys work on one click.

It has inbuilt camera of 8.1 megapixel which can be used to catch special moments. This camera is autofocus and equipped with LED flash. So, Xperia X2 can take inspiring and effective pictures in comparison to any other mobile. Facility of video recording is also available and can be done at 30fps.

So, the hardware of this handset is really inspiring but its software fails to match up with the hardware. The panel interface provided in this phone is complicated and user gets lost trying to navigate around this device.

The handset has so many connectivity options like Wi-Fi, built in GPS receiver, GSM support, Bluetooth, etc. It has tri-band 3G with HSDPA support. Micro USB connector is also available to connect any hardware to the phone. You can also connect this phone to the TV with the help of TV out cable.

Some disadvantages of this phone are that it has no FM radio and no video calling. The phone has outdated software and sluggish interface. Price of this phone in Indian market is approximately 35000-40000.

Price Range :Rs. 14899

The Sony Ericsson W760i is an easy to use handset that offers music friendly applications along with worldwide phone support.

It sports a 2.2” display screen with 240×320 pixels and has a maximum output of 256K colors. The screen has an accelerometer for auto-rotate and has a good vibrant colors and enough brightness even in direct sunlight thus giving it a good sunlight eligibility.

W760i has an alphanumeric keypad with the keys being crammed in a single space. The buttons have a metallic texture and can be slightly greasy sometimes making it tricky for people with fast typing speeds. In the right side, handset has a thin volume rocker whereas the left spin includes the Walkman Player.

Like other walkman handsets, it also offers a good sound experience. With easy to play around interface, the music player supports play-lists, stereo widening and equalizer presets.

W760i comes with built-in internal memory of 40MB, which is not sufficient for music files to be stored and therefore requiring you to use a Memory Stick Micro Card.

W760i sports a 3.2 mega pixel camera and can shoot images in two quality settings and four sizes. You can edit your images with several options provided to give them creative looks. Also, the camera offers digital zoom option, Self timer; multi shot mode and a feature for taking panoramic images. The pictures shot through the camera have good color reproduction and also offer nice brightness and depth.

As far as connectivity is concerned, the Sony Ericsson W760i is a quad band phone and sports a 3G connection too making it an attractive phone for fast downloads and web surfing.

The battery on the phone runs excellent and produces about 9 hours of talk time with the included features.

Price Range :Rs. 9615
The Sony Ericsson W705 is something quite different, featuring the unique and new design language and display that’s larger than those on previous makes in the same price range. W705 comes with Wi-Fi support and it is at par with their best devices in terms of audio quality.

With 2.4 inches screen display, has QVGA resolution and delivers great image quality even in direct sunlight, very usual in Sony Ericsson’s handsets. The metal front side, fine-spun bronze-gold colored elements and back covered with rubber-like material all make for an interesting blend.

The sliding mechanism and all buttons are excellently placed and create an appealing look. The keys around the D-Pad and those on the numeric keypad are slightly embossed, large enough and feel easily discernible when touched. The camera shutter is not that comfortably placed.

Letting its user search the contacts by entering digits on the home screen, which makes the phone seek through both entered names and numbers of all your contacts, is definitely and excellent feature one would look for. Unfortunately, there is no way you can filter your contacts by family names even from the phonebook itself.

With the support to HSDPA 3G at max speed of 7.2 mbps, it comes equipped with Internet surfing sessions, while Wi-Fi allows you to put the excellent internet browser to good use in case a wireless hotspot is within range

The build-in accelerometer is decent, kicks in when you get to the browser or multimedia menu and manages to spin the screen to landscape mode with but a short delay.

As expected, W705 produces great sound, but this only holds true if you plug in a pair of earphones because the built-in loudspeaker is rather weak and adds an annoying, sharp trait to the sound.

Unfortunately, video support is limited to MPEG4/H.263 only. It houses 3.2-megapixel camera that lacks auto-focus and has rather simplified interface when compared to the Cyber-shot phones. You can also capture videos at QVGA resolution, 15 frames per second and rather bad overall quality.

The call quality is not as per the expectations as noises are audible while in us. Battery life is reasonably good.

Price Range :Rs. 8894

The Sony Ericsson W595 is an absolute stunner. With very smooth slide mechanism and balance when slide is open, it comes with a rubber-like texture yet not a rubbery-look. W595 measures precisely 100mm tall when closed. While slide is open, there is nothing to grip the phone but the screen leaving finger-marks on the same.

It sports a 2.2inches TFT screen display with sharp and bright 240 x 320 pixels. It comes with a motion sensor so when you twist the phone in your hand the screen swivels round good for viewing pictures/videos.

The D-pad gives you music controls and, when you are in camera mode the central button shoots photos while pressing left and right flick between video, stills shooting and the gallery. Besides having plenty of space, the keys are smaller and hence not very comfortable.

It shows the very-well done innovative design of the keypad once the slide is open. The best feature we must mention is the facility to view & upload YouTube videos. The key in the side pops-up the walkman feature and music is something this handset does the best at. And, SensMe lets you choose the music as your mood is. Battery life is up-to mark and gives you 6.5 hrs of talk time which is quite competitive.

W595 comes with a front-camera for video calls and a 3.2 mega pixel for normal shooting. Camera, without auto-focus and flash, performs well when indoors.

Walk Mate, FM radio, unit converter, five alarms, calendar, task manager, sound recorder, notes taker, timer, stopwatch, calculator, pass-coded memo, web browser and Track ID, Video DJ, Photo DJ and Music DJ makes the software list quite long in the category.

The built-in GPS is good but the accuracy is not something that can help you tracking anything.

In the end, I must say the Sony Ericsson W595 is a nicely built handset with a huge list of features and supports that the mid-range handsets can also be very competent.

Price Range :Rs. 5274
The Sony Ericsson W395 may not surprise us in terms of innate intelligence, but will certainly manage to have us immersed in waves of gracefully blending sounds. It’s a perfect phone for all practical users where extreme functionalities are given back seat in comparison to appealing looks and that features basic functions and delivers high-quality music.

W395 comes with a 2.2-inch display and it is so insensitive that it cannot be even remotely disturbed by direct sunlight.

Considering the price of the device, no wonder Sony Ericsson went for less expensive materials, but that doesn’t mean the phone would have an unpleasant feel to it and the W395 goes to show this holds true.  Front-side view is pretty cool and appealing with its shiny surface and the glossy plastic feels great.

The Sony Ericsson W395 is an extremely cute looking phone, especially in its black-purple color solution. The interface resembles from previous models by Sony Ericsson. Personalizing the display setting is quite easy and with plenty of options.

The phonebook and messaging screens feature a simplified interface that is really easy to use, so neither would give you any trouble and even the first time you get down to any of these you’ll feel as if you have been using the Sony Ericsson W395 for ages.

The Sony WALKMAN player lets you decide the varied applications like equalizer presets, stereo widening, and a bunch of visualization patterns, skins, and lighting effects. The stereo loudspeakers live up to their mission and deliver clear sound even if it cannot be registered for the loud factor. The earphones are awesome and deliver a pleasing sound quality.

It has extra features directed towards music lovers, such as Track ID to help you identify unknown tracks or FM radio. The handset also sports a 2-megapixel camera to let you take snapshots, just don’t expect miracles – the pictures are noisy and lack enough details.

Although it doesn’t sport the full range of all the rage functions and it shows with its price, the handset will surely please you. In contrast to the all-in-one devices that have been pretty popular lately, this handset relies on its two core aspects – communication and audio playback.

Price Range : Rs. 14580

The Sony Ericsson W890i is a Walkman branded handset with excellent looks and ergonomics. It’s a small & stylish handset with great to hold feel and appears as solid as it can survive several bumps. With very well spaced number keys and comfy keypad, Sony Ericsson has tried to overcome the not-so-comfy predecessor, the W880i. It still has small shortcut buttons but appropriately placed to be used. The two outer soft menus are accessed using the top end of their respective rockers, while the middle one is accessed using the central button inside the navigation pad.

The Sony Ericsson W890i has the Activity Menu that makes the usage of several features, with a quick shortcut, very fast & convenient. W890i sports a 240 x 320 pixels screen display with 262 thousand sharp, clear and bright colors.

The old-fashioned headset connector, which is Sony Ericsson’s standard bulky black blob, is still there. However, Sony Ericsson has managed it to have two-piece and offer a 3.5mm jack after the microphone. But, again the headset mounted music controls are missing.

As far as features are concerned, the W890i certainly has a lot going. It is a quad-band 3G mobile with GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA. It sports a front-facing camera for two-way video calling. With 28MBof built in memory and 2GB of Memory Stick Micro, it supports the usage very well.

As expected, music playback is superb and the front mounted controls and solid on-screen design make moving around tracks and play-lists straightforward.

It offers very good web browsing experience. One can flick into landscape mode, which can help with viewing more complex sites, and zooming is achieved in 10 per cent increments using the navigation button.

The Sony Ericsson W890i sports a camera with maximum resolution up to 3.2-megapixels. But, this phone is devoid the technology of flash, automatic focus skill and self-portrait mirror. Additional features like a few pre-sets for different lighting conditions make it useful though. The camera produces excellent results when clicked outside and even indoors with normal household lighting, the images are decent.

With seven and a half hours of non-stop music playback, battery performance is also reasonable. A huge list of software is packaged like Google Maps, RSS reader, calendar, task manager, voice memo, and various games and multimedia related apps.

To conclude, I must say, this is the best available handset in the Walkman range from Sony Ericsson with eye-catching look and moderate performance on all fronts. 

Price Range :Rs. 3846

On the first impression, the Sony Ericsson W350i disappoints by its covered keypad design. There are music controls keys for the Walkman player on the cover, which are actually pushing the numeric buttons below the cover.  
It is a very light-weight phone with well space keypad and easy to use buttons. The battery cover looks like it would break while opening because it wedged in the center back of the phone when being opened.

The W350i is a candy bar like handset with flip-phone elements that double as a music player. When the lid is closed, you are essentially looking at a dedicated Walkman and there is no way to access the phone functions. Once the cover is opened, it resembles to a normal phone and music files, if being played, continue to play.

The W350i is a tri-band budget handset. It sports a 1.3-megapixel camera with reasonable outdoors clicking, Bluetooth stereo A2DP, FM radio, onboard speakers and personal organizer applications.

It comes with built-in memory of 14MB and ships with a 512MB Memory Stick Micro card.

The battery supports a talk time of seven hours and approximately 12.5 days on standby. However, typical usage pattern suggests that it would drain the battery in not more than 36 hrs.

The audio player has basic features and produces reasonably good quality output. However, a stronger bass would be a plus for sure.

Price Range :Rs. 7015

W302 is a budget phone yet with nice music features will surely help masses enjoy the manufacturer quality music. This has a simple candy-bar like design, very light in weight, in fact one of the lightest I have seen, yet with solid looks makes it a good choice.

The compromise one has to make with a tiny phone is the screen size, the2” display is adequate but not competitive. The keypad is reasonable and comfy, can have issues if you have broad finger-tips.

It doesn’t have the Activity Menu, but the shortcuts key instead simply opens up a set of six options – TrackID, Bluetooth, Alarms, Profiles, Tasks and Record Sound. The D-pad’s functions can be customized according to the user’s choice. The keys on sode points ot volume/camera zoom rocker and camera button on the right edge and a Walkman button on the left, the latter starting the phone’s music software.

3G is lacking and hence limiting to network capabilities. And with 20MB built-in memory and a Stick Micro slot under the battery cover with a 512MB card in it.

Still, if we are looking for unique and amazing features from this ‘W’ branded handset the headset is two-piece so you could use your own headphones in favor of the in-ear ones supplied by Sony Ericsson and there is an FM radio on board. The player supports album art and you can skin it which adds a little something positive to proceedings.

With missing share control & accelerometer, it substitutes it with a Blogger.com account for blogging on the move and a posting link is embedded in the photo gallery.

With only 2 mega pixel camera without auto-focus & flash, it is surely not at part with other in the category. The images taken outsides are ok kinds and not very bright in shades.

Application set is good but could have been better. Features like single alarm, FM radio, calendar, task manager, sound recorder, timer, stopwatch, calculator and unit converter as well as a couple of games makes it good enough for basic users. Battery life is good and can survive couple of days when being used moderately.