"It's Normal!" Steve Reviews the Sony Ericsson Walkman W960
Published by Ewan Spence at 9:48 UTC, January 10th 2008
Are you sitting comfortably? Steve quite likes the W960. The latest UIQ3 device, Sony Ericsson's second UIQ Walkman phone, with regular keypad, regular styling, flush screen and a practical 128MB of RAM, has made an impression. His thoughts on the W960 from the point of view of a smartphone user are here. I'll be looking at the Walkman components for the audiophiles next week.
"I could perhaps summarise the W960 as, at last, a UIQ 3 smartphone that I'd be prepared to use day to day. It really is that much of an improvement over the idiosyncratic W950. In contrast, the W960 seems a lot more... normal.
"While regular readers will be reeling with shock that I'm prepared to endorse the Sony Ericsson W960, you should all also note that the device is by no means perfect and that it's very obviously in typical 'early firmware' territory. Most problems are fixable in software though and there's no denying that the W960 is a pretty powerful and desirable smartphone."Read on for the full article.. .
Categories: Hardware
Platforms: UIQ 3
News Discussion
ares
Nice review Steve! I did not know the W960 could play h264 videos without problems...that is really good news, and i hope it will be also on the next P1 firmware
cirrus
Nice review Steve!
I've been using a W960 and think the camera quality is pretty good despite not having fancy optics. I have some macro examples on Flickr: a shot of an 8210 and one of some ice (btw, pressing the "4" key in the camera app lets you quickly toggle between focus modes).
I've been using a W960 and think the camera quality is pretty good despite not having fancy optics. I have some macro examples on Flickr: a shot of an 8210 and one of some ice (btw, pressing the "4" key in the camera app lets you quickly toggle between focus modes).
Unregistered
I'm really loving the W960i. One comment on the review - the walkman touch buttons do work outside the walkman app. You need to touch the walkman section in the screen and they enable. Not entirely obvious! :-)
slitchfield
I don't understand. On my W960, the play icons are completely disabled and unlit when not actually playing music in the foreground. The ONLY places they work are in the Walkman player and on the standby screen with the Walkman pane highlighted. 8-(
Dogmann
Hi Steve
The only problem i would say with the fixable via Firmware upgrades is just how long SE likes to take to release these you could be waiting 6 months for the niggles to be ironed out. Unlike something like the N95 8GB that got two within months of release and that actually greatly added functionality and weren't just fixes. It's also hard to understand why SE are unable to fix these minor niggles prior to release, well lets hope 2008 and some new devcies change that.
Marc
The only problem i would say with the fixable via Firmware upgrades is just how long SE likes to take to release these you could be waiting 6 months for the niggles to be ironed out. Unlike something like the N95 8GB that got two within months of release and that actually greatly added functionality and weren't just fixes. It's also hard to understand why SE are unable to fix these minor niggles prior to release, well lets hope 2008 and some new devcies change that.
Marc
Unregistered
hello, I´m using an E90 with 8GB micro sdhc and my w960i, the Nokia is perfect for my business usages and has all and everything I need, even docx office documents with some updates. It can also be used as mp3 player with this storage amount an a Nokia Bluetooth Stereo headset. But the W960i is my favorite music device. I earlier had the Nokia N95 and the 8gb version but if it comes to playback and battery power, the Nokias can hide behind the Sony. For me I found the perfect "business" and "media" device.
kr
kr
malerocks
A phone that has tempted Steve to give up his n95. Hmmm... definitely worth checking out...
malerocks
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
I'm really loving the W960i. One comment on the review - the walkman touch buttons do work outside the walkman app. You need to touch the walkman section in the screen and they enable. Not entirely obvious! :-)
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Unregistered
I don't want to be too pedantic...BUT...I really miss the fact that my old W800i would wake me up in the morning!! This device ( because it has Symbian - according to Sony tech support) cannot 'wake' itself up from being OFF. What's the point of an alarm fucntion that requires the device to be left ON all night? I hope some bright spark could maybe write an App that could do this oneday (fingers crossed)
Sometimes technology goes forward without fully appreciating that it's the little everyday things that make a 'good' machine 'great'. A device like this should be the sum of all that's gone before it, plus a little extra. Also I really thought the Light ON OFF function was VERY practical and was used often.
This is a beautifully featured phone and I really want to like it but I need preacticality too,
Lee
Sometimes technology goes forward without fully appreciating that it's the little everyday things that make a 'good' machine 'great'. A device like this should be the sum of all that's gone before it, plus a little extra. Also I really thought the Light ON OFF function was VERY practical and was used often.
This is a beautifully featured phone and I really want to like it but I need preacticality too,
Lee
slitchfield
Unregistered - I really don't understand. How can a device wake you with an alarm if it's turned off? Would your PC perform any action if you left it off? A smartphone is a full computer in disguise. Just put it in flight mode overnight rather than turning it off. The other advantage is that all your apps will stay running and it'll be a lot faster to use in the morning.
cirrus
I suspect that Unregistered is referring to the capability of some phones to turn themselves on (battery power permitting, of course) to sound an alarm that the user has set. This means you get woken up even if you turned off your phone the night before.
AFAIK all Nokia S60 phones can do this for alarms set in the Clock application (not in the Calendar though).
AFAIK all Nokia S60 phones can do this for alarms set in the Clock application (not in the Calendar though).
Rafe
My understanding that it is something only supported in the later version of the Symbian OS (feel free to correct me someone). S60 FP1 onwards allows this, but as cirrus says I think its only alarms in the clock application.
ares
And i ask...why on earth would you like to turn off the phone when you have the flight mode??? Its completely pointless
Unregistered
Comment: My understanding that it is something only supported in the later version of the Symbian OS (feel free to correct me someone). S60 FP1 onwards allows this, but as cirrus says I think its only alarms in the clock application.
My understanding was that it is something only supported by much earlier versions of the OS. If I remember correctly Psion 5s could do this!
I think that it was a feature that Nokia was never really interested in, so it never made it into any of their phones.
My understanding was that it is something only supported by much earlier versions of the OS. If I remember correctly Psion 5s could do this!
I think that it was a feature that Nokia was never really interested in, so it never made it into any of their phones.
cirrus
It could be my memory playing tricks on me, but I seem to remember being able to do this with a Nokia 6600 (which was S60 when it was still called Series 60! :P) and even a Panasonic X700.
(Note to self: Must try this out on old phones tonight!)
(Note to self: Must try this out on old phones tonight!)
slitchfield
Maybe some phones can do this. But again, it's a completely pointless thing to do. Why would you ever turn a smartphone off at night? You lose all the benefits of the multitasking OS etc.
Verbal_Kint
Getting out of the walkman app can also be done by pushing the walkman button.. Probably the fastest way. Push once, walkman starts and your hardware buttons work. Push again, walkman goes to background.
Unregistered
Erm...think I may be missing something here chaps. I see that a few people think it's weird to switch off your phone at night. I go to sleep at night and thus don't use my phone during this time. I switch OFF the phone so as not to deplete battery power.
I'm no eco warrior but surely things should be switched off when not in use??
Cirrus - Thanks for your input - yes you're correct I would like the alarm function to switch the phone ON from an OFF status. This is an extremely common function on every run-of-the-mill mobile phone. I have always used my phones as alarm clocks! Maybe this sounds silly to some of you but it's a great function!
I think perhaps you are all forgetting it's the little things that make a difference to the real practicality of a piece of technology. (The iPhone is a great example with its lack of flash and video capability.)
ps Slitchfield - what are these precious multitasking apps that need to run all night anyway? Are you an insomniac? Sleeping is a fun way to spend the night AND it's free (often with entertaining dreams...zzz) ;o)
Lee
I'm no eco warrior but surely things should be switched off when not in use??
Cirrus - Thanks for your input - yes you're correct I would like the alarm function to switch the phone ON from an OFF status. This is an extremely common function on every run-of-the-mill mobile phone. I have always used my phones as alarm clocks! Maybe this sounds silly to some of you but it's a great function!
I think perhaps you are all forgetting it's the little things that make a difference to the real practicality of a piece of technology. (The iPhone is a great example with its lack of flash and video capability.)
ps Slitchfield - what are these precious multitasking apps that need to run all night anyway? Are you an insomniac? Sleeping is a fun way to spend the night AND it's free (often with entertaining dreams...zzz) ;o)
Lee
Unregistered
"I have always used my phones as alarm clocks!"
Me too. OggPlay (a freeware music player for S60) is my alarm clock!
But it does require that a) the phone is left switched on and b) OggPlay is left running for it work.
Me too. OggPlay (a freeware music player for S60) is my alarm clock!
But it does require that a) the phone is left switched on and b) OggPlay is left running for it work.
hduty
"But it does require that a) the phone is left switched on and b) OggPlay is left running for it work."
Can you set a repeating alarm for certain days, or do you need to reset it every day?
Can you set a repeating alarm for certain days, or do you need to reset it every day?
slitchfield
Lee: the amount of battery power taken by a phone with inactive display and no radios working (i.e. flight mode overnight) is negligible. And no, I don't run apps all night. The point is that they're loaded in RAM, which means that when I want them in the morning, they appear instantly and I don't have to wait five seconds each while they start up, as I would if I'd turned the phone off. Not to mention the boot up time.
60things
Just now I tested it on my N80. It does sound the alarm even when it's switched off. After I selected 'Stop', I get a dialog: 'Switch on phone?'
buster
People find the weirdest things to complain about.
Why on earth would you buy a smartphone, choose to use it as an alarm clock (don't you have a real alarm clock?), but still insist on turning it off every night?
And anyway, even if you do this, it seems that the alarms sound anyway, so what's the problem?
Why on earth would you buy a smartphone, choose to use it as an alarm clock (don't you have a real alarm clock?), but still insist on turning it off every night?
And anyway, even if you do this, it seems that the alarms sound anyway, so what's the problem?
Unregistered
Hi to those who replied, think I've learned a little bit about where you guys are coming from so it's not been a total loss throwing a line out here...seems everbody leaves their 'smart'phones on nowadays.
However Buster, my point was why put a 'wake up' alarm clock function on the phone in the first place that relies on the phone being switched on!), and what's with the 'smartphone' attitude, I bought it to replace a 'normal' phone so excuse my 'smartphone' ignorance. Perhaps at 35 I'm getting a bit of a technical dinosaur and am a bit 'old school' for all this.
"Me just like de look of de buttons and like dat musicy stuff duh! Ug!"
Thanks again for the ritual humiliation that is 'asking a reasonable question on the internet'
Lee the fat fingered useless old fashioned tw*t! (* can be either it's up to you)
However Buster, my point was why put a 'wake up' alarm clock function on the phone in the first place that relies on the phone being switched on!), and what's with the 'smartphone' attitude, I bought it to replace a 'normal' phone so excuse my 'smartphone' ignorance. Perhaps at 35 I'm getting a bit of a technical dinosaur and am a bit 'old school' for all this.
"Me just like de look of de buttons and like dat musicy stuff duh! Ug!"
Thanks again for the ritual humiliation that is 'asking a reasonable question on the internet'
Lee the fat fingered useless old fashioned tw*t! (* can be either it's up to you)
ares
Steve, just tried the latest smartphone show h264 clip, and it works fine on my P1. I guess that is natural, because both the w960 and P1 share the same latest firmware organizer version