The W995- king of the Walkmans. It was announced a few months ago and released just recently. As you may have noticed, we’ve already done a review of the handset. Thing is, it was written based on a prototype of the W995 and that’s why we’ve decided to write a “final impressions” piece after having used a retail version of the phone. We’re quite happy, actually and here’s why…

First off here’s a list of what we like and don’t like about the phone:

Neat stuff

• Aluminium housing adds an undeniable “sexy” factor to the phone’s looks
• The kickstand has proven useful on numerous occasions
• The large-ish 2.6″ screen is nothing short of brilliant
• Playback keys on the side can be used while the phone is locked
• The 3.5 mm jack at the top enables you to plug in any pair of headphones on the fly
• Finally some nice stereo speakers on a Walkman phone
• 8.1 megapixel camera is more than welcome
• Did I mention it has face and smile detection, along with an LED flash?
• 7 preloaded games and 9 additional applications
• Included 8 gigabyte M2 card
• Wi-Fi and aGPS
• Cool themes

Small annoyances

• The kickstand could have felt sturdier
• Volume rocker needs some getting used to
• Keypad keys exhibit various amounts of feedback
• M2 card slot is under the back cover
• Rather small softkeys

Let me just start by saying that the W995 is a fantastic media phone, despite the lack of a larger (preferably touch-enabled) screen. It’s got smarts, but it also definitely has looks. The W995 is by no means covered in aluminium – there are only 2 plates that cover most of the back and the front. Despite that, the phone is still lighter than, say a C905. The slider mechanism is also tighter and doesn’t allow any wobbling at all. The brushed look of the material is especially prominent here. Describing the phone side-by-side is, in my opinion, redundant.

What most amazed me about its looks is that when you opend the kickstand, put it on a table horizontally and launch the Walkman player, the W995 looks exactly like a mini-stereo system with its brightly-lit (naturally, in orange) keys at the top and the front, the large screen on the front and the stereo speakers on the side. Believe me, whenever you want to listen to music or watch a video, you’ll want to set the W995 on its kickstand somewhere. Fact is, the kickstand clicks into place, which saves you the hassle of adjusting it manually in accordance with the surface.

The speakers themselves are pretty powerful and of very high quality. I doubt many would want them to be even louder. They make for a pleasurable video viewing experience – along with the screen! Speaking of watching videos – the phone may not support DivX (or XviD for that matter), but it comes with this really neat software which can convert any of your .avi, .mp4, .mov or .wmv films into a format that can be played on the phone – automatically as you transfer the videos. This makes for a very effortless experience, I might say. Video playback on the phone itself is also something I can’t criticize.

Now, the audio output quality of the phone is superb. Its camera may not be able to replace a standalone point-and-shoot, but I am positive you won’t be using your mp3 player that often once you get a hold of the W995. No, seriously – it is that good. Of, course we have the usual SensMe and shake control gimmicks included in the Walkman v3 music player, but there’s also the Clear Stereo and Clear Bass audio enhancement technologies. I don’t know how they did it, but the phone sure sounds better than other Walkmans with the same music features (read W715). The keys on the side that control the audio playback are also a nice touch and often useful, as you don’t need to unlock the phone or have the music player on the screen in order to use these. They way they light up in orange is also something I should mention (yes, really).

Also worth mentioning is the fact that the phone ships with an 8 gigabyte M2 card. Neat, huh? Well, in that case, you shouldn’t be surprised that the W995 also comes with high-quality noise-cancelling headphones, which, by the way, are super.

The phone’s camera pack 8.1 megapixels, an LED flash and autofocus – quite surprising for a Walkman phone, no? Well, get this, it also has face and smile recognition and BestPic, which enables you to take multiple photos in rapid succession. The quality of the images itself could have been better, but I’m sure it’ll get sorted out in future software updates. To be more precise, the colours are spot-on, but the details could have been better. I also think I see some purple fringing in some of the photos. Here are the samples:

The phone records QVGA videos at 30fps. The audio quality is good, but it’s more than obvious that Sony Ericsson should have bumped up the video resolution.

I feel that commenting on the user interface is a tad unnecessary. It’s the same as on every other recent A2 feature phone from Sony Ericsson. There’s one difference, though – the settings menu is not tabbed any longer. This enables it to have one more sub-menu – the electronic user guide. You could say that’s both bad and good. The themes that come preloaded are also pretty nice. They employ nigh-hypnotizing animations and a very modernistic style.
Speaking of preloaded content, there are 7 pretty fun games that come with the phone and 9 more applications (excluding the ones from the organizer).
The software itself is as stable as can be. I’ve had no problems whatsoever. Bravo, SE!

Finally, I’d like to comment on the additional connectivity options. First off, we have your usual Bluetooth connectivity with the A2DP profile. The assisted GPS is also a feature worth noting – it enables geo-tagging for photos, turn-by-turn navigation, Google maps and assists in the sporty Tracker app. Then we have a DLNA-certified Wi-Fi (b & g) chip on-board. Connecting to a wireless network is easy as pie and the speed and range are also pretty adequate.

All in all, I am very satisfied with this phone. It’s a great all-rounder and given the already falling prices, it would be a good buy for anyone searching for a phone that has quality music… and a kickstand!

For a more detailed analysis, please refer to our full review.

The “impressions” articles are the sort that only describe certain features of a phone that are instrumental in defining the handset’s image. In this notion, these articles are shorter than both reviews and previews. They may also serve the purpose of building upon a previous review.

One of the lads from our affiliate site, mobiwoo, that attended the London even on the 28th has posted a rather lenghty article, describing his experience at the press conference and saying what he thinks about the newly-announced phones, namely Satio, Aino and Yari. It makes for quite an interesting read, if you’re into these three phones. Hit the source link for the article.

Source: Mobiwoo