Loading ...W995 Final Impressions
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.
Filed under: Review, impressionsTags: impressions, Review, W995
(19 votes, average: 4.47 out of 5)
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beautiful photographs there man!
makes the phone that much more delicious
Alot of people this days dont give a fuck about java phones anymore,w995 would have been a block buster if it were to be a smart phone….,SE only smart phone this years is satio…, and it does not have 3.5mm jack port. Quote me, i ‘KELLY’ said….,SE can never produce an all rounder…, stop! decieving people.SE is going down.., and they will go down well.We are patiently waiting for its final burial.
lol this phpne should be a non smart but I have one and it’s really great
If you like smartphones with 3.5mm audio jack and powerful engine you will love the X2 I am sure of that ;)
FYI, in my country (Indonesia) there’s famous Mobile Phone Tabloid that for their latest issue (for this 2 weeks) made a review for this SE W995. They mentioned with Tagline like this : “Sony ericsson W995: Walkman Serba Bisa Berkamera Prima - Akses Menu & Fitur TErasa Lambat”
Meaning: “SE W995: All Rounder Walkman with Great Camera - Accessing Menu & Feature is Laggy / kinda Slow”
Can you clarify for this matter as I’m sure that most of SE’s Feature Phone is the best and Fastest UI.
By far it has the fastest UI of all SE feature phones.
@ kelly:
One more post like that and you’re out. Deceiving people? Really?
I have to agree with kelly, dumbphones aren’t going anywhere anymore as much as the they think the teen population wants it. The only way they’ll get far is through smartphones.
Mine came 2 weeks ago.
I’m rather satisfied with it but it’s coming much too late, 2 years after N95.
Pictures are OK outdoor, but crappy indoor.
awesome phone.. se rules! i want sony ericsson to be back in business.. they can be no.1 and they also know it.. come on put 3.5mm jack on all your phones, microusb charger, micro sd cards and expand your range like nokia.. bring more business series phones and all in one phones.. i love SE..
Smart phone is not for everyone, at least me. WHY I NEED SMART PHONE WHEN THIS DUMB SERVED ME PLENTIFUL OF THINGS that some smart unable to do.
I totally agreed with this review final unit bring me load of impressions and also accept some annoyance too.
It’s just small point to get little used to it.
And love those pics very nice taken guys.
Hello, you have mentioned that there is smile detection on the W995….but the review by gsmarena.com says that the W995 has no smile shutter. So I’m confused as I really like this phone. So could you please confirm if the retail unit of the W995 has smile shutter or not ? Thank you very much.
I believe it has smile shutter. That’s what I remember (phone’s not with me any more).
BTW, photo samples added.
Definitely, Yes w995 got smile detection for final unit.
GSMArena just early prototype, I mentioned that preview not review.
Nice review there dude!
i think w995 is gonna be my next phone
Is this faster than W980i when navigating menus? Please reply.
Would appreciate.
@Kelly: you realy don’t know anything about phones and about SE, your comment proofs that. It’s a music and multi-media oriented phone, so don’t need the symbian OS, it would thake forever to load. Even it’s not being a smartphone, this phone rocks. It is so much better than nokia shitty smartphones. And symbian would just fuck this phone and the sony audio technologie’s wouldn’t even been supported, and also the dnla, but i’m not sure of that last one.
Anyway, great phone, but wat’s the actual price?
To be honest, I don’t really give a d*** about smile or face detection. I’d rather they put in a xenon flash.
Other than that, I’m still dissapointed by SE’s decision to remove the tabbed Settings menu - tabbed menus are SO much more convenient - a trademark of SE’s UI. I really hope they bring it back.
It is good to hear that they’ve sovled the flimsy kick stand issue, though. Glad to know that it clicks into position.
And what’s the big deal about smart phones? How many people out there who uses a smart phone really takes advantage of it being a smart phone? How many users actually use the document reader, pdf reader, download apps etc etc? For those that do, the Xperia (and other non-SE smart phones) are out there to cater to this crowd.
IMO. I still prefer java phones like this…
@ flippy80 This is just a prototype version. So that’s why it responds slowly, because it isnt the full version yet. You should wait for the retail version and see if there are changes.
Looks nice… Kid Cudi!
@ luve:
Yeah, as far as I can remember it is faster than the W980. No lag at all.
But try the W995 at a phone shop just in case to see whether the speed pleases you.
I’ve just got the W995 today and it is truly f***ing amazing, espcially the music player.
I thought about waiting for the Satio, but have decided against it as it has a touch screen, that my K850i had, and that phone (which I (thankfully) traded in today) was to be truly blunt, an absolute lemon.
I had two replacement K850i handsets because the screen kept freezing, and the third handset was now starting to act funny, so I decided enough was enough.
Yet I really wanted to like the K850i, after the K800i was so good, but I feel that whilst it had a good MP3 player, 5 MP camera and fast HDSPA connectivity, it wasn’t developed fully enough.
I’d like to be wrong, but touch-screen mobiles are not the future - not yet anyway.
I also decided against the C905, because I have heard of software issues regarding this phone.
Thankfully, with the W995, I’ve now gone from a lemon to a peach!
i dont wan smart phone
it is smart enough for me
SE P1i is best so far. Tried this one also but not for me.
Wooooooooooooow Awsome !!
….Why the heck did they put getsure gaming on yari and not this ?
it have bigger screen .. and more resoloution !
^^if i like smartphones i would’ve buy Aino .. some reason i hate touch-phones
..Nice photo’s in there man ! .. and the kickstand look so great !
never get tired of lookin’ at the picture
Freakin’ Awsome !
that’s so kool, i’d want one whenever possible!
This phone is the best in its place… The best amongst dumb phones.. I want to ask the people who keep talking about smart phones that do they know what actually is a smart phone and do they use the smart phones features???? This is a multimedia phone with overloaded features… I have been waiting for this phone since 22nd June but still it has not arrived in Indian market.. Desperately waiting for it…
Please explain your experience with MediaGo.
I’ve hating each version of SE’s media software as they all SUCK!!
MediaGo isn’t any better!
How do you use Drag n Drop feature?
How do you use Album art feature?
i love the new Sony Ericsson W995. The Camera and the handling are really great.
Hi there,
since u’ve used this phone, do u have any idea how to hide msgs detail from appearing on the screen when received?!!
please help me! am hating this phone because of this
w995 is the phone of my dreams !!!! i am going to buy it in one month !!! SE rules !!!! w995 is THE BETTER SE PHONE !!! i am sure of it because i searched for many days in the SE website to find the better phone !!! I can proof it !!!
w995 : it comes with an 8.1 megapixels camera . Some of the camera functions are face and smile detection, best picture, macro, infinite, self timer, flash, photo fix, brightness controll and many other things. Also w995 has wifi, gps and aGPS, youtube, google maps, tracker, it has a walkman player version 4.0, really loud speakers, clear bass-audio, 2.6 screen, auto- rotation in a lot of functions, it supports almost all the music files (mp3,mp4,m4a…..) and a lot more !!! Thats why it is the walkman king !!! Because of everything i said !!!
AND REMEMBER : WE BEING FRONT ROW !!!!!!!
I MEAN : WE LOVE BEING FRONT ROW
AND SOMETHING I FORGOT : 8 GB M2
also : SensMe playlist
Reply to k:
Go to Settings > General > New Events.
Change option to Pop-Up. It will appear like older SE phones when messages are received.
It’s a good phone with good reception, good media player and decent camera, along with Wifi and 3G.
SE finally smartened up and included 3.5mm port for headphones! This should’ve been done YEARS ago!
Durability is questionable since it’s new and SE has history of quality problems with their current phones!
Some bad points:
1. Pricey!
2. Camera not good for night shots or long-distance shots, no Zenon flash
3. MediaGo SUCKS! SE can NOT make good media software for their phones!
4. SE name is a sticker not stamped on front faceplate! How cheap and tacky!
5. Facebook shortkey key can not be replaced with another shortcut! Don’t use Facebook so DON’T CARE about feature! Just remove it!
Sandisk Ultra Mobile 16gb M2 works wells and relatively faster than regular, “non-Ultra” version!
Reply to SEw995 : this phone is perfect !!! Thats the reason it is the walkman king !!!
Features :
1. Walkman player version 4.0
2. mega bass_clear bass
3. 8.1 mp camera (face-smile detection, macro, self-timer, infinite, anti-shake control, brightness control, flash, geo-tagging, X16 zoom, night mode and other)
4. Wi-fi
5. GPS-aGPS
6. auto rotation in all functons ( except desktop, menu)
7. Fast internet ( speed : HSUPA)
8. Youtube
9. video call
10. DLNA
11. 2.6 screen
12. google maps
13. tracker
14. walk mate
15. shake control
16. 8 GB m2
17. SensMe playlists
18. fast blogging (my blog, flickr, picassa)
19. email
20. supports every music type file (except M4R)
21. rated 2nd for the best audio experience award (w980 has got the first place)
22. 3D games
23. 3G
What else do you want from a phone ??? This phone is really a WONDER !!!
Hello,
Ok this is my 3rd SE and I like it very much. I like SE’s alot. Yeah, ok, the PC Suit is pretty clunky and the mass storage doesn’t work correctly but I’m sure that they’ll fix it like they always have so far.
BUT…..
Here where I live, internet connections are terribly expensive so I can’t use the GPS and that is a problem for me. Google, Navigator. I just traded up from a N95, which is pretty much the same phone and I could upload maps and use my GPS-A
Does anyone know how to use the GPS linked to maps without need of the internet connection? Please?
got this phone thursday last and brought it back to the shop thursday due to several terminal software issues including bluetooth not working phone not finding any mobile networks, wifi turning on when phone starts but not finding any wifi networks, phone restarting several times and shutting down several times, this phone basically has a mind of its own and i could not even reset the factory settings as the phone froze. worst sony handset i have ever seen!
saying all that i do love this phone and i hope that sony/the shop can provide me with a working phone but there seems to be difficulty finding a wirking w995 in Ireland!!!
also there is NO streaming of any kind over wifi and youtube wont work on the wap with this phone either!
Well after 2 weeks, my W995 completly died. It wouldn’t find the cell networ, bluetooth, or Wlan… of course the store wouldn’t take it back so it went to SE for repairs.
So I went out and got a Samsung S8000 and so far it’s great, including maps that work without internet connection.
Sorry SE, the W995 is looking like a junker. I think that you’ve lost me for good this time.
It totally rules, for a reason I somehow like this phone more than touchscreens like the Iphone. Iim gonna get this over the Iphone !!!
RE: wil 995, 4th August 2009
It sounds as though you got a dud handset there.
I’ve had my W995 now for nearly 8 weeks and absolutely nothing has gone wrong.
Just love the W995….
Hi I got my sony ericsson w995 yesterday and it all works apart from the facebook app in messages. When ive logged in it just loads for ages and doesnt do anything. Anybody know what i can do??
Im with Orange but when i rang them they said they didnt have any info on the apps, so they couldnt help me…
hi
i had a w760, i was rather happy with the phone except that navigating through the media menu seemed to be laggy, eg i would scroll at a medium pace and it couldnt keep up. i was wondering if this lag is present in the w995?
thanks
hi
i had a w760. great phone, but the media menu was laggy. scrolling was not smooth. i was wondering if the lag is present in the w995 media menu. any feedback would be great
oh my gosh..tis w995 sometimes serach network and this cause the screen suddeny blank like tat..anyone got same problem like this..i even update the phone software by myself and the problem still on..really like freak out..
I have had the W995 for 4 months now, It is a brilliant phone performs well its basically an all rounder; menu’s dont lag but when you overload it with too much applications and/or media it does start to lag a bit due to more data to load as with any electronic device…. the more information to load the longer it takes so i hope that answers your question about that.
The Email feature is good but the IM feature I still to this day havent figured out MSN’s server configuration… but the interface looks cool; music fantastic quality and clarity along with a decent screen to watch movies that u get free from SE exclusive to SE owners maybe even only W995 (dont hold me to that)
Problems I have experienced up to now is extremely slow internet download maximum speed at full signal 9kbps no good for youtube etc etc… probobly my settings though O.o along with the backup feature doesnt work very well with the SE software, I am not impressed with the MEdia suite to be honest although there is a alternate ” unofficial” version of this out which is supposed to be pretty good although i havent tested this yet….
If you want ANY questions answered about this phone drop a message
I’ll try my best to help and if not we’ll work it out together
Thanks
Good phone with good reception and media player and “decent” battery life.
But….
1. Camera sucks at night/long-distance shots! No xenon flash! Good ONLY for day/short-distance shots!!!
2. Video playback is terrible! It’s a Walkman phone! Too small screen to be useful!
3. You got noise-cancellation earphones?! Lucky you as most of us did NOT!
4. Facebook app key at front sucks as I don’t use Facebook!
5. Media player controls could be better esp. volume rocker which is TOO damn small!
6. Media Go software SUCKS! Video conversion doesn’t work well and takes TOO damn long and library doesn’t update itself quickly enough and file management features are Terrible! Playlist features SUCKS! iTunes is MUCH better!
7. Stickers of name and logo peels off! Should’ve been stamped into the case! Shoddy quality control!
8. Still very expensive!