SonyEricsson W705
 (Review)

SonyEricsson W705 is a stylish Walkman phone with Wi-Fi connectivity. Brushed metal finish with golden linings looks rich and elegant. Sony Ericsson's embedded PlayNow, Google Maps and You Tube support are added attractions.

2.4-inch QVGA display and stylish D-pad dominates the front while the back has 3.2-megapixel camera with flash. This flash does the function of torch if you switch on the light function in the organizer. The keypad is revealed by sliding which is the usual SonyEricsson one, elegant and convenient.

The display is sharp and the wallpapers and animations are beautifully rendered.

Walkman:
 Take the Walkman option from the main menu and the D-pad will assume the functions of the music player controls. There is a small Walkman key also on the top of the phone which activates the Walkman 3.0 player and initiates the interesting Shake Control operation. The Shake control makes use of built in accelerometer to forward or rewind tracks, adjust volume and shuffle the playlist.

The Walkman sub-menu offers music collection in various ways like by Artists, Albums, Genre, Year etc. along with SenseMe option where you can select tracks by mood (sad to happy) and tempo (slow to fast ) along the
x & y axis. But these are to be added first using Sony Ericsson's Media Manager PC software. The sound quality is excellent in the ear-phones.

There is no 3.5 mm headphone socket onboard but Sony Ericsson includes a 3.5mm adaptor in the kit which can connect your higher quality earphones or speakers.

Memory:
Onboard memory of SonyEricsson W705 is just 120MB but a 4GB memory card is included in the pack which is a decent enough storage space for your music collection. Transferring music to the phone can be done using the USB cable and Media Manager software or by drag-and-drop in mass storage way or through Bluetooth.

Internet:
Over the air music downloads are speedy using Wi-Fi. You can use an online or mobile operator service or you can try Sony Ericsson's embedded PlayNow offer that directly connects to SonyEricsson's online music portal.

Camera:
 The 3.2-megapixel camera is ok to preserve your precious moments but not the best in its class. It has fixed focus lens and results are average. The pictures are reasonable enough in daylight but in dark the flash is not effective enough. Video shoot is also average wih QVGA at 15fps. Although it is possible to upload images and video online. Shots can be geo-tagged but the position info is approximate using cell site triangulation as there's no GPS receiver on this device.

Applications:
Even without GPS, Google Maps is useful application to find your way, search for locations, businesses and services online. NetFront browser is fast and responsive. Then there is YouTube service to upload your videos. Walk Mate, motion dependent pedometer tracks your daily steps. An AccuWeather.com weather update, Comecks Strips, Music Quiz based on your tracks and Rock Bobblehead motion controlled animation are some other interesting applications.

Messaging:
SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, all messaging facilities are available. Conversations facility is to view threads of messages to and from a single contact.

Battery:
Adequate battery as W705 runs for more than two days with normal usage and active Wi-Fi.

Organizer:
The organizer includes all common applications like calendar, calculator, tasks, notes, world clocks, timer, stopwatch, voice recorder and code memo etc. But there is no document viewer or many other smart phone functions.

Games:
 There are five games included in the set, motion activated Bowling, Bubble Town, Guitar Rock Tour, Nitro Street Racing and Sudoku.
 

Features at a glance:

Network Compatibility

 2G - GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G - HSDPA 900 / 2100

Dimensions & weight

 95 x 47.5 x 14.3 mm, 98g

Display

 2.4 inches, 240 x 320 pixels,
TFT, 256K colors
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Wallpapers, screensavers

Sound & Music

 Walkman 3.0 player
Shake control
SensMe
TrackID music recognition
MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Downloadable polyphonic, MP3, AAC ringtones
Speakerphone

Memory

 Inernal -120 MB
Memory Stick Micro (M2), up to 8GB,
4GB card included

Internet

 GPRS - Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE - Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G - HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
HSCSD
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
WAP 2.0/HTML, RSS
YouTube service in Media Center

Connectivity

 Bluetooth - v2.0 with A2DP
USB - v2.0

Camera

 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, LED flash,
Secondary Videocall camera

Messaging

 SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM

Games

 5 games included

More features

 Geo-tagging (cell-ID)
Java MIDP 2.0
Picture editor/blogging
Organizer

Battery

 Li-Ion,
Standby - Up to 400 h (2G) / Up to 350 h (3G)
Talk time - Up to 10 h (2G) / Up to 4 h (3G)

Disadvantages:
  • No GPS
  • No touchscreen
  • Average 3.2-megapixel camera
  • Average video capture
  • No smartphone OS

Advantages:

  • Walkman 3.0 music player
  • Wi-Fi connectivity
  • 3G compatibility
  • 4GB Memory Stick
  • Rich elegant design
  • User-friendly interface
  • YouTube support
  • Google Maps

W705 is among the latest Walkman phones from SonyEricsson with high speed internet connectivity, highly recommended mid range phone for the music lovers.