Sony Ericsson keeps adding more phones to its Walkman series portfolio so that anyone can choose their favorite form factor. This time, we had the chance to test a promising Walkman slider – Sony Ericsson W705. I wasn't expecting less performance and quality from the device, but I was pleasantly surprised by its stylish design. Even though W705 doesn't come up with anything new in terms of features, it still makes as a good choice for those that prefer the slider form over the candybar. Moreover, the phone is better looking than most of the Walkman series devices, either bar or slider form, so this is another reason that you should really check it out, if you get the chance.
Announced in October 2008, Sony Ericsson W705 hit the shelves only in March 2009. It can be bought for the cheap price of 250USD, depending on the location and plan. The phone is available in two colors: Luxury Silver and Passionate Red.
Design Sony Ericsson W705 features a nice slider design, much different from previous Walkman series devices. The phone has two distinct parts, as it's made from two different materials: plastic and chrome metal. The upper part that seems to be metallic features excellent finishes, which I have rarely met before on an SE device. Even though it doesn't have a huge display, the 2.4-inch screen is just enough to harmonize with the rest of the measures of the handheld. Thanks to the metallic part, W705 is a little bit heavier for its size, but will not go over the 98g weight (including battery). Medium-sized (95 x 47.5 x 14.3), Sony Ericsson W705 seems to be balanced in every way, offering users a comfortable and ergonomic communication solution.
The front part of the phone features two Walkman series logos, while on the back, there's only one, right below the camera. Above the screen, one can notice an ambient light sensor, the earpiece and a secondary video-call camera, which cannot be used to take snapshots. Below the display, there's a rounded control button that can be used like a joystick to navigate through the menus. The same button can be used to control the music player, as it's highlighted with orange backlighting. To the left and to the right of the main joystick, there are some standard buttons: two soft keys, Accept and Reject calls keys, Shortcut key and C (Delete) key. The left side of the phone includes the proprietary Sony Ericsson port for charging and PC synchronization. On the right side, there's a dedicated camera button and a dual volume key, which can also be used as a Zoom key when the camera interface is open.
The back side of the handheld features a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, but also a wider loudspeaker, that has been placed at the base of the phone. On top, there's a very small button, which starts the music player when it's pressed. To be able to open the back hood, you'll need to use the small slider found on the bottom part of the phone. The M2 microSD memory slot has been stuffed under the back cover, on the left side of the phone. The numeric keypad is a real pleasure to use, with large and spacious keys, very well highlighted when the handset is used in darker areas. These are very responsive and will enhance users’ texting experience.
None of the two materials used in manufacturing are fingerprint magnets, so your phone will be kept clean no matter how much you'll be using it. The only minor problem will probably be the fact that the camera is not very well protected against scratches. Otherwise, Sony Ericsson W705 features a sturdy construction with a smooth sliding mechanism.
Display and camera Medium-sized, Sony Ericsson's W705 TFT screen measures 2.4-inch, displays 262k colors and supports 240x320 pixels resolution. Resistant to scratches, the screen's contrast and brightness are very good and can be easily used even when you're outdoors in the sunlight. For more in-depth info regarding performance, check out the benchmarks below.
The 3.2-megapixel camera isn't one of the strong points of the slider. It doesn't have anything to do with any of the Cyber-shot series phones, and joins the long list of Walkman series phones with disappointing or mediocre cameras. In terms of features, it lacks auto-focus, image stabilization, macro mode or more advanced technical features. Users are left with geo-tagging (CellID), flash and video recording capabilities.
The geotagging function (“the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as photographs and videos” – Wikipedia) only works based on Cell-ID triangulation as the phone doesn't feature a built-in GPS receiver. Still, the results are precise, so you can choose to view the pictures displayed on a map in accordance with the place you took them in.
The interface of the camera looks standard and user-friendly; nothing new if you have previously owned an SE device. The maximum resolution of the pictures is of 2048 x 1536 pixels, while the size varies, 0.8-1.3 MB. Thanks to the accelerometer, you can easily take pictures in portrait or landscape mode.
The quality of the photos is mediocre and doesn't stand out from the rest of the Walkman series handsets. While the noise effect is kept within limits, and the contrast is pretty good, the pictures are highly sharpened. In terms of video recording, the device captures movies in the QVGA resolution at 15fps in MPEG4 file format. The quality of the clips is mediocre, but even that requires good lighting conditions.
Overall, it shows that Sony Ericsson W705 hasn't been targeted at those looking for a camera phone and that keeps the same Walkman music phone line.
Menu and Software Sony Ericsson W705 features the company's proprietary GUI, which has become known over the course of time. There are some updates in terms of device personalization and looks, but basically there's nothing really new. The same Media center introduced together with the K850i model has also been added to W705, including the auto-rotate feature. There's also support for Flash Lite 2.0, so users can now take advantage of various animated themes, but also of some other Flash-based entertainment utilities. They get to choose from five different themes, each with its own specific abilities.
The main menu layout can be changed in accordance to the theme, or by choosing one of these options: grid, rotating and single icon. Wallpaper, startup screen and screen saver can also be personalized according to the user’s need. Also, there are seven profiles to choose from, more specifically Normal, Meeting, In car, Outdoors, Handsfree, Home and Office. Besides these, W705 also includes a Flight mode, in case users don't want to use the GSM function of the handset.
There are a few productivity tools that can be employed, such as Alarms (limited to 5), Tasks, Notes, Calendar, Timer, Stopwatch, Calculator, Light, AccuWeather, Comeks Strips, Standby World, WalkMate, Code memo and a basic File manager. Besides these, the slider features a dedicated Java YouTube client, which enables users to watch and upload clips. The Internet icon, as the name suggests, gives access to basic Web browsing. Sony Ericsson W705 features the latest Access NetFront HTML browser 3.4, which seems to open any webpage, no matter how elaborated. Webpages open pretty fast even on EDGE connection, but for more speed, I suggest using the 3G network when browsing the Internet, as speeds are much better.
The Radio only works when the wired earphones are inserted. The Entertainment sub-folder contains a few functions more or less specific to the Walkman-series devices, namely TrackID, MusicDJ, PhotoDJ, VideoDJ, Record sound, Remote control and Games (Bowling, Bubble Town, Guitar Rock, NitroStreet Racing, Sudoku).
The Gallery can be found through the File manager in the folder called Camera Album, or in the Media center, and can also be accessed through the camera interface menu. The Java emulator works with just about any compatible application, like games or productivity software. Let's not forget the new service available from Sony Ericsson, Play Now, which offers maximum entertainment. Overall, SE's W705 user-interface puts to your disposal quite a number of features and high functionality, but still remains old.
Communication Sony Ericsson W705 Walkman features the basic connectivity tools, but has also been gifted with the HSDPA 7.2Mbps technology, which greatly improves data transfers. When benchmarked, the phone attained outstanding speeds: 817 Kbit/s download and 46 Kbit/s upload in 3.5G network. EDGE data transfers were a little bit lower than expected, but still reached speeds of 179 Kbit/s for download and 72 Kbit/s for upload services.
The handset is also compatible with Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP technology and features USB 2.0 connectivity and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA. Applications like Google Maps have no real use until you get an external GPS receiver, but you will also need something like Wayfinder Navigator 7, so your device will really come in handy with localizations.
Messaging capabilities have been improved and now offer a wider range of options. All messages share the same Inbox, except for emails, which have a separate one. You can now manage and categorize them the way you want, or you can simply use the pre-installed categories: Business, Favorites, Follow Up, Fun, Holiday and Important. The email service is fully compatible with the POP3 and SMTP clients.
The quad-band (GSM 850 / 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network-compatible handset has a good GSM signal reception. Unfortunately, while the level of clarity is outstanding when talking on the phone, I experienced crash sound that made the calls impossible to hear. Furthermore, the vibration is pretty low in intensity.
Processor and Memory The W705 Walkman slider phone features a medium-power ARM9 family processor that runs at speeds of up to 170 Mhz. While not the fastest phone on the market, W705 is pretty decent when it comes to the speed of browsing, but it still cannot be compared with S40 Nokias. The strong point of the device is the fact that the change from portrait to landscape mode is done pretty fast and smooth, even when watching big-sized pictures.
The handset comes with a 120MB internal memory, but features a micro M2 memory slot card to expand the storage space up to 8 GB. It has been placed under the back cover of the phone, but it can be inserted without the need of powering off the device (hot-swappable). Moreover, it comes with a 4GB M2 memory card in the sales package.
Multimedia Sony Ericsson W705 does well what it should, meaning it plays music, and excels at that. The slider promises and offers very good music quality, as it features Walkman 3.0 music player, thus making the sound pretty impressive. Users can take advantage of a wide range of equalizers, which have been gifted with full visualization art this time. It supports almost all possible music file formats available on the market: MP3, AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+, WAV, WMA, M4A and MIDI.
Furthermore, the music player is compatible with Album art function and, thanks to the integrated accelerometer, it takes advantage of the Shake control feature. The latter enables users to go one track forward or backward by pressing the Walkman button (on top of the phone) and shake the phone forward or backward. It is also possible to shuffle the playlist by simply shaking the phone both ways twice, while pressing the same Walkman button. Another new feature introduced by Sony Ericsson is called SensMe, which enables users to make their playlists according to their mood by simply selecting "Happy" or "Sad." The only drawback of the service is the fact that only the songs that are tagged by Sony Ericsson's Media Manager will be taken into consideration. If you want to use this feature a lot, you will need to transfer all your files through the Sony Ericsson Media Manager application, which could take a while.
The stereo earphones (HPM-77) that are coming in the sales package are more than decent and include a 3.5mm adapter, which means that you can even attach your own headphones in case you're not satisfied by these.
The slider also includes an FM radio function with RDS, which can memorize up to 20 base stations. The reception and sound are also exceptional. Both, music player and radio can be run in the background.
The integrated video player can run movies in full screen, in landscape or portrait mode, thanks to the accelerometer. You can also save certain frames from a movie if you like, in the form of screenshots. Overall, Sony Ericsson W705 features decent sound quality levels and above average multimedia features at a very convenient price.
Battery Sony Ericsson W705 features a 1000 mAh Li-Polymer battery that has an official lifetime of approximately 400 hours (350 hours for 3G) in standby mode and 10 hours (4 hours for 3G) in talk-time mode. After using the phone for at least two weeks, I decided that the battery's life was pretty good, as I managed to attain an average of 4 hours of talk time and around 5 days of standby. That is really impressive, but somewhat expected from such a high capacity battery. If you are a heavy user, you'll most likely need to charge it every three days, but a soft user will have no trouble keeping it for a week at least. The music playback time is of nearly 22 hours with the display in standby mode.
Impressions Sony Ericsson W705 has a catchy look and a low price that will probably boost the Swedish-Japanese joint venture revenues on the short run. Nokia, the rival, comes with its XpressMusic series, but I still think the Walkman series has the upper hand, although not for long. I recommend W705 for those looking for a cheap music phone and for fans of the slider form factor.
The Good
One of the best looking sliders belonging to the Walkman series portfolio, Sony Ericsson W705 promises to attract fans of the brand and form factor. The excellent multimedia features, together with top notch data transfer technologies (HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP) and low price, make the handset a good choice for those looking for a music phone.
The BadThere are two main problems that I couldn't bear: the low quality of the voice sound during some calls and the mediocre camera, which misses so many capabilities. Probably adding a GPS receiver would've raised its desirability, but this is only a minor problem.
Sales package Sony Ericsson W705 Handset
4GB M2 memory card
1000 mAh Li-Polymer Battery
Data Cable
Stereo HPM-77 headset
Travel Charger
CD-Rom
User Manual.
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