When you push down the slider on the Sony Ericsson W705 you will reveal a keypad which feels great to use. When you begin to use it you will feel how lightweight of the handset – just 98 grams the Sony Ericsson W705 is. The large 2.4” screen dominates the front panel and the simple design of the buttons below it, each sharing several features. There is a dedicated Walkman button on the top end of the casing, making the music player easy to turn on and off. If you like an easy to use phone which won't take ages to learn how to use, then the Sony Ericsson W705 could and should be the phone you go for.The most prominent feature of the Sony Ericsson W705 is the Walkman part of the phone. Enhancements such as Clear Stereo and Clear Bass subtly tweak the sound, along with the usual equaliser, to your liking and the external stereo speakers provide excellent sound even when the phone is sitting on a tabletop. Shake Control is included for those times when identifying the right button is awkward – when you're on a treadmill for example – and the phone responds to direction based shakes to change tracks, shuffle and even raise or lower the volume. The built-in accelerometer also takes care of the automatic screen rotation and counts your steps in the step counter.
There are also plenty of connection options available on the Sony Ericsson W705. The W705 is a 3G handset and has support for HSDPA, EDGE and GPRS data connections, however when greater speed is called for, the Wi-Fi connection is there for you to use. Sony Ericsson's excellent Access NetFront browser will take care of your web browsing needs, plus you can subscribe to RSS feeds and watch YouTube videos thanks to the dedicated application. The 3.2 megapixel camera lens isn't hidden away under the slider, so you can take pictures holding the phone like you would a camera. It's a shame its fixed focus, but the dual LED flash helps indoor shots and ultimately, you are not buying a Walkman phone for its picture taking ability really. Cell-based geo-tagging and picture blogging are also available and rounding out the media entertainment features are an FM RDS radio and a video player on the Sony Ericsson W705.
Summary of the Sony Ericsson W705
If you're after for a stylish looking mobile phone to double as a music player, then the beautifully clear and detailed sound provided by the Sony Ericsson W705 Walkman could be just the ticket for you. Call quality sounds just as good, the features are impressive and the range of connectivity including Wi-Fi makes the Sony Ericsson W705 an excellent everyday mobile companion. The camera on this phone is not great, but it’s the music function which is the main selling point and should still be able to take some pretty handy snaps with it. If you after something with more camera ability. Then consider waiting for the Nseries Nokia N86 mobile phone, which is also due out soon.
by Gianni Greco
