Monthly Archives: May 2010

A: Seven

I had to walk around my workplace and try seven different people before a lady could remove the battery cover on this phone. I had this issue with the m600i when that was released and have never understood the quite bizarre battery cover mechanism that Sony Ericsson employs. I then accidentally inserted the SIM card in the wrong way and it got stuck. Why the design should allow the SIM to go in the wrong way I do not know and why it requires a further 10 minutes of messing around (using scissors and other implements) to remove it and put it back in confuses me.

Anyway, despite some bizarre design choices by Sony Ericsson, my first impressions of the size, weight and profile are more than positive. The W960 is extremely light and looks and feels like a real phone. It is quite plain and the keys are very flush, with the even flusher screen dominating the front.

The only criticism I have of the design is the white surround which is not awful, but in silver it would add a real touch of class to the overall look. It is slightly bigger than the average feature phone, but for a smartphone it is very small and especially light at only 119g, with the 16mm depth making it feel very pocketable. All in all, I find it hard to criticise the look, especially when sat next to my TyTN II.

It is a touch screen device (UIQ3) and so you get a stylus. It is hard to really express my feelings about the stylus: on the one hand it is nice and long (about 5mm shorter than the phone), but then again it is made out of quite flimsy plastic and feels ‘very’ much like the old Psion Revo one did. I’m not overly depressed about it, because almost every function was easily achieved using my finger, and I found that I have rarely used the stylus so far.

On the top there is an on/off key which is suitable flush to stop accidental pressing. On the right you get a volume key and the camera key, which are again very flush (possibly too much so in the camera buttons case) and on the left hand side there is a lanyard fixing and a ‘very’ nice jog dial. Finally, at the bottom is the standard Sony Ericsson connector.

The connector concerned me, but Sony Ericsson has bundled in a decent 3.5mm headphone converter so you can still use your favourite headphones. So far, I have only had time to try out the bundled PC Suite, Media Manager and entertainment functions and the PC softwares both installed without fuss. The Media Manager is particularly impressive and allows the easy transfer and conversion of photos, music, RSS feeds and videos. There is an oddity with the video set up- it prompts you to purchase Media Manager Pro and the resulting link shows that it is currently $9.99. The fact that it is so cheap actually annoyed me a little- this phone costs £100’s and should not be subject to an extra £4 for easy video conversion. Come on Sony Ericsson- at least have the dignity to take another £20 from me!

Anyway, the Media Manager Pro software worked very well and I now have a few West Wing episodes and some videos of my children loaded up. That’s the good news- when I viewed these videos on the phone they were terrible quality, really terrible. Afterwards, I spotted that it was set for low quality so will try again and report back on Monday. The converted photos displayed fairly well and were clear enough, but I could not get them full screen- it may be me so once again I will report back on that.

Music transfer was easy enough and the software takes the hassle out of getting CDs to the phone. Once transferred, the music quality is stunning. It is difficult to beat an iPod for quality (in digital formats), but the W960 manages it with ease, in my opinion. I was impressed with the interface for searching through albums and the animated backdrop as the music played. The dedicated music buttons top off the feature set to ensure it merits the ‘Walkman’ tag.

It has been an interesting first few hours with the W960. It felt odd to not have to purchase an expansion card and it feels odd using a ‘phone’ like device that can seemingly do so much. I will back on Monday with more, but my first thoughts are that this could be one of the first smartphones that handle entertainment as well as the business side, and as such could replace an iPod Touch and a smartphone. Time will tell though- more next week…

Apologies for the photo quality (ran out of daylight) and the fact that I am playing an Abba song in the photos

On the hardware side, there are some big wins that are apparent from the start. Battery life is much better than comparable Windows Mobile devices, and much much better than the Treo 680. This is a feature that is very important to me, and being able to charge once every few days makes the whole experience more pleasurable.

Call quality is also very good and it does sound like a real phone, unlike some other smartphones that sound too processed on voice calls. The speakerphone could be better, and is a disappointment considering Sony Ericsson usually does well in this area.

General navigation is average- I would personally prefer to see hardware call start/end buttons and feel that the on screen buttons are not as intuitive as could be. As per usual with UIQ3, it takes some getting used to when trying to complete simple tasks. The jog dial and touch screen help, but you can find yourself unsure of which input method to use next in the initial stages. The screens in most of the applications are a little busy and it strikes me that the UIQ system over complicates things in almost all areas.

The speed of the W960 is again on the average side- once loaded the applications are quick, but first start up can be painfully slow in some applications. I did experience a more general slow down when too many applications are open. Whilst it is possible to have many applications open at one time, it is noticeable when they are and can cause response issues at times.

Despite the issues with speed and navigation, I still enjoy the UIQ experience and find myself wanting to use it rather than having to. In many ways the UIQ OS is the most pleasant of the big three, but that does not guarantee the most efficient speeds when doing simple things.

The keys are very flat and considering their size, they could be easier to use. It took a couple of days for me to stop making mistakes when entering phone numbers, and that’s another area of frustration. I do need to read the manual further but I have to go into contacts every time to find a number. I would like to be able to type ‘Joanne’ on the keys and have the relevant contact pop up- maybe this is possible but I have so far not found out how.

Other annoyances include the key lock which can be tiresome, the security lock when ActiveSync is on and the fact that a manual is needed for almost everything. Admittedly, I am still fairly new to UIQ3 but it could be a LOT easier for new users and I suspect that people who have only used feature phones previously will struggle the most.

On a more positive note, I have not experienced one crash and every application has worked flawlessly. MobiPocket is good for eBooks (prefer eReader though) and the email side has worked well. The Opera web browser is OK, but not as clear or well laid out as IE in Windows Mobile or Safari on an iPhone. It does feel like a cut down web browser and does not offer the kind of mobile web experience we now expect in 2007.

Data entry should be one of the top priorities of any smartphone and the W960 struggles a little. The 1-0 keys mean that you either have to use T9 or one of the touch screen input mechanisms. The handwriting recognition is actually very good, but fiddly when choosing between letters, numbers and punctuation. The onscreen keyboard is also quite good but absolutely requires the stylus, because the keys are so tiny. At the moment I am in two minds about the input methods and am still trying to find the right one for me, if there is one so will advise further tomorrow.

My first two days with the W960 have felt like a bit of a trial. I understand smartphones very well, but do find that this particular device requires lots of training and time to achieve tasks, that should be second nature. I am not saying that this is a bad phone and will continue to use it until I have mastered it. It has enough potential to keep me coming back for more, and more will be written tomorrow.