Sony Ericsson W715 Walkman deals & review

The Sony Ericsson W715 is all about the music, thanks to its acclaimed Walkman MP3 player. In addition, it can handle data using its proprietary multi-purpose USB cable, providing USB 2.0 transfer speeds. The phone comes equipped with the Sony Ericsson PC Suite. The real question though is this: in an already crowded market, how does the W715 measure up?

This phone is a svelte little number, and one that feels ergonomically pleasing to hold, with a comfortable weight. It will slide easily into your pocket or handbag. The handset is solidly built, without the brick-like quality of some of Sony Ericsson’s previous endeavours. The newest Walkman sports the ever-popular sliding form factor. This spring-loaded slider mechanism is very smooth, and very easy to use. The front of the model is a luxe affair, with brushed metal, chromed accents and glass. A 2.4” 256,000 colour TFT display with a resolution of 240x320 pixels completes the look.

As mentioned earlier, this phone is famed for its easy to operate Walkman music player. You can add your music using the handy button for instant access to the Walkman application. Excellent volume control and laudable speakers make for an enjoyable music experience, unrivalled by phones of similar stock. Wi-Fi and GPS are also featured, along with a camera that’s capable enough.

Overall the performance of this model is excellent. The keyboard, although compact and quite flat, is a pleasure to work. The call function is also flawless, offering excellent reception wherever you go, with no fuzz or echo. The Wi-Fi isn’t as good as on some phones, such as the iPhone or Samsung’s newest Galaxy, but is still easy to use and very reliable. Other minor drawbacks include the voice dialling feature, which requires pre-recorded voice tags before use. That being said, once programmed, this function works very well. You can also set voice commands for ending or answering calls; these ‘magic words’ enable you to quickly and easily manage your calls. The feedback and echo that tends to occur when using speakerphone is irksome. That being said, if you’re not planning on needing hands-free, you won’t care about these issues. With a 1000mAh battery, the average user gets about two or three days’ worth of juice, which is very good in comparison with Apple’s offerings.

With a quick set-up, the W715 is remarkably easy to set up and navigate. Sony Ericsson’s systems may take a diehard Nokia user time to get used to, but once in your hand for a couple of hours, the ease of text messaging, music uploads, and other aspects of this phone will outweigh the disadvantage of mastering a new T9 system. The W715’s contacts function offers numerous fields of information: as usual, numbers, email and web addresses can all be entered into your contacts’ information with a minimum of hassle. You can also give each contact their own ringtone or picture, adding a nice sense of individuality to the phone.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is a top quality smartphone, offering a more immersive multimedia experience than that of the Walkman. If that’s a bit too flash, the Nokia 5800 offers an excellent music player, much like the W715.