Sony Ericsson W595 Walkman

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By Nate Lanxon, CNET.co.uk
Dec 3, 2008

Sony Ericsson's new W595 is a slider handset with a 3.2-megapixel camera, and it replaces the popular W580i from last year. With upgraded specs, can this year's model do justice to last year's?

Editors' note:

This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.co.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some other products or telcos in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia.

Design

Little of significance has changed since the W580i--the devices genuinely look like brothers from the same mothers. The camera has shifted positions, the USB socket has moved, and the overall enclosure has a slightly different shape. But if you're looking for ground-breaking changes, keep walking, 'cos there ain't nothing to see here.

It's still a decent design though, with a fine key layout. Speed texting is easier on some other handsets, but it's nothing a week of practice won't solve. Our biggest, most epic complaint is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone socket. You may remember this criticism from many, many other Walkman phone reviews.

We feel it almost wasn't worth updating this phone unless you were going to add something as game-changing as a place to put headphones without a repugnant plastic adapter. And reattaching the battery cover gave us several minutes of annoyance thanks to some tiny, easily breakable plastic positioning clips.

A super screen partly compensates for the gargantuan headphone-socket oversight, giving 56mm (2.2 inches) of crisp, bright 240 x 320-pixel screen real estate. Images look crisp and even small text is comfortably readable.

Tags: Sony Walkman, Adapter, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, positioning, headphone

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