Sony Ericsson W595 is one of the latest models in the Walkman series with plenty of multimedia features.
Introduction:
Sony Ericsson W595 features 2.2” QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, built in accelerometer for screen auto rotation. Additionally, the cell has a stereo speaker, support for multi tasking and although it has merely 40 MB of built-in memory it comes with a 2 Gb memory card in the box.
Sony Ericsson W595 pros:
+ Quad-band GSM and 3G with HSDPA support
+ Bluetooth (with A2DP) and USB v2.0
+ 2.2″ 256K-color TFT display of QVGA resolution
+ Multi-tasking support
+ 3 megapixel camera
+ Walkman 3.0 music player with Shake control and SensMe
+ Accelerometer sensor for display auto-rotate
+ 40MB of internal memory and M2 memory card slot (2GB card included)
+ FM radio with RDS
+ Smart dialing
Sony Ericsson W595 cons:
- No autofocus for the camera and no lens protection
- Poor video recording capabilities
- No office document viewer
The design:
Sony Ericsson W595 measures 100 x 47 x 14 mm and weighs 104 grams that is why it fetures only 2.2 inch display. The screen shows 262K-color in QVGA resolution, bright colors and with its excellent direct sunlight legibility it is just top-notch. The keypad on the Sony Ericsson W595 is comfortable and has quite large and responsive buttons which assures that you do not make too many typing mistakes. On the right side of the Sony Ericsson W595 you will see the Walkman key responsible for operating the player and Shake control. The back of the phone features the camera lens but no protection for it. So it might get scratched rather fast.
Performance:
The battery in Sony Ericsson W595 should last for over 9 hours of standby which is quite an achievement. The phonebook can store up to 1000 contacts with multiple fields. You can add photos and specific ringtones for each of them and group your contacts. Although you get only one filed in which you can write the name and surname of your contacts you can still sort by the first or last name. The Sony Ericsson W595 can handle all most common message types which share a common editor. Only the email client has a different editor and very easy set-up. Unfortunately the phone does not handle any document files.
Browsing the Internet with the Sony Ericsson W595 is a pleasure. The standard browser auto rotates when you put the phone in the landscape mode, the pages are rendered well and you can zoom in and out quite fast. Moreover there is the find on page feature which helps find desired information.
Sony Ericsson W595 comes with Walkman 3.0 and all of its goodies. You get a few equalizer presets and you can make your own equalizers. The media player itself displays album art and allows you to browse your music library by artist, album, genre. Thanks to the build in accelerometer you can shake control the playback of your music and the good quality stereo speakers will satisfy even the most demanding users.
Image quality:
Sony Ericsson W595 although the lens has only fixed focus the overall image quality is quite good. The maximum resolution of the 3.15 megapixel photos is 2048 x 1536 pixels and the image size is just below 1 Mb. Although the has no built-in GPS receiver the photos have geo tagging. The Sony Ericsson W595 has some of the Sony Ericrsson Cyber-shot line and so you get features like a Fe scene modes to choose from, self-timer, effects and you can of course set the white balance, color mode. The pictures taken with the Sony Ericsson W595 look really good and their only disadvantage is that sometimes the camera tends to over-sharpen. The phone is also capable of recording video files yet merely in QVGA resolution and at 15 fps so they are hardly usable.
Menus / ease of use:
The Sony Ericsson W595 comes with the standard Sony Ericsson User Interface yet slightly tweaked and similar to the Sony Ericsson W902. The main menu is quite customizable and so apart from the standard 3 x 4 grid you get the rotating and single icon views. The Activity menu will provide you with shortcuts to your apps if you use a few at a time painlessly. Thanks to the several pre-installed flash themes you can customize the entire phone. The Sony Ericsson W595 has also the flight mode but it requires a SIM card.
All in all, the Sony Ericsson W595 is a quite capable midrange phone and its major disadvantage is the price which is comparable to such phones as Sony Ericsson C905 or Sony Ericsson W760 which seem even better.
Selected Sony Ericsson W595 features and specifications:
• 3G with HSDPA & video calling
• 3.2 megapixel camera with 2.5x digital zoom
• Video camera
• Display: TFT LCD, 262,144 colours, 240 x 320 pixels
• Walkman® music player (MP3, AAC, eAAC+ formats)
• FM radio RDS
• MegaBass™ enhances bass frequencies
• TrackID™ tells you the name, artist and album of any song you’re listening to
• PlayNow™ lets you buy and download top ringtones
• Polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones
• Speakerphone
• Sound recorder
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email
• 3D Java games
• Animated wallpaper
• Personal organiser functions
• Memory: 40 Mbytes plus 2GB Memory Stick Micro™ (up to 8 GB supported)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, modem
• Web browser, RSS feeds
• Flight mode (offline mode)
• Vibration alert
• Size: 100 X 47 x 14 mm
• Weight: 104g
• Quadband plus 3G (UMTS 2100 HSDPA)
• Talktime: 4.5 hours (3G) – 9 hours (2G)
• Battery standby: 365 hours (3G) – 385 hours
Other recently reviewed mobile phones:
Samsung M7500 Emporio Armani, LG KS360, LG KF900 Prada, LG KP500 Cookie, Sony Ericsson W902, BlackBerry Curve 8900.