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Sony Ericsson W902 review: Can the Walkman phone finally realise its full potential?

September 19, 2008 at 3:49 pm by Dan | In Mobile News

Last week at Mobiles.co.uk, we managed to get our grubby mitts on a Sony Ericsson W902, the latest and arguably most complete member of the Walkman family to date thanks to a wealth of features in both music and other departments. So we generously put the question to our readers; what do you want to know about the W902? What would you like us to focus on? And after being literally bombarded with comments (3 to be precise) here is our user experience. Hope this answers your questions…

My first impression on picking up the W902 is overwhelmingly positive. Sporting a candy bar form factor, the W902 benefits from an excellent build quality and a perfectly balanced weight, not too top heavy but still substantial. Sony Ericsson seem to have got the dimensions spot on too, at no point did the phone feel cumbersome but never was it too small and fiddly, it just fits perfectly in my hand The key pad takes the form of proper plastic keys, a welcome departure from the small rectangular metal keys found on the W880i and even, dare I say it, my beloved Nokia N82. It also has a unique textured effect on the back which adds to the experience gives the phone a premium feel. There’s no one stand out feature or headlining gimmick, everything just seems to fit perfectly in to place.

Ok so things are going well, but let’s face it this handset is going to live or die on one thing; Music. So is it up to scratch? The first thing that grabbed my attention is the W902’s lack of large in built memory found on the likes of the Nokia N95 8GB and Samsung i8510. Only 25MB onboard is included which to be honest is slightly puzzling. But if you think the W902 might have fallen short before it even really got started, fear not as it supports up to 8GB expandable memory and if the test unit we had was anything to go by (and indications are that it is), the W902 will come bundled with an 8GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card.

On the top of the handset, what first might look like the power button is actually the Walkman player short cut key which takes you straight into the music menu. Here we are greeted by the usual collection of sub-menus for browsing by artist, album, genre, playlist etc. and turning the handset on its side shifts the screen into a landscape orientation. Though this isn’t new to the Walkman range, when used in conjunction with the music buttons that run down the side of the phone, the W902 feels easy to browse and play your music. And on a phone that can store up to 8000 tracks, this is definitely an important victory. Back to those music buttons on the side, here we have “play”, “skip” and “rewind” that sit in between the camera button and the zoom keys. When looking straight at the handset the translucent keys are almost invisible but when holding the handset on its side your fingers find them perfectly.

Other music features that find there way on to the W902 include the Shake Controls found on the W910, whereby you can skip tracks by shacking the handset from sided to side and TrackID which lets you record a few seconds of a song (hear something in a club or on the radio?) and then tells you the artist, album and gives you the option to then download the track. Most importantly, those wonderful people at Sony Ericsson HQ have found it in the kindness of their hearts to include an FM Transmitter meaning you can play your music through any FM Radio, even your car stereo!

In terms of sound quality, this is where the W902 sets itself apart from other mobile devices. When paired with the premium in-ear headphones that ship with the handset the sound quality rivals and in many cases beats that found on dedicated portable music devices. Sony is some what of an expert in this field though so it shouldn’t come as a major surprise. Rich levels of bass and crystal clear stereo sound are among the best I’ve ever heard on a pair of headphones that both look and more importantly sound the part! In answer to the question “should i consider this over the iPhone” the answer is a resounding yes. With Sony Ericsson’s previous Walkman flagship phone the W980 even edging out the iPhone to the title of best music phone in the 2008/9 EISA awards, I wouldn’t bet against the W902 repeating that feat next time round!

The second stand out feature on the W902 is undoubtedly the camera. So often on previous walkman phones the camera has felt like an after thought and you were left with a choice between a good camera in the K/C series or a good music package with the Walkman range. The W902 is the first Walkman handset to feature a 5.0 Megapixel camera but we also get a powerful LED flash, autofocus and video recording (at 30 fps) thrown into the mix. The camera interface is easy to get to grips with; you can open the camera application from the main menu or via the camera button on the side. The camera shoots to an excellent level of detail (see for yourselves, sample image right) and is by far the most impressive camera on a music handset to date (still considering an iPhone over this?).

Elsewhere, features that make a welcome appearance include HSDPA connectivity for high speed web access and downloads, a secondary camera for video calling alongside the usual suspects such as Bluetooth v2.0.

So in closing, the W902 represents the first true combination of camera and music in Sony Ericsson’s portfolio. The music side is without question one of the best music experiences I’ve seen on a mobile phone but the fact that this doesn’t have to come at the expense of a decent camera is the real draw. Expected to be launched in early October, click here to keep updated on a more concrete launch date.

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