Sony-Ericsson W995 review: Ready, set, play

FM radio

The FM radio on the Sony Ericsson W995 supports RDS and TrackID. You can store up to 20 stations and use the auto save feature to scan and save stations automatically.

FM radio User Interface

The radio can be minimized to play in the background and controlled via the Walkman keys but, unlike the music player, it doesn’t have any visualization on the home screen, not even the RDS info. The previous/next buttons can be used for tuning in – one short click for going 0.1 MHz up or down, and a longer press for switching between saved stations.

Video player

The video player on the Sony Ericsson W995 supports fast-forward, rewind, and slow-mo playback. It can play in landscape and has three options for video size – original, auto fit and full screen (which crops the video if needed).

The video player

A nice feature of the video player is the screenshot capability. It allows you to save a frame of video and add it to the gallery. To help you get exactly the frame you want, there’s the option to skip frames one by one.

All this is nice but the kickstand on the back and the bigger screen seem to promise great video viewing. However, in this respect the W995 fails to deliver, since there’s no support for DivX or other advanced video codecs. A shame really, given the provided 8GB memory card can store hours of high quality video.

Since W995 is not a smartphone, there’s no way to install a third party program to get around this disadvantage. DLNA support could have made it a pocketable movie player but apparently, video capabilities took second place to music and imaging.

8.1 MP try to catch up with the Cyber-shot

The 8 megapixel power of the W995 is harnessed in the friendly and efficient camera interface which we’ve known – and appreciated – across a number of high-end Cyber-shot handsets such as the C905. While the handling and features are quite familiar, the camera quality is not what we expected – no, a Walkman is not a Cyber-shot. The picture quality of the W995 snapper is just adequate, while on the C905 it’s exceptional. Bear in mind though that this is a pre-release unit and the final quality may differ from our test shots.

The 8 megapixel camera

The 8 MP AF camera on the W995 offers a wide range of features like face detection, camera images geotagging, exposure metering, image and video stabilizer, BestPic, auto-rotation, macro mode, etc. The W995 camera interface lacks any option for setting the ISO levels, something that was also missing on the Cyber-shot flagship, the C905.

The W995 is capable of a maximum image resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels with an average file size of about 2 MB. The lens is not protected, but there is a PowerLED flash to assist in short-range shooting.

Conclusion

Sony Ericsson W995 is the company’s top-ranking Walkman and its spec sheet is clearly set to justify this label. The Flash-based user interface, which we’ve praised repeatedly, seems to be only getting better. There are no gaps in the connectivity set and the 3.5 mm audio jack is a long-awaited blessing.

Sony Ericsson W995 not only spares users the agonizing choice between Walkman and Cyber-shot. It has simply harvested all the high-end goodies and leaves nothing else to want. And all that skill is packed in a compact, solid and stylish body.

Now, it’s not hard to believe it was all too easy for Sony Ericsson to get carried away. Amid the first ever and best ever hype they somehow overlooked video. Just like Sony Ericsson by the way, and it wouldn’t have been a big deal if they didn’t make a big deal of it themselves. Why bother put a kickstand when the commitment to great video was never taken seriously? No kickstand can make up for the lack of codec support, inadequate screen resolution and no widescreen aspect ratio.

And still, the poor video is the only major grudge with W995. We just hope it doesn’t need to be reminded that the devil’s in the details. In all fairness, video should not be make or break for the majority of users, especially when all the rest is up to scratch. It’s just that Sony Ericsson W995 will be held to a higher standard. It can’t help it, just like it can’t help the heavy smartphone fire on the high end of premium all-in-ones.