Partnering up with the new K850 Cyber-shot to tag-team the iPhone is Sony Ericsson’s new king of the hill Walkman, the W960. Touting 8GB of on-board storage, a 2.6″ touch-screen interface for the Symbian OS, a 3.2MP-camera, wi-fi, and the new HBH-DS200 Bluetooth Stereo headset in the box, this is one very serious music-playing phone.
At 109 x 55 x 16mm, the W960 is slightly shorter but thicker than the iPhone, and also slightly lighter at 119g. Its 240 x 320 pixel QVGA screen with 262,000 colours lags behind Apple’s offering, but W960’s camera is significantly better than the 2MP unit in the iPhone. Wi-fi or 3G web browsing is done on the very capable Opera Mini browser. Music transfer is done over USB 2.0 via the supplied cable.
For more high-rez pics of the W960, and info on Sony’s all-new Media Manager PC app that accompanies its new Walkman handsets, hit the jump.
The Media Manager app replaces Sony’s old Disc2Go software, and boasts a number of new features. Among these is SensMe, which picks up data about genre, beats-per-minute and other track info and uses it to create playlists of tracks that relate to your mood — or at least, that’s the idea. We think that it’s a slightly missed-trick that this software is PC-only, because to add Apple support, Nokia-style, would have been a nice way to wave a couple of fingers at the iPhone.
Other key features in Media Manager include a new feed manager for tracking and copying podcasts to your Walkman; a simple-to-use drag ‘n’ drop interface for music transfers; and automated creation of playlists depending on your specifications. Want a one-hour playlist for a train journey? The idea is that you can set that up and copy it over with a few simple clicks.
Back on the W960, other key specs include: a jog-dial wheel as well as the touch-screen and keypad (three ways to interact? So much for ‘clean’ interface design); RSS feed reader, MP3/ AAC ringtones, FM radio with RDS, support for Microsoft ActiveSync push-email… but video/ picture blogging are listed as unsupported. That seems a bit odd considering the phone has wi-fi connectivity — and a nice camera. However, with the Symbian OS you’ll be able to install apps to do this kind of thing yourself.
Overall, this seems like a nice riposte to both Nokia’s recent Nseries offerings. And while it may not quite match the iPhone in some areas (most notably the screen), the W960’s Walkman branding, Symbian fundamentals, and high feature set seem likely to catch plenty of attention on the high street when it lands later this year.
Update October 22nd: Mobile Review has just posted the first hands-on review of the W960i. Click here to read more.
Why make it apple compatible when every single mac zealot/zombie is so far up Steve Jobs ass they could never begin to pry themselves away from bloatware itunes or there new iphones. A smart decision by sony in knowing there market.
good to have jog wheel and touchscreen
Making it Apple-compatible would send the same message to Mac-fans that Apple has been sending to PC users: there is an alternative — you’re welcome here. Plus it would be a nice PR stunt, as was Nokia’s recent release of Mac software.
in which way u compare this nasty sony ericsson with the royal iphone……Sounds silly and funny…..so keep ur mouth shut….and stay back with SE…..
my candid advice is this,,apple my son plzzzzz stick 2mp threes ok b cos my other sons nokia n ericsson got d market sony ericsson my son,,keep up d good work bsides i have got d w810 and dont bother on mp threes ok.thanks u two
Gautham- you must feel like like a complete twat. Nasty sony ericsson and royal i phone. What a tit of a post to leave. The Specs are a bizzilion times better and i could go out and buy it on release and stick my Vodafone sim card in and it would work like a beauty but with the iphone I’d be stuck to a batty 2 or 5 year contract where the reception would be poor anyway………so you keep your mouth shut ……m****r f****r
Am i right in thinking the camera doesn’t have a flash?
What an oversight! That’s the only thing I can fault it for though.
The camera does have a flash! just have a look on the sony web site. Have looked at both this phone and the iphone and am going to by the W960 on release. The main reasons itunes being nasty, plus the battery life 8 hours with the iphone I love the jog dial makes the phone a one handed operation.
Island Boy - you think itunes is bad? You want to see Sony Software - thats really bad!
Oh dear - which sony software are you talking about? Disk2go was great and they are releasing new media manager for the w960i! I don’t know what you know about either of them say its bad! If you are talking about Sonic Stage, well you need to wake up! OPEN YOUR EYES!
Well, it clearly shows that all of you are quite biased towards one side. I am sure both have their pros and cons. Let the people choose
Cheers
Well, I’m going to buy this on release. Simply put, I dislike the iPhone because of it’s lack of features, and I beleive, (imo) that Apple has only relied on the fact that it’s an Apple to sell. I think maybe they should have put more effort into it.
Thanks Sony. F***ing well done. I’m using the W810i still at the min. Such a great range.
And before you nerds start bashing me because i’m biased or whatever, I own 2 iPods and manage a few for my family. I also know how to use iTunes to the max of it’s capabilities. But the iPhone let me down I feel. (especially because i’m probably going to be tied down to a crap contract as a student)
I’m open to other people opinions, this is mine. Lets not argue!
Btw The Sony Walkman series is brilliant.
Will someone please start distinguishing between a Mac computer fan and an apple gadget fan. My guess is upto 70% of ipod owners have never ever touched a Mac keyboard.
It’s time for Nokia, Sony etc. to support MacOSX users. Ipod and Iphones are just behind the market in terms of hardware specs, but ahead in terms of desktop support on the Mac OSX.
Nokia and Sony should stop treating MacOSX users as second class citizens. I have been wondering these overpaid marketing excutive’s logic for the past 2 years.
Another reason Steve Jobs is aiming for 10 million Iphone sales is the lack of gadget/mobile choices for 22 million Mac OSX users.
This is Sonyericsson saying to Apple; we’ve got a little something for you.
Compare the specs and functions, then add to that the fact that SE is an established manufacturer in the business, as opposed to a newcomer, with unproven reliability, The conclusion is: the W960 will murder the iphone right in the neonatal unit… but wait, die hard ipod fans won’t let it happen.
And about other manufacturers supporting MacOSX, Apple only have themselves to blame. They wanted total monopoly, and that is what they have got. If only they had accepted that there are others in the business who could do a thing or two better, things might have been much much different in the computing world.
this cell phone so soooooooooo excellent
Hi All
Having seen the Iphone in action, it seems a nice idea but I wouldn’t spend £269.99 on it (plus the £45 line rental for 18 months!!!). The O2 shop I popped into tried their best to sell me one, on the day of release, but it doesn’t live up to the hype. I currently own a SE W950i which is brilliant apart from the fact it doesn’t have a camera. I started with the W800i, followed by the W810i and I must say, regardless of what anyone says, SE is the master of the walkman, and by extension the walkman phone.
So for £1079.99 I say, F**K OFF IPHONE! Leave it to the SE MASTERS! But I’ll give Apple some credit, after all Rome wasn’t built in a day so maybe in the distant future they will come up with a worthy competitor for an SE phone.
To all you Apple fans the SE W960i is doing damage to the Iphone and it hasn’t even been released yet, only god knows what impact it will have when it hits the market.
the iphone is a piece of shit. I got all excited when i first got it but its plain crap i sold it to some sucker on ebay.before you say some shit about me being biesed i have a mac and an ipod. the iphone is the worst of the apple range. this is a cool phone a pefect replacement for my n73
Hi Guys
Well I live out in Jakarta and have just bought the new Sony W960i, I had`nt even seen the unit just on Sony`s website, the shop only had one and would not open the package to let me look at it as it breaks the rules about selling stuff here, I took the plunge and thought I want one, so I bought it, at first I thought it was cheap plastic, larger than I expected and loads of other niggly things that I thought were a bit iffy, an hour after playing with it I felt like I had made a very good decision!.
If you want a gadget that looks smart but does not relly perform go for the iphone, if you want Sony Ericcson reliability, a real keyboard and a touchscreen, wi-fi which is amazing, beautiful crisp audio on playing back your sounds, thousands of software titles free to download and install on the Symbian operating system, 3.2 mega pixel camera with flash, wonderful battery life and many new smart features that I keep finding all the time.
Out here the in phones to have are the new big Nokia`s, but when people see my Sony heads are turning!
When it hits the streets wherever you are, go try an iphone then try the Sony, I don`t think you would be disappointed!.
Alan
hey dude tisphone ricks man .. i’m using w 810 i .. sine couple of years bloody hell no phone has even matched the f*in features of my phone .. sony ricks wit w810i .. even top end models don matchin nokia and other shit mobiles but now sony’s best is w960 i i wait for its launch to get it dude temme how is it jus a review
OK, I was always a Nokia man on O2 PAYG (In fact, I used O2 when it was BTcellnet!) I got my first Ericsson when My Nokia 3510i was stolen, from a woman at work who took pity and gave me her old one - just a monochrome 2-line screen T20s. I went back to Nokia when I got a replacement, but when I moved in my a mate who didn’t have a landline, I needed a contract, and free phones were up for grabs. So, I grabbed the K700i when it came out, and was hooked.
I’ve just got the W960i as a replacement for my W810. I’ve used the iPhone and it’s messy, and apart from a very nice screen, lags behind the W960 in features. Why no Wi-Fi? The simple fact is that it is made for a US market who don’t have a 3G network, so it doesn’t have 3G support (only EDGE/2.75G). The W960 therefore is around 4 times faster on the internet, and has Wi-Fi support.
The Symbian UIQ interface took a bit of getting used to after the old one on the W810, but it’s super-customisable and all manner of sofware is out there for it.
As some said, Apple wanted their monopoly, and they have it. For me, they can keep it.
i kinda luv this phone n i was thinkin of buyin it…bt now im sure i wana buy this piece of art! iphone sux…no video recording, lacks some basic pda features like cut copy paste…2mp cam…the onli,thg attractive abt d iphone is d unique multi touch…bt afta lookin at d larger picture, its not d perfect phone…im a fan of touch screens n ive tried lots from se p990 to htc touch to my current moto rokr e6…but i realy fantisiz d w960 4 its looks,featurs, touch screen, n simply d se brand. i hav olwazs been happy wid sony n d phone performance…im rely hoping hav lotta hopes frm dis phone…
PS: i hav 2 ipods n a macbook too. face it, iphone is crap!
Hey guys,
can any of u w960 owners tell me if this phone has a GPS system??