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Sony Ericsson W595 Review

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The Sony Ericsson W595 is an improved version of the W580 that boasts 3G support, a 3.2-megapixel camera, stereo speakers and the ‘share jack’ that allows you to plug two sets of headphones in, so that you can listen to tracks with a friend.

What we like
The bright QVGA display might be small but it looks sharp and bursts with colour. The user interface is clear, featuring simple menus and icons that are easy to read. A simple touch of the walkman button takes you straight to a clean and crisp media manager interface for browsing through games, music and other content — which can be stored on the 2GB M2 card that comes with the W595.

Getting music on to the W595 is fairly straightforward using Sony Ericsson’s software and audio quality is superb. Browsing the Web using Opera Mini, which we downloaded, is very quick thanks to the super fast HSDPA connection. You can also use HSDPA to watch and upload YouTube videos taken with the W595’s camera, which we found very useful.

What we don’t like
If you’re after an innovative phone then don’t buy the W595 — it looks and feels like a rehashed W580. Considering it’s supposed to be a music phone we think it’s ridiculous that there isn’t a 3.5mm headphone jack, which means you have to use the proprietary headphones or use an adapter, which tends to be inconvenient.

While we appreciate that Sony Ericsson has bundled a 2GB memory card with the W595, it really isn’t big enough for serious music fans. The 3.2-megapixel camera also left us wanting more, there’s no flash or autofocus, so forget trying to take close-up pics or shooting snaps in the dark.

Conclusion
If you’re after a phone for making calls, sending text messages and listening to the odd song then the W595 will serve well enough. If you’re serious about music though, or taking pictures, then we wouldn’t go near the W595 as Sony Ericsson had much better phones out there, but it depends on what you’re prepared to pay.
 

Specification

OSProprietary

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