Review of Sony Ericsson W705 Walkman Phone with PlayNow Plus
Bluetooth 31 May 2009

Sony Ericsson announced this product in late 2008. At that point, it seems that it would be another generic walkman phone from the Walkman series from Sony Ericsson.

Finished in metallic silver with golden lining, this phone has the same classic look of the Sony Ericsson walkman phones. Although it is not a touch screen phone, it is Sony Ericsson's answer to Nokia's "Comes with Music" Xpress 5800.

Together with Singtel, the largest telecoms operator in Singapore, Sony Ericsson offers the PlayNow Plus. This is a new feature that allows you to search for audio tracks via your 3G network and download them to your phone for free. For a start, users are offered 1 yr free subscription to the PlayNow Plus where you can download the thousands of songs available. On top of that, the package comes with a 4GB M2 card which is preinstalled with thousands of songs.

The W705 includes popular Walkman™ features such as the music recognition application TrackID™, SensMe™, for matching your mood to the music and Shake control to change tracks with the flick of your hand.

The phone also comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera to snap photos of friends and upload them using Wi-Fi to your social networking site for all to see. Connect with your DLNA certified appliances at home. You can also use TrackID to check the song's title etc. There are also applications like Accuweather, Light for SOS (or as a touch light), Walkmate to measure your number of footsteps and Youtube for viewing the latest clips right on the same 2.4" screen.

The new W705 Walkman™ phone

· Award-winning clear audio experience – listen to music as it was meant to be heard
· Desktop direct search to online music – Go online for the best songs and most popular videos on YouTube™
· Wi-Fi™ and DLNA certified™ – connect the way you want
· Shake control – switch tracks and control the volume with the flick of a wrist
· SensMe™ - create playlists based on mood rather than artists or genres
· FM radio with TrackID™ - listen to the radio while on the move
· Large 2.4” screen – view websites and emails with high clarity
· Automatic rotation – switch from portrait to landscape with just a tilt of the phone
· Google Maps™ for Mobile – never get lost again
· 3.2 megapixel camera – snap and share your favourite images via Bluetooth™
· 4GB memory card – store up to 3900 songs**

Specs

Screen: 262,144 colour TFT
Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
Size: 2.4 inches

Phone memory: Up to 120MB
Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support

Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 10 hrs
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 400 hrs

Talk time UMTS: Up to 4 hours
Standby time UMTS: Up to 350 hours

Video talk time: Up to 3 hours

Music listening time: Up to 20 hours
Availability and versions

Networks:

GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS/HSPA 900/2100