Sony Ericsson W995 Review : SE's Super Secret Bargain

It is very unlikely that you have missed Sony Ericsson's latest mobile phone sold under the Walkman brand; the W995, as it is called, could probably be one of the last Sony Ericsson handset that tries to stick to doing one thing particularly well.

With the Aino, the Satio and the Yari, Sony appears to be have given up on niche phones and concentrate more on "Jack of all trades" devices.

Ironically, the W995, which is supposed to be a great audio player, also happens to be an excellent all-rounder. First impressions of the phone are excellent; it is solidly build and the black/silver colour scheme of the W995 looks classy. It is also available in Energetic Red and Cosmic Silver as well.

The brushed aluminium fascia is almost immune to greasy fingers; ditto for the matt plastic back of the W995. It weighs 113g in a 97 x 49 x 15mm body. Not the smallest of all sliders but it would sit comfortably in most palms.

The phone's connector (which is used simultaneously as a power connector and for the earphone) is situated on the left hand side while the right hand side has all the control buttons. Onboard speakers are located at the top and bottom of the phone.

Finally, there's a build in stand that can be deployed to support the phone as well as a 3.5mm headphone socket. The slidephone also comes with a snap-on peripheral, the MS410, which is basically a portable speaker bar that acts as a stand as well.

As far as the hardware per se is concerned; it has a 2.6-inch screen capable of displaying 320x240 pixels - this means that it only supports 4:3 movies, therefore no widescreen ones. The screen is not touch-capable and is very prone to fingerprint marks.