Sony Ericsson W980 Walkman review: 8 gigs of character

It's no news any more that we've been playing with one of the hotties of the season for some time now. Sony Ericsson W980 made a glorious entrance but we're yet to see about the exit. Set to top the Walkman feature phone lineup, W980 carries along 8 GB worth of storage, a 3 megapixel camera and a built-in accelerometer. The touch-sensitive keys and the latest Sony Ericsson feature phone interface add to the excitement. Still not interested? Then try to think of another music phone with a built-in FM transmitter!

Sony Ericsson W980 official photos

Key features:

• 2.2" 262K-color TFT LCD display of QVGA resolution
• 3 megapixel camera
• 8 gigs of onboard memory
• FM transmitter
• Great user interface
• 3G with HSDPA
• External 262K-color display with a resolution of 176 x 176 pixels
• Walkman 3.0 music player
• Shake control
• Light effects
• Touch-sensitive keys
• Ambient light sensor
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP profile support
• USB 2.0 connectivity
• FM radio with RDS
• Good battery life
• Comfortable keypad

Main disadvantages:

• No auto focus nor flash for the camera
• Inconvenient camera lens location
• Shiny surface a fingerprint nightmare
• Display kinda small for a high-end phone
• Awkward context keys
• Camera interface not user-friendly

Aiming to meet some high-end demand, Sony Ericsson W980 brings the cream of the music centered niceties of the house. The clamshell form factor and the quite eccentric features such as FM transmitter and light effects make it hard to point a finger at its main market rivals.

Sony Ericsson W980

One suspect that comes to mind is Samsung G400 Soul. Featuring the same flip-up bodywork, it trades the FM transmitter and the large storage space for a 5 megapixel camera. You figure if it's a square deal or else. If the G400 Soul has some of those good Samsung audio quality genes, it's in for a match with Sony Ericsson W980. With no information about the cost of either at this stage, the two devices might actually end up running in different lanes pricewise.

Anyway, we think the odds with W980 are towards a hefty price tag, which opens the door to some serious smartphone competition.

Now, one last thing before we get to the point. We should warn you that ours is a pre-release unit, so some minor changes are likely before D-day. Our units was rock solid and gave us no problems at all. So, significant changes to the overall user experience are quite unlikely.

Sony Ericsson W980

Now then, hit the jump for a thorough body inspection of the Sony Ericsson W980.