The Sony Ericsson W880i was a music phone miracle. No other blower married iPod Nano sleekness and audio audacity with user-friendly phone duties quite so effectively. Understandably, Sony Ericsson doesn’t tamper with this winning slinky formula with its follow-up, the W890i, but does fire a much needed multimedia rocket up its bony backside.
The W890i has managed to retain its predecessor’s CD-case slim figure but is now brimming with lickity-split HSDPA download speeds rather than original flavoured 3G, a third generation Walkman player and a 3.2-megapixel snapper to replace the middling two megapixel lens of its forebearer.
This slither of a Walkman phone also looks classier with Sony Ericsson’s design team getting to work rounding of the W880i sharp corners and restyling the keypad. The titchy buttonage on the W880i looked cool, but was the bane of the fat fingered fraternity. Those wielding meaty digits can now rest easy, because the new layout and larger key size is a thumb’s up.
The latest Walkman player and under one banner multimedia menu system is straight from the W910i slider. All your multimedia clobber is instantly accessible, including Audio Books and Podcasts while the new intuitive Media Manager desktop software spreads its remit beyond music to let you easily organise your photos, videos etc.
Naturally, the Walkman player sounds top dollar with a five-mode equaliser to boost the fidelity and a front navigation pad moonlighting as music controls. The W890i is also seasoned with a tidy line is audio trimmings, including an FM radio, support for Stereo Bluetooth, Track ID music recognition witchcraft and SenseMe mood music playlist technology.
Sony Ericsson should get slapped wrists for failing to integrate a 3.5mm headphone jack. Nokia’s size-zero music phone equivalent, the 5130 XpressMusic, flaunts such a connection, so it’s disappointing to see the W890i wimp out, although an adapter is supplied as compensation. Also bundled is a 2GB Memory Stick Micro (that can hoard about 500 decent quality MP3 files) to stockpile your tunes but 8GB cards are available to match the iPhone and N95 8GB storage swagger.
The 3.2 megapixel snapper is vast improvement, although the absence of autofocus or a flash reigns in its chances. It shoots colourful enough snaps but lacks the sharp eye of its Cyber-shot stablemates.
Verdict
Music phones don’t come more deliciously lean, floaty light and multimedia cheeky than the W890i
Best features
Ultra-slimline design
Fast HSDPA download speeds
Great sounding Walkman player
Intuitive new-look multimedia software
Not so good
No built-in 3.5mm headphone jack
Lack of autofocus and flash
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