Can a Sony Ericsson W950i Replace Your iPod?

Despite the wide array of music phones on the market, my PC World colleagues and I have yet to find one good enough to convince us to ditch our iPods. Maybe the iPhone will; but that remains to be seen. Meantime, I gave Sony Ericsson's W950i music phone a try. Though I liked some aspects of this phone very much, I plan to hold onto my iPod for at least a little while longer.

The W950i's technical specs are first-rate: It has 4GB of flash memory, a 2.6-inch touchscreen, dedicated audio controls, and a handsome--though boxy--design. I appreciated the generous space allocation for storing music and videos, the simple process for syncing music with my PC, and the device's ability to recognize handwriting entered on the large touchscreen. But everything else about the phone just wasn't up to snuff.

The W950i is about the size of RIM's BlackBerry Pearl, though the W950i looks sleeker, thanks to its extremely flat keypad. Unfortunately, that flatness is more about form than function. The surface was slippery, despite the inclusion of tiny raised dots on each key for tactility, making number dialing problematic at times. Compounding the difficulty, the keys are small and too close together. I did like the Jog Dial and the Back button on the left side panel, which permit one-handed navigation and are useful for flipping through music. And if you like using a stylus, you'll appreciate being able to navigate menus by tapping selections on the screen.

The beauty of the W950i--and of other Walkman phones PC World that has tested, including the Sony Ericsson W810i--lies in the device's music abilities. Transferring songs from my PC to the W950i was a simple drag-and-drop operation with the included Disc2Phone software and USB cable. The music phone supports AAC, MP3, Real Audio, and WMA audio files, but not protected tracks from music stores such as Napster. Creating playlists on the phone was a no-brainer, though you can't use the Disc2Phone app to build playlists on the PC. You can sort your music collection by mood (Happy, Sad, Energetic, or Chilled). Other niceties include an FM radio (which works only when the earbud accessory is plugged in to the phone) and an equalizer with 11 auditory settings such as Mega Bass and Spoken Word. The differences in sound were indistinguishable on the speakers. It's best to use the included earbuds, where I heard some variation in bass and treble. (Alternatively you can use stereo Bluetooth headphones.)

Watching videos (in 3GP, MP4, and WMV formats) on this handset was okay, too, thanks to the 320-by-240 display. But you won't want to watch in bright settings because the image becomes difficult to see. Another feature I enjoyed using was the handwriting recognition, especially for text messaging and entering contacts. I found the character recognition far easier to work with than the tiny on-screen keyboard. Entering letters was a breeze, though punctuation marks took a little practice. The phone lacks a QWERTY keyboard and a camera.

For browsing the Web or downloading e-mail, the W950i disappointed me. In the United States it only supports the dial-up-level speeds of GPRS (in Europe, it works on the faster UMTS 2100 network). With GPRS at 20 kbps, a single WAP page can take a while to load. I tried to access NYTimes.com but gave up after a couple of minutes. Setting up online access, an e-mail account, and MMS picture messaging was a chore, too. I went to Sony Ericsson's Web site to set up each function, after which I received SMS messages on my test phone to validate and configure each feature. Outlook users can use the included PC Suite to sync their e-mail. No push e-mail client is pre-installed, but you can buy and install ActiveSync.

Another major drawback is the phone's steep $700 price. For a little more than a third of that price ($175, with a two-year Cingular contract), you could buy the Sony Ericsson W810i, which includes a 128MB memory card. Add a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo card for $75, and the total for the W810i is still only $250.

The W950i's high price is partly due to the absence of a carrier subsidy; and for the same reason, many of Sony Ericsson's content channels--such as Application Shop and PlayNow--aren't accessible on the W950i. The advantage is that you get an unlocked, tri-band phone that will work in countries where GSM is available. You can pop in a SIM card from almost any GSM carrier--for example, Cingular/AT&T or T-Mobile in the United States--and use the phone without incurring pricey international roaming fees.

Ultimately, if music is your pleasure and you want a combined MP3 player and cell phone, I recommend that you choose one of these phones instead:

• Cingular/AT&T: Sony Ericsson W810i
• Sprint: Sanyo M1
• T-Mobile: Nokia 5300 XpressMusic
• Verizon: LG vx9900 EnV

Comments or questions? Drop Grace Aquino a line.