The next generation walkman phone. (Sony Ericsson W705)

Member Name: Absy_Baby

Product:	Sony Ericsson W705
Date:	06/10/09 (130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great sound, easy, the same format as older Sony models.

Disadvantages: Unreliable software can cause problems.

I was recently due my mobile phone upgrade, and I am not a technology body, I don't like learning new things, I don't like change, and I like what I know.

So knowing all the above, I thought about the phone I was replacing, the Sony Ericsson w880i, I had got used to the Sony Ericsson layout and didn't want to learn something new, so this narrowed my search to Sony.

I was not at all interested in the lastest, bestest phone, which according to my other half is the iphone. No thank you. I don't like touch screen, and I generally use my phone as a phone, I don't need a mini computer in my bag!

After looking at the latest Sony Ericsson phones, I notice the slidable w705, it looked sleek and stylish (being black and silver) and had everything I wanted, I could make calls, receive texts and take the occasional photo. Great. You can get this phone in three different colours, or should I say they do three different colours, I don't know if they are available in the UK though. There is the black / silver, black / red and the silver only.

It was the same size as my previous phone at: 9.5 cm in length, 4.8 cm in width and 1.4 cm in depth. It weighs approximately 100 grams and is quite a weighty phone, but not overly heavy. It has substance and probably wouldn't break too easily and could take a few drops on the floor.

I placed my order with o2 and realised as I am on a contract I got this phone for free, to buy the phone separately costs £165.73 on o2 pay as you go, reduced from £195.73.

This phone is part of the walkman range and a newer version of my previous phone. The features this phone has are:
* 2.4 inches QVGA display with up to 256k colors
* High definition 3.2 Mega Pixel camera
* Works on Quad band GSM and supports all 3G features
* Compatible with WLAN, WiFi
* 120 MB of internal memory which can be extended up to 4GB using memory stick
* USB 2.0, v2.0 with A2DP
* FM radio with RDS
* Bluetooth but no infrared port
* Long lasting standard Li-ion Battery with standby time of over 400 hours
I really like this phone, I got it, and feel in love with the look of it, I especially like the texture of the phone itself, it is rubbery on the back and makes gripping it easy, it's not slippy like some phones can be.

My biggest issue with this phone is I have had it a month now, and unfortunately I have had some trouble, I have blue toothed all my pictures, ring tones etc over to this phone and then realised every few days it was almost crashing, whereby I wouldn't be able to open the pictures, and the ring tone and message tone I had set would not play and it would be one that came with the phone, also the picture I had set as

If I turned off the phone and turned it back on it seemed to go back to my settings but this was a bit annoying. I rang o2 and they said it was possibly a software error and I had to do a master reset. This was a bit irritating as it erased all my text messages, I had to transfer all pictures and ring tones on to the computer and the phone numbers to the sim card or they'd all be wiped.

I do like this phone, a lot, and hopefully now I have done the above, everything will be ok, I will let you know. It comes with extra's like wifi and the walkman which do make this much more than a phone, but it's not invasive and if you want just a phone you can use it as such. If you want all the extra's it is great because there is a whole section under media, that has all music stored, pictures and other bits and pieces. There is also another area for the radio.

The phone menu's are in the same format as previous Sony Ericsson models and are easy to navigate if you are new to them. The phone is very visual and does use a lot of symbols but these are related to what they are and are easily identifiable.

I would recommend this phone. I am glad I have it for 18 months. My last upgrade didn't last a month before I got rid of it, and changed it. This one seems it will last, I can send a text and answer the phone easily.

I have rated reliability low because so far that is all I have seen - but like I said, hopefully it'll be up from here on.

Summary: I like this phone, shame about my first month's use.

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