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The W890i isn’t trying to be a top-of-the-range smartphone that doeseverything. There’s no Wi-Fi, Qwerty keyboard, touchscreen operation orGPS receiver. Instead, this device, with its sophisticated appearanceand fine line-up of user-friendly functionality, has been designed forwidespread appeal. The camera could be improved, but its high-speed 3G HSDPAconnectivity, good spread of multimedia features and an excellentWalkman music player package make for a very polished performer.Another huge hit for Sony Ericsson.
Sony Ericsson turned heads last year with its ultra-slim Walkman W880i. Now its successor, the W890i, aims to play to an even wider audience with improved handling and upgraded features.
The W880i was a breathtaking switch into ultra-slim mode for SonyEricsson’s Walkman phone range. It was admired not only for its bolddesign, but also for the relatively few compromises it made onfunctionality, despite being a 3G handset.
Sony Ericsson's W890i: just like the W880i, only better
The W890i reprises much of the swagger of the W880i while adding afew welcome changes. The W890i once again offers 3G connectivity, butthis time with HSDPA for higher-speed data downloading and webbrowsing, although Wi-Fi is still not an option. The camera has beenupgraded to a 3.2-megapixel snapper, but it’s not one of Cyber-shotquality and it doesn’t have a flash or auto-focus built in.
Of course, music rather than pictures is the Walkman buyer magnet.Sony Ericsson has included the latest Walkman Player 3.0 software inthis device, and includes a hefty 2GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card aspart of the in-box package.
Sony Ericsson has certainly softened the sharp lines of the W880i,with the W890i sporting rounder curves. Along with a reconfiguredkeypad – using large, rectangular number buttons rather than theW880i’s super-slender, tricky-to-use ones – this gives the W890i a lessedgy appearance than its predecessor.
The W890i comes pre-loaded with Google Maps, tucked away under aLocation Services sub-menu in the entertainment section. Even withoutan on-board GPS receiver Google Maps can provide a rough estimate ofyour position using phone base-stations for reference. Accuracy dependson the proximity and density of cell masts, so you're likely to get amore accurate reading in urban areas than the open countryside. You canenhance the accuracy by linking up the phone to a standalone GPSreceiver, if you have one.
You can get regular maps and satellite views of areas sent andrefreshed over the data link in moments, and receive local searches anddirection finding too. This is a neat feature to have to hand, enablingyou to get to grip with unfamiliar locales.
Also available in brown or black
Other bases covered on the W890i include email – there’s a simpleset-up wizard to help enter your existing accounts – and the usualrange of organiser functions. It also has a facility for secreting PINcodes and passwords. Other functions include a voice recorder and aBluetooth remote control function.
The music theme is continued with Music Mate 4, a Java applicationthat offers musical guides for piano and guitar, plus some beats tokey/strum along to. Non-musical users will more likely seek outentertainment in the games: Lumines Block Challenge, The SIMS 2 and Tennis Multiplay. On any richly featured 3G mobile, sufficient battery life is a keyrequirement. Sony Ericsson claims a talk-time of 9.5 hours on GSM/Edgenetworks, while standby is quoted at up to 360 hours. Similarly, on 3Gnetworks, it offers a talk-time of up to 4.5 hours, and 310 hours onstandby. In flight mode, the Walkman can keep on for 20 hours betweencharges.
While the quoted standby figures are less than the one claimed forthe W880i - 425 hours - we found that figure optimistic anyway. In ourusage tests, without pushing the music player excessively, we foundourselves reaching for the charger every two to three days. Anyonehitting the Walkman button regularly during the day will probably haveto top up on a more regular basis.
Call quality on the W890i was excellent, with reliable clarity on both ends of voice calls and dependable signal handling.