Sony Ericsson W705
Discontinued 6th November 2008
The Sony Ericsson W705 is a 3.5G capable slider phone
with WiFi and GPS. It is essentially a "Walkman"
version of the upcoming G705.
There is very little point in repeating the specifications
of the G705 because the W705 is almost identical in
every way, except this has the "Walkman" media
player and a 4GB memory card as standard in the box..
and it appears that the W705 has had the GPS functionality
removed. So, if you're interested in hard technical
specs just read the write-up of the G705,
and bear these small details in mind.
Although we're sure that the W705 will be a good
music phone, we have to question why it exists at all,
when the G705 is almost identical, and Sony Ericsson
themselves have indicated that their range is too big
and muddled.
By our reckoning this is the 28th Walkman phone since
2005, and we feel that this particular sub-brand has
been stretched too much. With profits slipping and a
baffling range of handsets, it is time for Sony Ericsson
to sharpen up its act.
These are our suggestions:
Make "Walkman" the standard.
Why not just make "Walkman" features the
standard on all midrange and high-end phones? The underlying
hardware is identical in most cases, so what's the problem?
Stick the "Walkman" badge on the back.. perhaps
even alongside the "Cyber-shot" badge if it
has one.
Smartphones,
smartphones, smartphones.
Sony Ericsson's range of smartphones is dismal. The
star of the range is the Xperia X1.. and that's
made by HTC. Where is Sony Ericsson's iPhone killer?
Why isn't there a proper successor to the P990?
And why are Sony Ericsson's smartphone products either
late to market or sometimes just cancelled altogether.
Quit making low-end phones.
Sony Ericsson's low end phones are pretty good, and
cheap phones are good for volume sales.. but in terms
of profit, they are often a waste of effort. Sony Ericsson
handsets simply cannot compete with Nokia in this market..
so why not stick to midrange and high-end devices where
there's still money to be made.
Be more creative.
Having a "house style" is important - you
can usually spot a Sony Ericsson phone from its neat
and understated design alone.. but sometimes you need
to come up with something a bit more off-the-wall. Look
at the stupidly expensive Motorola
AURA, or even the Nokia
Prism
series, or any number of LG
or Samsung
phones. The only Sony Ericsson that has had any "wow
factor" recently is the X1.. and did we mention
that it is made by HTC, not Sony Ericsson.
Stop raiding the parts bin.
Some recent Sony Ericsson handsets look like they've
been constructed out of bits from the parts bin. Add
a random combination of WiFi, HSDPA, camera resolutions,
mix monoblocks with sliders and the occasional clamshell
and you too can create a completely new phone. Yes,
the bits all work together quite well.. but this is
hardly innovation.
But what about the W705?
Anyway.. back to the W705. It looks OK, we don't
know how much it will cost and Sony Ericsson say that
it should be available during Q1 2009 if you really
want one.
|
Sony
Ericsson W705 at a glance
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Available:
|
Q4
2008 (Europe) / Q1 2009 (US)
|
Network:
|
GSM
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
+ UMTS 2100 or
850 / 1900 /2100 (US)
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ WiFi + HSUPA (US only)
|
Screen:
|
240
x 320 pixels, 262k colours
|
Camera:
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3.2
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Medium
slider 95 x 47 x 14mm
/ 98 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
Memory
Stick Micro (M2)
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
GPS:
|
No
|
Battery
life:
|
4
hours talk / 14 days standby
(3G) 10 hours talk /
16 days standby (GSM)
|
|
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