There are few surprises in the rest of the multimedia features, as Sony Ericsson has stacked up the W760i with a standard mid-tier package of applications. Within its media section, you get a smooth and attractive user interface consistent with the Walkman look and feel. The video player can play back downloaded and copied videos full-screen in acceptably smooth style too.
Access' NetFront web browser is included, with the usual tidy opening screen that has Google search topping a logical line-up of options. Propelled by HSDPA, the browser offers a reasonable surfing experience for a feature phone, pulling up pages fairly smartly, though as usual some take a while to fully appear. There’s the usual selection of page optimisation options for full page or Smart-Fit views, plus pan and zoom options. RSS feed support is included too, so you can get webpage and blog updates without having to regularly negotiate the browser. These can be displayed in news ticker fashion on the standby screen.
The W760i comes with 40MB plus a 1GB Memory Stick Micro card
A solid helping of organiser features and productivity tools are loaded up. You get the standard-issue calendar, tasks, notes, voice recorder plus timer, stopwatch, world clock, calculator and convertor applications, plus a weather forecast application from AccuWeather.com. A generous half dozen games have been loaded up, too – though not all have that movement sensor motion slickness.
The W760i gets the phone fundamentals right, with consistently high quality in our voice calls tests. On battery life, Sony Ericsson reckons on the battery providing up to four hours talktime on 3G networks or up to nine hours on GSM - standby time is quoted at up to 350 hours with 3G connections or 400 hours on GSM. Alternatively, using the phone purely for music playing, 20 hours is the quoted figure.
While these look pretty good, in practice steady use of the mix of functionality will reduce these figures significantly. In our tests, with our typical levels of usage we managed to achieve a reasonable two days between charges on average, but engaging the satnav or the music player, for example, for a substantial length of time will sap battery power much faster.
Verdict
Although the W760i benefits from having A-GPS and satnav software inside, it does a fine job in its core function as a higher-tier Walkman phone. The music player is capable of delivering a high-class, ear-pleasing audio performance. Despite the 3.2-megapixel shooter, the camera performance was disappointing. It’s a shame too that there’s no Wi-Fi to complement the HSDPA high-speed mobile connectivity. Nonetheless, the W760i’s offers a solid, decent set of features to go with the music player, and the A-GPS satnav functionality adds significant appeal to the package, making it one of the more attractive models in the current Walkman range.
Sony Ericsson Walkman W760i 3G sliderphone
COMMENTS
SE's Versatile A2 Platform
Why not talk about it?
SE is known as a supporter of UIQ, but it's also a heavy Java supporter. SE's A2 hardware platform which spans the low to mid-high end phones is using SE's JAVA8 OS platform. Many of the phones in this range have similar features and functions just as this reviewed phone.
My daughter has a Z750a phone. Unbranded in the US it has GPS functions (a older Google/NavTec GPS enabled map application), and works fine with AmAze navigation tool. GPS is a requirement for the US E911, and SE a number of the newer phones have had the chip installed but disabled by the carrier. With headsets it has 'Walkman' mega bass and the same media player as most of the SE phones be they so-called designer or Cybershot or Walkman. The non-US Z750i version has two cameras and can make video calls. Burdened with only a BST-33 battery it just doesn't have enough juice to last more than a day in heavy use, but that could be an incentive to connect it to your PC (to charge) and sync your contacts, calendar and podcasts.
I'm surprised that the SE RSS Desktop has never gotten more attention. Frankly it is just as functional as you could want, with your favorite news feeds immediately available on the screen, scrolling by and ready to be selected for reading. Configurable to update hourly (or up to weekly) your phone can keep you current with whatever interests you. When browsing if the web page supports RSS, the icon popus up over one of the softkeys, enabling you to easily add the feed.
The A2/Java8 platform is also compatible (via the SE Media Center software) with podcasts - audio and visual, and audiobooks. For a small upgrade fee you can let it convert any media file format to the phone's native.
There is available XM satellite subscription software as well as TV streaming applications though currently limited to AT&T branded phones (the software exists).
Everyone made such a fuss over push email on the iPhone. SE A2/Java8 platform phones have push email too, and are certified compatible with Exchange and iLife. What they are lacking are Java applications to read MS Office attachments that are easily available.
SE phones all have contact information with multiple addresses and phone numbers per contact. Each phone number can have an independent voice command.
All newer SE phones have an easy MMS photo blogging widget to Blogspot.com.
Though SE has been slow on the UIQ front with updates, the A2 platform has had numerous updates and the while all phones are not getting all the Java8 updates, SE is in the 4th revision. Many firmware updates are available for many SE phones.
I guess since it doesn't have WIFI and a touch screen, and with M2 micro cards only going up to 8G (most A2 phones will handled 8G cards, but some apps may not report the space accurately), it's just not as important as a phone that you can't change the memory, battery or have copy/paste functions, voice commands, tethering....
Not a bad phone...
Been using one of these for a few weeks, and it's not a bad phone at all...
Important to me was its ability to sync with iSync on my Mac, which was easy once I'd installed a plugin from feisar.com
Terrible
These phones are rubbish. I got one on contract a few weeks ago. The menu takes 1/2 second to respond to any button presses. The call quality is terrible, the battery lasts a day, 2 at the most with no use and it will drop signal connection randomly.
It freezes, requires battery removal to reset and won't keep
synced with a bluetooth headset.
O2 are no help. They will replace the phone with the same "refurbished" model, which means i will get someone elses crap. Their other suggestion is to update the software which I cannot do because i don't have a windoze pc.
I have been a fan of walkman phones for years, they usually have outstanding battery life and software is usually responsive. Ear phones are good quality and the walkman, FM radio functions are second to none.
This ball of crap however is definitely the worst phone I have owned in a long time and soured my taste for Sony Ericsson in general.
Stay away.
