Sony Ericsson has expanded the options for uploading images and video clips. In addition to the Blogger option seen on previous Walkman phones, there are now links for MySpace and Picasa, and you can add other sites manually.

The W715: the W705 with GPS

Other sites are displayed speedily in the W705's web browser, which has the usual easy-to-follow Sony Ericsson home screen and the ability to reformat pages for the handset's small screen. It does an adequate job at rendering pages - there's no Flash support - but it's no iPhone.

Sony Ericsson includes plenty of other bits of software. Walk Mate, for example, is a pedometer for the more health-conscious user, who can check the climate using the AccuWeather app before heading out on a walk or run. There's a useful world clock, and a Bluetooth-based app for controling your PC's media player remotely.

Below that there are all the standard organiser tools, along with Sony Ericsson's VideoDJ, MusicDJ and PhotoDJ media-editing apps. The five pre-loaded Java games include motion sensing 3D car racing and bowling games.

When it comes down to the basics, sound quality making and taking calls is excellent, and we had no issues with connectivity. Battery life is reasonably good too. Sony Ericsson posts optimum performance figures of up to four hours' talktime or 350 hours' standby on 3G networks, or ten hours' talktime and 400 hours' standby on GSM networks. In our tests, with Wi-Fi activated and a typical phone usage pattern, we managed over two days between charges, which is par for the course these days.

Verdict

Sony Ericsson has got the stylish, sophisticated music phone look off pat, and its smart W705 slider has plenty of appeal. It has a good, solid selection of attractive features, with Wi-Fi connectivity and its fine music player particular highlights. It’s no do-it-all phone, though. The camera is lame and if you pine for GPS, you'll have to go for the Vodafone-only W715. ®