Review: Sony Ericsson W960i

Sony Ericsson W960i Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: Sony Ericsson's flagship Walkman phone offers a wealth of features: it's a 3G Symbian SmartPhone with an excellent 3.2 megapixel camera, video recording and video calling, a Walkman music player, an FM radio, web browsing, email, Bluetooth and WLAN connectivity and 8 Gbytes of user memory.

The Sony Ericsson W960i is Sony Ericsson's flagship Walkman phone and is an upgraded version of the W950i. It's a 3G smartphone running the Symbian operating system and has a touchscreen display in addition to a normal keypad. It's a large phone and quite heavy too, yet it retains a classy elegance, and is quite a usable phone. At least the size does enable the LCD display to be large (2.6 inches). The keypad is easy to use (much better than most recent Sony Ericssons) and the touchscreen feature works well. In addition to the touchscreen menus and the numeric keypad, the phone also supports handwriting recognition using a stylus.

The W960i is a Walkman phone, so let's look at the music capabilities first. The first thing to point out is that the W960i has a fixed memory, so you can't add a memory card, but that shouldn't be a problem as the memory is a whopping 8 Gbytes. That's enough to store around 2,000 high quality MP3 tracks, and is more than most rival phones can offer even with memory cards added. The touchscreen interface is at its best when using features like the music player, as you can literally touch the album art of a song to select it. It makes the music player even easier to use than an iPod Classic. With the Walkman 3 music player you can play, rewind, fast forward, equalise, shuffle tracks and create playlists. There's a dedicated key for starting the Walkman music player. Software is supplied for transferring music from your PC and for ripping tracks off CD's. A stereo headset is supplied with the phone, and you can optionally purchase a Bluetooth headset to listen to your music wirelessly. In addition to the music player, the W960i has a built-in FM radio with RDS.

The predecessor to the W960i came without a camera, which many thought was a major omission. Sony Ericsson have fully taken this on board and the W960i has a powerful camera: 3.2 megapixels with autofocus and an LED flash. It lacks the more powerful xenon flash found on Sony Ericsson's flagship Cyber-Shot phone, the W850i, but is nevertheless one of the better camera phones on the market. The camera can also take video clips, and 3G video calling is available too.

The large screen and always-on 3G connectivity make mobile web browsing and email a reality. The Opera web browser is supplied pre-installed, and a document viewer and editor is available for working with attachments. These features combined with the touchscreen user interface make the W960i into a powerful business tool that can start to compete with the likes of Blackberry. In fact, Blackberry Connect can be installed, enabling push email and contact synchronisation. As the phone runs Symbian, there are literally thousands of applications available for download.

The W960i is a very powerful device with outstanding music capabilities and a good all-rounder in other respects. It would have been nice to see a HSDPA-enabled implementation of 3G, but the ability to connect to Wi-Fi compensates for this to some extent. It would have been nice to have quadband too. It also has a tendency (like all Symbian phones) to sometimes be a little slow and shaky, especially when running applications. Nevertheless, the W960i is in many ways outstanding, and it's only because it's so good that these issues are worth pointing out. Possible alternatives include the LG Viewty, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N81 and maybe even the Apple iPhone.

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Features of the Sony Ericsson W960i include:

• Symbian/UIQ SmartPhone with touch-sensitive screen & handwriting recognition
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom and LED flash
• Video capture & 3G video calling
• Touchscreen display: 262,144 colours, 240 x 320 pixels
• Music player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+, WAV formats)
• FM radio with RDS
• MegaBass™, PlayNow™, TrackID™
• Polyphonic ringtones, MP3/AAC ringtones
• Speakerphone
• Sound recorder
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, email
• Document editor
• 3D Java games
• Picture wallpaper
• Organiser functions: Alarm, Calculator, Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Tasks, Timer
• Internet: Opera web browser, RSS feeds
• Memory: 8 Gbytes
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, WLAN, Modem
• Vibration alert
• Flight mode
• Triband (GSM 900/1800/1900) plus 3G (UMTS 2100)
• Size: 109 x 55 x 16 mm
• Weight: 119g
• Talktime: 3 hours (3G) - 9 hours (2G)
• Battery standby: 300 hours (2G) - 370 hours (3G)
• Video calling: 2 hours

Sony Ericsson W960i Consumer Reviews

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Average rating from 100 reviews:

You can read more Sony Ericsson W960i reviews at RecommendedBuys UK.

Reviewed by nick from england on 24th Apr 2008
i love this phone. its not all that slow as i thought it would be. overall excellent
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Reviewed by mohammed mudassar musharaf aziz mansoor ahmed akhtar maqbool yousaf anwar sayd iqbal sadiq abid qadri from u.k on 21st Apr 2008
This phone very good i have for 1 week and i love. nice features
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Reviewed by louis callaghan from england on 21st Apr 2008
the sony ericsson w960i is an extremely unreliable phone, i bought one and that same day had to take it back for another because of quite a few serious problems. then the new phone i recieved had even more problems and i then took that back for a replacement. and the third phone was still having problems so i decided to just leave the phone and go and buy a nokia n95. so it was either the dealers (vodaphone) or the actual phone. so i wouldnt reccomend this phone to anyone.
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Reviewed by mud from england on 20th Apr 2008
This phone is da best fone ive eva had its just amazing. If ur considering 2 buy this phone but are confused because of bad reviews ignore them this is an excellent fone these people just dont know their phones. Ive had dis fore since jan and have had no problems at all. The wifi is amazing better than nokias i have a nokia e60 n81 n95 e65 and an iphone all these phones have wifi but i always use the w960i 4 internet because it can connect to my wireless router from as far as i want but the other phones cant even connect from upstairs. its also v. easy to browse the net because of the fantastic touch screen. the music quality is loud and the volume is reasonably loud. its a very easy phone to use and the features are brill. if you are considering this fone buy it 10 stars. i even wrote this review on my phone and looking at how long this review is it looks like it must of taken ages but it only took me 1 minute to write this review. this shows how gd this fone must be.
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Reviewed by Julian from England on 20th Apr 2008
Had this phone for 1 week and now it is starting to have the same bugs as my mates p1i freezes up{have to remove battery} missing calls{phone wont even ring} touch screen doesnt always work{have to touch several times) processor too slow video playback, movies etc not as good as n95 8gb no 3.5mm jack mates p1i has been back to SE 3 times & each time they say they have fixed it but they havnt
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Reviewed by Gilbert from Dubai, UAE on 14th Apr 2008
all in one phone, it's nice, recommended
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Reviewed by VICTOR from LONDON on 14th Apr 2008
GREAT BUT WHEN U DROP IT IS SWITHCES OFF AND IF U PRESS THE BUTTON TOO HARD THEY BREAK
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Reviewed by Lance from UK on 1st Apr 2008
Had This for a month now.......not much to say except pure quality, best fone i've owned recommended. Thanks SE.
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Reviewed by sameer from jordan on 31st Mar 2008
the price is good and wonderful system phone
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Reviewed by nigel from england on 28th Mar 2008
better than lg viewty, i-phone and n95 8gb
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Reviewed by Bamboo from England on 26th Mar 2008
The first time I read up on this phone I got the impression it was the love child of a Nokia N95 8 Gig and the iphone. It's got the best of both, what more can you ask for?
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Reviewed by Terry from England on 22nd Mar 2008
All in all a brilliant phone, took a few days to get used to the jog wheel and other quirks but once i got used to it i was happy with my choice!!! only thing that lets it down is battery life and lack of ability to operate alarm function when phone is turned off.
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Reviewed by Cammy Gee from Scotland on 21st Mar 2008
I have had this phone for 2 days and it is classic
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Reviewed by ????? from uk on 20th Mar 2008
best phone ever =D
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Reviewed by gww from england on 19th Mar 2008
great phone,but just cracked the screen whilst in my pocket.Have no idea how,could this be a design fault.Also it freezes when playing videos.
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Reviewed by whitney from england on 17th Mar 2008
best fone eva and better than iphone
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Reviewed by Mr Starks from London (Its a country to me lol0 on 16th Mar 2008
This phone simply rocks. A lot of people complaining about the phone. Basicly if you are used to a sony ericsson then this should be alright. I had a W950i and using this is an absolute treat. i would start with a few bads. Try to switch of the phone less frequently because switching the phone on takes a bit of time. Literaly switch it on before you go to shower in the morning. Next, I believe it loud but as I owned a N73, and comparing their loudness, the W960i is not that loud, but it carries its weight in loudness. I am on the lookout for an internet patch that would remove the ridiculous Euro limit(seriously screw euro regulations). The loudness factor spills on to the alarm function as well, my W800i is much more louder in alarm souds (and yes i have been to the settings and have it all on loud). The battery life is a darn shame. if you have a heavy user be prepared to charge everyday. i used the samsung F70 and it was the same. It seems as we expect improved technology on our phones, we should be ready to compromise with less battery life unless you want to switch to the Chinese mobile with a battery standby life of a year. Pros It is very easy to use. I reallu do not use the stylus unless I want to get to the tiny lil icons at the top of the screen. Call clarity is excellent. Pairing with bluetooth headset is flawless. The buttons are big an easy to use especially as I have big fingers, although I would have welcomes the same keypad on W950i (it was pretty flash having a buttonless phone)...as a previous owner of an F700 Samsung, this feeels good to txt on buttons (qwerty keys on samsung are small) The Walkman is an absolute treat, but i swear the Wlkman on W910i is better than the one on this phone, just slight differences really, Nothing major. The display on the phone is really good. the standby screen can be set to show what you are listening to on your walman. Now dat is what i call flash. Ample 8GB memory, sweeeeeeet Runs applications flawlessly -Wireless connectivity; facebooking in starbucks orarea with free wireless lol - Connects flawlessly with MediaMonkey or Windows media Player. Do not use the sony miusic software, it screws up your file ID Tag (well it did mine when i tried to install for the W910i) -Really unless you are retarded and are not capableof learning to adapt then please feel free to use other phones as this phone is simply nice and compact. Office apps like quick word, excell etc, wireless capabilities oh did i mention it supports the fundamental email capabilities that the blackberry offers, just set it up and the email push whatever is ready and raring to go. get it if you can. Top gadget
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Reviewed by Chopsy from UK on 14th Mar 2008
I wanted to give this phone 5 stars but just can't; it'll have to be 4! My previous phones were standard mid-high range Nokias and the last was a XDA Orbit which was fantastic (packed full of functionality) - I only changed to the W960 because the Orbit was essentially a touch screen only device so typing texts and phone numbers meant stabbing the screen with a stylus - this got boring after a while and I "craved" a keypad! The Good: - Great styling (somewhat subjective I agree) - 8 Gb of memory on board - Built-in walkman is good (though a little on the quiet side) - Calendar application is excellent (much better than Pocket PC) - Usability is good (once you get used to holding it in your left hand for the thumb wheel/jogdial) - User interface is good (after a few hours of playing) - Decent size screen AND a keypad in a relatively small sized package - Syncs calendar, contacts, notes, tasks, etc from Outlook (key feature for me) - Good on-board apps to retrieve all this data - Runs TomTom 6 Satnav (with bluetooth GPS receiver) - You can play MP3s via speaker (if desperate!) - Comes with headphone adapter so you can use any standard headphones with it (headphones also included) - Good build quality - Works well with my Jabra JX10 Series 2 headset - Call quality is excellent The Bad: - Feel slow at times - The touchscreen is not as "sharp" or responsive as the Orbit/IPAQ/PDA-type devices - Bluetooth was a bit flaky (kept loosing pair) with the Jabra JX10 series 1 headset (so I upgraded this to series 2) - No mini-USB socket; uses SE proprietary data/charge cable - no standard headset socket on phone - need to use SE_interface->headset cable - Battery life could be better - no removable memory card (though 8gb on board is plenty) Other things you may want to know: - Some marketing info says you can use this as a portable flash-drive (~memory key). This is true and works well (comes up as a drive in Windows explorer) but you do need the proprietary SE cable to do this since there is no mini-usb socket on the phone. - There is some debate on if/how TomTom works on this phone. TomTom 6 works and works very very well. You need to buy the TomTom 6 DVD (not any variant on memory card). The DVD comes with software compatible with Symbian UIQ3 which is the kit you need. I'm using it with a Holux M1200 GPS receiver which is tiny (~size of small pack of gum); the phone paired with the Holux immediately and found loads of satellites within seconds. I've installed the Western Europe maps; uk postcodes and safety camera databases for UK, France and Belgium and all worked ok. - I've not really had the experiences of other people where the phone has crashed or locked up too often - I think I may have had to pull the battery out once in the three months I've had it (can't remember why) - I got the phone from and O2 store and it was unlocked so I could use it with a Vodafone sim. In summary, this is a great phone which combines some key business tools with some key leisure toys - I now have a single device which is essentially a Phone, PDA, MP3 player and SatNav*. The convenience of only carrying one device and one set of cables around is great and the W960 works well at what it does. * SatNav requires the GPS receiver so this means I carry on device and the “stick of gum” stays in the car! If you can do without a keypad, consider a PDA such as the Orbit (fantastic!!) but if you prefer a keypad (without a dodgy slide or flip), this is a very very good option for you.
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Reviewed by chris from uk on 12th Mar 2008
This phone should have been great. My problems.... 4 second gaps between each mp3...irrtating if your listening to a mix. Can.t go in and out of speaker phone while in a call. almost impossible to use one handed. battery life is poor sound quality is no better than my old w800i SE phone. I use a dedicated Sony Walkman now...a different ball game. Volume is too quite even at max, due to euro limits...but is still loads quieter than my dedicated sony mp3 player...to point of being pointless on the bus. Hard to get good apps for. The good.. Excellent very usable handwriting recognition..works faultlessly if you bother to read the manual and learn technique. Good on the internet...can get youtube on this and watch..can't on my n95 8gb. It looks better than my nokia. Basically for anybody who is used to good quality sounding mp3 players, look elsewhere. Yes it sound better than an ipod, but what doesn't lol. I have had this and sent it back after two weeks and got an n95 8gb...a much better phone and alround...sound quality isn't as good, but it isn't bad and at least you can hear the thing. I am sending the n95 8gb back as well as I just can't stand it's size and horrible looking O.S. DSon't get me wrong it is in a different league as a simbian compared to the w960i though. Symbians got a long way to go before I get interested though. Back to some basic w or k series for me for now..and dedicated video and mp3 players. I don't often use the net when I'm on the go, so I won't misss that. I'd recommend the nokia over this though. The people that have said the mp3 player is good though :eyesroll: I can only think there idea of a good mp3 player is an ipod etc..they must buy with there eyes and not there ears. If you want to hear how music should sound go buy a sony NNWZ 818. Better still remind yourself what sound quality is and listen to a cd or even better a piece of vinyl..or at least listen to a .wav or .flac on a decent player. This is a a sub 18 year olds phone.
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Reviewed by Simon from uk on 10th Mar 2008
Waited for a month for this phone and was really impressed when i first received it. Was a little slow in loading up now and again but sort of expected it. After a month the phone stopped ringing and only vibrated. Used to carry on vibrating after answering a call so sent it back. Second one was as slow as a snail so that is going back too. Spoke too o2 and they say there is a commen fault in the phone being slow as it has too much software on it. Think SE have got a lttle ahead of them selves so would say go with something else. Hope SE dont ruin the rest of there phones like this.
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Reviewed by hasmukh from Uk on 8th Mar 2008
the phone is an absolute treat. I would not swap for the world!!!!!
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Reviewed by joi from london uk on 7th Mar 2008
simply d best..if u know how to use a computer and follow instructions..it will b easy for u to use every application..a mobilephone, a walkman, access to wifi,good looking phone..video streaming..yahoo chat..what else can u ask for? easy to hold, u can even text with one hand, you can choose the keypads or the touch screen..so..i dont know about the other reviews..but i love this phone..better than my friend's nokia n95 w/c is bulky and not touch screen or iphone were u cant even text with one hand..goodluck..if ure in a rush and runnin late..haha!//love my se w960i! no regrets!
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Reviewed by Da NamEz junaid from pakistan on 6th Mar 2008
dis iz da bes phone evaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by peter roberts marple bridge from england on 4th Mar 2008
it is a realy good phone but hate the look of it wish it was more stylish but the phone its self is great i would recomend it.
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Reviewed by Matt from UK on 1st Mar 2008
This phone is way ahead of the competitiom, don't listen to technophobes about its user interface, its good and very detailed allowing much more to be displayed on the screen at once. This is the information age is it not? If I had a choice of similar phones on the market all for free, I might try the iPhone but I'd miss the 960i, perhaps the companies should learn from each other on this occasion, and STREAMING MEDIA! Come on guys! lol
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Reviewed by themighty from UK on 1st Mar 2008
Quite simply this phone is a masterpiece. The only thing I dislike about it is that the flash is only an LED one and that the camera is only a 3.2MP, however how would sony be able to sell you a new product if they implemented all features straight away? lol. True, the symibian operating system is a little slow occasionally, however it is much more stable than previous versions of the phone, has nothing to do with microsoft and should only get better with regular firmware update sfrom SE, if they do their job right. There are flash attatchments available for this phone, so if you do really need a sharp camera like the K series phones there is an option, however the lack of one is a minor annoyance. Well as the slow, apparently crashy OS goes, once some third party apps like internet radio and game boy advance emulators are concerned are installed the minor annoyance of a flash missing pails into insignificance. Currently, due to the iPod phone, the 8GB Flash RAM is nice. Really nice. Once a div x codec and xvid codecs were installed plus a 3rd party player to run them were installed, porting films from my PC became a pleasure, however with some free convertor software and mp4 compression I now fit 1000 98Kbps fraunhofer encoded MP3's and 25 full length feature films along with virtually all my digital photos collection,backup files of 3rd party installed software, many wallpapers and themes plus ROM files for the GBA emulator. Groovy. The music player is much improved, absolutely perfect in every way except to exit from it takes a few button presses on the back button instead of just one, also the back button has been moved which means the phone is now two handed to control when using the walkman player with the jog wheel. An mp3 tag editor included would be a really nice too. Downloading a third party browser like Opera 4 is a must. It makes the internet truly mobile except that streaming media inclusion would be awesome. Nothing like catching an episode of your fav TV show on the bus to work from an on demand internet television site is there? If I was to be asked how this phone could be improved, the list would really only be short. The music player visulisztions would be nice to be played whilst listening on bluetooth headphones but this is only a minor inadequacy. It feels solid and nice in the hand as far as construction goes and is a must buy for mobile media in my opinion. I's only give it four stars as it could be improved on... a little...!
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Reviewed by rrsedoff from england on 27th Feb 2008
looks good, feels good, battery life v. poor (even with all the wlan / bluetooth etc disabled), laggy software, and unless you have matchstick fingers very clumsy. Give it a miss. Its pants overall!!
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Reviewed by Tom Werner from UK on 27th Feb 2008
I got this phone 3 wks ago i'm still getting used to it it almost dose to much its quite slow at changeing from one task to another. I am struggling to get the email working beware it is not push email like blackberry or palm but pull email which means you have to go to send and recieve to get them if you can get it to work unlike meso far!! also the bluetooth isn't compatable with my car kit bummer.generally not a bad phone but also not the best.
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Reviewed by Garry from England on 26th Feb 2008
Sony Ericsson have now released the first (hopefully not the last) firmware update for the W960i. Unfortunately they don't publish a changelog so some of the more subtle changes might be missed. The most obvious improvements are to the camera which now works much quicker than before, when it suffered from pretty bad shutter lag and initialising delay. The user interface menus for the camera have been corrected as well. Previously the camera menus appeared on screen in the vertical plane even though you use the camera in the horizontal landscape plane. The "C" key in some contexts, such as in messaging, will now work as a delete button where you previously had to go into the menu system to delete something. A new snowboarding game SSX3 is included too. Update online using SE update software.
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Reviewed by james from uk on 26th Feb 2008
wow just got this phone been playing with it all day, how good is it truely brilliant, the sound quality is superb, takes a while to get used too, and sometimes a bit slow but only a few seconds, can do so much, easy to copy ya music onto, no need for a ipod or mp3 player just buy one of these nice 1 sony :) :)
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Reviewed by Robin from Uk on 25th Feb 2008
had my old W950 replaced a while ago and was in eager anticipation of the W969i, there are good points and bad points; the good are thus, the screen locks really fast so it doesn’t go off in your pocket, the Storage 8GB isn’t bad the camera and the buttons, the battery life is longer but not a great deal in comparison to the 950i - the player for mp3s is sleek and easy to navigate, the phone is really loud too, the camera on the front for video calls is pretty cool too - however the bad the operation of the phone via the touch screen is a pain in the rear especially if your a big bloke trying to tap little icons this might be good for anorexic people or newborn children, but not me, the music player is sleek, - the camera seems to be okay from the start but don’t expect any really good detail, the stylus looks cheap, and like others on here I have seen slowness and jerky operation with application, although the phone is capable of playing a storing movies you have to pay for extra software which really annoys me after forking out on a phone. the battery life is still substandard and the filing and operation of any media - videos or movies. There are other niggles but hear this piece of advice Sony; the W950 was a really nice innovative piece of design the structure and the operation of the phone was great even though there were dome niggles, it was set apart because it had a really cool feel to it – with this phone I’m just holding a staple run of the mill cheap made phone that I don’t really want to get out in public. I want a to notch phone not some chav looks the same as everybody else sorry, I'm getting a N96 now
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Reviewed by H from London, UK on 21st Feb 2008
This phone is basically a touch screen MP3 with some phone functionality. I am unable to set up profiles (available in previous Sony phones) and the voice recognition is pants. You have two modes - silent in which case you muiss a lot of calls/texts and some stupid melody (as there are no standard telephone ring tones) The phone also has difficulty with recognising stored numbers, not being able to tell me who has called/sent a text. Even if I call a contact from the address book, it asks me if I wish to add the number to my contacts?? The media capabilities however are pretty impressive with fast data transfer and good quality sound and visualisation. However, the phone duplicated albums for no apparent reason and I had to delete the duplicates using the file manager. If a track is unassigned or wrongly assigned, it is also impossible to move tracks or re-categorise them In a nutshell the software and interface are pretty awful and non-intuitive. Sony appear to have gone backwards in this department. My partner has sent hers back and I am about to do the same.
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Reviewed by Garry from England on 21st Feb 2008
People would give this phone a bad review because everyone has a valid opinion even if it differs from yours. I genuinely believe the W960i has the worst user interface I have ever come across on a mobile telephone. Being used to it, doesn't suddenly make it a good and easy to use interface. Another example of the dire lack of intelligent practical thought applied to this phone. Online Media in the Multimedia section. It has a function for playing streamed video from the internet. We all know that YouTube and many other popular streaming video sites use the Flash Video (FLV)format. The problem being the W960i can't play FLV files. Doh!!! Right from the outset a virtually redundant feature. Or how about this, you've got the camera. Access is through the camera icon on the main menu. Take some pictures, shoot some video clips. Later you want to look at them. For still pictures you go back into the camera section on the main menu and scroll to picture gallery, ok so far. But you want to watch your video clips too. How do you access them? Well, not in the camera section which would be the obvious place since it is where you took them and access the stills. No, you have to back out of the camera section, to the main menu, then select Multimedia then scroll to select Video. Then you can see your video clips, accessed in a completely different section than the stills. What a load of messing, it's stupid, fiddley and unnecessary and the W960i is full of this kind of thing.
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Reviewed by Artrocker from UK on 20th Feb 2008
Had this phone for two weeks and loving it. First thing first though it does take a few hours depending on your learning curve to get used to it, but hey I guess a F1 car takes some getting used, but once you have you will reap the rewards. I can Bluetooth all my music via the mbr 100 plugin to stereo. This is very handy. Takes amazing video and ace pics. And the space and the touch screen is amazing, i am always on this new phone keep getting told of by my girl friend because of how much I am on it. It is a lot faster than its main competitor the n95, the Wi-Fi connection is easy to use and internet browsing is fast, I could go on and on but this really is a great phone the touch screen is cool, and when using someone else’s phone I keep trying to press the screen lol. Why anyone would give this a bad review is beyond me, if you love music, taking quality pictures and videos and are computer literate (as it can be a bit complicated to the non pc user) THEN THIS IS THE PHONE oh yeah and 8gb memory wow, wow , wow (any questions if you want to know anything about feel free to email at artrockland@yahoo.co.uk)
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Reviewed by steve from uk on 19th Feb 2008
i can not understand the people who have rated this phone as only 2 out of 5 or even three. this phone is ace had mine a week it has no operational faults what so ever the sound quality is great the touch screen works fo me overal the best phone i have ever had and whats more i have been offered to swap mine for an n95 8g ;no chance
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Reviewed by Ward from England on 19th Feb 2008
Using the W960i is like having to do an electronic obstacle course. It is very awkward to use with poorly thought out menus, arrangement and input. Text input is the worst I have ever come across on a mobile phone. The different modes don't work well together and constantly leave you wishing, if only I could do "that" without having to change mode. Spelling out individual words in T9 mode is a right pain, you should be able to go straight to multitap without having to go into the menu system to selectively activate it then again to deactivate it when you are done. The touch screen is a gimmick that just doesn't cut it when it comes to practical hands on use, a hindrance more than a help.
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Reviewed by Michael from UK on 18th Feb 2008
Great phone, had it for almost a month now and its amazing, best phone i have ever used, better then my friends n95 8gb, it may not have quite as many functions as the n95 but the music player beats the n95 all day long which is important to me as a main reason for getting this phone is so i don't have to carry both my phone and ipod round, id say it better quality than my ipod, also the navigation on the w960 is awesome with the touch screen, it my first touch screen phone and i will never go back especially as every time i use other peoples phone i just want to touch the screen instead of using the buttons especially on a big screen like the n95 8gb. so many functions too i am still discovering new things.
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Reviewed by Dave from UK on 18th Feb 2008
Superb 'phone - but why oh why only tri-band and not quad?? Otherwise I'd have given it 5/5.
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Reviewed by John from England on 16th Feb 2008
Absolutly awful please take my advice a forget this phone and all it's hype about features. They obviously rushed it and didn't think about it clearly. it's that bad I'm using a two year old 903sh Sharp which blinds it. I also have an iphone which is also pretty poor as a phone but a lot more impressive as a gadget the W960i should be great with all it's features but in reality is slow and v.difficult to use and I'm usually good with these things.
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Reviewed by Garry from England on 15th Feb 2008
Don't let the extensive specification list blind you to the fact this phone has a horrendously bad user interface. It is ridiculously fiddley to use with no consistant method of user input, you are constantly having to swap between jog, key pad and touch screen. Very messy and irritating in practice, not to mention it slows your use of the W960i right down. One handed or quick use on the move while walking or (dare I say it) in the car is awkward to the point of impossible. It could have been so good but SE ruined it.
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Reviewed by Devesh from India on 15th Feb 2008
This phone is understated it is not the i pod killer it is the king of all media phones i recommend it :-)
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Reviewed by A Robinson from U.K. on 13th Feb 2008
Hiya On my second W960i Struggled with bluetooth initially but second one better. Biggest problem is battery life "4 hrs and it's flat. Had lots of S.E.'s and all very good before but really struggling with this one Most other things good. Looks fab and like the screen and camera
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Reviewed by Omer from Saudi Arabia on 10th Feb 2008
Its the King Of Mobiles.I mean to say look at that its the best sony ericsson mobile ever made.i rate it better than nokia n95 8gb cuz i heard the sound of n95 8 gb it was more dull than n73.but sony ericsson goes beyond the imagination.It's the best phone for people who have minds.SONY ERICSSON IS THE BEST!!!
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Reviewed by John from Scotland on 9th Feb 2008
WAT A PHONE
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Reviewed by Ben from UK on 9th Feb 2008
I Just got thisphone today its great just a bit slow at some things! lol! if it was fast i would give it 5.
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Reviewed by HAN from Sweden on 9th Feb 2008
I've had the W960i for over a month now. I love every minute. At first the battery life was poor but it has improved now. When idle, it uses perhaps about 5% of total per day which means many days of on-time. It is still a bit slow when starting programs but it is really not an issue. I installed HandySaft onto it - lovely application where you store all your private pins, passwords etc. I usually listen to MP3's using the speaker - the volume fills even large rooms. all-in-all - I recommend it.
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Reviewed by laura from england on 8th Feb 2008
i love this phone. i reccomend it =)
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Reviewed by Pete from Uk on 5th Feb 2008
I've been using the 960i for about 2 weeks now and the phone is great, great camera loads of space for music, intuitive menu's. a few of the slightly annoying things are there's no setting for the alarm interval and it can be a little slow to open apps at times. but all in all a good phone.
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Reviewed by ricky from ireland on 3rd Feb 2008
this phone is amazing takes a it of time to get use to it but the best phone out at the minute!
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Reviewed by joe from uk on 2nd Feb 2008
this pgone is amazing ive had this phone for 2 weeks and there is so much stuff to do on the phone
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Reviewed by Mark from Stoke, UK on 31st Jan 2008
I have owned quite a few symbian S60 phones over the last few years, but this is my first UIQ based phone. Been using it now for a week or so and am getting used to the phones quirks. The phone can be a bit slow accessing features at times, fairly typical of symbian phones. Other than that I am loving it. Only true gripe though is what was SE thinking when they decided to give the phone the white frame!!! By the way, I'm writing this on m W960i :)
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Reviewed by harry from uk on 30th Jan 2008
finally aq walkman with more than a 2 megapixel camera!!!! and is also a very nice phone :):)
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Reviewed by Klaartje from UK on 30th Jan 2008
I have had 4 phones over the last 2 weeks as I couldnt decide which one to upgrade to. This phone is absolutely amazing and made all the other phones look like something from the dark ages. It really felt like an UPGRADE from my w850i, which is also a brilliant phone. It might take a while to get used to everything, but after a couple of hours of playing around with it I was completely used to it. The Walkman is great and I have already loaded loads of songs on. My boyfriend was looking into getting an iphone, but this phone makes much more economical sense.
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Reviewed by Graham from UK on 28th Jan 2008
I've had a play around with one, nice handset, but I am not a fan of Symbian operating systems. Every time I've had a handset with Symbian, its run slow and crashed. I'm reluctant to take another Symbian handset, and although i'm a fan of Sony's, its the operating system I dont trust, so I wont be upgrading to this model. Although the handset is VERY nice, I dont want to take the risk.
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Reviewed by Paul from UK on 25th Jan 2008
In a nutshell "FANTASTIC"....nuff said
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Reviewed by sean from UK on 25th Jan 2008
gorgeous black phone ruined by a horrible WHITE plasitc edge strip!
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Reviewed by DN from England on 24th Jan 2008
I ust had to send mine back. I found the whle thing counter-intuitive, slow (even after applications had been open once) and fiddly. It would also freeze up a couple of times a day. Even the menu on the walkman was slow, I will be sticking with SE though just for the walkman.
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Reviewed by yokers from Ireland on 22nd Jan 2008
It makes me wonder who these people are who say it took hours to set up and configure! Out of the box.. switched on and ding dong it was up and running straight away. If you have any issues with this phone booting or being slow then take it up with your operator. Ive got 2, with the same version of software on them except one is o2 and one isnt. The o2 one crashes when you try make voip calls over fring. There is no phone out there that comes close to this. Its so simple to use and setup and is better looking and way lighter then most of its competitors. So impressed with this phone, I have owned many of its predecessors and also many series 60 devices and i think they've cracked it with this phone. who needs a contract when you've got voip calls using fring over wifi!! legend!
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Reviewed by rocky from london on 22nd Jan 2008
w960i has wicket phone in the world cuz it has got all those feature which is people expectng from phone i can,t imagine i rally surprised from the phone it has build up 8gb in thier u can use internet through with ur computer and i aapreciate from camera with flashlight but if would be 5megapixel build in this phone than would be more batter.
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Reviewed by Bill from UK on 20th Jan 2008
After using the Nokia N81, the W960 is over-complicated. The range of features are very impressive and the touch-screen is good once you get the hang of it. My main reason for buying it was for the multi-media features and whilst it plays tracks that have been ripped fron CDs, I cannot play purchased downloaded music and some vidoes as the formats are not recognised!! All my music and videos play well on the Nokia! (any advice would be appreciated!) After contacting Sony Ericsson, I have had no response or assistance; which is rather disappointing!! Let the buyer beware! It looks great, but for daily and reliable use, I will go back to using the Nokia.
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Reviewed by Darrren from England on 19th Jan 2008
I recently got this phone it is an eye catcher lovely smart phone . nice hand writing recodnition does take some time getting use to it. Not as responseive as I hoped for the price if you are thinking of getting this then I would advise you to think about what you want out of you phone ! It is a nice phone screen is good enough to watch films off, more then enough memory to store a few on the harddrive . sony were a bit crafty it will cost you extra to get the media manager pro to convert the movies but all in all it’s worth it saves the hassile of converting the then using the sony software to drop them in. the browser does not impress me at all espesialy after seeing the other populer phone that’s about at the moment don’t want to mention the name . Any way that’s enough from me hope this helps you make your mind up .ps don’t buy from out side the Eu unless your there other wise you may get cought out by costoms and have to pay an extra £70
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Reviewed by Adrian from UK on 18th Jan 2008
Having read the one of the posts below about the voda live icon, i thought i would look at mine again. Funny i thought i have not got one, considering the phone is on voda and i bought it from a voda shop. I now find out that the phone is unlocked ( yipeeeee ) and works perfectly well with my 3 sim card installed. Every cloud has a silver lining.
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Reviewed by Andi from UK on 17th Jan 2008
back after 1 week of persevering with W960. It is a dog to get set up but once you do it it is the best, most stylish phone one can have. Need to take a leaf from iTunes to sort out walkman software. Also few gripes about the touchscreen but for any SE techheads stick with it & you'll realise its a great phone
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Reviewed by Lucky from UK on 17th Jan 2008
have to admit, i loved nokia phones a lot, had contract phones for 4 years and all been nokia's, this year i wanted a change, got this w960i 2 weeks ago and WOWW!! what a phone! its absolutely great! two thumbz fresh to SE! :D love the fact it comes with a 3.5 jack for anyother ear peice, the ones that come with it is great quality! only one bad thing about it tho..WHY DIDN'T IT COME OUT SOONER?! that's it for now! :D
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Reviewed by Shane from UK on 17th Jan 2008
I got this phone on Tuesday, and I have to say it is the best phone that I have ever had! It takes a little while to get used to the fact that everything is touch sensitive, seen as every other phone I have had has had some sort of joystick! The walkman is seriously cool! You can either have has your background so that when ever you press it, your walkman comes on. The software on the phone takes a little getting used to, but such features as when you have a missed call, or you cancel someone, it asks you if you would like to have a reminder set so that you can ring them back. Another similar feature, when someone calls you that isn't in your address book, it asks you whether you would like this person to be put in your phone book. I have played about with the iPhone and yeh it is a really cool phone, but personally I believe it is hybrid between the iPod and a phone. The other main competitor to the k960i is the LG viewty, its a nice phone, but I don't think LG have enough experience developing phones yet, where as Sony Ericsson have had years to prune and develop the software on the phone! My recommendation the w960i is the best phone on the market by far!
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Reviewed by Martin from UK on 17th Jan 2008
Nice phone... Been use to an ORBIT XDA so the 960 will take a bit to get use to. I have it on a Vodafone contract (Is there anyway that I can remove the Vodaphone live icon?)
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Reviewed by Adrian from UK on 17th Jan 2008
I have both the w960i and the n95 8gb. Having used both i would have to say that in my opion the n95 is a far more user friendly phone. The w960i is far too complicated for the average person to come to grips with. That said its a very good phone with lots of great features. My only real gripe is i cannot get the wifi to work properly. Again the n95 8gb wins, this connects perfectly every time, the sony wont. For this reason its only going to get 3 stars.
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Reviewed by Bobby from England on 17th Jan 2008
Is anyone having a problem with Bluetooth connection to Navman satnav?
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Reviewed by Sarah from Wales on 16th Jan 2008
I've gotta say, this is an ace phone. Agreed it takes a little while to work out how to set it all up how you want it,and the manual isn't the best but now am able to run my life with it. Emails are a doddle, and with push email are delivered to the phone straight away, with attachments easy to open and view, and sending is no problem either. Web browsing is good, and the ability to use wifi networks makes any downloads fast. Managed to transfer all I wanted from my old phone via bluetooth including contacts in less than a minute, and all files are able to be viewed, pictures and videos included. Texting causes me no problems, the walkman application is well up to scratch, and the amount of other applications you can run on this phone is impressive - Google Maps, a Skype application, RSS feeds, Blogger, even Brain Challenge. There is nothing I wanted from a phone that this does not deliver, it even makes calls.
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Reviewed by M. Watkins from UK on 16th Jan 2008
I've had this phone about 2 weeks now and I think it's great, with any phone it takes a wile to get used to it but I've always loved sony stuff and this is no exception. the touch screen is great and I find myself sometimes just trying to press on my Macs screen just because it feels so intuitive. I'm big on texting and I just use the key pad, the improved T9 really helps. Cameras good, wifi works well, The phones OS is not super speedy but it's not too slow either and personally I think it's very livable with. I would compare it to an Iphone but I've never used one. These are what I consider the cons as I think everything else about the w960 is great. Keypads a bit slippery OS is a touch buggy. The music player should play tracks into each other, at the moment their is a bit of an annoying gap Manual is terrible. Overall though it's one of the best things I've brought and I'm very happy with this phone even if it did cost an arm and a leg. I would recommend it to any tech head.
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Reviewed by FSayyah from England on 16th Jan 2008
Got the phone last week - delighted!!!! Its a great phone, setup was quick - everythin fine - its a smart PDA!
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Reviewed by AJ O'Connell from England on 15th Jan 2008
I am afraid to say I am dissapointed with the W960i and I love Sony. I got one last week and sent it back same day. It was such a shame, and I tried to talk myself into keeping it. It's not the size or shape, but the touch function and loading speed that put me off. Don't get me wrong, it is a great phone and is a great achievement for Sony, but it was just too slow for me (I'm a Texter). A txt message should only take 30seconds to write and send but after accessing the main menu the nthe message menu it would take a good few seconds to load...and yes I checked the Task Manager to make sure I wasn't being stupid and had left something running. Then the next menus buttons were to small for my large fingers (about 5 pixels wide) so I had to grab the stylus, which when you're in a hurry is fustrating. It is a great phone and will suit lots of people, just not me I'm afraid. SO...I hope you all agree with my following conclusion: If you're looking to go from a PDA to a Phone and prefer speaking, buy a W960i. If you're looking to go from a phone to a PDA and prefer texting, buy a Nokia N95. It may be older with a few problems but Nokia has updates to correct those and most importantly, buttons. Sorry Sony, 5 Star phone but 2 Stars for usage.
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Reviewed by Rupert from England on 14th Jan 2008
I haven't had any problems with the phone. I agree it's a bit bigger than say the Nokia N82 but it comes with 8GB memory so I don't need an iPod (not that I ever have so far). The touchscreen is nice and once you've got the hang of it it's not difficult to use your fingers too operate it (the stylus isn't that bad, it does the job fine). Browsing is speedy, music playing is smooth, sound quality is good. Signal with O2 is excellent. Jon below mentions contact management and file management (music is fine but I havn't yet worked out how to display .doc files.) and these minor points knock a star off.
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Reviewed by bobby king from England on 13th Jan 2008
I suppose when people look at this phone they think to chunky but believe me this phone is ace. With a wide range of java games such as suduku and face warp there is loads of entertainment to do. 3.2 megapixel camera, walkman its the ultimate phone
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Reviewed by Jon from England on 13th Jan 2008
I was really looking forward to getting this phone as a replacement for my K800i (which had served me well for 18 months). Out of the box it looked fantastic. Great form factor. A bit longer and wider than the K800, but also much slimmer. Felt great in the hand. Switching it on though it all started to go wrong. This phone took 5 mins to come to life. It was slow and unresponsive. Did the strangest things whilst charging (glowed even when switched off). Other gripes were the file management. You could add files to the phone e.g. picture and music, then not be able to see them except when connected to the PC. Contact management is a nightmare too. Tried to bluetooth my contacts from my old phone, looked like it should have been successful, but once again couldn't find them on the W960i. Network coverage was also a problem. Whilst my K800 was showing good coverage, the W960 wasn't showing any! My guess is that this a phone that has been released too early with unproven firmware. Anyway, I had enough of trying to get it to work and sent it back. If I were you I'd wait until they fix these bugs before I got one.
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Reviewed by Kal from England on 12th Jan 2008
Waited for aages for this phone to come out. Couldn't decide between this and the N82. Since I already had a sony ericsson was almost a dead cert to upgrade to this. Spent an hour in shop deciding between them and unfortunately the Nokia N82 appears to be much better. The quality of the Sony isn't great. Its stylus is shocking and the touchscreen is nowhere near as good as it should be. The stylus is cheap and tacky. The camera is OK, but nowhere near as good as the Nokia's. Honestly between the two I'm buying the Nokia, but I hate myself for it..lol.
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Reviewed by Andrew from England on 11th Jan 2008
Superb as an mp3 player, for radio, video and photos. And it even makes phone calls! I've put my keyboard smartphone and mp3 away and just use this now.
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Reviewed by Jonny from England on 10th Jan 2008
5 stars what more can i say?
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Reviewed by M.Vikram from India on 9th Jan 2008
First impressions of the phoone are simply outstanding.Symbian with sony gives rise to the concept of a customisable sony. I like the device too much. All loaded with applications, 8gb of music and the sony satisfaction. Simply could'nt ask for more. If the battery is robust, then this smarty is a great option to consider.
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Reviewed by Andi from UK on 7th Jan 2008
Have waited a long time for this phone & have to say I'm v dissapointed !! Looks far better on the web than in real life. Also I've had it for 6 hours & still not managed to set it up properly !! Talk about unintuitive. I've had SE phones since T68 & unless this starts feeling better I'll be going to the dark side with Nokia
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Reviewed by conner smith from england on 6th Jan 2008
this phone has got to be the best phone ever
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Reviewed by Paul from Ireland on 6th Jan 2008
Waited on this phone for ages, 3rd sony phone.Got it on friday it's going back tomorro monday. gettin the w910i. The messaging menu is 2 tricky and time consuming. Keys are far 2 slidy. 2 many other complaints...
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Reviewed by David from uk on 3rd Jan 2008
I got mine yesterday, and i thought at 1st i'd made a big mistake as i couldnt get used to it. But how wrong i was!! This phone is simply fantastic, once you get used to navigating the menus it is quick and responsive. Most of the touch screen functions can be used with your finger tip, but some need the stylus (but thankfully they aren't ones you use everyday. I change my phone once a month, as i soon get bored, so you can imagine ive used a heck of a lot of phones, but this one i will be keeping for a while longer :P my only gripe is that the instruction manual is a total disgrace! It is about the size of a postage stamp and looks like its been photocopy'd by someone drunk! If you are relativly clued up with symbian based phones i would say; go for it! But if you like your phone simple i would stay away. I've given it 4 not 5 stars purely because of the instruction manual, and because not all of the touch screen features can be accessed without using the stylus.
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Reviewed by zaidiyano from Canada on 30th Dec 2007
I love my sony ericsson w960i but does anyone have a problem witht the video player. when i download video music the video get frozen and the whole screen is frozen only sound plays. did that happen to anyone let me know please thanks.
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Reviewed by Richard from Hong Kong on 22nd Dec 2007
The functions is not justified with the price. It's too expansive!!!!
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Reviewed by John from UK on 21st Dec 2007
brillaint phone...has evry thing i cud ask for
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Reviewed by tony from England on 12th Dec 2007
I have brought a w960i and i have to say its very very good, i had the n95 8gb and iphone and i think the w960i is a better overall product, the speaker is very loud and clear (the loudest ive heard). I brought 10 more of which have sold on ebay in less than 2days :), didnt make alot of profit but wat the hell some1 had to bring these beasts to the uk :).
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Reviewed by Apple from America on 12th Dec 2007
Hate It. Dont EVA get it i prefree the Nokia Sport NEVA NEVA NEVA get it
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Reviewed by jack wills from england on 11th Dec 2007
AMAZING PHINE!!!! THE BEST I HAVE EVER HAD! BY it! buy it noww!! amazing stunning the camera and MUSIC IS OUTSTANDING. LOVE IT X
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Reviewed by bobby king from England on 10th Dec 2007
This is a very good and brilliant phone because of its great degsin and its quality and connectivity when it comes to ringing people, texting people or even when it comes to bluetooth. This phone is a music walkman it can contain a wide range of memory cards including 8 gb. And just below the large,clear screen is three easy to use tough screen buttons to controll your music. And the packaging contains imformation and clear sounding speaker phones. Built in with a 3.2 megapixel camera 3d java gaming systems a vibration alert this phone is the best walkman and sony ericsson yet!
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Reviewed by leonna from England on 9th Dec 2007
Great fone! wanted 1 for ages must have better and much more reliable than any others on the market a must have!! :D
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Reviewed by ivan from sweden on 8th Dec 2007
hi!Ihave a w960 fron the last monday,i been waithing 6 months the phone,the hold programs is working amazing,but the camera is not bether than my old w800 with 2 mega pixels,the pictures there are dark,and not so much colors,i thinking have some problem but no,is like this,the video mode is very good but also darks images,and I dont like the sound volume ,is not so high,and the mega bass is poor,and also the trackID is only for the radio,the oldes models have also for the microphone,I like the phone but i been waithing more from him,all the peoples is taking good thinks about,but i recomend to try first the phone before to speak!!
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Reviewed by Shaun from England. on 7th Dec 2007
Isabella, Are you sure your locking it when it's in your pocket. If not, that's your problem. (:
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Reviewed by abdi from england on 2nd Dec 2007
the best phone ever
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Reviewed by Isabella from England on 2nd Dec 2007
very poor, the sound is terrible, it scratches too easily rings people when its in your pocket and has a ind of it's own
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Reviewed by shammas from maldives on 1st Dec 2007
i think its a very good phone, compared to k850i its got good features such as a very stylish touchscreen and good sound quality......its the best of sony ericsson phones
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Reviewed by piers from u.k on 29th Nov 2007
not loud enough
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Reviewed by Didi Anastasiou from Great Britain on 28th Nov 2007
amazing phone, best i ever had
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Reviewed by smith from wales on 19th Nov 2007
just got this phone for my birthday i was pleased with a lot no problems i have seen yet. it is worth buying for crimbo. And why have u given it 4 stars its an ace phone buy it ghd value on contract.
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Reviewed by Adrian from Costa Rica on 18th Nov 2007
Why just 4 stars??? Doesn't this phone totally deserve 5 stars, like its camera-type brother, the k850i??? You couldn't even say what is wrong about it! In my opinion, it's the current mobile phone you could ever dream of!!! (...After all, I confess I'm a little bit obsessed with mobile phones -just lately-, and after months of researching, I can seriously say the w960i is the best round-all phone available, just followed by SE's k850i and the P1i, then Samsung's G800 and F900, and then, Nokia 6500 Slide, N95 8GB and N81 8GB) [Editor's reply: Read the final paragraph of our review if you want to know why we have given the W960i 4 stars, not 5. By the way, the K850i is not the "brother" of this phone. The W960i is Symbian based, and should be considered the brother of the P1i. It's a different class of phone and comes with both advantages and disadvantages. Don't get us wrong - we think the W960i is an absolutely fabulous phone, but it definitely won't suit everyone. It's not really a mainstream product.]
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Sony Ericsson W960i links