Sony Ericsson’s Walkman range of phones have been very popular, and with new models coming out fast it’s getting hard to keep up with them! The W715 is aimed at the younger generation but is ideal for anyone who wants a good music phone.
The W715 is exclusive to Vodafone and is a great looking phone. Let’s see if it lives up to our the Walkman range expectations.
The Sony Ericsson W715 Walkman Phone – Exclusive to Vodafone
What’s in the box:
- Sony Ericsson W715 Handset
- Battery (BST-33)
- Mains charger
- Manuals (including a Vodafone Find And Go leaflet)
- Software CD (PC suite + Media Manager)
- Stereo headphones/handsfree (with Sony Ericsson connection)
- USB cable (to Sony Ericsson connection)
- 4GB Micro SD card
Sony Ericsson W715 specification:
- Size: 95 x 47.5 x 14.3mm
- Weight: 98 grams
- Colours: Garnet Black and Luxury Silver
- Screen: 262,144 colour TFT
- Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
- Size: 2.4 inches
- Phone memory: up to 120MB
- Talk time GSM/GPRS: up to 10 hrs
- Standby time GSM/GPRS: up to 400 hrs
- Talk time UMTS: up to 4 hours
- Standby time UMTS: up to 350 hours
- Video talk time: up to 3 hours
- Music listening time: up to 20 hours
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
- UMTS/HSPA 900/2100
- 3.2 Megapixel camera
- Up to 3.2x digital zoom
General:
Front – 2.4 inch screen, left and right soft keys, call and end buttons, shortcut/tasks button, clear button and navigation D-pad with the select button in the middle. You can also see Vodafone’s logo at the bottom.
Sony Ericsson W715 – front view
Front (slide open) – The keypad is a simple phone keypad.
Sony Ericsson W715 – slide open
Top – Just one feature on the top which the the ‘Walkman’ button which takes you straight to the music player.
Sony Ericsson W715 – top view
Bottom – The gray plastic part you can see on the bottom is the slide lock for the back cover of the phone.
Sony Ericsson W715 – bottom view
Right – Here you find the dedicated camera button and the up/down rocker button for the volume (and zoom for the camera)
Sony Ericsson W715 – right side
Left – All that is on the left side is the Sony Ericsson proprietary connector port.
Sony Ericsson W715 – left side
Back – You can see where the speaker is located here by the gold grill. You can also the 3.2 MP camera and camera light. Under the back cover is where the sim card, battery and MicroSD are situated.
Sony Ericsson W715 – back view
Highlights:
- 2.4 inch screen – great quality
- Stylish design
- Compact feel
- WIFI
- Good stereo earphones
Lowlights:
- Camera quality
- Camera light instead of flash
Review:
The Sony Ericsson W715 looks great! It’s stylish, relatively slim design and colour immediately makes this Phone appealing. The W715 was made exclusively for Vodafone and is available in this silver colour and is also available in black. It has a robust and expensive feel to it and although a lot slimmer, it reminds me a bit of Nokia’s N95.
The screen is a generous size and the graphics on the screen are clear and sharp. It has a built-in accelerometer which means that the display rotates with the movement of the phone between portrait and landscape modes. This can be switched off if needed. (I mention this as there is a labyrinth-type maze game which is controlled by the movement of the phone and can be near to impossible to play if the screen auto rotates every time you move it!)
I mentioned that the keypad is just an plain phone keypad. Very simple. But, this isn’t a bad thing. I think that it is another stylish touch. It means that there isn’t anything to fussy about the phone, and the colour of the keypad compliments the rest of the phone. The buttons are a good size and nicely spaced which means that texting is easy with minimal “big thumb syndrome”!!
Sony Ericsson W715 – keypad
Obviously the call quality depends on network coverage but from testing it out the sound quality is clear and as expected.
The camera is an average 3.2MP which should be enough to take a decent picture – but, as with quite a few of Sony Ericsson’s phones, you can only used the zoom when in VGA mode. The other thing is that there is only a camera light rather than a flash. The light is not nearly as bright as a flash would be. These things combined somewhat reduces the photo taking capabilities of the phone. But the W715 is a Walkman phone – if you wanted a camera phone from Sony Ericsson you would have gone for one of the Cybershot range!
The phone has many applications and you can see through browsing through these just how much the phone is aimed at the younger generation. One app in particular made me laugh and cringe at the same time! This was call ‘Rock Bobblehead’. This is a strange Elvis lookalike cartoon character which bobs along to the movement of the phone. It’s funny for a few seconds, but then you think that Sony Ericsson could have had a more useful app instead of this one! I can only describe this as a bizarre version of a nodding dog! Moving on though, there are quite a few useful apps and you are also presented with the latest version of the Walkman music player.
Connectivity includes Bluetooth, USB, GPS and a WIFI connection. The WIFI is easy to set up and the Bluetooth obviously supports stereo playback.
Web browsing is easy enough (the accelerometer comes in handy here for landscape viewing) and fast enough when connected via WIFI. Again, the great screen quality can be seen here even though the screen isn’t as big as those on a touch screen phone.
As the phone has been built exclusively for Vodafone there is an application called “Find and Go” which is a Sat Nav bit of software. You have to purchase a licence to use this though. But, even without “Find and Go” you can use the GPS capability and the inbuilt Google maps.
There are a few inbuilt themes, some are animated making the phone a bit more fun, and again takes advantage of the screen quality.
The stereo headphones that come with the phone are of brilliant quality. This seems to be a common theme with the Walkman range and I really like them. The only thing that I know a few people would prefer though would be a standard 3.5mm headphone jack instead of Sony Ericsson’s proprietary port.
Also included is the shake control for skipping tracks, and with SensMe you can create playlists depending on mood and the phone will play the specifics tracks depending on mood. (This all works with the movement of the phone).
Conclusion:
I have always liked Sony Ericsson phones and this one is no different. I love the look and feel of the W715, and again, the sound quality through the stereo headphones is superb. The applications are aimed a bit too much at the younger generation I feel but it doesn’t put me off the phone!
I think Vodafone are onto a winner with the W715, and with the WIFI, GPS and “Find and Go” application they have opened the doors for many other users who may not have been interested in the Walkman phones before.
Reviewed by: Emma
I Started Something have uncovered another job advert from Microsoft that reveals a little more confirmation that Zune services are coming with Windows Mobile 7. Lets be honest without them Windows Mobile 7 will not appeal to the consumer which is where it needs to head. Now Microsoft have finally realised that Business types do have a life outside of work and just because you wear a suit doesn’t mean you can’t wear headphones (with a 3.5mm plug) and enjoy music and entertainment on one device. 
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