World in mp3motion

A little while ago I got the K800i Sony Ericsson phone. It has been a real pleasure to use. The screen was nice and clear, a 3 mega pixel camera has taken some nice photos (a lot of them posted on this blog) and I could even remotely blog using it.

However the other day the curse of the stuck joystick started to become evident. This problem has continued to plague me with previous Sony Ericsson phones I have used. Now while I can go and and get it fixed under warranty it is more than likely it will occur again.

So as "stuck joystick" syndrome as an excuse I got myself the newly released (at least in Dubai) Sony Ericsson w950i.

This phone uses the latest UIQ 3.0/Symbian interface and is very similar to the M600i I considered when I chose the K800i. The main difference with the W950i is that it contains an internal 4Gb of storage. This is enough to make it a very functional mp3 player which is enough space for a healthy choice of albums, audio books and podcasts.

There is a nice review of the phone here but from my standpoint after a couple of days use:

Pros:
No joystick
Lightweight and slim in size
Walkman branded and 4gb storage means it is a great mp3 player
Much better for messaging email/SMS
Stereo bluetooth headphones are a great boon with awesome sound quality
Usable PDA functions
A wealth of third party applications available - I want to get World Clock and a MSN instant messenger program
Reasonable battery life

Cons:
No camera
Need to get use to the touch keyboard
Need a new SIM card to take advantage of 3G
Loading applications other than the "Walkman" is not snappy
Need to find a case to protect the large screen

Overall - still getting use to it - but the flexibility of this smart phone is really great. Probably time to ditch the iPod
9/10