Sony Ericsson W395 Review

Sony Ericsson W395 is made in a form of a compact and lightweight slider. It can be carried with almost anything. Moreover, the attractive and even elegant appearance of W395 will certainly please both boys and girls. The front panel of the phone looks as if it is made of polished metal. In fact, it is a plastic, but simply well painted.

The side facets are mounted with a matte silver plastic insert, which has additional buttons of the insert color.

The more dark rear of the device with rounded edges is made rough, so Sony Ericsson W395 does not sneak out of the hands. In addition to the built-in camera lens cover and battery compartment there are still nets and external stereo speakers on the back side. They are made in the form of two crescents, smoothly enveloping the cover of the battery compartment. It is a pity that the phone is impossible to place (for example, Nokia N96) on the table – it could be such a compact and attractive microboombox.

Red-orange framings and Walkman logos on the case can be considered a corporate design feature. These small and not notable at first glance details distinguish the novelty from the crowd, making it bright and unique.

The slider mechanism works well; there is not even a hint at a gap. This high-quality assembly can play a key role in the purchase – worth for competitors to draw conclusions. All in all, Sony Ericsson W395 inspires some trust and respect – a feeling that you hold a decent thing, which will serve for a long time.

Controls and Interfaces

The keyboard is a single panel with a transparent plastic coating. It has four rows of undulating buttons to press which at first glance seems very uncomfortable. It is indeed so if you press with a finger pad – it is likely that you will press the next button.

The advantages of the W395 keyboard are the milky-white lights uniformly distributed on all the keys, as well as some kind of protection from abrasion – the inscription are made under a coating, and the coating is absolutely transparent.

The manufacturer has placed so many buttons under the display that the functionality of the novelty may be envied even by some communicators. The round navigation unit is mounted with a red-orange ring with illumination, which in pressing areas has characteristic projections for better finger adhesion. On the side of the navigation block there are six small buttons. Four of them are responsible for the acceptance/cancellation of the call, deletion of the last character, and a quick call of audio player. Two more buttons are multifunctional and are responsible for various commands that appear in the display. These keys combine various other applications.

There are few additional controls – double-key swing to adjust the volume on the right end and the camera activation button.

Display

The LCD display is on a level with the front panel. This is a classic for many devices 2 inch screen with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels and a support for 262 thousand colors. The image is bright, but viewing angles are so small that each degree is felt when rotating the phone.

This display, of course, is not suitable to view videos and photos, but it is ideally suitable to work with the phone interface, audio players, small tools and games. It is felt that the manufacturer has saved on the function of photography and video by making W395 musical abilities more expressive.

Camera

The technical specifications of the built-in camera also confirm our thoughts that the manufacturer has saved in the design of this model. A camera with a 2 MP CMOS-matrix without autofocus and flash is a toy from the recent past. In this modern unit, it is simply present, and nothing more. The camera settings are standard – almost the same as in other Sony Ericsson phones: the quality of shooting, white balance, the imposition of a digital image to process effects, etc.

The quality of shooting is satisfactory: small details get lost entirely – merge with the background noise, a flash at the corners of the frame, inaccurate color, and, besides, the camera does not cope with difficult lighting. The device can be used to capture the bus schedule, but you can never make beautiful pictures and then print them.

Communications

In terms of communication, the innovation is a normal GSM-device, working in 900/1800/1900 MHz networks. The reception of the device demonstrates confidence, but nothing more. The speaker volume for calls is high – the sound is not wheezing and beeping, even at maximum volume.

The module Bluetooth 2.0 communicates with wireless headsets and other devices. Its work has been verified by the example of the data with an HP iPAQ Pocket PC 4700. Devices find each other without any problems, but the transfer of data (several dozens of photos) has been slow, the average speed was only 0.1 Mb / sec.

Music

The new item’s important features are the built-in stereo speakers.

Of course, no wonders should be expected from such tots, but we liked what we heard. The creators have shown a substantial approach to the selection of the speakers, they sound loud and clear.

In addition to music playing through the built-in loudspeakers, W395 is able to do this in the more traditional way – through the headphone plug. The latter fits with the brand adapter (a standard 3.5 mm connector is not available on the case of the tube). However, even the set headphones satisfy many users with their good bass. It is a pity that only regular headphone-liners are provided with the model W395, and not comfortable headphones with silicone inserts, effectively protecting users’ ears from external noise. In addition, the volume of the «ear» was suspiciously low, about 20-25% lower than that of the Nokia N96.

The interface of the audio player is traditional for Sony Ericsson. You can simply click «W» on the front panel to switch the program. 4-band equalizer with numerous presets is available. Songs can be selected by the author, artist, genre, title, etc.

To control the player there is no need to open the phone – all the keys are on the front panel below the display. Incidentally, in this new form it is very similar to a usual MP3-player, perhaps a bit more massive.

To some extent, the musical features include the FM-radio. Like many other Sony Ericsson phones, the W395 model is equipped with it. The interface of the programs is traditional. The module has a good reception and a support for RDS-reports.

Conclusion

Sony Ericsson W395 is not an expensive device. A striking building, broad musical abilities, external dynamics – all this is for those who want to have a pocket Boombox. In addition, the high quality of the the clean sounding player should be noted. Well, the manufacturer has saved a little on the built-in camera and the display. Perhaps this is the only bad news.