Review of Sony Ericsson W980i – style & music. Memory, memory cards
Contents of delivery:
- Telephone
- Battery
- Charger
- Wired stereo headset HPM-77
- USB cable
- Disc with Media Manager, disc with software
Positioning
A musical flagship, that says it all. The most functional model in terms of music from Sony Ericsson at the time of presentation and the most unusual. This device is extremely extraordinary, and it is impossible to judge future models by it; most likely, it will remain a kind of blank spot in the line from Sony Ericsson. The situation around this model reminds me of the release of the Sony Ericsson W900i at the very beginning of the victorious march of the Walkman line. For the first time, a graphics accelerator appeared, video recording with QVGA resolution, an unusual rotate form factor, an excellent screen and a good camera. All together they created an expensive, but so pleasant device that some people still use it and do not experience any difficulties, and have no desire to change this model to something else.
The positioning of the Walkman line for music has not been so clear for a long time; many models are coming out that attract attention with their appearance, materials, form factor, price, delivery package, but last of all, it would seem, with their main function - music. Let's remember Sony Ericsson W910i, Sony Ericsson W890i. Against this background, the failure in Sony sales Ericsson W960i: an expensive device with a large amount of memory and aimed at implementing the main function - music, with less of an image component. Keyword Regarding the Walkman line today, it's not music, it's image.
Music is one of the elements of self-expression of modern man. To paraphrase a well-known saying, we can say: “You are what you listen to.” In the social aspect, the importance of music is difficult to underestimate; for young people it is one of the key topics in communication and knowledge of the world. It’s not just fans of this or that group or music direction that arise; it’s an expression of one’s own self, an attempt to position oneself in the world. There are very few people who are indiscriminate and single out all directions in music at once. There are always certain favorites and taboos, things that a person will never listen to. Among teenagers, you can often hear phrases like “she listens to such and such a singer.” This is a diagnosis, there is nothing to add to such a phrase. Social marker, “friend or foe” division. Along with external markers, such as clothing, music has become key element culture.
It's funny, but for a huge part of young people, listening to music plays a social role; they need to listen to music. At the same time, the quality of music playback seems to play an important role, but, as sales experience of the Walkman line shows, it is not a primary one. Among the buyers of Walkman phones, there are only a few avid music lovers who understand what music is and how it really sounds, and even fewer. For most people, the Walkman is a device that performs a social function and nothing more. The Apple iPod for the US market became exactly the same device; this player is social at its core. You have white headphones in your ears, which means you have an iPod, and you are a progressive young man. It is curious that the iPod's sound quality is also average and inferior to most of its competitors, which, however, are not even close to it in popularity.
Exactly for this reason, there is no need to improve the sound of the Walkman line (this does not apply to individual players). Why invest in improving a core feature when 90 percent of buyers are looking for outward evidence that they're listening to music. That is, the very fact of listening to music is important, it matters what they listen to this music on and what exactly. Of course, people will by default assure you that they care about the quality of the music, the way it sounds. From study to study we encountered this paradox. Convincing us that the quality of music comes first, people then bought phones that, in their opinion, sounded worse. What is the reason? The social significance of such phones was greater; they did not offer listening to good quality music, but the ability to communicate. Imagine taking out your phone, shaking it and nodding your head to the beat of a new song. What do people around you see? The rhythm of the music, they assume you're listening, they see you doing it. Not so little information, a huge number of social markers.
I understand that it is difficult to get used to the idea that we are all trying to play one role or another in society, and music is one of the components of social behavior. It is even more difficult to accept the idea that the quality of music is not so important for many; what is more important to them is the external manifestations associated with listening to music. What kind of headphones are in the ears, what can be shown, what can be said, including about the sound quality of the player or phone. Communication is the answer to the question.
Everything about Sony Ericsson W980 is about communication; the company tried to make the device as catchy and attractive as possible. The lighting effects on the dedicated panel serve the same purpose. In terms of image, it’s hard for me to come up with something similar to the Sony Ericsson W980; it has everything and even more. In terms of music and the quality of its playback, the device is average; the market is full of solutions from other companies that play better. But will they become more popular? Don't think. They have a weak social function, which is off the charts in the flagship from Sony Ericsson.
This phone is ideal for young people who are active in society, looking for themselves and their path, and who have already achieved their first successes. The age group is from 22 to 35 years old, with a primary focus on the 22-26 group. Both girls and boys perceive this phone equally; it is universal.
This is not the first device of its kind with a similar idea. But the first with a similar level of implementation. You can remember the Motorola U9, the cases are somewhat similar, Motorola has amazing effects on the external screen, good quality music playback. But the social component is not so high. There is no need to look for direct matches, there won’t be any; Sony Ericsson W980 stands apart on the market. In a clamshell form factor, this is one of the most unique models of the last couple of years. But don’t just evaluate it from the point of view of the quality of music playback; the device, despite all the declarative statements, was not created for this, far from it.
Design, dimensions, control elements
A clamshell with Japanese design - this is how the W980 can be described. Why do models from Japan immediately come to mind? The reason for this is the opening angle of the clamshell, when two rectangles form a broken line, and the rotary hinge in the middle of the upper end. Let's add a characteristic click when closing or opening the device. Case materials. The list goes on, but in the end we will come to the conclusion that there is nothing like this in most markets today. The model is unique in design and instantly attracts attention.
Only one color available - Piano Black. The front panel is made of plastic, it is glossy and very, very easily soiled. Honestly, I expected rejection of the device, I don’t like dirty things, and constantly wiping the phone is not for me. However, I was pleasantly surprised: due to the mirror effect, the phone does not look dirty. In most cases, it plays in the light, indoors, reflecting light. At most you can see specks of dust on it, but not fat.
The external screen is visible in bright light, its borders are visible, but indoors it is almost invisible, which is not so bad. The material of the case is resistant to scratches, we didn’t have many of them, there were almost no deep ones, even after the phone was in a pocket with keys.
Below the screen you can see three circles, a large one in the middle and two small ones on the sides. These are touch keys that are used to work with the player; they are responsible only for it. No reading messages on the external screen (the latest message scrolls entirely by itself) or viewing recent calls. Only music, radio, period.
The touch keys have vibration feedback, it feels good, and it’s a pleasure to work with them. Backlight in two colors: orange in player mode, white for radio. You need to block the keys in your pocket, otherwise they will press on their own; the first press turns on the backlight, the second is responsible for the action. There is a slider on the right side that locks the buttons, which is nice. Right there on the right is a key for changing external screen modes; they flip through like pages in a book, the animation effect is pleasant. A total of three modes are available - the usual standby screen with the operator's name, radio mode and, finally, the player.
The characteristics of the external screen are not bad - it is a TFT matrix with a resolution of 176x176 pixels (27x27 mm), displaying up to 262,000 colors. The screen is behind protective “glass”, which is tinted, so it is sometimes not very visible in sunlight. At the bottom end, when closed, there is a transparent insert, this is an LED that has two backlight colors - white for most events and orange for the player. A kind of light music when playing songs or a light indicator when making a call, message, and so on. A nice thing that looks stylish, there are simply no analogues on the market.
However, they decided to install a service LED anyway and not rely only on external beauty. A small indicator is located on the left side of the phone. On the same side there is a hole for a strap, a standard Fast Port. The side location of the interface connector has become the norm for Sony Ericsson, but it is inconvenient in most cases; in a pocket, the width of the phone with headphones increases by a centimeter. On the right side there is a paired volume rocker. On the two sides, closer to the bottom end, the speaker holes are visible. This is the company's first device that plays music well in speakerphone, the presence of two speakers is felt.
The side parts of the case, the back part is made of soft touch plastic, the phone does not slip in the hand, it fits like a glove. Size - 92x46x16.9 mm, weight - 100 grams. Typical dimensions, not the thinnest device, but it will fit in a shirt pocket, not to mention jeans or trousers. Opening the device is easy with one hand, there are no surprises here.
On the back you can see the camera lens, it is not covered with anything, when you hold the phone in your hands, your finger always gets on the lens, it is always dirty. It's useless to clean, it doesn't help one bit.
Display
The main screen displays up to 262,000 colors with a resolution of 240x320 pixels (diagonal 2.2 inches, 34x45 mm, TFT). This allows you to display up to 8 lines of text and up to three service lines on the screen for most modes; for viewing Internet resources, when working with by email, with messages it is possible to display and more lines due smaller size font.
The screen quality is excellent, the colors are bright and saturated. In the sun, the screen glares a little, the glossy coating takes its toll, but once you find an angle, you can read from it. To prevent the screen from touching the keyboard, there are two rubber gaskets, they save the situation. But, on the other hand, marks from the cheek on the internal screen are constantly visible, and it is almost impossible to fight them. Above the screen there is a camera for video calls, exactly in the middle.
Keyboard
The number keys are round, medium in size and well spaced. Soft pressing, working with the keys is a pleasure. They are suitable for both quick dialing and long-term SMS messaging. Dedicated Walkman key on the keyboard, navigation key is normal.
The backlighting of the keys is white, pleasant, of medium intensity.
Battery
Back cover has no play and is easy to open. Inside there is a lithium-polymer battery BST-38, its capacity is 930 mAh. According to the manufacturer, the device's operating time in standby mode is up to 370 hours, in talk mode – up to 9 hours. In Moscow networks, the device worked on average for three and a half days with a good load (up to an hour and a half of talking, about 30 minutes of games, 20 minutes of using a browser, up to 3 hours of listening to music).
Music playback time is up to 30 hours. Full battery charging time is about 2 hours. In terms of energy consumption optimization, the model is one of the best on the A200 platform today; it works for a long time. Not a record holder, but above average.
Memory, memory cards
The phone has 8 GB of internal memory, no memory cards are provided. For most users, this amount of memory will be more than enough.
Data transfer
When using a USB connection, you are forced to choose whether to access files in memory, this is a data transfer mode, or continue to work with the phone, or turn on Print mode (printing photos). In the first case, the phone turns off, you see the phone's memory. USB 2.0 standard, data transfer speed about 2 Mb/s. In the second case there are various settings USB for accessing the network, the phone acts as a modem.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth in this model is version 2 and supports EDR. The A2DP profile is supported, which allows the use of wireless stereo headphones. The model supports the following profiles:
- Basic Imaging Profile
- Basic Printing Profile
- Dial-Up Networking Profile
- File Transfer Profile
- Generic Access Profile
- Generic Object Exchange Profile
- Handsfree Profile
- Headset Profile
- JSR-82 Java API
- Object Push Profile
- Personal Area Network Profile
- Serial Port Profile
- Service Discovery Application Profile
- Synchronization Profile
- SyncML OBEX binding
The device also supports HSDPA.
Performance
Everything is typical for the A200 platform, there are no special features. There are no restrictions on the size of the JAR file, the HEAP size is from 512 KB to 1.5 MB.
Camera
The phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, CMOS matrix. No autofocus. The device supports four possible resolutions - 2048x1536, 1632x1224, 1280x960, 640x480 pixels. There are two types of image compression – Normal, Fine. Most of the photos in the examples are shown in Fine quality. The camera interface is vertical, this is dictated by the phone's form factor, the absence of a side key, which is replaced by the OK button.
The camera settings look like this:
- Shutter sound. Select one of four shutter sounds, you can turn off the sound.
- White balance. Choice between automatic mode, as well as Incandescent, Fluorescent, Daylight, Cloudy.
- Effects. You can apply several effects to pictures, namely: Negative, Sepia, Black & White.
- Timer– activated on certain time for photographing your loved one.
- Night mode Designed for shooting at night or in low light conditions. Noise in photographs increases, shutter speed increases (you cannot move the camera, otherwise you will get a blurry photo).
- Shooting mode. Normal mode is for taking regular photos. Burst mode (Burst 4) – taking 4 pictures at once, a series. Panorama – taking panoramic pictures, a very interesting mode that allows you to take unusual photographs. The last mode is taking pictures using frames; the resolution of the photo is automatically reduced.
In shooting mode, the phone screen plays the role of a viewfinder, the movement of the image on the screen is smooth, everything is visible very well. Using the number keys you can quickly switch various functions and shooting parameters, this significantly speeds up working with the camera.
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New camera functions related to navigation and more include adding a position, that is, information about the place where the photo was taken. This feature can be disabled from the camera menu. The implementation of positioning is done in an interesting way. Add a location position not only from the hardware GPS receiver (it is not here, unlike the W760i), but using the Cell ID that is used Google Maps second version. We were unable to find data about the location in the EXIF record of the files with this definition, but the phone itself quite correctly showed the location on the map for such images. A thumbnail of the photo appears in Google Maps, and the map shows where it was taken.
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Video can be recorded in two resolutions (320x240, 176x144), file format is 3GP. The duration of the videos can be specified as limited (up to 10 seconds) or unlimited. The quality of the videos is average and not amazing.
Pre-installed programs, games, themes
Consider all the features in detail software does not make sense, this is the A200 platform, which is perfectly described in a separate material, here we will focus on the features of this device.
Unlike the first devices on the A200 platform, this model widely uses animation when opening windows and sending messages. This simple animation, but it changes the perception of the phone, it looks beautiful. Another little thing in this phone's piggy bank.
The device has 5 different design themes, all of them use flash animation to one degree or another, and can change the appearance of the main menu, for example, to a cyclical one or to a more familiar matrix one. The topics look interesting. The main menu can be made cyclical, circular, or display one icon at a time.
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The phone has three games, one – Need for Speed – is a good racing emulator, but the main thing is that the car can be controlled using the built-in motion sensor. You can fit into a turn by slightly tilting the phone to the side. Such controls add a lot of variety to the game. The second game is Lumines Block Challenge, which is a variant of Tetris. The last game is traditional Sudoku.
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Applications are represented by six programs. One of them – AccuWeather – allows you to download a weather forecast to your phone; the program is not of much interest. The second program is World Clock 3D, viewing the time in various cities around the world.
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Music Mate 5 is present, you can learn to play different instruments, or turn your phone into a metronome.
Converter – converts different quantities.
Standby World is a clock for different zones that can be set as a standby screen saver (for the main screen).
Musical Features
The third version of the player, which is the most complex on the market today, unlike previous models, a new representation of equalizers has been added, more convenient and simpler, similar to the Sony Ericsson W760i, W902. Otherwise the device has everything Sony specifications Ericsson W760i. It is mistakenly believed that this is the first device with Clear Stereo, Clear Bass, and all together - Clear Expirience. No, the first device to support these technologies was the W760i. Another thing is that the manufacturer did not advertise them, and no one paid attention to the “outstanding” sound quality, plus the headset included was ordinary. The reason is obvious, we will talk about it below, having considered the main functions of the player.
Control music on an external screen. The phone completely controls the music library from the external screen, all filters are available, and transition between lists is available. It's nice. A separate window is dedicated to the radio, there is a transition between saved stations, a search for stations, and the side volume keys also work (long press - jump between saved stations). There is no need to open the device to listen to music or select the desired song.
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SensMe. In addition to the standard set of functions of the third version of the Walkman, the Sony Ericsson W980i also has the SensMe option. This is a playlist that includes various songs and distributes them by type (playback speed, mood). You are not required to add tags to the songs; Sony Media Manager serves this purpose; it analyzes all the melodies on the computer and adds the necessary information. Another thing is that such a process takes time. For example, analyzing approximately 1.5 GB of music in our case took about 20-25 minutes. The advantage of Media Manager is that it can work with memory cards; there is no need to connect the phone itself. The program can also convert photos and videos for the phone; its capabilities are quite wide.
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Is the SensMe feature interesting? Undoubtedly. On the melodies map you see the location of each track as dots, you can move between them, and at the same time a certain point is highlighted and it starts playing. However, the sight hits several points at once, they are also melodies. By clicking on enter, you can create a playlist with melodies that are similar in mood, playback speed, and so on. Under certain moods in life it is very pleasant.
However, you need to understand that the function will work well only if you listen to music of various genres, and there is a lot of it on your phone. If you add a couple of albums from the same artist, you will most likely see that they are all located in one part of the map. The meaning of the function is lost.
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Shake Control. Used full version control the player by shaking. It happens very simply. Press and hold the central touch button, and then shake the device; when moving forward, it jumps to the next song, back - respectively, to the previous one. Just shaking - random selection compositions. When performing an action there is Feedback, the device vibrates.
You should not assume that the function will find widespread use. It will be of interest only to those who are involved in running, other sports and want to be able to quickly change the composition. For young people, it may be interesting to try it in action and that’s all. It’s more convenient to connect the remote control and use it to control playback.
Among the new filters, it is worth noting the “time machine”; it plays songs for a certain year. Among the more traditional ones - a list of the most played, least played.
Playback in hands-free mode. In music box mode, this device does not amaze the imagination - it plays loudly, but not very well. There are no differences from devices equipped with one speaker. Everything is approximately on the same level, unfortunately.
General description of Walkman 3.0. Of the fundamental differences from previous version Walkman 2.0 can be noted for DRM 2.0 support, as well as MTP support, which allows you to directly transfer songs from Windows Media Player.
The device finds all files and directories on the memory card, extracts information from metadata (ID3 tags). Supported audio file formats are MP3, AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+, WAV, WMA and m4a. There are no bitrate restrictions for MP3 files; you can also download files from VBR. The company recommends using files with a bitrate of 192 Kbps.
In the music library, all saved music is divided according to several criteria:
- Performers– a list of performers is provided in alphabetical order, and a quick search by artist name is available.
- Albums– sorting by album name, search also works.
- Posts– a general list of all melodies, sorted by song title or, if it is not in the metadata, by file name.
- Genre– this is sorting by type of music direction, for example, Hip Hop, Jazz, Blues and so on.
- My playlists– playlists created by the user, they can be created both in the device itself and on the computer when viewing the contents of the memory in USB Mass Storage mode; when updating the library, the device also finds them.
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Unlike the second version, all transitions are made, although horizontal, but externally they are designed somewhat differently. This does not cause any difficulties. All navigation is carried out in a few touches, and each list is searchable using several letters.
The mode of repeat playback of one or all songs, random playback is available. Rewind is progressive; holding down the key changes the rewind step. In the standard, basic player, you cannot select visualization, that is, animation in place of the album image. Only the image associated with the album.
If you have music playing and you are in standby mode, then launching the Media section will immediately lead to the player item.
The equalizer is 6-band, you can set your own settings and enable stereo expansion. Equalizer settings are now available only when headphones are connected; pictures set for default equalizers are clearly displayed.
TrackID is present as a standard option, there is a built-in FM radio with RDS support (for detailed description should go to the description of the A200 platform).
FM Transmitter. Initially they promised that the W980 would have a built-in antenna, then transmitting sound to external devices would not pose a problem, and broadcasting the radio to Bluetooth stereo headphones is a nice option. But it didn't happen. The radio only works with an antenna, but there is still an FM transmitter.
In the radio menu you can select a frequency and start broadcasting immediately. The effective distance to the receiver is up to half a meter, beyond which the interference begins to become very annoying. In the car, it is best to place the phone close to the radio, otherwise interference will occur. The volume of the transmitted signal is low, about half that of terrestrial radio. There is a lot of interference, but this is a characteristic of such devices in general, their obvious disadvantage.
At incoming call signal transmission is interrupted. Not only the sound, but also the name of the artist and the title of the composition are broadcast to the radio or other phone. The transmitter should be considered as an additional function, exotic, it will not be in demand.
Playback quality. The set includes HPM-77 headphones, they have excellent music playback quality, one of best headphones companies today. There is volume control in 15 positions, which is quite enough. The device plays loudly; subjectively, the model seemed better to me than other phones from the company.
Now let's move on to consider the myths about the sound quality of the Sony Ericsson W980i. In this model, there is no separate DSP responsible for sound processing; accordingly, the phone processor is responsible for everything; sound processing is software, but not hardware algorithms. You can achieve good sound in this way; the presence of DSP is not a panacea or salvation. Not at all. But it is the use of a specialized chip that makes it possible to achieve evenness of all sound characteristics, good sound.
In the RMAA program, the frequency characteristics of the model are excellent; they do not differ from most players, for example, the latest generation iPod Nano. But when listening to this model, everyone notes background noise on different compositions, the voice often does not sound very natural. What is the reason? Initially, Clear Stereo, like Clear Bass, is another equalizer that improves the sound, makes it more pleasant to the ear and nothing more. He can't make it natural, no. The sound is processed to sound better, but there is no way to return the normal sound here, this is not a disabling option. This is related to the problems of measuring sound characteristics in RMAA; before measurements, it is necessary to disable stereo expansion, all equalizers, and programs that process sound. This is not possible in Sony Ericsson phones; such an option is simply not provided; they always “improve” the sound. Some people will like this sound, others will not. But it cannot be called natural.
When working with touch keys - holding the center key, rewinding - interference occurs, extraneous noise in headphones. Unfortunately, on most tracks you can hear that the device is “noisy”. This is clearly visible in the Intermodulation + Noise parameter in RMAA, it is equal to 0.8 versus 0.015 for most modern phones.
The measurements show absolutely nothing. good frequency response may be spoiled by aural rejection of the interpretation of music and vice versa. Therefore, we conducted a blind test. To eliminate the influence of headphones, we took the supplied HPM-77 and connected them to different devices(original 3.5 mm adapters were used in all cases). For comparison we chose Sony A803, which has Clear Stereo technology (can be disabled in the settings), Sony Ericsson W760i, Nokia 5610 XpressMusic, Apple iPod touch. Users did not see the device and only rated the sound of the music. The group consisted of 10 people. The results speak for themselves.
| Parameter, music type | Sony Ericsson W980i | Sony Ericsson W760i | Sony A803 | Nokia 5610 | Apple iPod Touch |
| Maximum volume | 8.3 | 7.1 | 9.2 | 8.4 | 8.9 |
| Classic (playback quality) | 5.1 (lots of background noise) | 6.2 | 8.2 | 7.2 (not enough depth) | 8.4 |
| Popular music | 8.4 (singer's voice does not always sound as expected) | 7.7 (not enough volume) | 8.7 | 7.9 | 8.2 |
| Jazz | 5.2 (unnatural sound) | 6.2 (unexpressed sound) | 9.1 (rich bass) | 6.9 | 7.4 |
| Lyrics (art song) | 6.4 (music and voice are broken, unusual) | 7.1 | 9.2 | 8.1 | 8.6 |
| Enable Bass equalizer (average for all songs) | 7.3 | 6.9 | 9.1 | 7.4 | 8.6 |
Good volume, focus on popular music - these are the main parameters of the Sony Ericsson W980. There are no miracles in the world, and the phone is inferior to the player from Sony, and is also inferior to the music model from Nokia with a dedicated DSP. The reason is that all these solutions were created as universal ones; it was difficult for manufacturers to imagine what exactly users would listen to them. Sony Ericsson considered that the majority of users listen to popular music, and optimized their music flagship for it. In my opinion, leave these improvements in the form of a separate equalizer, and everything would be great. The ability to switch off is a great thing.
Considering that most audiophiles do not understand what sound is and focus on the appearance of the device, the sound quality of the Sony Ericsson W980 will always be highly rated. Here's how users rated the sound when listening with standard headphones on each device when they saw it. Psychology in action.
| Parameter | Sony Ericsson W980i | Sony Ericsson W760i | Sony A803 | Nokia 5610 | Apple iPod Touch |
| Sound Quality Rating | 8.9 | 5.1 | 9.4 | 5.2 | 9.8 |
From personal and subjective experience. The sound in the Sony Ericsson W980 takes some getting used to. When I started using the Sony A803, I turned on Clear Stereo, but then I realized that the sound was boring, not pleasing, and often didn’t look very natural (and on the player this equalizer is implemented much better). I turned it off and listened to music as usual. I began to listen more and get tired less. Enhancing sound greatly affects the brain, it is unnatural, and the flow of information increases many times over. One can argue with this statement and say that it is made up from thin air. This is what I personally encountered, and judging by observations of friends, they have approximately the same approach, sound enhancers are disabled. But that's a different story.
In order not to blindly trust what is written in various reviews, press releases and similar nonsense, I recommend that you arm yourself with a set of your favorite, well-known compositions and listen to them on the Sony Ericsson W980. Perhaps you will like a new interpretation of well-known music, and you will fall in love with the device; perhaps you will not like it. It is impossible to say this in absentia, you have to listen.
Stereo speakers. The first device from Sony Ericsson, where two speakers are not nominal, they sound good, although not volumetric, but loud. Using the phone as a music box is pleasant; you can listen to upcoming podcasts while you sleep; the volume and playback quality are enough for your eyes.
Impression
The model has an acceptable ringing tone and is audible in most situations. There are no problems with connection quality. The vibration alert is a little stronger than average in strength and is felt well.
The phone went on sale at a cost of about 420 Euros (in Russia at the beginning of August at a price of 20,500-21,000 rubles). There is no need to interpret it as a musical decision, it is not that. Like almost all Walkman phones today, this is a fashion phone with a very, very unusual design and a good set of functions. The only downside of the device is the stupid placement of the camera; your finger rests on the lens all the time. Otherwise the phone is so nice that I don’t even know what to say. A unique model and nothing more. Case materials, unusual external screen, controls, good topics, pedometer. Some nice little touches include the logo on the external screen - the letter W rotates as you rotate the phone. This is another undocumented use of a motion sensor. Rotating a picture to the desired plane, Xpict Story or a slide show with music - all together create a very pleasant product.
This is typical Sony Style, beautiful, functional. I caught myself thinking that I like this phone simply as a device, unusual in all its components. But I hardly listened to music on it. Podcasts at their best. Peculiarity of perception. For many who are not spoiled by high-quality players, this model will be the height of their dreams. Even the radio has Clear Experience settings, and one desire arises - give me a button to turn off this “miracle”. Somehow this is not the case.
It is impossible to predict that the phone will become widespread. It's not even about the quality of the sound or the player. Music flagships from Sony Ericsson have never been very common, with the exception of the first phone in the family. And this model is also expensive, which clearly hints at the fate of the same Sony Ericsson W900i. A good device that was received with a bang by knowledgeable people. Here the situation is different, this is a clean image that will go just as well among young people. But it won’t become a bestseller, it’s a specific niche and that’s all. But getting into this niche is almost one hundred percent. The model is nice and deserves close attention.
22.09.08The Walkman phone line lived for a very long time without a flagship model. No, formally the flagship was the UIQ smartphone W960i. But it was such a misunderstanding between us girls that it was awkward to even talk about. But a flagship is the best device in the line, and not a model with a large index (at least that’s how it should be). Therefore, the responsibility lay with the new W980 folding phone - wow. Don't let your face fall in the dirt and keep the regiment's banner. Happened.
Design
I have always respected Sony Ericsson for the design of their phones. Especially during the time of the K700 model, when the company released barely ten new devices a year, but everything was spot on. At the same time, I have always been fundamentally a Nokia person, that is, I never bought an SE phone for myself. But from afar, I admired it. Nobody did anything like that then. What the secret was, I still don’t understand. Most likely, in the feeling: for some reason it was believed that both the Swedes and the Japanese had their hands on these things equally. That is, residents of countries (and employees of companies) in which design is something like a religion. And the point, I suspect, was that people whose brains are twisted in a special way, but in different directions, worked together on one project. And then something changed. Since 2007, I stopped liking new Sony Ericsson phones - with rare exceptions. And because of this I was very upset.
So the W980 was something of a revelation for me. Not a single SE model over the past two years has looked so great and so “Sonierixon-like”. Moreover, on the one hand, the design clearly shows references to classic devices like the Z600 clamshell and the W900 rotator. On the other hand, in general, the new musicphone is not like anything else at all. A unique device that, next to other models of the modern SE line, looks like an astronaut in the company of divers. What is the transparent insert on the front end worth? top cover(In it, by the way, there is a hidden LED that flickers to the beat of the music). Or three raised circles under the external display, which contain touch-sensitive player control buttons. And black and orange color scheme- Walkman signature colors? What about the hooligan keyboard and the unusual shape of the case? Oh, well done, guys.
And here’s what’s interesting: the phone seems to be one hundred percent male. Well, what about the solid-sized case, black plastic (glossy, “piano lacquer” on the front, matte soft-touch on the back). But young ladies like the W980 almost more than men. Such is the mystery.
Ergonomics
The main complaint about the ergonomics of the case is that it is difficult to open the phone case with one hand. And I liked the keyboard: the buttons are large, round, evenly distributed over the entire, generally quite large area of the internal panel. At first glance it seems that function keys For the sake of a conceptual drawing, the blocks are put together too closely, but in practice everything is fine.
At first, it is difficult to get used to the non-standard purpose of the side key, which is located immediately under the “rockers” of the volume control. Typically, this button launches the built-in camera. And here - switches modes external display(three modes: “standby”, “radio” and “player”). The gizmo is useful, although I still don’t understand what prevents it from switching modes with a short press, and turning on the camera with a long press.
Speaking of the camera. Its characteristics are modest (3.2 megapixels, no autofocus), which is why it is presented modestly: just a small window, without a curtain, massive edging and large signature. For commendable moderation, a plus for the designers. And a big minus for the location of this very camera: it’s too low, you always cover it with your finger.
But the most important thing in a musicphone is, of course, the organization of work with the player. For the W980, this is all ambiguous. On the one hand, touch-sensitive music control keys are both fashionable and quite convenient (at least in the way they are done in this phone - with tactile feedback when touched). On the other hand, you won’t even be able to switch tracks blindly - you have to take the phone out of your pocket every time. Theoretically, this issue can be resolved very simply: the player control buttons are placed on the headset - and everyone is happy. But the headset that comes with the W980 does not have such buttons... There is only one button on it - “accept a call”. So it goes. And I’ll grumble a little more: there is no standard 3.5 mm audio output on the body of the clamshell; the headset is attached to the body, as usual, from the side - and the plug protrudes strongly from the body and constantly clings to everything. And since you have to constantly take the device out of your pocket and put it back, the headset very often becomes disconnected from the phone. And this is extremely angry - if not even more angry.
Screen
On the outside there is a square display, 262 thousand colors and 176 x 176 pixels. It displays some service information, numbers of missed calls, and the first lines of messages. And also the frequency of the station from the FM receiver. And the name of the current song in the player, of course (the player needs to be controlled using the touch keys under the display). The internal screen is richer: a pleasant diagonal of 2.2’’, standard resolution 320x240... Standard - but in the understanding of Sony Ericsson - color: 262,000 shades. Someone will make a face and say that, for example, Nokia switched to 16 millionth matrix a long time ago. I usually tell such comrades that only a non-humanoid alien with huge compound eyes can distinguish the local 262 thousand from Nokia’s 16 million.
Chip
The Sony Ericsson W980 has a built-in spatial position sensor. And there are several very interesting features tied to it. The simplest (but also the most effective) is that the Walkman logo on the external display is always turned in the correct direction, even if you hold the phone upside down. The most obvious is changing the orientation of the internal screen from portrait to landscape and vice versa. The most Walkman-like - you can scroll through songs in the player by sharply shaking the phone (to do this, however, you need to hold down the central touch button on the front panel, so the value of the feature is somewhat... mmm... lost). Finally, the most useful one is the pedometer app. In order to stay in good shape, you need to take at least 10,000 steps a day. SE W980 will help you count them.
Functions
Without saying too much: this is one of the most functional Sony Ericsson phones in principle (the platform, of course, is the latest - A200). Demanding more from a non-smartphone is simply stupid. The most powerful “call” functions and messaging service, a reference organizer, multitasking when working with Java, the most convenient service for quick access to functions, applications, events and settings. In short, everything that makes us love Sony Ericsson phones. All multimedia content(photos, music, videos and games) can be viewed from a very convenient gallery application. By the way, there are three toys here: Lumines Block Challenge (something like Tetris, but three hundred thousand times more interesting), Sudoku (you can guess what it is) and the Need For Speed ProStreet racing game, which is controlled using a motion sensor (to control the car on the screen, you don’t need to press buttons - just tilt the phone body in the desired direction). From communications: GPRS, EDGE and 3G, which is still not quite relevant in our country. You can access the Internet using a very smart Internet browser. Or you can get news headlines using an RSS utility. Of course, there is Bluetooth – high-speed, with an A2DP stereo profile. A Google maps client is also built-in: you can receive location data from base stations, or you can connect a GPS module via Bluetooth and receive signals from satellites.
Memory
There is no slot for memory cards in the Sony Ericsson W980, but here it is not particularly needed - the generous manufacturer inserted as much as 8 GB of flash into the musicphone right at the factory. How much more? In order to access this memory, you don’t need any special software: you connect the phone to the PC using a cable and good Windows immediately detects it as removable drive. You can upload any file there - this means that the phone can be used as a flash drive of this size.
Music
Nothing cooler than the Walkman software player Sony models Ericsson, for almost four years of musicphone existence, has not yet come up with competitors. Walkman is the standard mobile music, this is the most comfortable and beautiful shell. In W980 it is the latest, third version. All functions of the software player are available from the main screen of the phone: playback settings, working with playlists, equalizers (don’t be lazy to tinker with them - they have a great effect on the sound). On the external display there is only navigation through the music library using filters by artist, album, genre, etc. Among the additional “musical” features: the TrackID melody guesser and the SensMe application (arranges music “by mood” - if you first analyze it on a PC) . However, we have already gone through all this. The transmitter is a new function and is still rare. (To be completely honest, the W980 is, in principle, the second phone with this feature that ended up in our test laboratory). The FM transmitter works very simply: you indicate the desired frequency in your phone (for example, 100.1 MHz), and then look for it with the radio tuner. If you remember to turn it on music player– from the speakers of the radio, exactly the song that is currently playing on the phone will be heard. Using the SE W980 radio transmitter, you can “share” music with friends or make a long car journey through the endless Russian FM desert, which begins already on the border of the Moscow region, less boring. There is another way to use an FM transmitter - a little hooligan, but very fun. If the taxi driver with whom you are going somewhere really likes Russian chanson, you can try to instill in him a good taste in music - just tune in to the right wave and play something positive on it. The beauty of the situation is that a serious music lover will not be able to “escape” the right music by switching from station to station. And he won’t suspect you of anything - if, of course, you sit with a stony expression on your face.
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The “book” form factor is loved by the manufacturer, although at first such devices from the company evoked mixed feelings (just remember the Z600). In the case of the W980, it is a medium-sized clamshell, 92 x 46 x 17 mm at 100 g. weight. The phone is easy to transport, although it is a bit long when open. The body is made of plastic of various textures: glossy transparent plastic of the front panel covers the black surface of the lid, and the entire internal surface is glossy black. Rear end, which goes into the sides of the lower half, is made of soft-touch plastic, which is why the device does not slip in the hand.
The ratio of the body halves is approximately 2/3: the upper one is slightly thicker than the lower one. The connecting hinge is an element of the upper part - it is of medium size, but, nevertheless, it facilitates reliable fastening of the halves and almost completely eliminates play in both positions (open and closed).
You can open the W980 with one hand, but this requires a certain skill: a small ledge, or rather a bevel, on the edge of the lower half of the case is intended to make this task slightly easier, although it cannot be done without training.
The opening angle of the device is approximately 85 degrees, which is impressive, but the opening mechanism is not typical for book phones. The fact is that when opened, the upper part of the body ends up behind the lower part, and does not join with it at the junction. This fact does not come at the expense of ergonomics, it is simply a design feature. Holding the device to your ear during a conversation and using the menu functions is comfortable, but, as mentioned above, subjectively it is a little long.
So, let's start describing the functional elements. Top part, its external side is represented by a color display (TFT, 176 x 176 pixels, 262K color shades) and control keys for the musical component of the device (radio and MP3 player). The external display is not visible in idle mode, but when in use it completely takes over the functions of displaying all the necessary data, eliminating the need to open the phone. It shows the reception level, the current battery charge, the name of the operator, and even the current date and time. When the FM module is operating, the frequency and RDS data are displayed, and when the player is activated, there is generally a full-fledged menu for selecting an artist, album, podcast, etc., and then displaying a status slider and data from the song tag. In general, when using the device as a player, opening it is absolutely not necessary.
As for the touch keys of the panel, these are 3 partially combined circles (the side ones are equal to each other, the central one is slightly larger) in which the rewind buttons, play/stop keys and menu item selection buttons are illuminated with red LEDs, and the radio buttons are illuminated with white ones. Confirmation of the press is accompanied by vibration of the device, and accidental pressing is excluded by the hold key on the right side of the device. The lower part of the panel in question is equipped with a transparent arc, under which a light indicator is hidden, flickering in red when the composition is played back.
The inner surface of the upper part of the device is given over to the placement of a horizontal slot for the earpiece, shifted to the right relative to the center, a camera for video calls in the center, and also, of course, the main screen of the device. The latter is a 2.2” TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, capable of displaying up to 262K color shades. The main screen does not occupy the entire surface of the inside of the hinged lid, but this does not affect the perception of information. The picture looks vibrant and rich, and behavior in the sun deserves a solid B - when exposed to direct sunlight, the information remains readable, although it fades somewhat.
The inner surface of the lower part of the device is entirely devoted to the keyboard. These are traditionally control and alphanumeric keys. The first include the combined 3 circles of the joystick and those combined into circles - contextual ones, keys for accepting and rejecting calls, “applications” and cancel, respectively. Just below are the free-standing round walkman and power buttons.
The alphanumeric block is a classic 3 columns of 4 keys each. The keys are made of black plastic circles framed by a silver outline. They are well spaced across the surface of the panel, so erroneous clicks are minimal. Despite the fact that the keys are located flush with the surface of the case, they have a smooth and noticeable stroke, which has a positive effect on the ease of typing.
The backlight of the entire block is white, moderately bright and not entirely uniform.
On the bottom, or rather its side faces, there are a lot of control and functional elements: these are 2 external speaker consoles (one on each side), then on the right is a volume rocker, a music component selection key and a lock lever (we wrote about it above ). On the left is a Fast Port interface connector, a status indicator and a slot for attaching a strap, offset to the top edge.
The back panel is minimally filled with functional elements, but is rich in inscriptions and logos. Here we see a small camera lens window without a shutter and the battery compartment cover. We'll talk about the camera a little later, but... The device does not belong to the Cybershot line, so you shouldn’t expect anything outstanding from it.
The battery compartment cover is attached to 7 protrusions: 2 on the side and bottom, and also mainly on the top. The fastening is standard, but there is a slight vertical play.
The battery is provided with a corresponding reservoir under a cover with 2 protrusions at the bottom. To remove the battery, you need to pull it by the top edge.
The SIM card is located above the upper edge of the battery and is half recessed into the body. It is installed horizontally and cannot be removed with the battery installed. As you may have noticed, the device does not provide removable memory cards, which is why there is no corresponding connector. The manufacturer logically assumed that with 8Gb of its own memory, the card is of no use, although, it seems to us, support for removable storage would not be superfluous.
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: User interface
SonyEricsson W980i operates on the A200 platform, which has been reviewed more than once on our resource. Among the additions, we can note the presence of an accelerometer in the model, which is actually not revolutionary on the market and is widely used by both the manufacturer and third-party developers.
We turn on the phone and see the setup wizard, which allows you to set the language, current date and time, and copy numbers from the card to the phone’s memory. If you refuse, you can always find this function in the settings menu.
The desktop of the device is typical for the manufacturer's devices. The indicators include: the reception level and battery charge in the upper part, the name of the operator’s network slightly lower in the center, and closer to the bottom, the current date and time, as well as captions for the context keys. Let us remind you that the W980i has keys for accepting and rejecting calls, which is why the load on the context keys for these functions is completely removed and they can perform their direct duties. The user is also free to choose the watch size from 2 options (large and small) in the settings menu. The desktop picture can be a downloaded graphic file or a photo taken by the device’s camera, or a default image from the theme.
The W980i menu is selected from three views: a matrix of 12 icons (3x4) - icons, rotation - a radial menu and a “single icon”, with vertical scrolling of items. The icons are static and the minimal graphic effect is present only with the matrix display type - when you hover the cursor over a menu item, the icon increases in size and pulsates. The menu sub-items are mostly text-based, made up of a vertical list of components with a small icon to the left of the name. For quick access to the necessary sub-items, digital key sequences are provided, which the device processes quite quickly, which is good news.
Do not forget about the so-called Activity Menu - this menu is called special key applications, located under the call button and provides access to the following functions: a list of events (missed calls, SMS, etc.), running applications, links and frequently used pages from the device’s Internet browser.
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Telephone service
By default, the call log, which can be called either through the menu or by pressing the call key, displays a single list of the latest numbers, distinguished by the call type icon. In addition, bookmarks are located horizontally, through which you can go to separate lists of received, outgoing and missed calls. In addition to the name or number of the subscriber, the device will display the time and duration (if the call was made). In addition, the device provides a search function from dialed numbers, and not added to the telephone directory - when you dial the first digits, a list of matching numbers will be displayed on the display, from which you are asked to select.
The W980i can store up to 1000 calls in its memory. Namely subscribers, not numbers, i.e. provided that all fields are filled in – 7 telephone numbers. The contact list is a monopolist and shows only entries in the device’s memory, completely ignoring the SIM card. It is not possible to force it to display both lists, although you can see these numbers through the functions menu.
For each subscriber you can set a large number of data such as:
The device has user groups that you can define yourself. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to change the ring tone for them or add a call picture.
For frequently used numbers, keys 1-9 are provided; you can set up speed dialing on them. In addition, the user can create his own business card(v-card) and creation of special numbers (allowed, own and emergency numbers call).
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Messages
The messages menu contains access to sms, mms, e-mail and voice mail.
When creating a new message, the device will ask what type the user wants to create, and only then proceed to editing. The message form is simple and standard; regardless of the topic, it resembles an unlined sheet. To help the user there is a list of symbols, including emoticons, T9 dictionary and templates. In addition, during the process of editing sms, if you change the solution, you can go to mms from the same template. The T9 dictionary is trainable and works quite correctly.
Editing email similar to that on a PC: the “To” field, subject, text and attachments. Settings account takes a little time, although some fields could be configured automatically based on the information entered.
During testing, no problems or errors with encodings were recorded; the client is quite convenient and functional.
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Organizer, office
The organizer is presented as a separate item in the menu and includes all the necessary options.
The file manager provides access to all internal content of the device and memory card, contains data on cataloged files, such as:
The device has as many as 5 alarm clocks. They are configured for both one-time and daily operation, taking into account the choice of days. We won’t judge why such a quantity is needed, but we won’t deny the sometimes need for several alarm clocks.
The call signal can be any melody contained in the device’s memory, and it can also be triggered when the device is turned off.
A calendar with the ability to display the month, week and specific day will allow you to set reminders about events. After you select the topic, type, start time, and duration, you can set the duration and date. In principle, nothing new, but the point is usually irreplaceable.
Tasks and notes are also important details of the organizer. Unlike the calendar, the events included in these sub-items are not tied to a specific date and are placed in a single vertical list, sorted alphabetically.
Timer and stopwatch are similar external design, but different in essence. The stopwatch supports up to 9 laps, and just like the timer, it can work in the background, which is quite convenient.
The calculator in the W980i is a somewhat expanded arithmometer, which in addition to adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, also calculates percentages.
A code memo will be useful to hide confidential information from prying eyes. At the first call, the application asks you to enter a 4-digit password and a security word, and only then proceed with filling.
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Internet
The device has a standard browser from NetFront. The browser itself is quite convenient - it can scale HTML pages to fit the screen size, has a list of bookmarks, a log of visits, and the ability to save pages and individual pictures. Cookies, page caching and password saving are supported. The first link in the application contains access to Google, which often makes it easier to find the information you need.
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Communications
The device operates in the following networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900/UMTS 2100, supports EDGE and HSDPA.
The communication capabilities of the device are gathered in one item, hidden in the settings. Among them are Bluetooth, USB, synchronization and Internet options. Regarding Bluetooth version 2.0+ EDR, there are no complaints about the protocol and its implementation in the W980i. During testing, the device was connected to a PC, PDA, BT headset and several smartphones. There are no complaints about the operation and data transfer, and no connection interruptions have been recorded. The A2DP profile was tested in conjunction with the Plantronics Pulsar 590E and worked quite correctly, which is quite critical for a music phone.
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Multimedia capabilities
The W980i's multimedia browser is somewhat reminiscent of appearance interface used in Sony products, PSP and PS3 (XMB) and is now used in almost all new products. This is cataloged by content type vertical list, offering access to photos, music, videos, games, RSS feeds and customization of display options.
However, to work with the music player, and we talked about this earlier, it is not at all necessary to use this browser, and in principle open the phone. All necessary keys, menus and features are available when the clamshell is closed and the external display is used. Having unlocked the lever on the right panel, select the MUSIC application and get access to artists, albums, tracks, playlists, genres, years, audiobooks or podcasts (logically, the data is taken by the device from song tags). After selecting the required option, we proceed to listening - visually the player is quite simple: with the exception of the top line with the signal level, time and battery charge, 2/3 of it is occupied by the Walkman logo, which rotates depending on the position of the phone, below there is a progress bar, under which we see the title and artist of the composition. At this time, the indicator of the top cover, under a transparent arc, pulsates to the beat of the composition.
It is worth noting that when the device is open, it does not display much more information (the total time of the composition and the time since the start of playback under the progress bar), apart from more advanced settings functions. From the settings we note:
The last option is useful in a car - after setting a certain FM frequency in the menu, you can and should find it on your radio and start transmitting. An interesting and sometimes useful option that eliminates the need to purchase an additional device or synchronize your favorite music from your phone with that in the car. For correct playback and to avoid interference, it is necessary to place the device in close proximity to the radio receiver; in our case, this distance was no more than half a meter.
The SensMe option offers you to find music based on your mood. To work, you need a PC on which the “server” part of the application, which analyzes music, actually runs.
The radio receiver, traditionally, does not work without connecting a wired headset that acts as an antenna. There is a memory for 20 radio stations, support for RDS, Auto search and work in the background.
The included headset is very good. Besides the fact that it consists of 2 parts, i.e. Fast Port connector and mini-jack connector (3.5 mm) with a microphone and an answer key, thereby allowing you to connect any/favorite headphones, and the in-ear headphones themselves will not make you think about replacing them from the first minutes. However, the sound volume of the device itself cannot be called excessive - we tested this parameter in a Moscow metro car and, to be honest, we expected a little more. Undoubtedly, the sound is clear, the composition is audible, but sometimes you want a little more volume. Compared to the Sennheiser CX 300, with which we usually test the musical component of the device, the original earbuds lose in volume, although only slightly.
The device's multimedia capabilities also include audio recording and entertainment applications VideoDJ, PhotoDJ and MusicDJ. In the first case, it is a simple-designed voice recorder, which, nevertheless, records information quite well without a time limit (except for free memory).
MusicDJ will allow you to create your own composition from a set of samples included in the kit. By changing and adding sound along 4 tracks, you can create a unique melody, which you can then save and use as a ringtone.
The TrackID application will allow you to record a few seconds of a song and get information about the album and artist of the song using an Internet connection.
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: games and applications
The device has 3 games installed: Lumines Block Challenge (a variation on the Tetris theme), Need for speed (famous racing) and Sudoku.
Location determination - GPS service: the W980i does not have built-in GPS, but the application is provided free service Google Maps. The application displays both a map image and a satellite photo, to choose from, linking the current location to base station. Planning a route and traveling on a map is also possible, but Google itself does not recommend using the function as a car navigator.
In addition, the application menu contains an extensive list of useful programs. Among them:
Java machine test completed standard programs JBenchmark. The results can be seen in the table below, in our opinion they are not bad.
Table "JAVA" SonyEricsson W980 |
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| Characteristics | ||||
| Platform | MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1 |
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| Tests | ||||
| JBenchmark 1.1.1 |
7581;
Text/2487, 2D/1832, 3D/893, FillRate/783 Animation/1586 |
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| JBenchmark 2.1.1 |
268;
Image/287, Text/623, Sprites/563, 3D/8, UI/1697 |
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| JBenchmark 3D 3.1.0 |
HQ/341 LQ/397 Triangle ps/35126 Ktexels ps/1532 |
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| JBenchmark HD 3.4.3 | Smooth triangles/32541 Textured triangles/29875 Fill rate/1226 kTexels Gaming/153 (5.1 fps) |
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SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Camera
As mentioned above, the device does not belong to the Cyber-shot line, so make high demands on the camera and this application we will not.
The application interface is convenient and informative, but quite simple and designed for vertical/portrait camera orientation. By default, we can see data on zoom, brightness, frame size, and advanced features are already hidden under the left contextual key. Among them:
The quality of the shooting can be judged from the attached samples, but it seemed to us that it was average. The device, or rather the camera, is demanding of good light, is not very friendly with the “macro” mode, and in the absence of autofocus, in general it is more designed for “infinity” shooting.
For video, the settings are more modest:
SonyEricsson W980:: Review:: Impressions and conclusions
The manufacturer claims 9 hours of device operation in talk mode and 370 hours in standby mode, which in fact, in active testing mode, results in three days. A full charging cycle takes just over 2 hours, which is a classic parameter for a modern phone.
In terms of communication quality, as well as speech reception and transmission, the device is typical of SonyEricsson; we were unable to notice any differences from other tested products from the company: loud bell, average vibration power, reliable reception and a good microphone (according to interlocutors).
With an average cost of 17,000 rubles at the time of publication of the review, the device will not sell like hotcakes, that’s a fact. Let's add to this the average dimensions and easily soiled body. However, the manufacturer has come up with a good model for the amateur, for the music and radio lover, who will not be deprived of the device’s built-in memory and will not think about an additional device for his musical preferences, will not be deprived of a camera if necessary, and the design of his new friend does not disappoint. In general, we liked the model; for some time it took the place of two constant companions (a telephone and an MP3 player), and now, handing it over to the editor, we are even a little sad.
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