The latest handphone from Sony Ericsson’s walkman series is the W705, a clone of their C705 series which, while isn’t as cool as the Sony Ericsson phone used in James Bond, has its own charm and style that appeals to generations of young adults out there.
Sony has a history of porting over their other series phones into the W-series, slap on some Walkman software on it and sell it to you at a higher price. It all began back during the days of the successful K750i model, upon which they made the W800i which is based exactly on the same internal structure as the K750i, albeit with a different outer casing. Most people hated the orange styling and went for a K750i instead and then flashed the firmware to the Walkman series. And today you can do exactly the same and avoid paying a hefty premium for the Walkman series altogether.
But since then, the Walkman series have toned down on the aggressive styling a little bit. The W705 is a looker though, with the brushed metal look and hints of gold chrome around its side, displaying its generous 2.4-inch screen to the world in a slim profile that fits snugly into your pocket. As this is a music device, there is plenty of features such as PlayNow, SenseMe, and the shaking control, in additional the usual goodies such as WiFi, 3.2MP camera, Google Maps and of course, FM radio. It’s pretty much the standard stuff you’d expect in a slightly upscale phone these days.
But wait, that’s not all. Sony Ericsson is also launching their Home Audio System which is wireless and looks a lot like a beach ball. The stereo speakers (that’s what they are, not that great right?) are wonderful in that you can stream your music wirelessly using Bluetooth, all 2.1 channels of it to have it played by the ‘Home Audio System’. Music quality is still suspicious, but I’m sure for regular folks without great expectations of their stereo equipment, the wireless feature will be a great draw.
