Sony Ericsson W995a Walkman Unlocked Phone with 3G, 8.1 MP, WiFi, Stereo Bluetooth, and Assisted GPS–U.S. Version with Warranty - Buy Cell Phone | Cell Phone Review | Best Cell Phone Deals

Update on 5/8/2010:

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It’s been a couple of months since I bought this phone. Finally, I’ve updated the firmware and some software, so I’d like to give a quick update / review on the new changes, because some of the things I mentioned before are no longer accurate.

- Firmware v40.2.005 is great. It’s just a slight improvement but good nonetheless. One can update the firmware either through over-the-air (ie. 3G / WIFI) or from a PC. I’d prefer to use Nokia Ovi Suite on a PC to update the firmware because you can backup all your settings / contacts / data. Although updating the firmware is relatively safe, you’d want to do a backup just to be sure.

- Ovi Maps v3.03 is a nice improvement. The interface is about the same. The biggest change is you can download voice guidance that speak street names during navigation. With this update, it really depends on one’s usage to think if this phone can replace a dedicated GPS unit. It’s getting harder to say now.

- Nokia Email Messaging is Nokia’s way of doing Push email. It works pretty well with GMail / Hotmail / Yahoo and I’d assume it works with other email service providers too. It basically syncs all the contents in each email accounts (up to 10). The updated client displays HTML contents which is a significant improvement.

Many new phones (especially Android phones) have come out in the last couple of months. I still think this phone still proposes excellent values with its price and features. Most of all, it’s unlocked, and it can be used anywhere in the world, even without a SIM card.

The phone’s user interface remains its Achilles’ heel, however. As long as the user finds the phone hard to use, it really doesn’t matter if the phone has the best price / features / performance in the market. Most users are using this phone to be more than just a phone. It’s a smartphone because the phone is smart, not because it expects a smart user to use the phone.

Original Review:

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I’ll try to keep it short. I’ll give the phone 5 stars without hesitiation. Others have provided very good (or bad reviews) of this phone, and mostly they are right-on. The key about this phone is you need to know why you want this phone, and how this phone suit your needs. Do not have an unreasonable expectation. The strength of this phone is its cost vs. feature proposition. In my opinion, there’s simply not a phone out there that provides such a rich feature set while costs < $250.

If you want to buy an iphone (and pay ~$1000 total – $200 for the phone + $720 for 2-year data plan @ $30/month), don’t buy this phone. Buy the iphone instead. This phone is not an iphone, not an iphone killer, and not an iphone replacement.

If you want to buy a Garmin GPS, don’t buy this phone. Buy a Garmin GPS instead. This is not a GPS replacement.

If you want to buy a good quality digital camera, don’t buy this phone. Buy a Canon or Nikon. This is not a digital camera replacement.

If you want to buy a FM radio, don’t buy this phone. But who needs a FM radio anyways.

If you want to buy a music player, actually this phone’s music feature is really nice.

With the above being said, buy this phone if you want an excellent phone AND want to do all of the above without carry all of the above gadgets at the same time. In particular you want:

- a phone that is unlocked, quad-band (international use), no contract, no $30 data-plan, no $10 GPS navigation plan and costs ~$250

- a phone that has strong signal, excellent call quality, and long battery life

- a phone that can play music/video/games, browse the internet, check email, take pictures/videos, provide GPS turn-by-turn drive and walk navigation (North America only) and maps service (global map is free download), provide VOIP video calls (using the 2nd camera in the front) over WIFI (fring and nimbuzz apps are free download) EVEN WITHOUT a sim card (excellent for travel)

Some tips while using this phone:

- the touch screen is a resisitive touch screen (unlike iphone’s capacitive touch screen). Do not use your “finger tip” to control the touch screen. Use your “finger nail” or the included stylus instead. Personally I like “finger nail” much better. Once you get used to this, everything is a breeze. If your “finger nail” is as sharp (or unsharp) as the included stylus, it will not scratch the screen.

- the user interface takes a while to get used to. The iphone user inteface is more superb (and it’s not even close, so I’ll give credit where credit is due.) However, the Nokia 5800 features are excellent and there are plenty of supported (and unofficially supported) apps to download. No need to download itunes. No need to wait for Apple certified apps. Basically, you can download whatever you want and do whatever you want with this phone (e.g. use it as a USB storage device), and that’s why it’s not an iphone.

- speaking of iphone interface – there’s a PAID (for money) app out there that you can buy and install iphone-like user interface onto your Nokia 5800. Get that app if you really need the iphone user interface. Just google “Nokia 5800 myphone app” and you will find the link and reviews.

- use the GPS without data plan (and do not get charged for data usage) by going to

settings -> phone -> app. settings -> positioning -> positioning methods and check only “Internal GPS”.

The GPS without data plan may take up 5 mins (or more) to acquire a lock. The GPS signal is weaker than a dedicated GPS unit, and the voice navigation does not speak street names. That’s why it’s not a GPS replacement, but a GPS capable phone that you can use while a dedicated GPS unit is not available.

- browse the internet and check email using WIFI. Make sure you don’t get charged for extra data usage by going to

settings -> connectivity -> destinations -> Internet (or MMS or WAP) -> “Your service provider” and make sure “use access point” is set to “after confirmation”.

It’s annoying that you will keep getting asked if you allow internet connection, but you’ll get the peace of mind that you’ll never accidentally connect to the cellular data network.

- visit Chinese (Traditional or Simplified) / Japanese / Korean websites by downloading “Opera Mobile with Asian Language Support” (not the regular Opera Mobile, not Opera Mini). Just google it and you will find the link.

- take pictures / videos while outdoor and with good lighting. Poor picture / videos quality is expected for any camera phone when taking them indoor with poor lighting. The phone flash does not help. That’s why it’s not a digital camera replacement, but a phone with camera that can use during social outings (e.g. Facebook Mobile upload).

Some nice to have (but not required) for this phone:

- get a data-plan if your service provider has a cheap alternative compared to the standard $30 smartphone data-plan. Being able to browse the internet and check email anywhere without WIFI is very convenient. Plus, the GPS / maps include additional features like traffic, weather, additional point-of-interests update that require a data-plan. More plus, with data-plan, you can turn on A-GPS (assisted GPS), which allows the GPS to acquire a lock in less than 30 seconds and to maintain a much stronger GPS signal throughout.

And most of all enjoy your phone while you are sitting somewhere nice, like a coffee shop. People, do everyone a favor – DO NOT USE YOUR PHONE (TALK OR TEXT) while driving.

Hope my review helps.
Rating: 5 / 5

I decided to purchase the w995a after carefully researching some viable alternatives such as the Nokia n86 8mp, the still-good and underrated n96, and the n82. I chose the Sony because it looks and feels better than the other phones, not because it IS better than the others. Let me explain.

This phone is absolutely gorgeous. Its made of brushed metal, it feels amazing in your hand, and the sliding mechanism is nearly perfect. It’s a feature phone, so you really don’t have any options to customize the UI like you would with a symbian phone (i.e. the nokias mentioned above), but if this doesn’t bother you (which it did not bother me), it really won’t matter because the menu layout is really perfect and intuitive. It has great sound, it’s beautiful when lit up, and the call quality is superb. That being said, it’s simply not a “better” phone than the nokias I’ve listed.

For one, the camera is simply “ok.” Shots taken indoors will disappoint you, while those taken outdoors look very good. The video recording is old-school at 30fps QVGA while the nokias mentioned record DVD quality video at 30fps in VGA. Not to mention the nokias have carl ziess optics (regarded as one of the best lense makers in the world).

I decided not to go with the Nokia N86, it’s “closest” competitor. The N86 is a better phone, it has an 8gb hard drive while the w995a comes with an 8gb card. The nokia can be expanded with up to a 16gb card, has a variable aperture 8mp that takes exquisite photos, and has the ever- customizable symbian UI. But its ugly, and plastic; typical Nokia.

So, to sum it up:

THE GOOD:

-beautiful

-well built

-beautiful interface

-good pictures

-excellent media player

-best sliding mech. ever

THE BAD:

-other phones in its price range are arguable better

-should take great pictures, not good ones

-video recording is 2004-era phone

-has a TFT 256k screen, while all others in its price range have AMOLED 16M screens.

It was a tough choice, but for me, the look and feel of this one took the cake!

Rating: 4 / 5

I’ve been using this phone for four days and those four days have been very blissful for me.

I came from a Samsung Star touch screen phone and this Nokia 5800 Nav. edition blew it away. The Samsung star was good but it lacks wifi and GPS.

With this phone you can pretty much do anything on the go. Wifi internet? let’s go. Youtube viewing? No problem. Got lost while driving/walking? It will be your savior.

PROS:

Battery life is decent if you do heavy websurfing and GPS navigating.

Battery life is super if you don’t do the above too much.

Build quality is good: it has a silver metal lining around the phone and it is pretty heavy compared to my Samsung Star.

Free lifetime GPS: You get free map updates forever.

Integrated GPS, not A(Assisted)-GPS like the original 5800 xpressMusic.

I have a Garmin 255w GPS and the GPS on this phone almost keeps up with it in accuracy. The voice on this GPS sounds more human than the robotic voice on my Garmin. Hey, this is a phone, don’t get your GPS expectation up too high.

Quad band unlocked: take the phone anywhere, put in any simcard and you’re good to go. Yes I am talking about AT&T and T-mobile, too.

Simcard and microSD card slots are on the side of the phone – unlike many other phones where you have to open the battery to put them in(though you have to open the battery to get the simcard out).

Phone has two cameras: The main one in the back and a self portrait camera in the front for all you narcissists. =)

Comes with a lot of accessories and cables.(Car mount for Navigation is very durable)

The stylus comes in handy for handwriting on the phone.

Speaker is typical for a Nokia: good. Music plays loud and clear, even got some bass.

Charging time is quick for a high capacity battery.

Good screen resolution (I think iPhone is lower at 480×320)

Convenient phone lock/unlock button on the side for your thumb

Radio

CONS:

The Main camera picture quality is average and doesn’t look like it is 3.2MP

Doesn’t come with a screen protector (I had to buy one)

Dialer keypad doesn’t have letters when you dial numbers. Might be a problem if you want to dial in a number disguised in letters. Hopefully they will fix this.

GPS on this phone takes a minute or two to lock in signal. Sometimes a few minutes if you’re not in an opened place.

Why can’t I think of anything else?

SYMBIAN OS VERSION 5:

This is my first time using this OS and it has been good to me.

Everything is very responsive and installing apps is a breeze.

You can open a free OVI store account on your phone to download free apps, games and other stuff.

If you want to use an all in one instant messenger to compliment your WiFi, I suggest downloading an app called Nimbuzz in the Ovi store and ditch the default IM app on your phone.

Surfing the web is decent, but the screen may be a bit small for prolonged surfing.

OVI store has lots of free apps(some you have to pay)

Youtube videos play well, but don’t expect to watch them in HD like you would on your PC.

[...]

All in all, this phone is worth every penny and if you wanna be different and not have an iPhone, this is the one to get.

UPDATE: This phone version has the updated firmware of V30 with increased CPU power. (Open your dialer and Press in *#0000# to see your firmware version)

UPDATE #2: I have been playing around more with the GPS and came to a conclusion that the text to speech on this phone gives me more instructions than my Garmin 255w. Though it doesn’t speak street names(just “turn right” “turn left”, “stay right” “stay left”…etc), it gives more instructions than the Garmin. For example, when I enter a freeway, it tells me to follow the freeway, and when I go over the speed limit, it tells me to watch my speed.

LATEST UPDATE: It has been roughly five months of owning this baby and I can’t live without it now. There is a new firmware update that added the support of kinetic scrolling and many other additions. Please update to firmware v40 if you have not yet done so. It is much more stable. You can update from your phone. (Open your dialer and Press in *#0000# – then go to options and check for updates.)
Rating: 5 / 5

I will start by saying that Amazon’s shipping was lightening fast. I received the phone in 2 days with free shipping.

Unboxing the phone is a treat as there are tons of accessories included. The car mount is top notch quality. Phone booted up very quickly and setup was very smooth. 3G signal is very strong and never switches to Edge like my BB Bold and Iphone 3g did. You can’t ask for more connectivity options, and data speeds have been very impressive. There is a ton of 3rd party software available both online and in the Ovi store. Not iPhone quality app store, but still nice. I found that most of the apps on my previous iPhone were largely unused anyway.

I think the touch screen is very responsive. Remember, this is a resistive screen and not capacitive. It works with a stylus or fingers….even with gloves on;)

Call quality is very good IMO. Music and video are simply fantastic on this device. The stereo speakers do a great job, or you can use the supplied ear buds or bluetooth stereo headset. GPS lock was very fast and held on well. It even gave the exact street addresses as I passed homes on a residential side street. Voice prompts are loud and clear and you get your choice of voices and language. So far I can’t say anything bad about this phone. If I come across any issues I will update them here.

For an unlocked phone without contract it’s quite a bargain right now.

****EDIT****

Well after a couple of weeks the screen will not go past the white Nokia welcome screen. It’s soon to be on it’s way back to Amazon, unfortunately. I really like the phone, but I think I’m going back to HTC.

Rating: 5 / 5

This review is very hard for me as I lovED the phone so much for so many things but there are few things that really ticked me off for making me hate the phone I love so much. Sounds complicated? Well, first let me tell why I returned the phone.

Reasons I returned the phone:

1. Battery cover doesn’t feel solid when you hold the phone and press keys. You will feel your hand pressure slightly pressing the battery cover that causes movement. This got very irritating for me as this is otherwise an excellently built phone that looks super sexy. First I thought it could be with my phone. But the replacement phone had the exact same problem. Then I went to couple of Sony Style stores and noticed one store phone didn’t have problem but another one had. So, looks like some lucky buyers may get a good one but not sure how long that will feel firm if you keep opening and closing the phone. I do that quite often to change SIM cards.

2. Fonts are too big for beautiful display with 2.6″ screen. Where were SE developers thinking? For example, the contacts screen shows only 6 contacts at once. With a slightly smaller fonts it would have displayed 8 contacts quite easily. They should have had a settings to choose small, medium, and large fonts and the current fonts should fall in X-large fonts.

3. Kick stand. What a joke! The phone would have felt better if they left this completely or designed it in a way for users to remove it if they don’t need it. You have to place phone in your shirt pocket with screen facing front or the kick stand would pop out easily. Another silly design by their engineers.

4. 256-K colors. What are you thinking SE? When will you catch up with others here?

Good things about the phone:

If you already are familiar with Sony ericsson phones they have the best OS among non-smartphones. Frankly, they have many features better done than many smartphones including iPhone. First, the one’s common to all new Sony Ericsson phones.

Some of the cool things found in SE feature phones:

Smart Dialing, ease of sending SMS, MMS, emails to a contact and the interface of MMS is super cool. I think they have the best implementation for MMS among all phones, FM radio, Accelerometer, Exchange ActiveSync (office outlook emails and calendar syncing and also to sync your google contacts and calendar with Push) and Call logs. With SE phones when in call logs you can select “Open” and it brings up all other contact information for that person like other numbers, email, etc. So, you can easily call that person at his other numbers or just send SMS, MMS, or email from logs. Also, D-pad arrow buttons can be used to create shortcuts (4 applications) to your favorite applications. This is one of my favorite feature in SE phones along with call logs and smart dialing as I hardly have more than 4 apps I like to use on a phone.

When it comes to apps for the phone, there are plenty to feed your needs. Check out getjar.com or even browse Sony Ericsson site from the native browser in the phone and you will see several free apps you can download. If you change the Location of the country in the sony ericsson site while browsing you will find more free apps as Sony seems to provide few different applications for different countries. Also, if you google you will find lot of Free Themes for the phone that will let you customize the look of the menus and standby screen.

Some specialties with W995:

1. In spite of the problems with the kickstand and the battery cover, the phone feels like a tank and it’s sure to ‘WOW WOW’ your friends. One work around to fix the battery cover issue is to fold a small piece of paper and place it above the battery to stop the movement on the cover. Kickstand? Glue the stupid thing if you think you will never use it.

2. Display looks super bright and clear even in sunlight.

3. Walkman sound quality is simply amazing. I thought it sounded as good as Zune which I thought sounds way better than iPhone.

4. It will be a joke if I mention having 3.5 mm audio jack is a plus with this phone. But, Sony finally did it. Good job there.

5. WiFi, GPS, 3G on AT&T all work like a charm.

Some of my favorite FREE apps:

Gmail, Google maps, Shozu, GetJar, TruTap, Fringe, Comeks, Opera Mini (of course), Blogger, TrackID.

Even though I returned the phone I still am addicted to Sony Ericsson phones for their well thought out software for making calls and sending messages. Unfortunately, most of their recent phones have severe build quality issues. Most of them with the slider design or the battery covers. Still, I sometimes feel like buying W995a and deal with the problems it has as the goodness of the phone over shadows the problems. Moreover, there really is no perfect phone out there. At least for me . Well, I even sold my iPhone after few months of use as I thought it feels too wide, battery doesn’t last a full-day, and making calls is not as convenient as it’s on Sony phones, or Windows Mobile phones, or Blackberries.

The current $399.99 price on Amazon is tempting but I will try hard to resist until Xperia X2 gets announced this week.

Rating: 3 / 5

I was a bit hesitant about moving from a Nokia E71 to this phone because of the touchscreen. I like tactile feedback and the satisfaction of physically feeling a button being pressed. Yet at the same time I wanted something new. So far I am very satisfied with this phone. It has an excellent display and it is very snappy software Symbian s60v5 that makes my “old” e71 feel dated. The construction is solid and doesn’t feel cheap at all. The e71 felt more “elegant” when I first bought it, but the 5800 doesn’t feel as fragile as the e71 does. Its taken me about an hour to get all my usual apps on it, but it was easy to bluetooth direct connect and transfer everything from my old phone to this one. Apparently this phone is hovering around 7 million units sold worldwide, so it must be doing well. Unfortunately a lot of us in the USA need to be spoon fed iPhones. Which this phones does and then some. it has 100s of apps and themes and all that out there. Overall I’d go for 4.5 stars cause I wish it was maybe a quarter of its width thinner, but then again I think I was just used to the thin e71. Great phone.
Rating: 5 / 5

Since my contract with T-Mobile had expired in July, I was looking around as to what to do next. I really like the plan I have and the customer service with T-Mobile. Only problem is that they really don’t have a great selection of phones for renewal at a decent price. I also didn’t want to switch to AT&T just to get a free phone since I would get half the minutes and texts for the same price I’m paying with T-Mobile! Verizon and Sprint were a no-go for me.

A friend told me about unlocked phones, so I was lucky this information came right around Black Friday weekend, when the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition was on sale.

GPS

EDIT: To ensure you only use the integrated GPS and never carrier service:

settings -> phone -> app. settings -> positioning -> positioning methods and turn off all but ‘Integrated GPS’.

First off, you DON’T need a data plan to use the GPS, but there are some things you cannot access on the road without it. These include: expanded POI’s, traffic, weather, satellite and terrain backgrounds, etc. However, you can at least see what they are like by using wifi. You will need to edit some of the settings so you don’t use A-GPS, which is carrier assisted (it’s set to it by default). It does take longer to lock onto the satellites this way, but it’s not painfully slow. Also, since you have lifetime drive and walk navigation and map updates, you can just use wifi to update everything. You can also download numerous voices. My other GPS has more computerised sounding voices, but these are crystal clear and realistic. In addition, you get weather, traffic, etc. for two years. It’s also great to have the car mount and car charger included. You can view the maps in 2D or 3D and the 3D version has building models for downtown areas, etc. It’s nice to see the actual buildings you are passing. Also, it shows clouds during the day and stars at night along the top of the screen, which is a nice touch. The included mini-CD lets you install Nokia’s OVI Suite software so you can use the phone with your PC. They also have a map updater and loader you can download.

MUSIC AND VIDEO

The 8GB microSD card comes with some music and videos on it that can obviously be deleted, but it’s nice to get some freebies. It was already in the phone when I got mine. There are some good videos on how to use the device for different things, and a few music videos too! I like the XpressMusic Shortcut – very handy to access the pictures, photos, videos, etc. The camera is pretty decent for both photos and video, much better than my previous phone, so no complaints really there. It’s nice there is a secondary camera too for video calls or self-pictures.

The FM radio is a nice addition, although you have to have headphones in order to use it.

One thing I really like is the two built-in speakers. They are loud and don’t sound tinny at all.

The phone has a lot of ringtones to choose from. At first I couldn’t find them, but then I realised they were within the different profiles you can edit. They are all mp3-style ringtones with real music, etc.

PHONE

Call quality is great and I actually get better reception with this phone than my previous one. Dialing is easy and texting can be done via a few different keyboards or handwriting with the stylus. I also like the voice-dialing – much easier to use than my last phone. Actually, when a call comes in it will also pronounce the name of the person calling (although in a very computerised voice).

You can set up the home screen to show four applications or contacts. Also a search bar is below that which enables you to search the contents of your phone and the internet. Optionally, you can also set up your email and that shortcut is displayed below the search bar.

The phone feels solidly built and sturdy. It’s a nice size, maybe a tad more thick than I’d like, but overall it’s a nice quality. Screen resolution is fantastic. I like the slight vibration when you touch an item to confirm you touched it. The volume, unlock and camera buttons are on the right side, while the sim card and microSD slots are on the left side. It’s nice to have these external, but they still recommend you turn off the phone and remove the battery to add or remove the sim or microsd card. On the top of the phone are the power button, headphone jack and micro USB port.

Battery life is also excellent. My first charge lasted 3 days with heavy use of everything, including the GPS. I expect with light use, it will last much longer.

Some of the applications included are dictionary, converter, recorder, file manager and real player. The two games (Bounce and Global Race) are also pretty good.

There are a lot of settings that you can fiddle around with to get it just the way you like it.

Overall, this is a great alternative for those not wanting to have a contract, but wanting a great phone with all the features. The GPS features alone honestly makes it worth the cost.
Rating: 5 / 5

The W995 is probably the best Sony Ericsson phone Ive used to date. I was considering higher end smartphones like the Sony X1 and Nokia N900 but couldnt bring myself to paying the high premium price. With the rate technology is going nowadays it would be worthless in 6 months, or the price would drop considerably. I got the W995 for a good deal and feel it was a good compromise. Physically the device looks very sleek. Build quality is very good with the brushed metal finish, definitely feels more sturdy than your average plastic phone. The screen is very nice as with most Sony phones Ive seen, very bright and vibrant display. Also I just learned that it is made out of scratch resistant material which is another plus. The biggest difference Ive noticed on the W995 compared to past phones Ive used is how snappy and fast the UI feels, especially things like browsing the internet over WiFi which is usually a chore on such a small device. Whether its the menus, GPS, scrolling on pages or turning the phone to landscape view (using the accelerometer) everything responds instantly. One cool thing I use the phone for (why I wanted WiFi in a small device in the first place) is to use it as a remote to wirelessly control my Logitech Squeezebox and it does it perfectly. Out of all the phones Ive owned, the SE UI remains my favorite because it is fast and to the point. The phone also includes an 8.1 megapixel camera, walkman with standard 3.5mm audio jack and 8GB memory card. Finally, Sony includes a 3.5mm jack on the phone which I dont know why they didnt do it sooner.. after all it is called a walkman phone. The camera also takes pretty decent photos, still some noise when indoors (or low lighting conditions) but much better than previous models. It wouldve been nice if it had the xenon flash over the LED, like on the C905. But the camera is not my first priority and its adequate for my uses. Ive found that as long as the subject is properly lit the phone will take good pictures. Using the phone for all the tasks mentioned above the battery has held up OK. Almost depleted at the end of the day but thats under heavy usage since its my new toy. For normal usage I think it could last 2-3 days before a charge. Guess Im just used to older SE phones which could last up to week, but they also did not have as many features as the W995. Overall, feature and quality wise the W995 is one of the best phones Ive used and probably the best non-smartphone.
Rating: 5 / 5

I love the thin/slim design.

I love the large screen and great graphics! This works especially well for web and gps.

Much improved over previous SonyEricsson sliders I’ve seen or used.

The only drawback is the poor battery life – esecially when using wifi, bluetooth, and internet capabilities. When using these options, I usually have to charge each night. I guess I guess I was spoiled when I was using a phone without these options since I only needed to recharge my phone every 3 or 4 days.

Rating: 4 / 5

I purchased this phone from Amazon a week ago, after researching for over a month looking to replace my classic iPhone 16GB. I was looking for an unlocked multimedia phone and was leaning towards the Nokia N85. I have to say that while most reviews out there favor the Nokia, I cave into the looks of the W995a. Someone at Cnet said it is not the sexiest phone around, but I beg to differ, the phone is very sleek, the slider mechanism is flawless and the overall presentation of the hardware is much higher end that any of the new (available) Nokias I’ve seen. It is slimmer that the N85, and the brushed metal case is very elegant and looks way better than the plastic on the mentioned Nokia handset.

It should be noted, as mentioned by other reviewers, that this is not a smartphone, meaning that there is limited customization and most of the applications you get are web based, a la iPhone two years ago. Since this phone is unlocked (something I really desired, and the main reason I did not upgrade my iPhone) you have to play around with the settings a little bit to get the most out of the features of this phone. For instance, I had a hard time figuring out how to get it to stream videos over the YouTube application that comes as part of the media interface. I have MediaNet (EDGE) service from AT&T and was not able to stream any video. Then I discovered that if you turn off the WiFi you will get it, though a bit chopped since EDGE is not the best for video streaming. That being said, I still have to figure out how to get it to stream over WiFi, which should be much better. Oddly, most reviewers elsewhere had the opposite problem: they were able to stream over WiFi but could not get it to stream over EDGE. The workaround for the WiFi problem seems to be opening extra ports on your wireless router, something I am completely illiterate on. So this is a major drawback of the phone: for a phone that is claimed to be the flagship multimedia device from SE, all these bugs and problems should not be present, especially at this price range. Not being able to access YouTube properly is just unacceptable. Paying customers should not have to waste time trying to figure out things engineers and technicians at SE get paid to do. If you go to the SE webpage and look for support for this device you will be able to get the settings sent to your phone for proper web navigation, email and picture messaging… but nothing for the video streaming problem.

This phone comes with an 8.1 MP camera with single LED flash. The pictures outdoors with good natural light are OK, but things get much worse indoors or with limited light. If you already have a nice point and shoot, this phone won’t replace it. If you are looking for a new phone and to upgrade an old point and shoot, then maybe this phone will save you some bucks. Don’t get me wrong, the camera is very good, it’s just that reading 8.1 MP on the specs creates very high expectations.

The real treat of this phone comes from the music player. The sound is just amazing. I did not know how much sound quality I was sacrificing with my iPhone and iPods until I listened to the music player in this phone: I was blown away. It should also be mentioned that the phone comes equipped with FM radio, which is actually very nice. The bundled Media Go software serves as an iTunes-like application to manage all your media files on your phone. It has a drag and drop interface that makes easy to add any songs, videos or photos to your phone, and guess what? Also from your phone to your computer (take that iPhone!). As any new piece of software, Media Go is not without flaws. When transferring songs from my library into my phone I received many error messages about unsuccessful transfers. I was able to go back and fix some of those but sometimes there were so many that it was hard to keep track (the program puts a check next to all successful transfers but puts no visual indication whatsoever next to the unsuccessful ones). It also failed to display some of my iTunes artwork. However, if you already use iTunes as your music player and media organizing program, MediaGo will easily import everything from your iTunes folder. Another important caveat is that updating your phone’s firmware erases the phone’s internal memory (not the memory card or the SIM card), so it is important to back up your phone using the SE PC Suite before every update.

Call quality is just OK. It can get pretty bad in noisy environments, e.g. supermarket. Google maps works great. So, to sum up, if you are looking for a great-looking phone with a superb music player, OK video player, and OK camera and do not want to sign up for a 2-year bleed-out contract, you should definitely consider the W995a.

UPDATE (After 3 months with the phone): So even though the media Go experience hasn’t been the best, I was happy overall with the phone. That is until today when I updated the firmware. I backed up the phone as recommended, and followed all the instructions. Then, after the update I restored my phone using my backup. The contacts failed to restore and now I have lost all my contacts, but what is worse, all the customizations I had for some of them, i.e., ringtones and photos. Not only that, but about half the music and all the videos I had in the memory card got erased, which was not supposed to happen, since only the phone memory is supposed to be cleaned during the firmware update. All these things are just unacceptable for a cell phone this expensive. I never had such problems with my old iPhone. I will try to get rid of this phone as soon as possible and go back to Apple’s boring but reliable products.

Rating: 3 / 5