Review of GSM/UMTS-handset Sony Ericsson W705

Mobile-review have posted their review of the Sony Ericsson W705. Here is their final impression.

The Sony Ericsson W705 doesn’t bring anything new to the table with its moderately strong vibro alert, a bit too loud ring tones and decent call quality. The only niggle we have in this department is that you'll need to slide the W705 open in order to make a call while on a busy street, otherwise its microphone will pick up a lot of outside noise, but that's a minor glitch.

The W705 is a complete copy of the Sony Ericsson G705 down to its design, although there are some changes - they have thrown out the original phone's GPS functionality and updated the music player to version 3.0, which is what you'd expect from any Walkman-branded handset. Much like the G705, it employs a plastic display cover, and while this is nothing to be paranoid about, it's still infinitely easier to scratch than, say, the C905's scratch-resistant mineral glass.

They have also worked on the G705's back cover problem, so now it doesn't feel as loose as before, although it's still there and will get worse over time. Retailing for 300 Euro, the W705 won't be a particularly popular offering, yet still appealing to a narrow audience. All in all, it trumps the G705 in most areas, including bigger memory card in the box, superior earphones and more preinstalled games, the only thing the W705 doesn't have is GPS, but in truth this functionality isn't really craved for i phones of this caliber.

As of today, there are some issues with the W705's WiFi connectivity, as occasionally the phone fails to tap into any available network when in Auto mode. But rest assured, this problem will be solved in upcoming firmware updates.

On balance, the Sony Ericsson W705 is a reasonably snazzy and feature-packed phone. If you don't really need a music-savvy flagship in your pocket (the W995, that will be nearly 1.5 times more expensive), but like Sony Ericsson branded phones, then you should definitely take a good look at the W705. As far as its rivals go, there are none, and while the Samsung S7350 may be considered as one, it utilizes a totally different philosophy and the only thing it has in common with the W705 is its price tag.