Plemix

With the previous Sony Ericsson W-series phone, I always feel like I have to give up a good camera for a better music package. But this time SE W902 tries to merge the Walkman and the Cybershot with a 5 mega-pixeller. The package of W902 is bundled-up with the w902 phone, a battery, an HPH-77 Handsfree, a data cable, a charger and a user's guide.

The design of the W902 does remind me of some classic candy-bar phones from several years ago, especially with the prominent keyboards. Sony Ericsson tried to add a little twist to it by adding a rugged edge on the right to avoid slipping, perhaps.

I like the keyboard very much as the keys are jutting out to achieve the best of tactility. The space between rows is wide enough. The d-pad and control panel are of the shape of three-interlaced circles, signature and well-liked design of W-series. The keys are very touchy.

On the back lies the camera. The cover looks like scales of reptile which makes it look tough, like a gear terminator or Batman would use!

W902 is the first W-series phone to have a first 5 mega-pixel camera. It is also equipped with autofocus and LED flash. It also inherited the user-friendly camera interface from Cyber-shot phone. Nice one!

The music key on the top gives access to the Walkman 3.0 application and Shake control. You can change tracks and shuffle your whole playlist with a simple flick of the hand while pressing down the Walkman key.

The music control keys are lined up on the right which I do not quite understand because you can mis-press them easily when you are holding the phone.

Although Sony Ericsson hails that the new HPM-77 headset can you luscious sound, I would still like to have a 3.5mm jack, especially for a Walkman phone.

In addition to the 25MB internal memory, there's a M2 card slot for up to 8GB of memory extension. The fact that you have to remove the cover to access it kinda annoys me.

The interface is excellent. By the way, in addition to the 4-row grid, you can set the menu page to icon-rotation which I find more pleasing.

There is build in accelerator for auto screen rotation and shake control.

W902 I would say is a good enough phone. Looking ok but not especially handsome, sound quality is top-notch but is kinda diminished because you can't use your 3.5mm earphone. The camera performs but not like the trouper that a C905 is.