After my own review of the Sony Ericsson W960, I sent it up to music expert Ewan for some more detailed examination of its core Walkman functionality. Here's part 1 of Ewan's analysis, looking at the Walkman interface and accessibility.
Read on in the full article.
Ewan, the iPod does do a form of search. Check this link for a demo: http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/ipoditunes/2007/classic/features/apple_ipodclassic_search_r640-9cie.mov
To be fair though, you're right, it's not something that the classic iPod interface does very well, compared to a phone-style or qwerty keypad. But even on the iPhone, there's no explicit search function, although you can do a quick scroll to a specific letter.
Back to the SE device though - it looks great, especially the moods function. Sometime you want to hear random music but not too random. I occasionally use The Filter (www.thefilter.com) to fill my iPhone with tracks, but it's not an on-the-go feature.
Cheers
Ewan, please try to know a bit about the device before publishing reviews. You can use the volume keys on the right side of the phone to change songs in your pocket - simply hold one of them down for a second or so.
There are lots of hidden features in the walkman player.
Furthermore, I'm a bit disappointed that the first 20% of the review is about navigating through songs on the device.
Yes, adjusting the volume and skipping back and fourth through tracks is quite easily done via the volume keys when the keylock is on and you have the phone in your pocket. Does any one know how to play/pause the song playing while in the keylock is activated?
'Unregistered'
Thanks for your comment, and you;ve actually hit the nail on the head. HIDDEN function - so hidden both Steve and I missed it - the device has been jointly with us for close to two weeks and neither of us picked it up (Steve did the edit/read through on the article before posting).
So I;ve had a play around with this now, and yes it does work, and it's a cute solution. Nice to see that these buttons work from any application, unlike the main playback back key - still looking for stop/play, and I've 'held down' every key to work out how.
BUt back to my point - this hidden key feature is barely sufficient for us power users to find - what good will the regular consumer have?
Ewan does have some reason...i wonder why SE does not make it clear for the user he can use those shortcuts...a common user might miss this
Hi again,
It's a normal feature in SE phones. Also try to press the artist name or album name when playing music. Yet another hidden feature there.
Sorry about the harsh comment above, by the way. Didn't mean it like that 😊
'The W960 is far ahead of the music players available on feature phones and the smaller spec MP3 players that are available in the shops. It�s certainly comparable to a device like the iPod Nano, and that�s perhaps more the target market for this device. '
...mmm strange statement, I would have thought this would have been a direct competitor to the iPhone (phone, touch screen, music focused, large amounts of storage etc), yet no mention of the iPhone. Most people I speak to would see these two products as direct competitors (as well as the odd Samsung - LG product).
Do you imply by the last half of the statement that the ui on the W960 is not comparable to the iPhone, or maybe in a slightly lower league? (and comparing it to an ipod Nano!!!).
Dont get me wrong I am a proud SE m600i user who values it's small size, touchscreen and functionality and am seriously considering upgrading to the W960 but am aware that there other 'players' (pardon the pun) in the market, so it would be nice to have a fairer comparison.
Best Regards
James
On the 'hidden features' point: this is pretty standard for SE. There appears to be a corporate assumption that users will be intimately familiar with their devices over time and so won't need explicit instructions.
Not true, of course.
I like SE, I like their phones and I'm considering dropping the TyTn II for a P1i - though I'll probably wait for the 'P5', if it ever arrives.
But as a company, with their mainstream and smart devices, they do a poor job of promoting and guiding users through the (often very good) functionality they have.
i'm not sure if this is a solution to the play/stop issue, but you can pause/resume playback by pressing the little silver button on the bundled headphone adapter (HPM-70)