Sony Ericsson W960 Preview
The Hardware

Altho it's still hard to concentrate due to my private Troubles i'm still gonna try to write a few Lines about the Sony Ericsson W960 i kindly received from Sony Ericsson Austria!

Alright, first we take a Look at the Front of this Beauty (yes it IS a Beauty!). The first Thing you notice: No D-Pad! Number Buttons, C-Key, Return- and Walkman Button and that's pretty much it!

The Number Buttons are very well shaped and give a good Feedback. They're around the same Size as the N95 had, so there shouldn't be any Problems, even for larger male Thumbs.

Right over the 1-Key is the Return Button, which brings you back to the Home Screen from every Menu you're currently in. In the Middle we find the Walkman Button, which starts the Sony Ericsson Music Player. Once the Music Player starts, the dedicated Music Keys glow up. They're touch sensitive and react in an expected good Way.

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The Screen of the W960 is a large 2,6"-touch sensitive Screen. The Screen looks tidy and leaves many Options to modify it for your Looks (more business oriented with a Home Screen that gives you Overlooks about new Emails or Messages, Appointments etc, or a more music oriented Home Screen).

The Menu is accessable via Finger Controls, but once you're in the Menus, it's pretty hard to hit the right Option with just the Fingers, so for me it turned out to be a Must to use the Stylus or the Navi-Wheel on the Side of the Phone.

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The right Side of the Phone gives us the Volume Buttons, which are used as Zoom Buttons in the Cam Application as well. Under them we find the Camera Button, which activates the 3,2 MP AF Cam with a long Press. The Bottom gives us the Sony Ericsson Connector, still no mini-/micro-USB, bad Thing imo.

The left Side offers the Navi-Wheel which helps you in nearly every Menu. It's very well located, in a good Position for your Hand, so you're able to use the Phone with the Navi-Wheel with one hand only!

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The Back of the W960 comes with a rubber-like Surface, in Contrast to the glossy black Finish on the Front, which we know from the latest Nokia Phones as well. I definitely think Nokia should feature such Rubber-Surfaces on their Devices as well, why?

The slipperly Back of the Nokia N82 made it jump out of my Hand 2 Times already, thanks God i was in bed everytime and nothing happened. So that back Surface of the W960 is definitely a great Thing!

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The 3,2 MP Cam from Sony Ericsson dominates the Back of this Device clearly. The Camera turned out to be a really good Gimmick, i think it can't completely keep up with the N73 for Example, but remember, it's no Cybershot-equipped One. Dual LED adds a nice Possibility for darker Ambience Pictures, but for some Reason i didn't figure out yet how to activate the Flash automatically - all i could do is activate it manually through the Cam Menu!??

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Above the Camera is the W960's ONLY Speaker. Yes you're right, one Speaker only, for me a pretty bad Move, since the W960 clearly is a music-oriented Device .. So what the Hell!?

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So overall, SE did a good Job on the Hardware of the W960, especially the rubber Surface on the Backside couldn't be better. The Buttons are very well sized and the 16mm Thickness make it a really nice Piece of Phone!