Sony Ericsson W595 review: Music on the slide

Browsing: screen size is the limit

Sony Ericsson W595 web browser in action

The Sony Ericsson W595 has an Access NetFront browser featuring the extended custom home screen, also available in many previous Sony Ericsson handsets (like W902 , G705 and C905 we recently reviewed). Plenty of shortcuts arranged in a tree structure are listed on the homescreen, right under a search and address bar.

They grant access to free content, such as clips, tracks and games on the Sony Ericsson site, and include a step-by-step guide for setting up email accounts or internet connections.

The extended home screen is a nice addition to the latest Sony Ericsson phones

Elaborate web pages are rendered well and there are lots of configurable settings too. The dedicated full screen mode is replaced by the auto-rotate feature, which actually opens it in full-screen landscape mode. View modes include Text only, Pan and Zoom, and Zoom page. The Panning/scrolling speed is up to standard.

The different view modes of the browser

The Sony Ericsson W595 web browser offers a virtual mouse pointer, which is a real pleasure to work with.

A virual mouse pointer appears on the screen while browsing through the web

Another interesting and practical feature is the "Find on page" option. It searches the loaded web page and the first match is immediately listed as soon as you type a letter.

The "Find on page" feature is very useful

If you are still not satisfied with the browser, you can always rely on the superb OperaMini as a suitable replacement.

Tasks & more

The Sony Ericsson W595 offers a wide range of time-management features. There is an Organizer icon in the main menu and it contains several applications: File manager, Alarms, Video call, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, Synchronization, Timer, Stopwatch, Calculator, and Code memo.

The traditional Organizer apps

The Calendar offers monthly and weekly views. When you add a birth date in the phonebook, the phone prompts you to add it to the calendar. Tasks can be of two types: simple tasks and phone calls. Notes are written in a similar way to messages and the T9 dictionary can be used here as well.

6The Calendar • setting up an appointment

Alarms are part of the main menu. There are five alarm slots available. Each one offers a lot of options - you can choose to repeat the alarm on chosen days of the week or everyday. Text and a picture can be added to the alarm. Furthermore, the alarm behavior can be defined in case the time it is due to go off comes while the phone is in silent mode.

Alarms

The Voice recorder has no limit to recording length, making the free memory available the only restriction. The Calculator is the regular Sony Ericsson one and the stopwatch and countdown timer are the familiar basic applications.

Voice recorder • Calculator • Stopwatch • Timer