Sony Ericsson W890 review: Thin Walkman refined

Walkman means great Multimdia

The Sony Ericsson W890 features the Walkman 3.0 player with the SensMe feature. The player supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+, WAV, M4A, G-MIDI 1, SP-MIDI, RealAudio 8, iMelody and XMF file formats and sports the MegaBass equalizer preset.

If you are not willing to use the media player step-by-step interface, you can directly play a file through the file manager with its classic flat structure. It's a shame Sony Ericsson W890 doesn't offer additional player skins.

On one hand, they are developing lovely flash themes, a few new ones found in each new release with revamped menus and effects, and on the other, the player doesn't get a single spare Walkman outfit for the weekends. We do hope our test unit only missed extra player skins because of its beta status.

Walkman 3.0 interface, similar to the Music Player 3.0 seen in K850 • Mega Bass is among the equalizer presets

SensMe is a completely new way of browsing music, which debuted in Sony Ericsson W910.

Searching collections and creating playlists based on tempo and mood is the focus, instead of the well known artist or album filters. The interface is original and visually appealing, tracks appearing as dots in a dual plane, placed along a horizontal and vertical axis. This way you can circle a group of tracks that match your mood to create a playlist, or simply select individual tunes if you prefer.

You are also able to broaden or shrink the selection of tracks with the navigation key. An alternative for the phone's more conventional music catalogue, SensMe is the way to discover music that matches your current mood. If music on the W890 is uploaded via the Media Manager PC software, mood is directly assigned to each track. You are not able to assign it yourself. Furthermore, if you simply copy tracks trough the regular file browser, they will remain "unseen" for the SensMe matrix, so you are obliged to use the Media Manager to get the mood stuff.

Another shortcoming is that managing music with Media Manager requires the phone to be set to Transfer mode, in which the phone is off for calls.

SensMe function with its original interface

The Media center menu lists the Photo, Music, Video, and Settings icons. The current pick is highlighted and the count of included files is displayed. The Media center is also accessible through the sixth icon in the main menu.

The settings menu is simple - you may opt for portrait or landscape view. In Media center you are able to sort music by even more filters beside the SenseMe - year, genre, albums, tracks, playlists, podcasts, etc.

Media center and its music section

If you are willing to find a particular song, but know just a part of its name, don't worry, just type it in track list and the phone will automatically find and display it. If you're not using some of the music options, you can disable them in the options menu.

Finding a song is easier that never

"...The Sony Ericsson W890 features the Walkman 3.0 player with the SensMe feature as well as Media center. The Media center menu lists the Photo, Music, Video, and Settings icons. The Media center is also accessible through the sixth icon in the main menu..."

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The video player, previously found in the entertainment sector, is now accommodated in the media center as well. It supports fast-forwarding and rewinding, as well as playing clips in slow motion. The interface is simple but stylish, although it fails to impress from a functional point of view. Again, the video files are accessible via the file manager.

The video player

Using the video player in landscape mode is much more comfortable

The integrated FM radio of Sony Ericsson W890 has memory for 20 preset stations and supports RDS.

Tuning in a station • options menu with TrackID