The Sony Ericsson W980i is the latest instalment in the renowned Walkman series that have dominated the mobile phone market over the years. The W980i does a fantastic job as mobile phone, and is a wonder for music enthusiasts. You may find yourself pondering how well the Sony Ericsson W980i can imitate a portable music player and mobile phone at the same time! Thus a truly genius phone in more than one way, the W980i is a worthy competitor in the mobile phone market and more than holds its own.
You can call the W980i many things, but one thing you cannot call it is dull. The phone has an exquisite design that is sure to impress anyone, anywhere. When the sexy clamshell is closed the mobile phone resembles a MP3 player, and there is also the fantastic addition of large touch-sensitive music keys. All you can do is marvel in awe at how well this is constructed and how smooth it is. This really has to be the best clamshell Sony Ericsson has ever produced, period.
If you love your music more than the average person and really want to let everyone know, this phone is a dream come true. Forget the other mobile phones which ‘include’ an MP3 player, the W980i ‘is’ an MP3 player in every sense of the word. What really sets it apart is the quality of the music that is played, included is a wonderful Mega-Bass enhancement. Truly remarkable. To ensure a great audio experience, Sony Ericsson have thrown in the new Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-77 headset!
The built-in FM transmitter allows you to send music from the W980i to any other device with a built-in FM radio receiever to listen to! Now that is seriously cool. The W980i also has a TrackID feature which allows you to identify tracks you cannot put a name to, and download them via the PlayNow arena. You will never be short of tracks to listen to on the Sony Ericsson W980i; this clamshell gem has 8GB internal memory, which means tracks and lots of them! It roughly equates to 8,000 full songs. Other music related features include the Shake Control, which allows you to switch tracks with a flick of the wrist.
However aside from the fact the W980i is a gateway to hours of quality music, it is a very good phone. This phone is no gimmick, it has several other handy and quality features. It has HSDPA for high speed downloads, especially useful for music. The W980i is also a 3G phone, which means it has the scope for video calls. It also has a very nice well-protected 3.2 megapixel camera. Although this does lack features such as a flash and autofocus, it is nonetheless useful. The Sony Ericsson W980i is also quadband, so can literally be used anywhere in the world.
It has to be said that the Sony Ericsson W980i has taken the Walkman range to a whole new level, with even better sounding music. It has countless music related features, and effortlessly combines what people want in a mobile phone and music player. The W980i lacks in that it does not have the features or quality of features that other mobile phones have. Nonetheless, the Sony Ericsson W980i was not designed to pack extra features, but include the most practical ones with a fully integrated music player. So in conclusion, Sony Ericsson have done a fantastic job, and if you have a passion for music and want a phone that conveys it, the W980i does it better than any other phone out there.
By: Kaamran Malik
Posts Tagged ‘Music Enthusiasts’
Sony Ericsson W980i – Mobile Phone Review
March 29th, 2010Music is Getting Smaller – From Records to MP3 Players
February 18th, 2010
The record player was a marvel for music enthusiasts world wide. It begun in mono though a simple amplifier of sound waves carved into a vinyl disc. This technology was amazing at its time. The disc then developed into dual sound waves storing left and right sounds on the single disc on waving up and down, the other left and right. No longer would people have to go out for musical performances! They could simply listen to it in their own homes.
In the late 1970s the cassette player became the most popular audio medium, replacing big chunky records with small easy to insert tapes. These tapes used a new form of media. Rather then using analogue sound waves this new technology used digital ones and zeros to represent the details of a sound wave. This sparked the beginning of the digital age for music, allowing music to be stored in many different ways physically while still representing the same ones and zeros. The tape was able to do this though holding magnetic charges to record ones and not having a charge to record zeros.
Digital storage was also a huge improvement in sound quality, no longer will people rely on amplification of sound waves. These sound waves could be perfectly represented in digital form, limiting sound quality by two factors; quality of equipment, and amount of sound channels.
The next storage medium to hit the stage was the Compact Disc (CD). The CD used optical data storage to record ones and zeros. This was done by pits and pins. A pin or micro bump in the disc would reflect a laser back up to a sensor letting the CD Player know its a one. Where as a pit or micro ditch in the disc would not reflect back up letting the CD Player know its a zero. What differed about this form of storage was that while data was still stored sequentially around the disc. The CD also stored a map at the beginning of the CD allowing CD Players to know how many songs there are on the CD, and where on the CD they could be found. In layman’s terms you could easily jump to a particular song without fast forwarding or rewinding the CD.
This form of audio storage was favored over the cassette for four main reasons, these being. One, the fact that you can ‘jump’ between tracks. Two, you can store much more data on a single disc than a cassette. Three, the discs would not get warped though large amounts of use, as cassette tapes would. Four, the ability to read CD’s was much more efficient and effective allowing CD Players to convert digital audio into analogue sound with less errors.
With the rise of Personal Computers (PC) and the internet, two things came from digital audio that would change the way people listen to music forever. This was the ability to store music on computers and computer storage mediums, and the ability to quickly and easily download digital audio from the internet in the form of an MP3.
The MP3 is a form of digital audio that is compressed. The compression follows an algorithm of taking out the unneeded frequency’s while leaving the song still listen able. Though this new file format digital audio companies such as Apple, Sony and Walkman were able to develop MP3 Players that could decompress these digital files and convert the digital audio into that of analogue sound waves. This form of digital audio storage trumped the rest with its ability to store hundreds and even thousands of songs on a single device. Done though a new form of technology called solid-state flash memory, where billions of electrons are stored within a device to represent digital ones and zeros. Flash memory is also much more durable than visual, magnetic or analogue storage mediums. Having files saved on a flash drive means you can also store video files, documents and any form of computer files on your MP3 player.
With this new and exciting form of audio storage on the rise, and microchips physically shrinking flash memory is continually getting smaller and smaller, able to hold vast amounts of songs and files. Recently designers have created wearable MP3 Players that look great and are able to clip onto your clothes, belt or even your pocket! This funky innovation allows people to take their MP3 player with them everywhere and listen to music anywhere. Not to mention the ability to take any other files along with you in such a tiny storage device.
And so we head into the future with our favorite songs and important files literally close to our hearts. Having the ability to listen to them on demand without swapping disc or cassettes. This is the biggest thing in audio so far, and will continue to upgrade over the next few years to become physically smaller while digitally larger.
By: Max Style
