Sony Ericsson W890i Musical maestro

Sony Ericsson W890i Musical maestro

This is a Walkman phone, so top music credentials come as standard. Although there's no 3.5mm jack port, Sony Ericsson has seen fit to bundle a 3.5mm adaptor, so you'll be able to add your own cans. And, while the W890i also supports A2DP (Stereo Bluetooth), to use the phone's FM radio you will have to use the provided headphones as these double up as the radio's antenna.

Unfortunately, as seems to be the trend with Sony Ericsson handsets, the manufacturer has opted to place the port for the headphones (which is also where you plug in the charger and USB cable) on the side of the headset, rather than more conveniently placed on the top. This is a real nuisance when you have the phone in your pocket, as it makes locating the headphone slot more awkward. Despite this shortcoming, the sound quality is crisp and clear and the music features are all neatly laid out. You can showcase your music according to artist, album or even year, and the SensMe feature allows you to create music playlists according to your mood.

For those unfamiliar with Walkman phones, the W890i's TrackID feature allows you to identify the artist and title of a song by simply recording a brief sample from the built-in FM radio or from an external music device. TrackID will then, via the internet, report back both the name of the song and the artist, thus improving your musical knowledge in the process. The fast 3.6Mbps HSDPA connection speeds this whole process up.

The Sony Ericsson W890i also comes with Sony Ericsson's new improved PlayNow download service, which allows you to download ringtones and games, as well as full-track music. Although, it has to be said the selection of music available is not that vast. Meanwhile, MusicDJ allows you to create your own ringtones Mark Ronson-style, while the FM radio can save up to twenty pre-set stations.

The W890i comes bundled with a 2GB memory card, which is a gig more than you got with the W880i and plenty of room to store a decent music collection. The W890i incidentally supports MP3 and AAC digital formats and, if you store your music in the latter, you'll squeeze in around 1,800 tracks. Frustratingly, to access the phone's memory card slot, you will need to remove the back using the battery cover switches. Thankfully the slot is not under the battery itself meaning the phone doesn't need to be switched off when inserting or changing cards.