Sony Ericsson has released two new W205 & W395 mobile phones in India that belong to the affordable Walkman generation. The phones satisfy the basic needs of this generation – TFT Display, average display resolution, better camera, EDGE connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0 support, memory expansion, media player & TrackID. TrackID is an awesome service in Sony Ericsson’s mid-end phones. The service is also available on low-budget phones like W350. TrackID records a short music clip (from external source or FM) and uses special algorithm to recognize the song and displays the Song name, Artist info and Album from its database powered by Gracenote.

Coming to the specifications of W205, the phone is equipped with an average 128×160 display resolution on a 65K color TFT screen of 1.8 inches. Internally, the phone has 5MB of memory(lame), but you can use a Memory Stick Micro (also knows as an M2 card) to expand its memory up to 2GB. It offers a standard 1.3 Megapixel camera that can shoot pictures at 1280×1024 resolution and has support for video recording too. There obviously is no secondary camera as it doesn’t feature video calling. Rest assured, you get a Class 10 GPRS & EDGE with speeds up to 236 kbps, Opera Mini browser for HTML browsing and an FM Radio with support for RDS. It offers a standby time of up to 425 hours, talk-time of up to 9 hours and continuous music playback of up to 13 hours. With all these features packed, the phone is priced at an affordable Rs.5800 INR roughly, which is by far the best Walkman phone for an affordable price.
Regarding W395, the phone is a step higher than W205 in features and in price too. It is a cool slider with a 2.0 inch 176×220 TFT display. Internally, it has 10MB of memory with memory expansion (M2 Card) of up to 4GB. It is said that it comes packed a 1GB card. The phone is equipped with a 2 Megapixel camera that can take shots at 1600×1200 resolution with support for video recording. No secondary camera. With regards to its connectivity, the phone has support for Class 10 GPRS & EDGE for browsing. It allows HTML browsing on its OpenWave browser. There’s an RSS Reader packed with it that fetches RSS feeds on the go. There’s support for Bluetooth and A2DP. It offers a standby time of up to 480 hours, talk-time of up to 8 hours and continuous music playback of up to 12 hours. Additionally, the phone has a scratch-resistant surface. The phone also has support for Motion-sensor games. The phone is priced at roughly Rs. 8400 INR.
Finally, both the phones lack 3G!
Specs & Comparison
Sony Ericsson W205 |
Sony Ericsson W395 |
|
Display | ||
Resolution | 128×160 | 176×220 |
Screen Size | 1.8 inches | 2.0 inches |
Memory | ||
Internal | 5MB | 10MB |
Expansion | Yes / M2 Card/ Up to 2GB | Yes / M2 Card/ Up to 4GB |
Camera | ||
Camera | 1.3 Megapixel | 2 Megapixel |
Resolution | 1280×1024 pixels | 1600×1200 pixels |
Video Recording | Yes | Yes |
Connectivity | ||
GPRS | Yes, Class 10 | Yes, Class 10 |
EDGE | Yes, Class 10 | Yes, Class 10 |
3G | No | No |
Bluetooth | Yes, 2.0 | Yes, 2.0 – A2DP Support |
Browser | OperaMini – HTML | OpenWave – xHTML/HTML |
Misc | ||
FM | Yes, with RDS | Yes, with RDS |
TrackID | Yes | Yes |
MIDP Version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
Others | Nothing in particular | Has support for motion-based games |
Price
W205 – Rs. 5800 INR
W395 – Rs. 8400 INR
Prices stated here are rough estimates and it may vary.