Sony Ericsson
W960i

The Sony Ericsson W960 was the successor to the W950 – Sony Ericsson’s previous flagship music device. It used the Symbian / UIQ user interface which offered touchscreen capability. It was announced when Apple’s first iPhone would soon become available. A notable improvement over the W950 is the inclusion of a 3.2-megapixel camera (the W950 did not have a camera) and a more traditional keypad design. Both features were the result of feedback from customers who found it difficult to understand why such an expensive product did not have a camera. The W960’s onboard 8GB memory could store approximately 8000 songs. At the time, this was the same amount of memory as the top-of-the-range Apple iPod nano and Apple iPhone. The W960 had a new version of the Walkman player (version 3) which improved the support of album art (music could be selected by pressing the album art on the screen) and delivered a feature called “SensMe”. This meant users could select music to match their mood. When music was transferred to the phone via the PC-based “Media Manager” software it was analysed on the basis of speed/tempo and genre. Using SensMe, the type of music could be selected music accordingly. While out running or in the gym, you could select upbeat faster music or alternatively while trying to relax or when travelling, slower more soothing music could be selected. Sony Ericsson has also exploited the built-in accelerometer in the device offering a feature called “shake control” which made it possible for users to shift backwards and forwards between tracks by tapping the device, as well as “shuffling” music tracks by shaking the phone. The user interface also adjusted to the orientation of the device; if the device was facing upwards the user interface was displayed in portrait mode but if turned on its side the orientation of the screen adjusted accordingly. It was little surprise that Sony Ericsson was paying particular attention to the high-tier music segment given the phenomenal amount of publicity Apple’s first iPhone had received. Furthermore, because of Apple’s strategy of selecting a single network partner in a market, many operators were not able to sell the iPhone and needed an alternative.