SmartPhones

It's official - the Sony Ericsson W995a is finally coming to America. The 3G smartphone will come unlocked to store shelves on July 6 for $600, though eager users fearing sold out inventories can preorder the device now. Is the W995a worth $600? Let's find out...

The Sony Ericsson W995a is a stellar media phone, for starters. It boasts an 8.1 megapixel digital camera which is just about as close to professional-quality photography as any smartphone camera today can achieve. And it's got 16x zoom. Plus, the W995a comes preinstalled with Sony's Media Go software which is an unbelievably easy way to manage transfer of photos, music, and videos between your PC and the device with drag and drop simplicity. You can also use the Media Go software to transcode music and video files in a manner familiar to anyone who's used a Sony PSP lately. The phone even comes with a built-in Walkman and an FM stereo radio.

The battery on this smartphone is also quite impressive, with up to 9 hours of talk time, up to 370 hours (we did the math to find that that's 15+ days!), and 20 hours of music listening pleasure. With recharging smartphones always such a hassle for most of us, this longer battery lifespan is a welcome improvement on the meager old standard.

The W995a has Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, all standard for most smartphones today. But unlike most, it also has a neat and convenient kickstand (sometimes it's the littlest things that count the most, right?).

The 2.6" display is stunning with 320 x 240 pixel resolution, offering 16 million colors (though with such clarity, you'd think videos would appear sharper). The navigation is acceptable (especially by Sony's standards), with an adequately large and tactile central OK button and circular toggle a la' the iPod. The keypad leaves a bit to be desired, with small and "slippery" buttons. Still, it's all better than Sony Ericsson has managed to come up with to date.

So the bottom line on the Sony Ericsson W995a? It may not be an iPhone-killer per se, but it does seem to hold up well as a scaled-down iPhone alternative (though, granted, the iPhone is a heck of a lot cheaper).