The W950i is Sony Ericsson’s flagship Walkman™ phone, and is one of the most unusual phones to be released in 2006.

The Sony Ericsson W950i is a Walkman phone for the European market. The candy bar handset has all the normal Walkman phone features including a high-end digital music player for MP3 and AAC files, an FM radio, and a melody composer. Other offerings include Bluetooth with a stereo profile, a speakerphone, an infrared port, e-mail, text and multimedia messaging, PC syncing, modem capability, support for 3G UMTS networks, a voice recorder, and basic organizer applications. It’s available unlocked for around $700 in the United States.

This phone has been designed as a music player & business phone - an interesting concept - and the W950i meets the needs of its target market well. What the designers at Sony Ericsson have realised is that even the best camera phone on the market today (the Sony Ericsson K800i or Nokia N93) is still not a patch on a dedicated digital camera, so why include one? By scrapping the camera they have produced a feature-packed phone that doubles as a full-spec music player and really can replace your iPod, without compromise.

Apart from having no camera, the W950i is unusual in other respects. It’s also the slimmest smartphone on the market, at just 15mm thick, and is also a 3G phone. It’s compact and lightweight and feels just right in the hand. The W950i has a flat keypad, that is actually very easy to use, together with a jog dial and dedicated music player keys on the sides of the keypad for easy access to your music collection. In addition the W950i has a touchscreen and stylus that makes navigation a breeze. It also supports handwriting recognition. The screen is very large (2.6 inches across), is bright and sharp, and is brilliant for navigating, managing playlists, and viewing graphics. In fact this is one of the most ergonomic and user-friendly phones around, and is a real pleasure to use. Nevertheless you should still expect to have to spend some time learning to use all of the features on this device, simply because it has so many of them!

This is not the best RAZR we’ve seen, that honor is still held by the RAZR V3xx. Still, this phone does have a couple of advantages over the AT&T device. First, we like the updated look of the Maxx, it provides a nice evolutionary bridge between this phone and the KRZR. Second, the camera on the Maxx Ve, with it’s two-stage autofocus button, took usable pictures. Like most RAZRs, the Maxx Ve made calls that sounded great, but most other aspects of the phone were very disappointing. We’re tired of the Verizon Wireless interface and menu setup, and we quickly grew frustrated with the V Cast music store. The phone simply could not handle videos properly, a real disappointment on a 3G phone. We’d like to see the V3xx stuffed into this body, or maybe a more revolutionary update to the RAZR family as a whole.

The handset is easy to open with its well designed clamshell opening system & comes with external controls & display. The external display provides the user with all the information they desire regarding signal strength, battery life, time & more. The dual screen allow the user to view information internal & externally on either of the clear colour screens. The external screen provides 65k colours with a screen resolution of 120 x 160 pixels & the internal screen measures 2.2 Inches & provides a bright 256k colour display. The Motorola RAZR MAXX comes with a lengthy talk time which is up to 5 hours & the standby time is 380 hours approximately. The RAZR MAXX has been beautifully designed by Motorola & is a member of the RAZR family which include the Motorola RAZR V3, Motorola RAZR V3i & the Motorola RAZR V3x.

Motorola really hasn’t strayed far from the original Razr design with the MAXX. At 15mm thick, it’s still super slim, especially by the standards of 3G phones, and it retains the stylish keypad, which is made from etched metal–although this time the keys are slightly wider.

The only major design update is the hardened glass finish on the front. This covers the small external color screen and also hides three dedicated music buttons for fast forward, rewind and play/pause. Like the touch buttons on LG’s Chocolate phone, these only light up when you run your finger over them. We found they can be a bit slow to respond, though.

The exterior design is nearly identical to the DMP-BD35. Compared with the sleek and glossy designs of Samsung and LG, the DMP-BD60 looks pedestrian, as if it has a job to do, rather than attract attention. The disc tray is in the center of the unit, behind an automatic flip-down door, and farther right is a manual flip-down panel that reveals an SD card slot, a USB port, and some minimal playback controls.

VieraCast is Panasonic’s proprietary online content portal, available on its Blu-ray players and some HDTVs. As of publication time, the available services on VieraCast include YouTube, Picasa, weather, and stock quotes; Amazon Video On Demand is slated to be available in May. The inclusion of Amazon’s streaming service contrasts to competing Samsung and LG Blu-ray players, which offer Netflix streaming on all their players. Both online video services have different strengths and weaknesses. Netflix streaming is free with a subscription, but has a somewhat limited selection of content with few new releases; Amazon has more new releases, but it costs about $4 per rental. Which service is “better” is to some extent a matter of personal preference, but we find Netflix’s service more attractive, especially since your subscription can be used to rent new Blu-ray releases.

A lot of the buyers don’t pay too much attention to the remote control when they are purchasing television or disc players. The remote control for the DMP-BD60 doesn’t change much from the previous remote controls. The top of the remote houses the volume and channel buttons. This can take some time getting used to since most remotes have them in the middle or the bottom. However, there is separate volume button for your receiver. This is particularly convenient if you have receiver set up and don’t have a universal remote control. The numeric buttons are right below the channel and volume buttons. The playback function buttons and directional buttons are in the middle. The menu buttons surround the directional pad. The bottom of the remote houses the special function buttons like Viera Cast and set up buttons. Overall, it’s a solid remote control. It’s not Harmony but you can do much worse.

The DMP-BD60  includes an SD Memory card slot and USB slot, making it easy for the consumer to view and share both digital still images and HD video recorded with an HD camcorder in the AVCHD format.

In order to produce the ultimate picture quality, the Panasonic’s DMP-BD60 Blu-ray players employs high precision 4:4:4 signal technology, which working in tandem with PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus processes each pixel of the Blu-ray Disc video signal in the horizontal direction, to compliment vertical direction processing. P4HD (Pixel Precision Progressive Processing for HD) is another technology that contributes to the superior picture quality of the Blu-ray players. P4HD processes more than 15 billion pixels per second and applies the optimal processing to every pixel.

The HD DVD player does require users to connect it to their Xbox 360 for playback functionality, but other than that it comes with everything you’ll need to get connected and ready for high-definition viewing enjoyment. Here’s a quick list of the contents of the HD DVD package:

• Xbox 360 HD DVD Player
• Universal Remote Control (Two AA batteries included)
• USB 2.0 Cable
• Power Supply with AC Power Cord
• Installation software and reference materials

Setting up the HD DVD player is a breeze, even for the technically challenged. The setup disc that comes with the package will install all the necessary updates to the Xbox 360 to bring the dashboard up to speed with the new features that support the HD DVD drive’s operation. Once that is done, simply connect the HD DVD player via the USB wire supplied and then connect the power supply to the drive. By powering on the Xbox 360, the HD DVD drive will also come to life and the eject button will light up letting you know it’s getting juice. When the dashboard loads up, the first thing you’ll notice is that the disc tray area of the blade now displays two options to select on the left side of the tray signified by a circle icon split in two halves. One is for playing the current disc in the Xbox 360 DVD drive while the other is for playing the disc in the HD DVD drive. You’ll know which option you have selected as the top half of the circle will light up and the tray displays the DVD logo while the bottom half of the circle will light up with the HD DVD logo.

The HD DVD drive connects to the X360 via a simple USB to mini-USB cable, which comes in the box. Don’t worry about losing the only rear mounted USB port on the Xbox 360 though, because the HD DVD drive gives you two more ports, leaving you one USB connector better off. Once you’ve connected the drive, the X360 will download the necessary update automatically. Once loaded you’ll be greeted with your usual Dashboard interface, but with one small difference. The Eject Tray icon at the bottom is now split into two sections – the top half will eject the DVD drive in the X360, while the bottom half will eject the HD DVD drive.

Also in the box is a full AV remote control – I say full, because it’s a bit longer and more comprehensive than the small AV remote that shipped with early X360 consoles. It’s a good bundle though, considering that even the Premium pack 360 doesn’t come with a remote control anymore.

Great design makes the Sennheiser MX-90-VC Style Stereo Earphones a real inspiration. The innovative holding systems not only look extremely elegant, they’re comfortable to wear, too. High-quality materials and the specially tuned damping system with its detailed sound reproduction complete the picture. Ear adapter set and rubber buds for individually matching different ears 1.2m symmetrical connecting cable Audio connector - 3.5 mm right-angled stereo mini-jack plug in gold Dynamic Transducer Frequency response - 18-22,000 Hz 64-Ohms Impedance Less than 0.1% THD 117 dB SPL (1 kHz, 1 Vrms) Weight - 12 grams

The MX90 VC is another of Sennheiser’s new pairs of earbuds. Sporting their innovative winged design, they hold firmly in your ears and provide audio that is well above the quality of a typical earbud. While we still recommend over the ear models for true high quality listening, the MX90 won’t disappoint the average listener.

As with the MX55 which we looked at recently, the MX90s are designed with a special wing that extends from the tip of the earbud. This wing is covered with a rubber seal, and slips comfortably into one of the top grooves of your ear. Sennheiser’s intent here was to lock the earbuds in place, as a typical earbud design doesn’t sit firmly in your ear. The end result is a pair of headphones that are great for fast paced activities like jogging or cycling.

The design is reasonably comfortable, although it takes a little getting used to. After an hour we barely noticed the wings were there. The buds themselves are comfortable as well, with interchangeable pads of different sizes and textures, allowing you to achieve the best fit for you. As usual, Sennheiser do not disappoint with regards to sound quality either. While we still feel an over the ear model like the Koss or Sennheiser’s own is a better choice if the quality of the audio is your top priority, the size, convenience and price of earbuds often make them an attractive option.
Technical Details

• Includes earphones, volume control, and carrying case
• Convenient accessories such as volume controls and stylish carrying cases
• Specially tuned damping system ensures detailed sound reproduction
• High-quality materials accentuate the unique design
• Innovative holding design (Twist-to-fit system) ensures best possible fit