Sony Ericsson live with walkman is the Second android walkman phone from sony,announced on October 2011.When you call it a walkman don't expect something big from it like the classic Walkmans®.Going through the web i saw many queries and doubts regarding the phone.So i felt like writing a detailed & a bit different review about the phone.Most of the tech blogs do speak of the specs only and just a generic review.So here you are .
Build and Appearance
The device looks cool with the SONY ERICSSON logo on front top guarded on either sides by Front cam ,Notification LED, Ambient Light sensor & Proximity Sensors.The top Surface is fully covered by a single piece of scratch resistent glass [ Not the Gorilla Glass by Corning ] including the Home key,Offering a perfect scratch protection.Earpiece is wedged between the small gap between the Power button and Glass surface.Since the glass is exposed nearly to the extreme ends an accidental fall can easily break the glass[Mine is already cracked ,but still working perfectly].The rear side is made of rubbery material offering a better grip and scratches less.The back side is not fully flat ,but curved at the ends slightly.The device is not slim actually,about 14.2 mm thick.The top end contains the 3.5mm jack surrounded by power & walkman buttons.The 3.5 mmjack is surrounded by a flourescent green semicircle which lights up with music.The notification LED is a unique feature ,which glows in 3 colors R,G&B.Its doesn't drain the battery as may people believes .The connectivity port is a MicroUSb port though its square its rectangular in shape.On the rear side there are two small speaker holes plus the camera,Flash & walkman logo .Overall the phone looks good except that its a bit thick.
Like : Glassy Surface ,Notification LED,Walkman Button
Dislike : Thickness ,Rounded Top and Bottom ends
Rating : 8/10
Like : Glassy Surface ,Notification LED,Walkman Button
Dislike : Thickness ,Rounded Top and Bottom ends
Rating : 8/10
Performance
Its powered by a 1Ghz processor which doesnt ever hang.The stock Rom[Android 2.3.5] is very stable that it wont ever crash[I am speaking of my phone ,have heard some complaints in by some users.].The phone is super fast,Plays upto 720P HD videos like a breeze.Forwarding the video etc is really fast.The accelero-rotate function works in no delay [Quite appealing ,isn't it? ] when you turn the phone.Installing apks were surprisingly speedy.While trying to play the Full HD videos using MX player the video did play , but there was no audio.Meaning you wont be able to play FULL HD videos.The phone didn,t heat up while playing HD videos.The default player supports only Mp4 & WMV. The gallery thumbnails loads in fractions of seconds.Most of the games loaded and worked perfectly and smoothly.[Check our Games section to see a Bunch of tested and Recommended games.Like : Blazing speed
Dislike :Absolutely Nothing
Rating : 9.5/10 ( -0.5 since it couldnt play FULL HD videos )
Display
The Display is a 3.2" 480*320 LED Backlit display. Though the screen size is small , the resoloution compromises for that.The quality of display is so good that the pixel seperation line are not visible , the Contrast ratio is really good.Black regions are pitch black.The Stock OS lacks the bravia engine ,so the photo and image qualtiy is really poor (on Stock OS ,Never Mind ) .The images when Zoomed in looks blurred. About the usability in sunlight ,the display was perfectly ok & well readable in Brightly lit and Direct sunlight conditions.The ambient light sensor wont work in Fluorescent light as usual .The Videos when played had an extra coloring and saturation which makes the display look even more good. But the display size could have been even larger on this price segment. Even if the size was small,an AMOLED display could have compromised that .
Dislike : Screen Size , Lack OF AMOLED
Rating : 8/10
Camera
Camera image quality is not that great.But good enough in proper lighting. In low light condirtions the camera is just a piece of crap.A lot of noise appears in the image due to amplification of the image . The images captured with LED flash is quite ok.The only good part of the camera is the Outstanding quality offered by the Document mode. The text captured in Document mode[Detected automatically] is surprisingly good in good lighting. The capture speeds are faster with no processing or "please wait" delays.The Contrast of the images is poor compared to neo v and many other 5Mp censors.The 720P video quality is just ok even though it is not as good as one captured on my digital camera.The video is MP4 format ,Compressed using avc codec at 6Mbps,30fps.The image lacked the coloring and saturation as seen in sony cybershot. Basically the image quality is not as good as in the Sony cybershot series phones.The LED flash is quite ok even though its not dual led.Due to the lack of bravia engine ,the captured images looks poor when viewed on phone .That doesn't matter much as Bravia engine can be added to the OS by the user.
Check the Camera Quality and Comparisons Here
The Front Cam
The front camera quality was totally poor.Not good enough for video chats.Additionally there was no video call option in the dialler . So that means you can make video chats using third party apps like Skype ,GTalk etc. only and not video calls via a 3G network.
Like: Document Mode
Dislike : Image Quality
Rating : 6/10
The Walkman & Audio
I expected a lot from the Walkman® part since i was a Great fan of Sony Walkmans® & the Megabass®. But in vein i realized that the audio quality wasn't as good as the classic walkman® phones like w810,w700 etc. The absence of the Megabass® really disappointed me a lot.The sound quality was below average on the earphones that came with it.They were earphones and not in the ear canal ,earbuds.There was absolutely no bass at all in the earphones. But the player gave a quite satisfactory output when a good pair of earphones from panasonic was used. There was reasonably good level of bass also. I think the Earphone should have come with a tag "Throw this piece into the Scrapyard or Your dustbin "..Lol ...
The power output from the jacks were not high enough to drive large On-the ear phones .The walkman laced an Auto turn off or sleep mode option , Custom equalizers etc.
Speaking about the Speaker audio quality though it was not thumby or bassy like very few phones , the sound quality was really good. The volume levels were surprisingly good and pretty clear audio.It uses the Sony XLOUD® technology which can be turned off if not required. XLOUD® actually boosts the audio on loud speakers and has got nothing to do with the earbuds .
To wind up , the Only difference between any other Xperia phone and a Walkman® is just the Walkman® Button on the top which is quite useful and handy for those who use the player frequently.
Like : Walkman button
Dislike : No Megabass® ,No sleep Mode
Rating:9.5/10 for Speakers & 7.5/10 for earphone listening .
Here are some results of My battery tests
Overnight Music Playback On Speakers
Vol- 2/15
5Hrs = 100% ->58% Translates to around 12 Hrs =100% ->0%
1 Hrs Music play on Speakers
Vol-8/15 [Really Loud Enough ]
15 ~ 20% per Hour [Several tests ]
Standard definition Video Playback
Xvid File ,Audio on Earbud @ Full Volume
76-> 51% .Translates to 8 Hrs on Full battery [Good Enough ! ]
Expect around 5-6 Hrs For 720P HD playback
Internet & Downloads
The device eated up a lot of battery and heats up little when using 2G network.For regular browsing and downloading don't expect i to last for more than 5 hrs on a full charge. But while in 3G networ it drained much less battery . Around 30 mins of Continuous downloading from the Play Store didn't heat up the battery much . You may expect a better backup on 3G network.
The reason for such a long time is that the Li-Polymer batteries require a uniform charging current .So there is nothing much to complain there. The charger supplied with the phone is a Universal charger to which you can plug in the Data cable to charge your phone.The charger is an 850 mA SMPS charger .The advantage is that you can use the charger with any of your phones .
The Battery
The battery is a Li-Polymer battery as in many other sony phones[I am not sure whether its Li-Ion or Li-Po on the other Brands] Li-Polymer offers a better age life and is costly compared to Li-ion batterys.
Battery Life
This is what many people worry about .Though the Sony says its a 1200 mAh battery ,it actually 1160 mAh only[4.3Wh]. Firstly letme tell you , you can't expect an Extra ordinary battery backup from an android. The battery backup isnt that good on live actually , just like any other droid phone.But still OK for a fair use for a single day.Here are some results of My battery tests
Discharging
Overnight Music Playback On Speakers
Vol- 2/15
5Hrs = 100% ->58% Translates to around 12 Hrs =100% ->0%
1 Hrs Music play on Speakers
Vol-8/15 [Really Loud Enough ]
15 ~ 20% per Hour [Several tests ]
Standard definition Video Playback
Xvid File ,Audio on Earbud @ Full Volume
76-> 51% .Translates to 8 Hrs on Full battery [Good Enough ! ]
Expect around 5-6 Hrs For 720P HD playback
Internet & Downloads
The device eated up a lot of battery and heats up little when using 2G network.For regular browsing and downloading don't expect i to last for more than 5 hrs on a full charge. But while in 3G networ it drained much less battery . Around 30 mins of Continuous downloading from the Play Store didn't heat up the battery much . You may expect a better backup on 3G network.
Charging
2Hrs:5Mins From 1% to 100%... It has been tested several times and got nearly the same result every time.The reason for such a long time is that the Li-Polymer batteries require a uniform charging current .So there is nothing much to complain there. The charger supplied with the phone is a Universal charger to which you can plug in the Data cable to charge your phone.The charger is an 850 mA SMPS charger .The advantage is that you can use the charger with any of your phones .
The Battery
The battery is a Li-Polymer battery as in many other sony phones[I am not sure whether its Li-Ion or Li-Po on the other Brands] Li-Polymer offers a better age life and is costly compared to Li-ion batterys.
The Final verdict
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman is a good choice considering its performance and speed. For music lovers the phone can be opted if you can buy yourself a good pair of earphones. Also Sony is recommending an App called 'Clear bass' which is claimed to deliver near 99% quality of Megabass.I have not yet tested that.The Audio playback on speakers is Excellent but at the cost of battery drainage . Those who love to click good pictures frequently ,please stay away.The smaller screen size also is a downside. Everything else is OK.You will surely love the Live for it Speedy processor. Comparing with other brands , Sony phones are generally a bit costlier. For long term Use , i recommend live for its good build quality.The Final word is ,Just go for it.
