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The W980i supports HSDPA and has a front-facing camera inside the flip for two-way video calling. The main camera lens is on the back. Stills are shot at resolutions to 3.2-megapixels. There is no flash or self-portrait mirror.

The coloured dish, photographed indoors under normal household lights and the chair photographed outdoors are both reasonably good. The tomatoes, photographed fairly close in, show how badly the phone manages at short range, but colour reproduction is good.

When viewing photos the screen can be set to automatically rotate as you turn the phone. But this doesn’t work with the Web browser, which needs to be rotated manually.

One annoying design quirk of this handset is that when holding it, clam opened, to take photos in portrait orientation, my index finger naturally rested along the back ledge created by the hinge. In doing so, it completely covered the camera lens. The solution is to hold the phone lower down which makes it feel top heavy and not entirely secure in the hand.

Other features include a Web browser, RSS feed reader, TrackID, VideoDJ, PhotoDJ, MusicDJ, Bluetooth remote control, sound recorder, mobile email, five alarms, calendar, task manger, notes taker, timer, stopwatch, and calculator. Don’t get excited about the built in Google Maps. The phone uses triangulation to determine your position rather than a GPS antenna, and so isn’t accurate.

Verdict

Without a Memory Stick slot you are forced to use the PC to transfer music and photos which won’t appeal to all. This is a very tall phone when its flipped open and the location of the camera lens didn’t work for me. As far as music playback goes there is a lot happening here, but the W980i is not the substitute for a dedicated music player that Sony Ericsson would like it to be.

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