Another Gadget to Lust After

I've been happy with my new iPod for the most part- a recent overnight session at The Salt Mines gave me ample opportunity to appreciate having a personal music supply during the wee hours of the morning when it was better to keep to one's self while working or just wasting away the hours to the sunrise. It certainly got me thinking about any possible replacements for my XDAIIi. Yeah, yeah... I knew I said that I'd be keeping my Pocket PC phone- and I probably will, at that. But still, once I really get used to the idea of having my media mostly in my iPod, it would be nice to have a smaller phone instead of the large PPC sagging at my belt.

I've already talked about the O2 XDA Flame in the past, but come on- that thing makes my XDA look as light as a runway model. What I am looking for is a phone that doesn't compromise on size as much as capabilities and feature. And I think I found one that fits the bill swimmingly.


My next phone?

It's the Sony Ericsson W960, a Walkman smartphone with a lovely, 2.6-inch 256K-color TFT Touchscreen (only slightly larger than the iPod's screen). This latest Walkman phone seems to have it all- 3G, WiFi, 8 Gigabytes of flash memory, 30fps video-playing capability, 3.2 Megapixel camera, FM radio, Symbian UIQ OS for apps and games, PIM features... and man, it even LOOKS slick and sexy. It's no wonder though that this phone is Sony Ericsson's answer to the iPhone. Certainly, the Apple device has a bigger and better screen, but the W960 has phone features that the neophyte designers at Apple didn't throw into the iPhone, as well as support for 3G. So if I was actually given a choice between the W960 and the iPhone, I'd probably choose the former.

Perfect, isn't it? Well... no. The wrinkle is, well, that the W960 isn't here yet- it's still coming, but it should be here very soon. Which means its probably expensive, which should mean I will have to wait a bit until I get it so prices go down a bit. If it comes out later this year though, it should make for a wonderful Christmas gift for myself. Heh. We'll see. Later this year, then.