Sony Ericsson W760

Picking a mobile phone these days is a difficult and often frustrating task. There are so many different features to choose from – such as music playback, camera quality and onboard memory – that it's quite unsettling to walk into your local mobile phone emporium and be faced with an entire wall of handsets, each promising to do something slightly better than its rivals.

This consumer confusion is amplified when manufacturers choose to create different mobile models but share the same characteristics between them. The W760 is a perfect example of this; a quick glance at the feature list for this shiny new Sony Ericsson product gives you an eerie feeling of déjà vu – it's so similar to the recently released W910 that you have to wonder if those boffins at SE headquarters have made a mistake when designing the phone and inadvertently used old blueprints for this new model.

Thankfully, although the W760 can certainly count the W910 as a close relative, it possesses enough of a unique personality to stand out from the crowd and in many respects manages to outclass its accomplished stablemate.

For starters, the design is easy on both the eye and the hand; this compact slider fits snugly in your palm and the smooth rounded edges grant added comfort. As you press buttons and navigate menus, sections of the phone pulse and glow with a bright white light – a pleasing touch. First-rate build quality on a SE phone isn't anything new – the company rarely puts a foot wrong in this regard – but the W760 is an agreeable surprise nonetheless.

Bearing in mind it's one of the leading Walkman-branded handsets on the market, the W760 unsurprisingly comes with the latest Walkman media player software (version 3, in case you were wondering). With this comes motion-sensitive track control, which allows you to control your play list with the flick of your wrist.

We experienced some troublesome niggles with this interface when we reviewed the W910, but are pleased to report that SE has taken note and improved the sensitivity on the W760. This fascinating feature is far more trustworthy this time around, and if you tend listen to your music while on the move we're sure you will genuinely come to adore it.

However, by far the most innovative element of this phone is the new GPS functionality. The W760 features a GPS receiver and can be used to pinpoint your exact location; this obviously opens up all kinds of exciting possibilities. For example, when you snap a photo it's possible to tag it instantly using Google Maps to the exact spot where it was taken – a very neat touch. You can also use the bundled Wayfinder Navigator software to ascertain your location should you get lost, and the phone also comes with a fitness program that records the distance you've travelled when out on a jog.

There's obviously the potential for other uses, too. GPS could be utilized in games and other programs, and represents one of the most intriguing advancements we've seen in a mobile phone for some time. The only drawback is that having it switched on eats through your battery like a Lamborghini drinks petrol.

Those of you that value portable gaming (that ought to be most of you reading this) will be delighted to know that the W760 builds on the admirable work seen in previous SE handsets such as the W550 and W910. Showcasing two 'game buttons' that reside above the display, the handset can be held lengthways as you would a GBA or PSP. The benefits are clear; not only is the screen orientated for better viewing, it also prevents the user from becoming frustrated by having to use the mobile phone keypad as an interface.

Our review unit came with several games already loaded including such 3D heavyweights as Need For Speed: ProStreet and Rollercoster Rush 3D. The visuals are razor-sharp and everything moves at an impressive pace. We were also pleased to discover that some of the games support motion-control; for example, in the aforementioned ProStreet it's possible to steer your car by tilting the phone in the desired direction.

Lamentably not all of the bundled games make use of the landscape play mode, and as was the case with the W910 there's always the question of whether or not games developers will choose to support this facility, given that the vast majority of handsets lack the all-important game buttons.

While the 3.2-megapixel camera is a distinct improvement over the tepid two-megapixel variant found on the W910, it suffers from the same issues; there's no flash or auto focus, and to make matters worse to take a snap you're forced to hold the phone in portrait mode, as opposed to landscape (which is almost a given with mobile phones these days). This choice is a puzzling one, as is the lack of a dedicated camera button.

Another strange decision is the exclusion of a second camera for video calls – most cutting-edge handsets support the service these days. Thankfully, the phone isn't totally lacking in 3G muscle as SE has included tri-band HSDPA, which permits super-fast download speeds on a truly global scale.

Although the W760 shares many of its DNA with other handsets in the SE catalogue, pound for pound it's far superior to the likes of the W910, not just in cosmetic terms but in regards to features as well. The GPS functionality is a real revelation and we sincerely hope it makes its way onto other handsets in the future.

The camera arguably could have been better and the absence of video calls is a puzzling choice (although not an altogether fatal one given that few seem to use such a feature in the real world), but this nevertheless ranks as one of the best SE handsets we've yet seen and therefore sets a very high watermark for rival manufactures to beat.