Somehow, I always had this fear that if such an event did take place, it would be the end of the unit’s superlative beauty.

During the phone’s couple of weeks with me, that was the only grumble I had, and of course, that the Walkman function would stop each time I turn the unit’s camera on. The W980 proved itself much deserving of its branding as a Walkman mobile phone, a step that adds another digital audio player feather to Sony Ericsson’s cap.

After overcoming this primordial fear of dropping the unit, I gradually learned to have a good time with the W980. And what a good time I sure had, not the least of which was seeing the envious glances that other commuters would throw my way each time I used the LRT Line 2 from my home station at Anonas to the Recto terminal station on my way to the Technews office.

The 100-gram, 92 x 46 x 16.9 mm phone’s design and build were shouting elegance and glamour, and simplicity, to everybody looking at the handset. One of my classmates at the nightly sessions I would join now and then at our friendly neighborhood sari-sari store even asked me not to take the phone out of my pockets each time he was using his mobile phone. He told me flashing the W980 made the other guys’ phones promptly turn into ugly ducklings.

What could I do? I never wanted to make my drinking buddies, er, classmates feel inadequate with their high-end, though outclassed, mobile phones. I had quite a number of missed calls and unanswered text messages for the past two weeks as I did my share in helping preserve my friends’ self-worth as mobile subscribers.

Whereas the phone’s beauty captured my eyes, its performance as a digital media player ensnared my heart. This early, the next multimedia handset that comes my way will have big shoes to fill. After all, the W980’s audio playback software and hardware complements have made it one of the best MP3 players masquerading as a mobile phone.

Its audio playback application is simple and intuitive to use, with user interface that is almost idiot-proof. Yet, the unit sounded so rich. Its clear stereo feature allows the handset to play audio files and make them sound with quality equal those of the original cuts. It also comes with clear bass, which enables it to provide users with sound that is free from distortion even at high volume levels.

Never had I heard an MP3 version of Mustang Sally sound as good as on the W980, with the standard set of on-ear headphones. Again, listening to my list of songs on the handset brought back memories of spending hours with my first analog Walkman back in the early 1990s.

The W980, however, sounded better. Much better, actually, even though we all know how memory lane, with its bias for the good old days, has this habit of making things from yesteryears much better than they actually were.

An added bonus would be the handset’s FM feature, which enables it to broadcast music files being played to other gadgets equipped with an FM receiver.

As if the phone’s design and its media player features were not impressive enough, the W980 comes with the usual collection of smart-phone features and more. It supports GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and 3G (HSDPA 2100), and offers Internet, Bluetooth and USB connectivity options. Its PIM assets, meanwhile, include the usual file manager, calendar, alarms, and notes applications.

The W980 may not convince some users to let go of their dedicated MP3 players, but it sure does offer one of the best digital audio experiences for mobile phone users. While its lack of a memory card slot may keep the phone from added storage capacity, its built-in 8GB of space should be enough for most subscribers’ digital media collections.