If you’re wondering why we mention the K750i it’s because this is practically exactly the same phone. The chassis is near identical but for the unusual ivory and amber colour scheme and the Walkman logo adorning the front. Also the two megapixel camera on the back has a switch to remove the lens cap rather than a slide-down cover. We actually prefer this as it was too easy to knock the K750i’s cover open when putting it in your pocket.

The onboard software is the same but different: the same in that it does exactly the same things, different in that the icons are a bit more funky and “yoof”. Beyond that the main difference occurs when you turn it on – you are asked whether you want to start the phone or listen to music only. The latter is no flight mode (where the radio is turned off) – you can’t access any of the games or address book. Doing this will extend your battery life to just over 20 hours. However, most of the time you’ll be listening to music with the phone turned on and it lasted a respectable 17 hours in our MP3-playing test.

The package comes with a 512MB Memory Stick Duo to store songs and photos, a cable with a USB connector, headphones and a useful hands free connector which sports a microphone as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. The latter lets you use your own headphones if you don’t like the feel of the bundled offerings.

These offer superior bass response due to minimal sound leakage, but completely shut out the outside world meaning you can hear your own footsteps – which can be disconcerting. Beyond this the only other difference with the K750i is that the central menu button takes you to the MP3 application rather than the shortcut menu. Navigation through files is the usual division between Artist, Album and Tracks.

File transfer via the Disc2Phone software is laborious and it took over ten minutes for our 200MB of test files to transfer to the MemoryStick. However, if you don’t fancy carrying around yet another gadget it’s a good choice. That it’s also a great phone with triband, BlueTooth, an excellent two megapixel camera and a speedy 3D game processor is a bonus. But you must remember that if you don’t like the trendy styling you can buy the exact same accessories with the K750i and not miss anything that the Walkman phone offers.

Ultimately, though, if you like to occasionally listen to music on your commute it’s a great choice of upgrade. But there are far better MP3 players out there.