Sony Ericsson @ CTIA - Hands on with the W800 Walkman phone

We knew there was going to be one phone we weren't going to leave New Orleans without seeing: Sony Ericsson's recently-announced W800 Walkman musicphone. The big revelation was that the W800 actually won't work with Sony's Connect online music store, at least not when it's launched later this year. Nah, instead it'll have support for both MP3 and AAC, with the idea is that you'll load it up with music from your own collection (it'll ship with a 512MB Memory Stick Duo card). We were told that eventually they might add support for Connect (which would require a firmware upgrade, since the W800 doesn't currently support ATRAC3—a total shocker for a Sony device), as well as whatever wireless music download services the carriers might be cooking up; in the meantime they just want to make it easy for people to get music on to their phones, and over-the-air ain't it.

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Hmm. Is the camera on this, D750, and K750, CCD or CMOS? If it's CMOS, why would SE take a step back from the CCD found on S700/710a?

[tacotaco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Can you say jhymn? This will be the first itunes phone. Sort of. And by "first", I mean that I'll buy.

[Suntiger @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Uhhh, since when is CMOS a step back? Don't Canon DSLRs use CMOS? And their shitticams use CCD?

[Suntiger @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Oh, and additionally: Can someone please release a musicphone, preferably PalmOS based, that *DOES NOT* have a camera in it? So that owners of expensive DSLRs don't have to waste money on a camera we'll never use, ever?

[Jon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Is that AAC as in,, all my music that I've ripped in iTunes?

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

4 - yeah, damn right. If someone brings out a phone with these very demanding, highly-advanced specs:

Slot for 512mb+ flash memory, any type
Support for MP3
NO FREAKIN' WEAK-ASS NO-USE CAMERA OF ANY GODDAMN RESOLUTION
Voice calls and text messages

Then I'll walk over hot coals to buy it. Honestly, I hate cameraphones with a passion. I wouldn't mind their existence, if you could actually buy an attractively designed, well-specced phone that doesn't have a camera on it. Any suggestions?

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

4 - yeah, damn right. If someone brings out a phone with these very demanding, highly-advanced specs:

Slot for 512mb+ flash memory, any type
Support for MP3
NO FREAKIN' WEAK-ASS NO-USE CAMERA OF ANY GODDAMN RESOLUTION
Voice calls and text messages

Then I'll walk over hot coals to buy it. Honestly, I hate cameraphones with a passion. I wouldn't mind their existence, if you could actually buy an attractively designed, well-specced phone that doesn't have a camera on it. Any suggestions?

[sauceruney @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I had to google CCD vs CMOS since I had always assumed that Charge Coupled Devices were constructed using Complimentary Metal Oxide Silicon and not Transistor to Transistor Logic (TTL)

CCD's are an application, while CMOS and TTL are methodologies for construction. There is some serious misuse of acronyms going on in the imaging industry.

[Jared Goodwin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

#6, it's called a camera-less Treo 600.

[David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Was the headphone jack standard size?

[Eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

At least Sony Ericsson had the iniative to produce an "itunes" phone with a generous 512mb duo. While my poor Nokia 6230 came with a 128mb MMC.

[gt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

engadget: Instead of
"Continue READING", kindly put "Continue SEEING", as there is nothing more to read, rather, just more pics

[SteveJ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

But does it have crappy reception? All the SE phones seem to suck for reception. Sony cares a lot about the extras and doesn't so much seem to care about the phone. Is this one any better?

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

one question: HOW MUCH?

[firerock @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

$399.99 when it is released 3Q in US and it will be sold by SE directly with sim unlocked to work w/ Cingular or T-mobile.

[firerock @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

$399.99 when it is released 3Q in US and it will be sold by SE directly with sim unlocked to work w/ Cingular or T-mobile.

[Pete @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Sauceruny.

People love to use acronyms on website forums and the like to make themselves feel like they are ahead of everyone else. What they really get off on is when you ask them what their acronyms actually stand for.

Mike, Can you please tell me what CCD and CMOS actually stand for.

Cheers

Pete

[Ferdinand Santos @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Pete, I'm just wondering what made you conclude that the reason Mike used the acronyms in his post is to make himself feel like he's ahead of everyone else. By the way, TTL when talking about cameras means through-the-lens. You can thank Mike for prompting you to google CMOS and CCD. Now you know what they mean.

[sauceruney @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I didn't need to google any acronyms ;)

[Dave Taylor @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Just for info: CCD is charge coupled device, which is the imaging chip. There are rival images made using a CMOS process (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) which are proported to have higher dynamic range among other benefits. Hope this helps. TTL is a red herring... ;)

[amy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Is the sound quality of the w800 the same as the k650? Do they have megabass like the z800?
I do not understand why in Japan and Korea there are already phones with more than 4mpixel selling, and in europe talking about a 2mp cam-phone is as if it would be the latest thing. A phone with less than 5mpix might as well have no cam at all.