Sony Ericsson's W880 (Ai) Walkman musicphone unleashed

Just like we thought, Sony Ericsson officially launched their W880 (Ai) Walkman musicphone today. Good thing too, 'cause all the leaked photos and SE teasers were getting a bit tiresome. So was the wait worth it? Depends, do you like slim musicphones swaddled in brushed stainless steel? At just 9.4-millimeters thin, it's SE's slimmest Walkman phone yet and packs a 1.8" QVGA 262k TFT display and 2 megapixel camera with a 1GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card included in the box. It also comes pre-loaded with Walkman Player 2.0, Disc2Phone music management, and the TrackID music recognition applications. It also features a Flight Mode for use on the airplane and battery capable of up to 20-hours of music playback or up to 6 hours 30 mins of talk time. Good so far right? Sadly for those of us in The States, it'll only be sportin' UMTS 2100 and GSM 900/1800/1900 when it hits Europe in Q1. A GSM-only variant dubbed the W888 is headed to China. Check the gallery below for a taste of what might have been.

Gallery: Sony Ericsson W880 announced

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[helloUser @ Feb 6th 2007 6:05AM]

aesthetically, this gives me far more of a hard on than the iphone.

[Dave Hunwick @ Feb 26th 2007 10:29AM]

Aesthetically this looks like SHIT!

[neale @ Feb 6th 2007 6:17AM]

man that is ugly. those buttons look like hell to text with. i had an old nokia with the same buttons and it was cap

[Speed @ Feb 6th 2007 6:23AM]

The buttons are from unsold 1973 TV remote controls.

[Blackster @ Feb 6th 2007 6:33AM]

i bet it's easer to type with those buttons than with the ones found on the predecessor k750-k800!

[Ssco @ Feb 6th 2007 6:44AM]

Any pictures of the W610 that's mentioned in the press release yet?

[wWw @ Feb 6th 2007 6:55AM]

I LOVE THIS MORE THAN THE IPHONE! I totally dig the retro buttons. They were the best.

[MPG @ Feb 6th 2007 7:23AM]

What's with the "this is better than the iPhone"/"this is worse than the iPhone" nonsense? Does it have to be compared with the iPhone just because it has music playback capability (like a large number of phone that are released nowadays)? That's really the only similarity with the iPhone that I could find.

Engadget has a report about an automatic trouser press just above this one. Perhaps people can also post "I LOVE THIS MORE THAN THE IPHONE!" there?

[Adrian @ Feb 6th 2007 7:58AM]

I think people will compare this to the forthcoming iPhone, even if the iPhone is more web-tablet PDA-like. I like the design, 70's analogue retro-futro fun. And I like thin too, not so keen on the orange highlights, or SE software, or Sony memory sticks come to think of it.

[Brian @ Feb 6th 2007 8:36AM]

Ugly.

I'll stick with my W810i

[Chryde @ Feb 6th 2007 8:54AM]

I've just tested it... The keypad is way better than the W950's, but it's still quite hard to text if you have big fingers... But ut's quite gorgeous, very thin...

[mj @ Feb 6th 2007 9:57AM]

"Dude, what's wrong?"
"I've been playing Diner Dash on my 880 and I can't even feel my fingers."

[Bennyishere @ Feb 6th 2007 10:00AM]

Good to see another Walkman 2.0 phone, but it's a bit lacking compared to the W850i. The W850i has 2+" (not sure if it's 2.0, 2.1 or 2.2) screen and bigger battery capability. It also uses the Pro Duo Memory Cards.

I guess it's a good thing though, so I can still be satisfied with my W850i :)

I'm more excited about the Bluetooth Music Receiver, because I could use something like that to transmit music to the car stereo

[Bobgorila @ Feb 6th 2007 10:38AM]

But what of its supposedly new interface?

Also, The Register's article mentions "full PC and Mac synchronisation". Does this mean I can sync my music from iTunes on my mac? Or does it just mean that contact photos will sync with my address book?

Current SE handsets do neither, so either one is a welcome step-up.

[Stranger @ Feb 6th 2007 11:30AM]

SE make sweet phones - but unfortunately the pc-software they offer is a major disaster. Not a bloated-and-ugly disaster but more in the line of bloated-ugly-crash-and-lack-vital-functionality disaster. What's hard to understand is how a company with thousands of people in R&D, with a leading position in cellular technology etc and sell tens of million of their phones offer a software which seemed to be coded by a monkey (well, a fairly bright monkey) during a lazy afternoon. It's that fucking bad.

[Rob @ Feb 6th 2007 1:13PM]

I wonder if this phone also has the nice 'constant hiss' feature that my W810i has...really, you gotta love it! Oh and then there's the shuffle feature for the clicks and pops that come flying at ya way random! Great! That sure does remind me of the quality of the Walkman stuff from way back :/

[James @ Feb 6th 2007 4:43PM]

I'm looking for a phone that will keep me happy until I buy an iPhone. I want to wait and NOT buy the first iPhone (difficult probably) because I bet the second and third versions will be better - å la first generation iPod.
I live in Dublin so it's probably one I can buy until the iPhone is here (and improved). I like the look and the buttons.

Can anybody recommend a good mobile for Ireland?

[ASTROBOT @ Feb 6th 2007 5:51PM]

Damn nice indeed. Too bad I'm stuck with my W800i. I'm not complaining but would love to have this in my hand. 20hrs of music playback! Damn!! W800i only have like 3hrs. :(

[ASTROBOT @ Feb 6th 2007 6:03PM]

http://www.gadrev.com/mobilephones/sonyericsson/w880i.php
External memory: Up to 1GB with Memory Stick Micro

Baah, I'll stick with my 4GIG Pro Duo Memory Card. I wonder if I can find and replace an extended battery life for my w800i.

[Cody @ Feb 6th 2007 6:37PM]

So is it AI as in artificial intelligence, or Ai as in Genly Ai?

[Damage @ Feb 6th 2007 7:42PM]

The fast port is on the side as opposed to the bottom... Well, that makes my speaker dock worthless with the W880i...

[CuriousChickKimmi @ Feb 10th 2007 11:09PM]

So... this phone won't be released in the U.S? I want this phone... man... TT_______TT

[maxtheaxe33 @ Oct 5th 2007 8:37PM]

The W880 has been available in Asia for some time now and is not as well received as it appears to be in Europe and elsewhere. One problem is that the phone can 'hang', as with a copmuter, when playing music and at the same time receiving an incoming call. It is already regarded as a dinosaur and sells for less than US$100 in Hong Kong