Sony Ericsson gets official on the W910 and K850

For you Walkman / Cyber-shot buffs out there who've been dying to get your hands on some new phoneage -- look no further. The Sony-Ericsson dreamteam have just announced the official release of two of its new mobile phones sure to have player haters... um, player hating. The W910, which we took a look at back in June, apparently has music-playin' on its mind, though with HSDPA, a 1GB Memory Stick, and its "shake" feature (which allows you to jostle the device to switch songs or randomize playback), you might find other uses for it. If you're more of an Ansel Adams-type, you can get your mitts on the K850, a camera-minded phone that's got a considerable 5-megapixel camera (with a Xenon flash / video light), has more of that beloved HSDPA, and can do 30fps video -- if that's your thing. Both of these sweet babies will be available in "selected markets" this month, no word on price.

[huh @ Oct 11th 2007 10:12AM]

can you just add a feature to engadget that ignores anything that uses memory stick? seriously.

[shuyin198x @ Oct 11th 2007 10:28AM]

Whats wrong with them? If its their brand they have every right to use their own branded memory.

[shaliron @ Oct 11th 2007 10:19AM]

Actually, the K850i uses a dual Memory Stick Micro/MicroSD card slot.

[huh @ Oct 11th 2007 10:21AM]

shaliron - interesting! Glad to hear Sony is finally conceding to the more popular standard.

[huh @ Oct 11th 2007 10:33AM]

shuyin198x - yes, they do, but it's not a consumer friendly move, and consumers will react, leading to Sony having to, say, not require proprietary software to copy songs, or include dual MS / SD options.

[DAZA @ Oct 11th 2007 10:39AM]

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly huh, but I just letting you know that you can just drag and drop MP3 files onto the K850. No need for any software whatsoever.

[DAZA @ Oct 11th 2007 10:39AM]

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly huh, but I just letting you know that you can just drag and drop MP3 files onto the K850. No need for any software whatsoever.

[huh @ Oct 11th 2007 10:42AM]

DAZA, that was my point. Sony had to concede to popular demand and not require proprietary software, unlike their earlier mp3 offerings. Perhaps I was being too subtle.

[Cash @ Oct 11th 2007 8:03PM]

@huh
I think you are incorrectly under the impression that SE phones require the disc2phone app for file and music transfers. This might have been the case with the very first model, but of the three I have owned in the last 2-3 years, all have supported drag and drop file transfers. It might also be that you are confusing SE phones with Sony mp3 players that did until very recently require the user to download music to them with Sony's proprietary software (and in some cases, music codec) and didn't allow drag and drop transfer through windows explorer. In any case, Sony has already announced along with a few other leading portable device makers that it will be developing a unified flash storage format. I don't exactly see how this is a good thing, as variety breeds competition, and competition drives innovation forward and prices down. SD cards wouldn't be 10 pecent cheaper then MS cards on average if they were the only medium on the market now, would they?

[huh @ Oct 11th 2007 11:04PM]

Cash, once again, I guess my point was missed, that by inference if Sony is now supporting non-MS formats they are also supporting, by capitulation (have to use the big words so people will bow down, otherwise one gets "lowest ranked") non proprietary data transfer. In fact I have a Sony phone that supports drag and drop. My point was ironic, a bad strategy word to word in the crowds of Engadget.

I agree competition breeds the best products. But it's a market that could use some higher level than USB compatibilities, that is plug in form factor. So you can plug in the latest memory card in your notebook, cell phone, whatever, and expect it to work, rather than the cheesy consumer brand experience Sony was trying to project.

[Chris @ Oct 11th 2007 11:04AM]

The K850 was officially announced weeks ago, I have upgraded on Vodafone UK and will be getting my handset on Monday.

[Gottysports @ Oct 11th 2007 11:13AM]

i have the k850i in my hand now and its the dogs balls O2 UK

[eEZER @ Oct 11th 2007 10:18AM]

Sweet - time to upgrade my W880i to one with a larger screen.

[Michael Leung @ Oct 11th 2007 10:20AM]

Sony Ericsson K850i!
But since iPhone will come to Hong Kong in 2008, so I think if I want to buy a new mobile phone...
I think I will buy Sony Ericsson K850.

[Michael @ Oct 11th 2007 10:36AM]

Are these GSM or CDMA phones?
I'm looking for a good CDMA phone for sprint

[SSNPGuerrilla @ Oct 11th 2007 11:16AM]

Sony hasn't made a single CDMA phone in ages. All the good phones like Nokia or SE are on GSM since that is the global standard. Since you're on Sprint, you should be used to the crappy CDMA devices by now. The only decent CDMA phones are those from the Korean manufacturers since Korea is one of the only other countries still using CDMA.

[Gib @ Oct 11th 2007 10:41AM]

gets official? the k850 was announced ages ago in the uk and its already out over here!

[Anthony @ Oct 11th 2007 10:59AM]

I see it's available on O2, but don't see any resellers on eBay (except one Hong Kong listing).

SE emailed me that the K850i *is* available but I believe it's nearly impossible to get in the USA at present.

Certainly a great looking phone & I hope the camera has less shutter lag than the N95- it's totally unacceptable.

[Mateo @ Oct 11th 2007 7:20PM]

amazon.com is selling the unlocked K850i for $350

[Mateo @ Oct 11th 2007 7:39PM]

sorry that was the W850i, lol

[Felix Fdot @ Oct 12th 2007 8:02AM]

o2 is always listing the phones as available ages before they're able to ship it. its the same here in germany where both phones are listed for preorder (what just means nothing) while the little but prettier brother to the k850, the k770i, is listed as available, but to my querry when it would be sent if ordered they told me "sometime in the next 2 month"...

[getagrip15 @ Oct 11th 2007 11:27AM]

Wish the W910 was able to use AT&T's HSDPA. Well, there's alway the K850. Any idea on a price for these off contract?

[why not the LS2/LS7? @ Oct 11th 2007 11:39AM]

"Still using CDMA"

What?

CDMA is newer than TDMA GSM (2G). So saying "still" is odd, since everyone who chose it chose it over TDMA GSM.

Also note that 3G GSM is CDMA.

I have a GSM phone, but I can't wait to get back to CDMA. Tired of hearing phone interference in nearby electronic devices.

[Matt @ Oct 11th 2007 4:43PM]

CDMA may be newer but that does not make it superior over GSM. CDMA SUCKS for one reason...it's not very widely deployed and the footprint of CDMA is SO MUCH smaller than that of GSM. I think people like GSM over CDMA because of the coverage and the flexibility (SIM cards)...you're not stuck with the crappy handsets that your carrier is offering but instead you can choose any device of your choice. If CDMA was this much "end user friendly" then I think people would not dislike it so much. Also CDMA stinks because of the way carriers (in the US) choose to run it...meaning you can't take verizon phone to sprint or vice versa or buy a phone of your choice and have it activated on the network - they won't activate it and that's it. One more note... 3G GSM is not CDMA... It's WCDMA which is based on the CDMA but they're NOT COMPATIBLE with each other at all...it's like saying Coke is the same as Pepsi (i know...lame example)..they look the same, the taste is similar but still different. Here's a simple explanation of CDMA vs W-CDMA explanation

[Khattab @ Oct 11th 2007 4:03PM]

It's out in Germany from tomorrow (inofficial today), too. I already own a K810i, but I'm strictly moving to that beauty, though the 4-way stick still doesn't convince me. Have to test it.


Au revoir...

[wrabbit @ Oct 11th 2007 12:22PM]

The walkman one looks good - slick and sexy. Not digging the new cybershot design though - buttons are ugly square nubs, not crazy about the neon green lines, and what is that square on front face - is that suppose to be the 4 arrows for navigation, 'cause I can't imagine that'd be very comfortable.

[Deluxe @ Oct 12th 2007 4:30AM]

You fail. Stop failing.

They're both hawt.

[Warwick @ Oct 11th 2007 9:24PM]

I just wish the newer walkman phones such as the W580i and the W910i had a camera as good or better than the W810i.

I wouldnt mind upgrading to get the larger screen and better features, but I tend to use the camera in my W810i quite a lot when out and about and dont want to lose the ability to take reasonably good pictures on a whim. I havent seen any test pictures from the W910i, but the pictures taken with the W580i are terrible.

I guess I should start stockpiling W810i replacement batteries, because it doesnt seem to get much better than this.

[Unregistered @ Oct 11th 2007 9:29PM]

Will be available in SG next week!

[Richard @ Oct 12th 2007 6:00AM]

Sorry meant W960, W950 has been out for ages.

[stephen @ Oct 12th 2007 7:20PM]

I can see one website citing another website for news.

But to use the exact title, as well as body seems like a bit of a rip-off. ;)

to view the pirated version of this engadget post, see this...
http://www.javoedgeblog.com/2007/10/11/sony-ericsson-gets-official-on-the-w910-and-k850/

[Ninja_Felix @ Nov 6th 2007 6:32AM]

I've had both of these phones over the weekend, after switching contracts to Vodafone.
K850i was the one I lusted after - being the better tech spec. Fortunately I got a dodgy one which started crashing on me. It is a good phone. A great toy even, but when it came to it I hated the plastic rectangle joystick with a passion. Also I get the feeling that there's just a little too much tech for the innards to cope with. Taking a picture fresh out of the box (before I'd shoved a 4gb music laden M2 card in it) it took 5-10 secs to save a picture. Its definately fatter than it looks too.

Still it broke - boohoo - I got to choose again.
I realised that since getting married I have a swish new camera and wasn't using the cameraphone nearly so much. That opened up the Wxxx series. Also I remembered the sheer tactile joy of my old one with a rotating front a precursor to the W550i. Fiddling with the W910i in the shop gave me some of that joy at a well made bit of kit doing stuff well if unnecessarily. You push the slider forward to a certain point and it takes over. It is very satisfying. It does the same on the way back and this too is satisfying. I'm getting older and it has bigger buttons and a bigger screen. Vodafone has mobile TV (which I'm sure will be a disappointment but am looking forward to it once the PAC transfer week is up).
It is also very slim for a slider phone and feels sturdy. I am happy to have gone back a step in tech - the design more than makes up for it.

Two more notes though I suspect these are to do with the Vodafone branding than anything else.
Neither phone displayed a sleep mode clock. This, I was assured, was due to power saving. I only know it is called a sleep mode clock because I went and found it in the menus of my old K800i. Before it was the omnipresent reason I don't wear a watch. To remove it without giving me the option of at least turning it back on is an unpleasant shock - so I'd be grateful if someone who also has this on another network could tell me whether it is Vodafone or SE who are at fault by omission. Either way I now need to wake it in some way to tell the time and whether I have messages, calendar appointments (just tested this with an appointment - it beeps and lights for about 5s and then back to black), etc.

The other complaint is that the radio (and for that matter Mobile TV) is not a part of the Media menu (on either phone). It should be. Possibly this is something I can change I haven't and don't intend to read the manual. Also the radio isn't turned off by the the little Walkman button. I have resorted to taking the earphones out instead.

One final note - I haven't played with SensMe but can tell you that you need to upload your music via their music application to make use of it. This will require some considerable encoding when I can get around to it.

Neither complaint is a deal breaker but I would urge SE/Vodafone to consider them in any firmware upgrade. All in all I must congratulate SE on a marvelous new toy - I look worward to next year's offerings.

[Charles @ Jan 5th 2008 3:22AM]

Sleep mode clock on the newer SEs are activated by pressing one of the side buttons while it's in standby. Walkman phones can do it by pressing the W button in standby.

[einjelle @ Nov 15th 2007 8:52AM]

n95 is better, 8 gb internal memory and built in WiFi,