Sony Ericsson pushes out a trio of new Walkman phones, right on cue

Happy 3rd birthday mister Walkman phone. To celebrate, Sony Ericsson is getting official with its W902 "Patti" (pictured), W595 slider, and W302 candybar Walkman handsets. We knew the celebration was coming with the exception of Patti making a last minute substitution for Alicia. SE's quad-band GSM/EDGE W902 is the all-singing, all-media workhorse with UMTS/HSDPA 2100 data, 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of M2 memory, and 2.2-inch, 240 x 320 pixel display. It comes bundled with a pair of premium HPM-77 headphones and the promise of a clear audio, bass-thumpin' experience similar to that offered by SE's W980. The W595 shares the same radios but packs in stereo speakers, 2GB of M2 memory, a 3.2 megapixel camera, motion sensing Shake control, and a stereo Share jack to split the music with a friend. The quad-band GSM/EDGE W302 neglects 3G entirely in favor of a low price tag and dreams of mass adoption. As such, it offers a number of middling specs like a 2 megapixel camera, 512MB of M2 memory, FM radio, and stereo Bluetooth. All three Walkmans will hit select markets in Q4.

Gallery: Sony Ericsson pushes out a trio of new Walkman phones, right on cue

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[Jimmy Jones @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:11AM]

These new models look sweet....i wonder how much impact these will have on my bank...without breaking any sweat..

[Adam @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:12AM]

...and still no regular 3.5mm headphone jack. what a complete waste.

[dervheid @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:24AM]

With you on that!
My 10 year old son has a W580i, and I have to clean the contact strip EVERY TIME it needs charging (pretty much daily)

Wakey Wakey S-E, the rest of the world (well almost) have moved on from these shitty connectors.

[sn1per @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:15AM]

Are you sure about that? My w810i came with a microphone/dongle, so I can use any pair of headphones I want as a handsfree set. It even pauses my music when a call comes in.

[Mobius_1 @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:12AM]

@ sn1per

My K800 has a dongle as well (aftermarket) and I live in fear of that breaking coz I won't be able to plug in another set of headphones and keep listening to my music, whereas if I had an N series, an iPhone 3G etc I can just go plug in any of my other headphones

And that dongle? It's bloody expensive

[Lars @ Jul 29th 2008 2:03PM]

Thanks to the popularity of the iPhone we've got plenty of 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapters on the market though....

And hey, at least this thing can use bluetooth stereo out, unlike the iPhone.

[Khattab @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:16AM]

Prices in Germany:

Sony Ericsson W902 - MSRP 499€ (waaaaay too high)
Sony Ericsson W595 - MSRP 279€
Sony Ericsson W302 - MSRP 169€


SE's problem: No technological development at all. They're standing still, following the Nokia-strategy by publishing one basic model with different designs.

[Matt @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:18AM]

Still learning ... but does this mean that it could come out for verizion?

[Adam @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:21AM]

No. These are GSM phones and will only work on that type of network (AT&T, T-Mobile)

[Almighty- @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:42AM]

GSM phones, hmm and I was wondering what this front facing camera does.
It's UMTS/3g ! :/

[james @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:19AM]

"Pushes out"??? did SE use that term? b/c Gizmodo did, too. What gives?

[acme @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:25AM]

god forbid

[Adam @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:26AM]

I would rather have Engadget say "pushes out" instead of "drops". That phrase is more confusing to me.

[Samboini @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:00AM]

I guess the phrase is quite apt then considering you "push out" a turd.

[jupiterthunder @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:52PM]

@Samboini

true. but you can "drop a deuce".

[Dobba @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:25AM]

Move along, nothing to see.

Sorry, but it's the same old phone dressed up in a pretty similar clothing to many other SE phones. Okay, it serves a market but well, it's the same old same old and no wonder SE are seeing a 97% decrease in revenue.

[From My Cube @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:43AM]

the thing is too, if SE would rebadge these over to VZW it woud sell like crazy

[tekdroid @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:42AM]

The list of pioneering and innovative features found on Walkman™ phones continues to be unmatched in the industry. Features like the music recognition application TrackID™, SensMe™, for matching your mood to the music and Shake control to change tracks with the flick of your hand make Walkman™ phones stand out from the rest.
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I haven't used any of these but they sound fairly unique.

[tekdroid @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:43AM]

The list of pioneering and innovative features found on Walkman™ phones continues to be unmatched in the industry. Features like the music recognition application TrackID™, SensMe™, for matching your mood to the music and Shake control to change tracks with the flick of your hand make Walkman™ phones stand out from the rest.
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I haven't used any of these but they sound fairly unique. Of course I'd love FLAC codec support and to hell with the rest.
http://flac.sourceforge.net
http://www.sonyericsson.com/walkman/

[zephxiii @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:18AM]

If it had anythign to do with VZW, it would no longer be a Sony Ericsson heh

[acme @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:12PM]

vzw doesn't want em

[Paul @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:38AM]

nice phones, but until the prices become reasonable, i'm not buying

[Daniel Pringle @ Jul 23rd 2008 5:31AM]

Beware SE's Touch screen technology! My K850i has just had to go back to be repaired after 6 Months --- although it happened to start glitching about 3 days after i had the phone & couldn't be r s ed to take it back!
FatboyDim in Cheltenham

[tekdroid @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:35AM]

Quad-band GSM becoming increasingly popular with SE. Good to see. Let's hope those "shiny" buttons are not painted buttons, but are actually made of a real metal and not painted, only to wear away their tackyness.

On the whole, good key ergonomics on the lower-end ones. Priced into the stratosphere on release, of course.

Does it strike anyone as odd that Sony rarely includes removable flash and battery in its Walkman range, but Sony Ericsson offers just this in its phone range (as do others). It would be nice to have the rest of their range with removable batteries and storage, IMO. Particularly the tiny compact stick Walkmans.

[blarvh @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:37AM]

Does it play ATRAC?

[tekdroid @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:47AM]

of course not. The question on my lips these days is "Does it play FLAC?".
http://flac.sourceforge.net

[hiko36 @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:19AM]

How hard is it to make a decent, all metal phone? Really. That's all I want... I'm tired of shitty plastic and absolutely loathe soft touch...

[dBs @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:36AM]

It's pretty tough actually since they act like Faraday cages and prevent signals from going out or coming in.

[Tony @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:09PM]

The V60 was a great metal phone with excellent signal strength.

[dBs @ Jul 22nd 2008 10:34AM]

Wow, you can see them trying to cover up the proprietary headphone jack. I steer clear from anything but normal headphone jacks.

[black @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:16AM]

It would be nice if these phones could operate on a CDMA/EVDO network. I'm getting bored of my RAZR, and I want to replace it with a candybar type phone. I guess I'll hold out for the Diamond then...

[Daniel @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:24AM]

"As such, it offers a number of middling specs like a 2 megapixel camera...FM radio, and stereo Bluetooth."

wow, so it looks like the iphone has some sub-middling specs, considering it doesnt have FM radio or stereo bluetooth.

for the record i own a new 3g iphone and love it, but it is a fact that they have left a few things out and skimped on some others.

just saying.

[Schfelzerberg @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:27AM]

The W302 might actually be a good player if it's priced less or about $175 without a contract. The W902 is apparently a converted C902. The camera functions should be perfectly usable for taking casual 3R/4R sized photos though.

But still, for Walkman phones, they don't have 3.5 mm plugs and it's crap. I had a W800i before which is one of the best phones I've owned and I still had to use that 3.5 mm adapter that adds nearly a feet of length to my already lengthy Sennheiser CX400.

[Matt @ Jul 25th 2008 11:09AM]

If it is around that price, you could get an iPhone for $24 more. Unless these are priced under $150 I can't imagine they'll sell more than a handful of these. Nothing to be excited about.

[Centre @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:55PM]

I admit I'd also like to see regular headphone jack BUT SE does focus on AD2P bluetooth stereo usability. Something I think they've mastered very well. I get excellent battery time and sound quality with my SE W760i, A2DP and Walkman headphones.

I think many people need to try it to really appreciate music without cable, and yes, I'm looking at you iPhone fanboys. Note: I own an iPhone myself and while it's a very nice gadget I do prefer my more compact W760 when it comes to every day usage. With 8gb memory stick, GPS, A2DP it's certainly not revolutionary but it is a very competent phone, just like these phones will be.

[Harry @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:01PM]

I don't have any experience with phones that have connectors on the side, but that looks like it'll be spectacularly lame in my pocket. I have a W810i right now, it connects to the bottom so the cable path out of my pocket is a non-issue - this looks like it'll create an annoying protrusion.

[striggity @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:30PM]

I have the w580 and i love it. I'd personally be interested in the newer models. They'd need to be subsidized tho cuz I'm not paying those outrageous prices for ANY phone.

[Silence @ Jul 23rd 2008 7:43AM]

i just saw its video it look realy nice i think it is same as c902 i mean the hardware is same they only diff is they added music keys
look at its promo video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTTb-lqcRp8

[redleader158 @ Jul 28th 2008 12:21AM]

the w595 is coming closer to the w910.
SEs like the w580 that went to at&t were not very good because at&t doesn't take intrest in SEs higher end phones. (its an aquired taste)

@all iphone 3G owners who think there so great.
sure, the iphone is $299, but the cheapest per-month service rates are $200 for a seriously limited 3G, little talk time, and not much other features. so for a year you pay $2700 on an iphone.

SE for the win!

[Bill @ Jul 28th 2008 7:53AM]

I've enjoyed SE phones ever since I got my W810i a year or so ago. I'll be buying another SE to replace at the end of this year. The W902 looks like a good option.

[joueboy @ Jul 29th 2008 11:39PM]

come on sony, listen to the people like apple does. we need a real headphone jack. got it? real headphone jack!

[tekdroid @ Jul 31st 2008 7:45PM]

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_j132-pictures-2430.php I hope you like the radio =)

[Alex @ Aug 10th 2008 10:15PM]

I'm still curious as to which halfwit decided to put the charging port on the side.

[kRitical702 @ Aug 11th 2008 10:12AM]

damn 5.0 megapixel camera on a phone thats crazy