Sony Ericsson's Walkman Xmini for Japan is awesome, but not for the usual reasons

In most parts of the world, the cute little device you're looking at here would pass as a perfectly acceptable Walkman. In Japan, though, it's more than just a Walkman -- it's a Walkman phone, people. The Sony Ericsson Xmini has been added to KDDI au's CDMA-based lineup, measuring just 75 x 44 x 18mm and tossing aside the usual barrage of 8-megapixel cameras and wide VGA displays for a mere 320 x 240 screen and 4GB of on-board memory. When closed, its colorful chin reveals music controls; opened, the whole thing morphs into a tiny handset -- and a refreshing change of pace from the giant clamshells those poor souls on KDDI are usually subject to, may we add.

[Thanks, Desaine]

[Nienhan @ Dec 8th 2008 5:20AM]

First to vote down for your vote, sweet!

[Michael LaFramboise @ Dec 8th 2008 4:26AM]

As much as I hate feeding the trolls, I can't help but say; piss off you annoying little pest.

[superhobo @ Dec 8th 2008 4:26AM]

A 320x240 screen is not bad.
I'm not saying it because I have a phone with that resolution, I'm just saying it because...(ITS TRUE)

[Muhammad-Oli @ Dec 8th 2008 6:12AM]

Especially so when you consider that the screen is only 1.8". That's one hell of a crisp screen really!

[Félix @ Dec 8th 2008 6:12AM]

No you're saying it because you do NOT have a phone with 800x480.

[spundot @ Dec 8th 2008 4:27AM]

nice that they're trying to reduce the footprint, but it's still pretty fat. what happened to thin phones?

[Ryuken @ Dec 8th 2008 4:37AM]

what happened to thin Americans ?

[Aaron @ Dec 8th 2008 5:11AM]

@ Ryuken

There are plenty of them in this country. Then again, you wouldn't know, because you seem to go off of what you see on TV and hear in the news - from a country you most likely don't live in.

Low Ranked.

[Dave Chappelle @ Dec 8th 2008 5:15AM]

"There are plenty of them in this country"

plenty of what? fries? trust me we know, unlike your documentaries/news we don't put up with clearly visible bias we get straight facts.

Now that Obama is the President elect the rest of the world has to put up with Americans being ridiculously proud of themselves because their leader for the first time in a while isn't a complete Twat.

get out more.

[KarlW @ Dec 8th 2008 6:32AM]

"Now that Obama is the President elect the rest of the world has to put up with Americans being ridiculously proud of themselves because their leader for the first time in a while isn't a complete Twat."

Good for them. There's too much negativity around the US. It's become so bad that it doesn't need to come from the rest of the world any more, and negativity can come from the US to depress people there. Evidenced by the fact that the fat American joke is highest ranked (and from observational Engadget demographics, probably comes from an American). Hopefully the Obama mentality can get people thinking positive again.

On the phone: cool.

[Aaron @ Dec 8th 2008 8:03AM]

Oh gee, look. A "Fat American" stereotype gets high-ranked, and my comment gets knocked down. I guess stereotyping is easier to accept than actual truth.

Yeah, every single American is a fatass. There you go!

Ignorant assholes.

[schmitty338 @ Dec 8th 2008 10:33AM]

Actually Aaron, according to government data and hundreds of independent research reports, almost two-thirds of americans are currently overweight or obese (READ: BMI > 25 kg/m^2). There is no denying that Americans, IN GENERAL, are quite fat people, pretty close to the fattest in the world. And i'm not saying this to be mean or anything, it's a serious public health issue that needs to be address ASAP. Unfortunately us Canadians aren't far behind anymore, perhaps due to our converging lifestyles, with almost 60% of our population having a BMI>25, compared to around 65% of Americans.

[Ray @ Dec 8th 2008 10:44AM]

I get tired just thinking about the name 'walk'man.

[Aaron @ Dec 8th 2008 10:50AM]

Well at least Schmitty has something to say on the matter.

Actually, you're quite right on the matter, but the problem is, much of this comes from eastern / southern states, which also have eating habits that are the most fattening.

Here on the west coast, people tend to be a bit more health-conscious. Especially here in the northwestern region (Washington / Oregon).

[Aaron @ Dec 8th 2008 10:54AM]

Then again, you have to wonder how accurate the BMI index is. There are many people who are completely healthy and at a reasonable weight for their height, and yet the BMI considers them obese.

[schmitty338 @ Dec 8th 2008 1:19PM]

@Aaron,

You are correct, it varies widely state by state, even in the 'thinnest' states, the prevalence is still high enough to be called an epidemic.

Secondly, you are also correct that BMI is by far not a perfect measure of obesity rates, however, given the relatively low amount of people who have very high muscle mass compared to the general population, it is a cheap, quick way to get obesity/overweight data.

You also have to factor in reporter bias. Much of the data collected is based on self-reported height and weight, which studies have shown tends to actually underestimate obesity rates (ask a person with a BMI of 32 if they think they are 'obese' and many will say they aren't and under-report their weight and/or over-report their height). The fact of the matter is, for the vast majority of the population (adults, no children or seniors) BMI is very highly correlated with actual body fat percentage, that is why, despite not being perfect, it is still used as an inexpensive measure of obesity rates.

[schmitty338 @ Dec 8th 2008 1:23PM]

@Aaron (sorry, one more thing, I love this topic as I do research in the field)

You say there are plenty of 'healthy' people whose BMI is above the 'healthy range' yet have a reasonable weight for their height....the problem is, what is considered 'reasonable' changes, usually for the worse. My 5'4, 170LB aunt thinks her weight is 'reasonable' and so do many others, just because people see it as reasonable doesn't make it healthy. It's a classic case of cognitive dissonance -- they know they are overweight, yet they continue to live unhealthy lives, so they tell themselves their weight is 'reasonable', hence why they are not doing anything about it.

[Stellist @ Dec 8th 2008 4:37AM]

Is there 8M camera? I can't find it even in original text.

[Andy Bowerfield @ Dec 8th 2008 4:50AM]

"tossing aside the usual barrage of 8-megapixel cameras"

I'm guessing that means it doesn't have one.

[Stellist @ Dec 8th 2008 5:13AM]

Oh, I misunderstood. Thanks :)

[Vianon @ Dec 8th 2008 7:53AM]

My god what a lovely example of what comments should be, a nice answer to a simple question, followed by hearth warming thanks. That just made my day, thank you.

[hitsthings @ Dec 8th 2008 8:12AM]

High ranks and brownies to all you little dears!

[Shinigami @ Dec 8th 2008 11:36AM]

Who do I sent a cookie for the nice comments?

[CJ @ Dec 8th 2008 1:40PM]

I have this overwhelming urge to fuck up what is esentially the best thread of comments on engadget, Period.

But I decided that not even I am that much of a butt.

[schmitty338 @ Dec 8th 2008 4:23PM]

@CJ

...You already did. Way to go Douche.

[Jamie @ Dec 8th 2008 4:45AM]

Haven't there been a bunch of Walkman phones already?

[Hellios @ Dec 8th 2008 4:55AM]

Yes, Walkman is SonyEricssons brand for their music-centric phones.

And Xmini is also the name for XMI Capsule Speakers and an usb stick (Xporter Xmini) from Patriot.

[90 @ Dec 8th 2008 6:03AM]

maybe the first in japan.
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/product/foma/index.html
http://www.au.kddi.com/english/product/index.html
http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/product/lineup/3g/index.html

[Tres @ Dec 8th 2008 4:53AM]

"a refreshing change of pace from the giant clamshells those poor souls on KDDI are usually subject to"

What?

Before I switched to Softbank I was an AU customer, none of their clamshell phones were huge at all. As a side-note this walkman phone looks terrible, look at how awkward that keypad is and how tiny the keys are, not exactly the best for typing out e-mails on.

[BigBloke @ Dec 8th 2008 4:56AM]

Yeah right, typing out emails...

Does this look like it is aimed at the 'Business Class' audience? Thats why SE has the P Series...

[Anders @ Dec 8th 2008 4:57AM]

It's probably not meant to be an e-mail warrior - that's what Crackberrys are for.

Talk about capturing your 16-24 female demographic; that's one slick, tiny little phone.

[BananaBoat @ Dec 8th 2008 5:30AM]

I can't see anyone giving up their Infobar for one of these. From the specs, it sounds like a subpar version of the W580i that AT&T gives away free in the US.

[Tres @ Dec 8th 2008 5:38AM]

Yeah you guys are pretty dumb, everyone in Japan uses their phone for e-mail, moreso than they actually do for calls, which is why the buttons are usually pretty decent and not tiny shitty things like those are.

[bebop @ Dec 8th 2008 7:05AM]

http://www.au.kddi.com/english/product/index.html

he speaks truth... these not big phones be

[Lucy @ Dec 8th 2008 7:29AM]

Eh, I'm using a current KDDI flip and I'll go along with Engadget's astute derision about the size of these things (though I complain not because it's higher res than my TV). I would've seriously considered this silly phone if it was out when I was looking. It's small, slick, and probably pretty cheap.

I want to know the whereabouts of this magical perfect-for-emails button haven Tres has found here in Japan. Most phones I've tried had unsatisfyingly mushy keypads, and several were TRULY shitty... a bunch in the current KDDI line are almost completely flush with the phone and feel AWFUL when pressed. Doesn't matter as much when typing in Japanese because of the awesome Japanese predictive text, but it's a royal pain when you're stuck inputting every single letter in your English messages. The keypad on this thing actually looks pretty dang tactile, which I will take over the standard, mushy Japanese phone keypad ANY DAY.

And yeah, the messaging on phones is technically e-mail, but the content is about as coherent as text messages. Also, a LOT of Japanese people outside the big cities (i.e. not stuck on public transportation where talking on phones is not allowed) still use their cellphones for TALKING... yeah, I was pretty astounded too.

[Tres @ Dec 8th 2008 7:49AM]

Big is relative I guess, but I wouldn't call any of them big really, especially compared to some of the chunky shitty western Nokia's and stuff I've had.

My Hitachi phone had great buttons for writing e-mails (I forget the model number) but I was only using it for Japanese and in reality most Japanese people never type in English on their phones so it's irrelevant. I really wonder why you think the buttons are "mushy" though, most are pretty flush to the case but they're so flush there's no room for any "mushiness", they're usually clicky enough to be more than tactile. They're also big so they're hard to miss and your fingers don't get cramped, unlike this phone.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of Japanese mobiles at all but mainly due to their software, rather than their hardware. That's why I switched to an iPhone.

[sam @ Dec 8th 2008 9:11AM]

It's nice to see somebody making a small phone... There are incredibly few small phones available... ('small' = approx 80x40 or less - this is a bit wide, but other than that).

The buttons do look a bit crap but it's hard to tell without trying one. I'd definitely be considering it if I lived in Japan. Bit disappointing that there's no camera at all though.

[Jamar @ Dec 9th 2008 12:59AM]

"Thats why SE has the P Series..."
Uh, no. If you haven't noticed already, e-mail is the default method of communicating across cell carriers in Japan. SE International phones aren't nearly as good as SE Japan phones, I think (compare the SO905iCS to the C905- not even close, and the Japanese one came out a good few months before too).

And perfect buttons? That would be on DoCoMo. N905i(or the N906i).

And I really wish SE brought some of their older Japanese CDMA phones to the US. Those were good. Not this one.

[Max @ Dec 8th 2008 5:10AM]

In the UK we've had the Walkman phones for years now, is this a new thing for japan and the US?
the top spec walkman over here has 5 megapixel camera and 4gb bundled card

[catapults.music @ Dec 8th 2008 7:18AM]

No, I was wondering what the hell they were talking about in the summary. I've had a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone for at least a year and I think it was old when I got it. My model is a W810i, but I believe there are a bunch of Walkman models here in the U.S. that have been around at least two years.

[joshky @ Dec 8th 2008 5:32AM]

hey before bashing the product consider that its a "walkman phone" not a phone with a walkman function.

IMHO, its not a bad design, look at it as a walkman first and a phone second and it acutally looks quite cute...and this is coming from a guy.

[Shawin @ Dec 8th 2008 5:22AM]

The white one is beautiful.

[Jakob @ Dec 8th 2008 5:54AM]

I need glasses, would someone care to mention what the first poster said? It's all greyed out.

[nZLE @ Dec 8th 2008 5:59AM]

Wait, I still don't get what's so awesome about this "Walkman" phone. Weren't there bunch of other Walkman phones with better things?

[Macca @ Dec 8th 2008 6:48AM]

Another mobile, in my opinion. The walkman line has done nothing to rock my boat, and frankly, I'm just sick of looking at the same goddamn mobile with the crappy little keypad, d-pad or scroll wheel time and time again. And the chin, come on, talk about a crap attempt at originality. On a positive note, the black one looks only half bad.

[lpppppl @ Dec 8th 2008 7:16AM]

Believe me, this is not small if you've seen some of China's worst "creative ripoffs".

[Inker�inen @ Dec 8th 2008 7:19AM]

Thous look just like NOKIA 5200? Are they running out of ideas in Sweden/Japan?

[superfresh @ Dec 8th 2008 9:13AM]

Note to Sony: You killed the Walkman. Let the name go. When I see that W logo, it instantly turns me away. You cannot resurrect the Walkman.

[Hel @ Dec 8th 2008 9:42AM]

You scream that during sex, too, don't you?

[Paul @ Dec 8th 2008 10:47AM]

I may be a minority, but I LOVE the big clamshell design.

When I was in Japan, I was on auKDDI and used a SE Walkman slider. Loved it to death