That Sony
S-Series Walkman we spotted a couple of weeks ago has reared its speaker grill-laden head once more, only this time in what looks like an accidental unveiling on French retailer
Materiel's website. According to the specs list -- accompanied by some new official press shots that give us little reason to doubt its validity -- the 8GB NWZ-S544 and 16GB NWZ-S545 feature a 2.4-inch QVGA widescreen display, stereo speakers, a microphone, FM tuner, a Li-ion battery for a reported 42 hours of audio / 6.5 hours of video, and what appears to be a built-in stand for convenient video watching. Codec support includes MP3, non-DRM AAC, WMA, H.254, MPEG4, and WMV. No fanciful colors like in the first pic, we've only got black listed for now, to the tune of 129€ ($182) for the 8GB model and 149€ ($211) for 16GB. We're still waiting on Sony to fess up to the device, but really, it can't get much more official. A price and release date for US would be nice, though.
[Via
Sony Insider]
Read - 8GB NWZ-S544
Read - 16GB NWZ-S545
posted Aug 7th 2009 7:17PM
If that is the headphones that come with the device, that may not be a good thing? They look be a step down from EX phones that came with my A728 and the other models the have out.
P.S. Sony please bring out more 32gb device.
I will not another Sony MP3 Player until it has a:
$200.00 price point.
Has a Touchscreen. (If you think X-Series, please refer to the line above.)
Audible Audio AAX. (I hate reading anything but websites)
WMV/H.264 @ resolutions of 720x480 Main Profile Cabac. (High-res PSP compatibility)
Integrates with the PlayStation Movie Store. (I want video rentals)
Has a decent web browser. (Unlike the X-Series)
WiFi.
The X-Series is over-priced... Maybe a Zune HD or iPod Touch 3G, then?
Least I'd get more bang for my buck!!!
For $200?! Get real dude.
I will definitely mistake this for a phone if I see it in someones hand. Don't know if that means any good for it's design, but it looks alright.
No you wont. This thing is tiny. Look at the size compared to the headphones.
8 and 16gb? cmon make m03 players with at least 32gb of memory.
Make them with no memory but a removable microSD slot. Two sizes of non-removable memory is for Fred Flintstone, and when/if the storage fails (as flash memory can do), your player is dead like a dinosaur. Same with the battery when it can no longer hold suitable charge after a few hundred charge cycles.
16GB microSD is quite reasonable now. They should give us choice to load our own sticks, but they are milking the profit machine by offering two sizes for ridiculous mark-up and would prefer you buy a new one after warranty anyway.
If it's not the limited storage that will make you upgrade, it's when one of these (storage or battery failure) that will. It's nonsense that once they simplified all the mechanics of yesteryear's devices, they go on to offer as permanent fixtures things with known limited rewrites (flash memory) and known limited charge cycles (rechargeable batteries).
buttons look a bit micky mouse'ish
Why no bluetooth?
quite a bit of audio battery time.
that's about the only thing particularly good about this player.
Hmm...h.254? Where can one find such a codec?
What's up with these Sony Mickey Mouse themes?
speakers and mic are a bit of differentiation from most players out there.
* Removable storage and battery, when?
* FLAC and Ogg Vorbis, when?
* gapless?
Butt ugly, crappy stock bud, and still at premium price? I love it when the poster at Sony insider said it's the best S series thank to the built-in stand. LOL, A new low for Sony fanboys.
Listen, I do the best I can there, okay? I can't remember everything about every Sony device. I make mistakes. The appropriate thing to do would be to talk to me via contact form or IM and let me know. I need your help to make Sony Insider what it is, I don't need people working against me here.
I think for the money the S-Series is always been attractive. To the mainstream consumer, this could very well be a great update to an already successful Walkman for Sony. Most reviews of past S-Series Walkmans have been favorable.
Generally Sony includes stock buds that is almost all the time better than the stock buds that come on other mp3 device. I am notice this not the EX buds that usually come, but I am hoping these are just as good. Then there is the Sony SQ, which is rated up there with the likes of Cowon, iRiver of yore, and Rio Karma, something an iPod can't cliam.
@leapingmadly: Editing your post after a comment on a different blog? LOL. And you're trying to lecture me about the "appropriate" thing to do? And who's working against you? Engadget? Listen, get a grip, and stop being oversensitive.
Whatever you want to say about how successful the S series is/was, doesn't change the fact that Sony is charging premium price for an old hardware with weak specs, yet again.
@AI: LOL, you're hoping this obviously plain old Sony stock bud to be as good as the EX models? Yeah, I'm sure the stand also contribute to the "superior" SQ. LOL.
@pika2000 This isn't just any blog - it's engadget, one of the largest technology/gadget blogs in the world. You better believe I pay attention to this site. I also pay attention to comments about a story from my site that engadget picked up. I'm very lucky and grateful that engadget picks up any of the stories I submit.
I'm really tired of fighting you, and reading you in general; if engadget had an ignore feature I would have hit it a long time ago. The problem with your logic is your reading comprehension abilities - You asked me, "who's working against you?" - its people like you, who put me on blast for things that don't even make sense. I never stated engadget is against me. You are working against me by sitting here saying negative comments.
I never intended for my words in my post to read that the stand makes it the best S-Series ever. I wrote that sentence at the end of the story as an overall summation, meaning that all features together make this the best S-Series yet. Not just the stand. I can't get enough credit for you to figure that one out on your own, or do you think I'm a complete idiot? Of course, pounce on your misinterpretation and call it a new low for Sony fanboys.
Go ahead and give me a reply that puts me down more, or balks about how oversensitive I am. This is how about 90% of your comments are - rude, arrogant, hateful, and so forth.
I predict they will get sued by Disney for copyright infringement.
Can it play MP3? No I am serious, the last Sony player I had heeded a special software to convert MP3 to AAC before downloading them to the player. Also, the files were accessible only trough the proprietary API, MagicGate.
That was like like 5 years ago. The answer to your question is yes.
Sony DAPs use drag'n'drop nowadays
I have a S639F and it's great but I CAN HAZ 32GB, SONY ???!!! I'd love to get an upgrade without having to spend a fortune to get the X
A/S 16/32GB = WIN
A/S 8/16 = EPIC FAIL
@leapingmadly: Don't like my comments, then don't read it, simple. Yet you read it, wrote a crybaby response to gain sympathy, and in turn, insulted me, who is just a reader, in the same process. LOL. What's your problem anyway? You're "tired fighting me"? I don't even know you. And what makes you think anybody care about you trying to get a click from engadget? Maybe it's because fanboys like you cannot see things outside your bubble, and consider any comments that doesn't jive with what you wanted to read/hear as rude and arrogant. Different opinions do not always equal to rude/arrogant. If you're getting offended so easily by a simple comment, then yeah, you're oversensitive. Try going to digg next time. Oh yeah, now you're trying to argue/justify for something you already edited out. You know what, the only one going against you is apparently yourself. Seeing different opinions, criticism, negative comments, etc on the internet will never stop, so get a grip. You already edited out your statement anyway, so stop your sob story and move on.
LOL. Yet another reason that I think Sony fanboys are worse than Apple fanboys. :P
LOL, stupid comment system.
before i buy another sony dap, i want to be be able to delete stuff from the player without having to connect it to the pc. and some other stuff.