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Sony's new A, E, and S series Walkmans to get Music Unlimited freebie
For those that haven't yet gone down the iFaithful portable media player route, there's always the Walkman. Sony officially unveiled updates to its A, S and E series line of players just last month, and now plans to dole out a free trial of Music Unlimited to owners of the NWZ-A860, S760BT and E460 when they go on sale this September. The streaming service, formerly known as Qriocity, brings with it a catalog of over 10 million songs and will be available gratis for 180 days, after which it'll run you $3.99/mo for basic service and $9.99/mo for the premium offering. It might be too late in the game for the company to wrestle back the portable audio crown but, hey, you can't fault it for trying to sweeten the MP3-playing pot. Official PR awaits you after the break.
Sony officially outs new A, E, and S series Walkmans
When a company sends a boatload of media players through the FCC, specs and all, it kinds of takes the punch out any official announcement, ya know? Still, it's nice to finally see Sony's spate of new Walkman players that we've been reading so much about. The company just announced updates to its A, S, and E series of players, all of which have a karaoke mode, language learning function, voice recording, and Sony's station-creating SensMe feature. At the high-end, you've got the stereo Bluetooth-enabled A860, whose 2.8-inch touchscreen has already been splashed across the internets. The more diminutive S760BT has a 2-inch display and also gets Bluetooth, though it claims longer battery life -- up to 50 hours of audio playback and up to ten for videos. Rounding out the low end, there's the E460, which has the same 2-inch screen, but lacks Bluetooth and instead comes in five colors. All three models will go on sale in September, with the A series fetching $179 or $219 for the 8GB and 16GB models, the 8GB S series costing $149, and the E series ranging in price from $79 to $109 for 8GB to 16GB. Full PR after the break. %Gallery-129325%
Sony Walkman NWZ-E450 does karaoke, we go hands-on (video)
If you need any sort of self-confidence therapy, then consider this the poor man's portable solution. Sony's new NWZ-E450 entry-level Walkman may look rather ordinary on the outside, but it's got something unique wrapped underneath -- karaoke mode. Here's how it works: not only can you throw in .lrc files to get auto-scrolling lyrics for your songs, but the device can also automagically reduce the lead vocals and let you be the rock star. Of course, the latter feature may not work as well with your occasional dose of Slipknot, but as you can see in our hands-on video after the break, Leona Lewis' gorgeous voice is good to go. The rest of the spec sheet doesn't look too bad either: MP3 / WMA / AAC / MP4 / WMV playback, up to 50 hours of music battery juice, 2-inch QVGA LCD, voice recorder, FM radio, 4GB to 16GB of memory, and it comes in black, red, blue, pink and green. Available in August starting from £70 ($108).%Gallery-97610%
Ears-on with Sony Ericsson MH907 Motion Activated Headphones
What we have here today isn't just another pair of ordinary headphones: Sony Ericsson's MH907s are button-free, minimalistic headphones that activate upon the magical touch of your skin. Well, your ears to be precise. You must bear in mind that the MH907s are exclusive to Fast port-equipped Sony Ericsson phones thus excluding the forthcoming XPERIA X10 -- so chances are you're already not interested. That said, we shall see if Sony Ericsson is really going to change things forever with these gleaming buds featuring SE's SensMe Control technology, or by just stopping everyone from using their 3.5mm headphone jacks. Read on to find out how these €39 ($57) headphones fared. %Gallery-75958%
PSP firmware 6.10 coming 'soon,' introduces PSP Go cell phone tethering
PlayStation Network's Eric Lempel has just announced via the PlayStation Blog that PSP firmware version 6.10 -- which he dubs "a big update" -- will be available soon. The update will add a new feature, SensMe, to the system's XMB. This music player, announced at E3, can be used to generate playlists from songs stored on the system based on pre-defined "moods."The most substantial addition, however, will only work with the PSP Go. Using the Go's built-in Bluetooth networking, owners of the new system will be able to tether the device to their Bluetooth-capable mobile phones and use them as wireless modems for internet access beyond WiFi hotspots -- essentially wherever a cellular data network is available.An update to the free MediaGo software -- designed for transferring PS Store items and media to and from the PSP using a PC -- will be available for download tomorrow, October 1, according to Lempel. We'll update once PSP firmware v6.10 goes live. In the meantime, you can watch SensMe in action after the break.
Sony Ericsson's motion activated MH907 headset could change things forever (update: or not)
See that? That's the device that will forever change the way you to listen to music. At least that was the promise made in the teaser running up to today's press event. The buttonless MH907 buds are the world's first "Motion Activated" headphones with Sony Ericsson's "SensMe Control" tech: bung them into your ears to automatically start listening to music, remove one bud to pause. The buds are activated by body contact and mimick the way we control sound now. What's cool is that the headphones seem to use your body as an electrical conduit (a Body Area Network) based on this quote from the webinar:"Requires conductive surface to activate the controls - i.e. your ears, hence it won't turn things on in your pocket by just squeezing the ear buds"If so, this is a first consumer application of this technology that we can recall. Available globally this week for any Fast Port equipped phone for just €39. Video fun after the break.Update: SE has further clarified that the technology is capacitive in nature. In other words, removing an ear bud isn't breaking the flow of current between buds (and across your noodle) -- it's destroying the dynamic capacitor formed by the touch of human skin. Right, this is technology we've seen before in capacitive touchscreens and trackpads. %Gallery-73591%
