Walkman
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Sony Ericsson's W42S 3G Walkman phone for Japan
We've been feeling the Walkman love from Sony Ericsson for what constitutes forever on a tech timeline. Oddly, Japan is only now getting their first taste of these little musicphones with the newly announced W42S. However, don't feel sorry for our former tech overlords just yet, the W42S packs in a cool 1GB of internal memory which can be supplemented with up to 4GB of Memory Stick Pro DUO expansion and sports a power saving mode allowing up to 30 hours of music playback. This 3G (CDMA2000) slider also features a 1.3 megapixel cam, a 2.2-inch 262k color QVGA LCD, FM radio, an EPG to keep you hip to the TV schedule, and a feast of dedicated player controls including a new mechanical wheel unique to Walkman phone navigation. And by partnering with KDDI, owners can snag music over-the-air via the 5 million downloads per month strong LISMO music service. No price announced but "local media" is reporting that this musicphone will fetch $181 (with contract and telco rights to your vital organs we presume) when these drop in late June. Click on for a few hands-on pics.[Via Impress Watch]
Sony Ericsson's W710 Walkman quad-band GSM/EDGE clam for sportos
Sony Ericsson has yet another Walkman phone lined up for Q3 launch with the W710 clam for active types. As such, the W710 features a motion sensor and slew of fitness applications which can be managed from both the internal 176 x 220 TFT and 128 x 128 external STN displays to measure running speed, distance and time, or simply count steps back and forth to the Twinkie source. It ships with a 512MB Memory Stick Micro card (expandable up to 1GB) and features a standard 3.5mm jack, RDS FM radio, 2 megapixel shooter, MusicID service, Bluetooth (A2DP stereo audio not specified), and measure in at about 1-inch thick and 3.6-ounces. And just in case you'll be using it to make calls, it goes quad-band GSM with EDGE support meaning this device is also a US athletic supporter. More snaps after the break.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sony Ericsson's W850 Walkman tri-band GSM/UMTS slider
Sony just announced their new W850 Walkman cellphone and this baby's hot. Available in black or white as designs tend to go these days, this tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 slider also delivers UMTS 2100. It comes pre-loaded with the latest Walkman 2.0 player with TrackID allowing you to lookup and identify recorded music samples via the Gracenote Mobile MusicID service. Not only that, but it ships with a 1GB of Memory Strick PRO Duo'in storage (with up to 4GB supported) and features a horizontal mode 2 megapixel shooter with LED light. Rounding out the features are a 2-inch QVGA TFT 260k color display, RDS FM Stereo radio, and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP stereo audio. No price but we can expect these to ship sometime Q3 2006... in Europe. More pics after the break.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sony's ICF-B01 emergency radio with hand crank
Thanks to Walt Mossberg, we know how important it is to keep a crank-powered radio around the house, and now Sony has joined the likes of Eton and Freeplay in offering one of these necessities to its Japanese customers. The ICF-B01 isn't as full-featured as some of the models we've seen -- for instance, it doesn't seem to charge your cellphone -- but it does manage to pack in an LED flashlight to help you change stations while you're trapped in the dark. We're not sure how much loot Sony wants for this radio, but if it's more than $30, you're probably better off stocking up on batteries for your old Walkman.
Keepin' it real fake, part XXVI: Fake W810i adds touchscreen
Looks like these fakesters really went the extra mile in ripping off Sony Ericsson's W810i musicphone. Sure, the music playback is sluggish, the MP4 support is nonexistent, and instead of the advertised 3 megapixels the phone camera offers 1.3, but this sketchy device discovered in Hong Kong does include a little something extra: a touchscreen. We're sure Sony Ericsson would be proud.
Sony ready to take on the iPod ... again
Sony senior vice president Takao Yuhara met with reporters yesterday to announce that the company is working on -- drum roll, please -- a new digital audio player, software and download service to take on Apple's iPod. Yuhara didn't provide a whole lot of details, though he did say the player would be "typically Sony," by which we assume he meant it would be hobbled by intrusive DRM, poor support for formats other than ATRAC and prices that will make it completely uncompetitive in a market where you can get a decent 512MB flash player for well under $100. Still, we wish Sony luck. We really would like to see the company come up with an audio player that could return this pioneer to its early Walkman-era glory (we have an idea: hand the division over to the team that designs the Walkman phones). But we fear that what we'll be seeing will instead be this year's answer to the Bean.
Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman phone reviewed
As you can tell from Mobile Burn's title, "Review: Sony Ericsson's Fabulous W810i," they obviously thought the device had something going for it. And frankly so did we; whenever we've picked it up, we've hardly been able to put the thing back down. According to Mobile Burn the W810i's incremental changes, like a d-pad instead of a joystick (yes!) and 2 megapixel auto-focus camera might even make it a worthwhile upgrade for previous Walkman phone owners. Still, the lack of A2DP support is sure to annoy just about anyone (really,it is getting silly for a Walkman phone with Bluetooth not to have it in 2006), but we can certainly see why they like it so damn much.
Sony's VE7000S Walkman DVD player
Sony continues to milk the Walkman branding with the release of their new portable DVD player line-up. Introducing the D-VE7000S DVD player (pictured) which brings the coveted Walkman branding in a compact package sporting a 7-inch display, a couple of headphone jacks, and a dock with integrated speakers capable of charging the unit in about 3 hours. Also announced is the DVP-FX810 which is just a regular ol’ portable DVD player with two headphone jacks for snuggling up against that 8-inch display for up to 6-hours at a time off battery. Yup, that's it... no DivX, no network, no USB, no tie-in to Sony’s Japan-only Portable-TV service or up-coming HUB PlayStation Network Platform. Just a couple of portable DVD players shipping in June for undisclosed prices. Come on Sony, we’re waiting to be impressed again. More snaps after the break.[Via Akihabara News]
Sony's new E-series flash Walkmans get real
Not that we really had any doubt at this point, but those new Sony E-series flash players from last week? Yeah, they're real. No new info on Sony's official site though, not so far as we can tell: same 512MB / 1 / 2GB capacities as before with optional FM tuner, MP3 and WMA playback, and a 28 hour battery (using ATRAC, of course) with a 3 minute quick charge for 3 hours playback (again, probably using ATRAC), and black, violet, pink, blue, silver, and the "very exclusive lime green." Yeah, whatever. So where are our CE-Ps, Sony?[Thanks, Colin]
Sony CE-P MP3 players with color OLED, MP3/WMA
Sony has a new series of flash-based players, though for now, it looks like you may have to go to China (where it was apparently designed) to get one. The CE-P series includes a 1.5-inch color OLED display, MP3 and WMA playback (no word on PlaysForSure, but we're not holding our breath), FM tuner and voice recorder. Capacities and prices include the 256MB CE-P13 for about $100, 512MB CE-P15 for about $125, and the 1GB CE-P15 for about $150. No word on if or when they'll be available on a continent near you.
