Filed under: Portable Audio

Sony Japan just spilled the deets on their new Walkman S series of digital audio players. The NW-S700 players deliver pretty much exactly what we’ve already seen: 4/2/1GB of flash memory, 3-line OLED display capable of dishin’ albumn art, FM tuner, playback for MP3/ATRAC/ATRAC Advanced Lossless/Linear PCM and AAC/WMA sans DRM files, and the ability to record from external audio sources direct to PCM or ATRAC3Plus. The player features a quick 3-minute charge for 3-hours of playback or a 2-hour full-charge for up to 50-hours playback of all those 132kbps ATRAC files you probably don’t have. Finally, Sony claims that the NW-S700 series delivers the highest sound quality in Walkman history due to the integrated noise cancelation and bundled 13.5mmEX earbuds with integrated in-line Mic. Nice, if indeed their claims of 25% less ambient noise are true. Also announced are the NW-S600 players offered in 2/1GB flavas but without the FM tuner and built-in noise cancelation. The NW-S700 players will hit October 21st in Japan in your choice of black, violet, gold, and pink while the NW-S600 DAPs are set to roll on November 18th in black, blue and pink. And of course, there’s the limited edition NW-S706F/T in brown which, as you know, is the new white of consumer electronics. Expect to fork over up to ¥29,000 (about $242) for the 4GB NW-S706F or as little as ¥15,000 (about $125) for the 1GB NS-S603 model.

[Via Impress]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Reviews, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

More legal woes for Sony: the computing and consumer electronics giant is being sued by Pennsylvania-based Agere Systems over a number of devices spanning several product categories that, you guessed it, may be infringing upon some eight different Agere patents. Specifically, Agere is claiming that the PSP, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 — along with several Vaio, Handycam, Walkman, and Location Free TV models — are in violation of patents covering such varied technologies as a “wireless local area network apparatus” and “barrier layer treatments for tungsten plugs,” whatever those are. Furthermore, the integrated circuit component manufacturer believes that Sony “willfully” violated the patents, and is thus seeking damages that could end up being three times what non-willful infringements would warrant. For its part, Sony is putting up a multi-pronged defense: its lawyers are first trying to get a judge to invalidate all of the patents and make the whole mess go away quickly; but if they do turn out to be valid, Sony is claiming that it’s in the clear anyway due to cross-licensing deals dating back to 1989 with AT&T and Lucent Technologies (from whom Agere was spun off) that cover seven of the eight patents in question. Our uninformed legal opinion? Without knowing all of the specifics, it’s difficult to ascertain who’s got the stronger case here, but we can say that Sony’s recent track record in fighting infringement accusations hasn’t exactly been spotless, so as much as we’d love to cover yet another ugly, drawn-out court battle, maybe a quick settlement is the way to go with this one.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Others, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS

So, if we were going to rip off a phone’s design, we’d probably do current-gen hardware (a la TechFaith), not played-out music phones whose successors are already starting to look a bit long in the tooth. Granted, we don’t know how long Fifth Media’s W800 rip has been floating around, but the last time we checked in on these cats, they were pumping out generic Windows CE 4.2 smartphones — we’ll let you decide whether they’re moving up or down in the world. Specs seem about the same as the real deal, so if you’re down with no-name hardware, you just couldn’t justify dropping the cash on that W800 last year, and the first knockoff wasn’t doing anything for you, well, here’s your chance.

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, KDDI, EV-DO, CDMA

Several days ago we gave you a heads-up on Japan’s first Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, the W42S, coming to you courtesy of KDDI. Now we’re getting a torrent of shots of this bad boy in the wild. The mechanical control wheel arguably gives the CDMA W42S a more legitimate claim to be music-oriented than any Walkman phone before it, while LISMO integration and 3G data don’t hurt, either. More eye candy after the break.

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, Vodafone, GSM

Sony Ericsson keeps cranking out the high-style musicphones, and the V630i looks to be the latest edition to the line -- for UK Vodafone customers, that is. The phone, which eschews the Walkman branding used in other recent music-centric models, includes 10MB of internal memory, Memory Stick Micro support, a 176x220 display, 2 megapixel camera, trimode GSM support, and A2DP for Bluetooth stereo output. In sum, it reminds us a lot of another recent Sony Ericsson, the W810i, which has a similar feature set, but lacks A2DP (and that alone, of course, makes this one a new fave).

[Thanks, Goku]

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Portable Audio

Sony Ericsson keeps cranking out the high-style musicphones, and the V630i looks to be the latest edition to the line — for UK Vodafone customers, that is. The phone, which eschews the Walkman branding used in other recent music-centric models, includes 10MB of internal memory, Memory Stick Micro support, a 176×220 display, 2 megapixel camera, trimode GSM support, and A2DP for Bluetooth stereo output. In sum, it reminds us a lot of another recent Sony Ericsson, the W810i, which has a similar feature set, but lacks A2DP (and that alone, of course, makes this one a new fave).

[Thanks, Goku]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, KDDI, CDMA

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Filed under: Cellphones

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

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]

Filed under: Cellphones

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 2.0 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]

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, UMTS

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

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.

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Filed under: Handsets

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.

Filed under: Portable Audio

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 an 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.

Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, Sony Ericsson, GSM

align="right" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/04/se_w810i.jpg" alt="" />As you can tell from Mobile Burn’s
title, "Review: Sony Ericsson’s Fabulous href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/04/sony-ericssons-w810i-walkman-cellphone-now-with-edge-and-quadba/">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.

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Filed under: Portable Video

Sony continues to milk the Walkman branding with the release of their new portable DVD player line-up. Introducing the roughly 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]

Filed under: Portable Audio

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]

Filed under: Portable Audio

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 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 when they'll be available on a continent near you.

Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Hot off the FCC press are these here W712a and Z712a clamshells from Sony Ericsson; astute readers may notice a striking similarity to the W710 and Z710 models announced a couple months back, save for a couple of odd changes. First, and perhaps most depressing, you’ll notice that the 712s feature brutally unattractive black stub antennas, whereas the 710s do not. Secondly, the draft manuals and test reports published for these new pieces list them as dual-band GSM 850 / 1900 (read: North American) handsets. So the obvious question is: what the heck? If your W710i and Z710i are already quad-band and lack the ugly-ass external antennas, why reinvent the wheel? Are we missing something here, folks?

Update: Several folks have pointed out the “HAC” sticker, indicating that these handsets are hearing aid-compliant. What exactly that has to do with the external antennas and the removal of two perfectly good GSM bands, however, remains a mystery.

Read – W712a
Read – Z712a

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Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, Cingular, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Perhaps trying to drown out the repeated cries of “give us our K790,” Cingular’s launched one for the Sony Ericsson fans: the entry-level W300i Walkman clamshell. To be fair, with a Memory Stick Micro slot, relatively generous 101 x 80 external display, Bluetooth, external music controls, and FM radio with RDS support, “entry-level” may not be doing the phone justice. Be that as it may, the handset’s only going to set you back $20 after all the discounts are said and done (provided you’re ready and willing to sign on the dotted line, of course).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, Cingular, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

We know this one’s been in the oven for a while, but according to the good folks at HowardForums, Cingular’s finally seen fit to release the Sony Ericsson W810i — and just in time, if we do say so ourselves — though availability seems to be initially limited to brick-and-mortar stores. As a refresher, the brightly-colored candybar does the Walkman thing in style, packing a 2-megapixel camera, that Memory Stick Duo slot we all love to hate, and the obligatory quad-band GSM radio with EDGE; better yet, its predecessors’ joystick is mercifully replaced with a more usable d-pad. Just add A2DP and you’ve got yourselves a winner, guys.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.