Sony Ericsson announce Live Walkman Android smartphone

Sony Ericsson today announced another model in the Walkman series. The Live Walkman is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread model with a 3.2 inch touch display and 1GHz processor

Sony Ericsson Live Walkman is the second Walkman model running on the Android OS. It is a mid-range model with a 5 megapixel camera, 3.2 inch display and 320 x 480 pixel resolution with with Wi-Fi, aGPS, DLNA and HSPA network support. So why does it deserve the Walkman brand name? It has a collection of music services which do not exist in other Sony Ericsson models.

• Infinite button - Click to enable instant access to content about the favourite artist, such as music videos, artist information and lyrics search
• Qriocity music and video content service from Sony - Where consumers can access songs from all major labels and watch thousands of movies from a major studios. Only Sony Ericsson Android smartphones provide consumers with unique access to the entertainment services from Sony.
• Sony xLOUD technology - Enhanced audio output of the built in speakers at high levels
• TrackID - Music identification service

All Sony Ericsson Walkman phones have a Walkman player application. We are not sure if the Walkman app found in the Live Walkman model is something beyond the generic Android but with a tiny Sony Ericsson twist such as Equalizer and Walkman brand.
Live Walkman has a deep Facebook integration like many other new Sony Ericsson smartphones. Most media content such as picture gallery, music, contact and calendar details can be shared and synced with Facebook.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia adds the four-corner Home screen navigation for easy navigation to commonly used tasks.

Sony Ericsson Live Walkman highlights

• Size: 106 x 56.5 x 14.2 mm
• 115 gram
• Networks:
  • GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS/HSPA 850/1900/2100
  • GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS/HSPA 900/2100
• 3.2 inch touch display, 320 x 480 pixel resolution, 16.7 million colours, scratch-resistant, capacitive multi-touch
• 5 megapixel camera, 8 digital zoom, auto focus, face detection, secondary front facing VGA 640x480 pixel resolution camera. LED light, geo tagging
• 720p HD video capture with image stabilizer
• Wi-Fi with DLNA
• Bluetooth
• aGPS
• FM Radio
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Micro USB support and USB tethering
• Talktime: 14 hours 15 minutes
• Standby time: 600 hours
• Music listening time: 17 hours 30 minutes
• Battery: 1200 mAh

Read more »

Sony Ericsson announces Txt Pro and Mix Walkman mobile phones

Sony Ericsson today announced two entry level mobile phones named Mix Walkman and Txt Pro. 

The two new mobile phone models are low end / entry level models. We do not have any exact price for the two, but we expect the price to be around Euro 230 just like the Xperia X8 when it was new. Both phones will be availble in Q3 in selecte market. Which market this is is also unknown, but we think Asia, Africa and some parts of Europe would be a good guess.
Sony Ericsson is proud of the success they have accomplished on their Facebook page which is to attract more than 5 million followers. Sony Ericsson held a competition a short while ago where four competitors received a free phone in the mail for the purpose of doing a short video review. The competition was to guess one out of three names for the two new phones. We guessed right.
Both phones has the now familiar four customizable corner keys we first saw in the Xperia 10 Minis for easy navigation. The operating systems looks like Android but they are not. Txt Pro is running on Sony Ericsson Proprietary OS while Mix Walkman is running on RTKE OS by ST-Ericsson. Besides the OS and the QWERTY keyboard on the Txt Pro, the two phone models have many similar features:
Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman highlights

• 88 gram
• 95.8 x 52.8 x 14.3 mm
• 3 inch touch display, 262,144 colors, 240 x 400 pixel resolution
• 256 MB memory, 100MB available to user. Expandable up to 32GB with microSD card
• 3 megapixel camera, QVGA video recording
• Networks: GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Java
• Zi Quick text
• 1000 mAh battery
• Standby time: 465 hours
• Talk time: 9 hours 40 minutes
• Zap key
• Karaoke function
• Exchangeable colourful rubber bands around the phone

The Mix Walkman has a special key name Zap for a preview of the chorus in the next song in the music queue. Press the Zap key again for play the next song from the begning.

Sony Ericsson Txt Pro highlights

• 4 row QWERTY keyboard
• 100 gram
• 93 x 52 x 18 mm
• 3 inch touch display, 240 x 400 pixels resolution, 262,144 colours
• 64 MB RAM. 100 MB free user memory. Expandable up to 32 GB with microSD card
• 3.2 megapixel camera, QVGA video recording
• Networks: GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Java
• Zi Quick text
• 1000 mAh battery
• Standby type: 400 hours
• Talktime: 5 hours 10 minutes

Read more »

Sony Ericsson announced W8 Walkman Android smartphone

The Sony Ericsson W8 Walkman is the first Walkman model running on Android operating system. W8 Walkman will be available in Asian countries only

It is the first time Sony Ericsson releases a Walkman branded Android smartphone. From the specification list, it seems to be a blueprint of the Xperia X8 released last year. Both the Xperia X8 and the W8 Walkman share the same dimensions, talk time, screen, camera etc. In fact, the only difference we can spot without playing around with it in real life is the Walkman sticker on the front and back of the device. As seen on the press images, it has a Walkman icon in one of the four corner icons. The specifications also tell us that it is shipped with a Walkman Player. This could very well be the standard Sony Ericsson Media Player but with another name. We will know when we see one. But again, that is not likely. The W8 Walkman will not be for sale in Europe, Americas or Africa. Just a couple of populated countries in Asia. Rebranding the Xperia X8 with a Walkman label is probably the last attempt by Sony Ericsson to boost market share using the music related brand.
Xperia X8 was initially shipped with Android 1.6 but later got a 2.1 update. The Sony Ericsson W8 Walkman will have Android 2.1 Eclair at launch date which will be Q2 2011.
The Sony EricssonW8 Walkman / E16i will be available in limited markets. These are China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Colour variants are Azure, Orange and Red

Read more »