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It’s the third birthday of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phone label, and to celebrate it’s launching three new music-based cellphones. The W302 and W902 (left, center in the image) are both candybar cells, with the 302 having an FM radio, and 2-megapixel cam, and the 902 with a 5-megapixel cam and apparently matching the high audio quality of the W980 phone. The W595 is a slide phone with built-in stereo speakers so users can “share sounds with their friends” (read: annoy passers-by with irritating tunes) but it also has twin jacks so you can share music privately. All four phones are quad-band GSM, come in a selection of colors and will hit the streets at the end of the year. Press release below, which also details some new accessories like wireless portable speakers.

To coincide with the Walkman™ phone’s third birthday, Sony Ericsson has unveiled three brand new mobile phones giving music on the go to more users than ever. Best-in-class sound quality takes music on your mobile to the next level.

London July 22 - Building on three year’s experience and technology 30 years in the making, Sony Ericsson continues to lead the way in the mobile phone music arena with cutting edge music technology and unique accessories.

Today, Sony Ericsson unveils its latest innovative additions to the Walkman™ phone family: the W902, W595 and W302, and seven new music accessories. Sony Ericsson is unveiling phones and accessories with superior sound quality and pioneering features that take Walkman™ phones beyond music and expectations with fantastic extras such as great imaging and video capabilities.

“Since the launch of our first Walkman™ phone in 2005, Sony Ericsson has continued to pioneer a superior mobile music experience - and the 77 million Walkman™ phones sold to date are testament to this commitment,” says Ben Padley, Head of the Music Category at Sony Ericsson. “With this latest range of phones and accessories, we are offering high quality sound and a rich feature set that cements our position as a leader in the music phone category. We are pushing the boundaries of what people think is possible and are offering best-in-class sound quality and our most exciting Walkman™ phones to date.”

The list of pioneering and innovative features found on Walkman™ phones continues to be unmatched in the industry. Features like the music recognition application TrackID™, SensMe™, for matching your mood to the music and Shake control to change tracks with the flick of your hand make Walkman™ phones stand out from the rest.

Sony Ericsson can now also announce best-in-class sound quality and a clear audio experience from its W902 Walkman™. The W902 features the same superior sound quality as the W980, about to launch shortly, which was rated ”best audio experience” this month, in a trial conducted in Germany by TESTfactory*.

With the W902, users can listen to music the way it should be heard: true to original. It’s also a mobile phone for those that want it all, with a five megapixel camera and great video capturing and sharing capabilities, an 8GB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2) for storing more than 8,000 songs**, the W902 is a top-of-the-range device that will make you the envy of your friends.

The W595 Walkman™ is perfect for those who want to share sounds with their friends. Store and play more than 1,900 songs** through the built in stereo speakers. Plug in the in-box sharing jack to listen silently to your tunes with a friend or Bluetooth™ your sounds to Sony Ericsson’s range of wireless speakers.

The new W302 Walkman™ is packed with impressive features in an affordable no-compromise slim handset. Targeting all audiences, the phone comes complete with an impressive two megapixel camera, FM radio, TrackID™ and 512MB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2).

The next generation of accessories includes three new sets of speakers, the MBS-200, MBS-400 and MPS-100, to help music lovers go beyond the individual and play music directly from their mobile phone. Enhancing its music accessories collection Sony Ericsson has also introduced three new stereo headphones, HBH-IS800, HPM-88 and HPM-66 for the optimal listening experience.

The Walkman™ phone through history
Walkman™ phone continues to chart high

• August 2005 – Sony Ericsson launches its very first Walkman™ phone – the W800
• December 2005 - Three million Walkman™ phones sold to date
• April 2006 – Sony Ericsson launches its first Walkman™ phone music accessories; MPS-60 portable speakers, which goes on to sell millions of units worldwide
• October 2006 – Sony Ericsson launches its first slider Walkman™ phone – the W850 which also introduces the unique TrackID™ music recognition application
• November 2006 –Sony Ericsson launches the W950 Walkman™ with the biggest storage yet - 4GB
• December 2006 – 20 million Walkman™ phones sold to date
• February 2007 – Sony Ericsson launches its slimmest Walkman™ - the W880
• November 2007 – W910 Walkman™ phone with Turbo 3G/HSDPA launches as a complete entertainment device
• December 2007 – Walkman™ phone sales hit 57 million
• February 2008 – Sony Ericsson launches the W350, with Walkman™ on top and W380 with gesture control
• July 2008 – W980 Walkman™ phone with clear audio experience launches

With Sony Ericsson today music is reborn. What are you waiting for? Join the Walkman™ phone family and experience music how it was meant to be heard.

For more information visit www.sonyericsson.com/reveals

The W302 Walkman™ is an EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Midnight Black and Sparkling White in Q4 of 2008.

The W902 Walkman™ is a UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Volcanic Black, Wine Red and Earth Green in Q4 of 2008.

The W595 Walkman™ is a UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White, Jungle Grey and Lava Black in Q4 of 2008.

The W595c Walkman™ is a GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White and Jungle Grey in Q4 of 2008.

The W595a Walkman™ is a GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White, Jungle Grey and Lava Black in Q4 of 2008.

The Wireless Portable Speaker MBS-200 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008.

The Wireless Portable Speaker MBS-400 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008.

The Portable Speakers MPS-100 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008

The Wireless Stereo Headphones HBH-IS800 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008

The Noise Cancelling Headphones HPM-88 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008

The Active Headphones HPM-66 will be available in selected markets from Q4 2008

[Sony Ericsson]

Original post by Kit Eaton

Sony Ericsson’s upcoming “Alicia” Walkman phone has a very interesting circle on the outside of its flip-casing. This video lets us in on its secret—it’s a display? If we’re interpreting it correctly, the front surface might have two displays, one small square one on top of the larger circular one, which also acts as a control pad for music, weather, and other apps. Hmmm, a portable music device that has a square on the top and a circle on the bottom. Where have I seen that before? Oh right, the Zune. [Se-nse]

Original post by Jason Chen

Sony’s E020 Walkman, the flash-based MP3 player for kids who like to coordinate their gadgets with their outfits, will finally hit U.S. shores in mid-June. The E020 features a colored three-line LCD screen and a built-in USB jack with drag-and-drop MP3 transfer system (no SonicStage this time around, thankfully). Its selling point is its swappable faceplate, which lets you change the music machine’s style to suit your mood.

The E020 can be found in 1GB and 2GB flavors, for $69 and $79 respectively, and comes bundled with premium earphones and a handful of faceplates to get you started. Additional faceplates will be sold separately for $12 each. [Crave Asia]

Original post by Elaine Chow

The Gadget: The Sony Ericsson W890i is a slim, Walkman-branded follow up to the W880i. It offers up Walkman Player 3.0, a 3.2 megapixel camera and Sony’s great UI, all in a candybar form factor that doesn’t dominate the pocket. While this is currently a Europe-only product, Sony Ericsson phones tend to wash up in the U.S. eventually.
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Price: £299.99

The Verdict:: For a non-smartphone, I really like the W890i. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Sony Ericsson OS and UI on their phones, and that hasn’t changed. But what makes this phone so good is that I could see myself using this as a media player if i didn’t already have 5 other dedicated devices laying around. Like the W880i, the W890i has full media playback, a front side camera for video conferencing, TrackID and other music related apps. Unlike the W880i, it also has the SensMe music mood mapper, and a higher res camera (3.2 MP vs. 2.0 MP).

The Walkman 3.0 interface is well organized and easy to use, video is crisp, and everything is responsive. I really like that the home screen dedicates one of its soft keys to the walkman player and there is also a side hard key for the same purpose. It seems minor, but it really makes the media player accessible and eliminates the thinking process. SensMe analyzes the song’s tempo and sound to determine it’s “mood,” and then maps out the songs on a graph for you to select accordingly and the camera takes bright, crisp photos (indoors and outside). The W890i also has the standard array of bluetooth, games, productivity apps, and a radio to round out features.

What I don’t like about the W890i is the continued use of proprietary sony hardware. Audio, data, and charging are still done using a proprietary data port that uses a strange and clunky connector. Buttons are a little crammed together, but isn’t as maddening as the K850i button layout. Other than that, I have no complaints. The W890i is a good, simple music-phone for people who want a good, simple music-phone. [Sony Ericsson on Giz]

Original post by Adrian Covert

The major difference between the A820 and the A720 Walkmen is Bluetooth (and a 16GB flavor). Unfortunately, the Bluetooth was fairly crappy in the model I fussed with, unless you enjoy the odd rhythm of skipping music. I tried the player in my back jeans pocket, front jeans pocket and front jacket pocket, and got the same in-and-out jolting stream. (Even in line of sight w/ some Bluetooth speakers, range was 10 feet then totally dead.) The bits that made it to the headphones sounded alright though. UI is the same as the last gen of players, though I’m not really a fan of the button layout on this set. galleryPost(’btwalkmen’, 3, ”);

Original post by matt buchanan

A necklace with a pendant shaped like old Walkman of lore. Probably about the size of a shuffle. [Josh Spear via BBG]

Original post by Brian Lam

In addition to the trio of new handsets they intro’d today, Sony Ericsson also announced plans for an upgraded PlayNow music service. Launching this spring, it could feature up to 5 million tracks in “MP3 and Windows Media digital rights management, or DRM-enabled formats” from all of the Big Four, though no track price has been relayed. On the upside (or downside, if you spend compulsively), you can have your tab tacked onto your cellphone bill. Interestingly, SE’s planning to cut service providers in on revenues from OTA downloads. Sounds like it’s off to a better start than Nokia’s competing venture at any rate. [WSJ]

Original post by Matt Buchanan

The two latest Walkman phones from Sony Ericsson, the W890 and W380, continues their music-focused approach by loading up Walkman Player 3.0, the newest release of their player software. The W890 has features we’ve seen before, such as FM radio, 3G HSDPA, SensMe tempo and mood detector, Stereo Bluetooth, a 3.2-megapixel camera and quad-band GSM. The W380 on the other hand has TrackID (which identifies songs), gesture control (think of a Wiimote), and music controls on the back of the phone. It looks like these two are Europe and Asia-only affairs for now, with no US launch mentioned.

Original post by Jason Chen

Sony has commissioned three of Japan’s most promising graphic artists to add color to four of its products. Hajime Yoshio, ZanPon and Ryuji Otani are the trio behind the limited-edition laptops, cell phone cases, media players and headphones, part of the company’s Canvas show at its Ginza headquarters. A lucky few will be able to buy the customized gear — at a price.

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Just 100 of the 26,800¥ ($228) 16GB NW-A808 video Walkmans (Walkmen?) are up for grabs alongside 5,980¥ ($50) matching MDR-KX70LW headphones, will be on sale, from today until November 4. There are a ton of Vaio C-Series (VGN-CR90) at 114,800 ($977) available, but just 50 $15 custom cases for the Sony Ericsson SO704i. Available from today, you’ve got until November 4, when the exhibition closes. [Impress through Google Translate]

Original post by Addy Dugdale

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video

As companies continue to give their products pink makeovers in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Sony is joining the fray by introducing a trio of items that all give back. Up first is the 14.1-inch VGN-CR290EAP laptop (starting at $1,369.99), which features a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 200GB of hard drive space, DVD writer, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, integrated X3100 graphics, 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a slew of ports to boot. The 4GB NWZ-A816PNK Walkman ($149.95) boasts a 320 x 240 display, up to 33-hours of battery life (8-hours when playing back videos) and support for MP3, WMA, AAC, MPEG4 and M4V formats. Finally, the 8-inch DVP-FX810/P portable DVD player ($189.99) offers up a swiveling flip-screen and promises around 5.5-hours of life on a full charge. And just so you know, Sony will be donating $75, $10 and $10 (respectively) from the sale of each aforementioned gadget to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

[Via ChipChick]

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Original post by Darren Murph