Walkman phones are music orientated devices manufactured by Sony Ericsson and offer some of the most advanced music software found in mobile phones today.
The latest addition to the Walkman range is a direct upgrade to the Sony W880 which was originally launched over 12 months ago.
The new Sony Ericsson W890 was launched last week in a sleek silver casing only to be followed yesterday by a black edition released by Vodafone in the UK. The latter is a network exclusive launch and will only be available on Vodafone for a limited time frame after the manufacturer and network signed an agreement for exclusivity over the device.
This means that the Sony W890 will not be available to any other UK network within this agreed period, consumers who choose to purchase the new black edition will only be able to do so with a minimum term contract period with Vodafone.
Alternatively, the silver Sony Ericsson W890 has already been released on a number of networks including O2, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone giving customers far more tariff choices when trying to match their individual usage requirements.
The Sony W890 offers some new features, upgraded software and enhanced technology over the previous W880 model, firstly the camera has been upgraded from a 2.0 megapixel to a 3.2 megapixel for high quality photography and video capture, the camera also offers a digital zoom for close up photography.
The Sony W890 is a 3G enabled handset with a secondary camera located on the front of the phone for face to face video calling, 3G also allows access to a vast amount of downloads including news and sports reports, music videos, mobile content such as games and ringtones plus the all important new music tracks for listening to on the Walkman software.
Songs can also be uploaded directly to the handset from a PC or laptop, when the user plugs the phone into their computer the PC immediately recognizes it as a new hard drive making it easy to simply drag and drop music tracks and complete albums into the phones memory.
Something that will really appeal about the W890 is its frankly amazing battery life, considering this is a 3G enabled phone with an ‘always on’ internet connection the manufacturer is boasting that the handset can achieve 4.5 hours of talktime and 13 days standby time whilst with 3G turned off this becomes 9.5 hours talktime and 15 days standby, equally outstanding is the phone will allow music playback for a full 20 hours.
The W890 is being advertised by Sony Ericsson as being as thick as a normal CD case with adverts showing the handset hiding within a stack of CDs in someones bedroom, the phone is only 9.9mm thick which is pretty impressive considering the amount of technology and features this phone has to offer.
There is a further color variant to be released soon called the Sony Ericsson W890 Mocha Brown to join the officially named Sparkling Silver and Espresso Black editions, these new Walkman devices are by far the most advanced and power friendly that the manufacturer has released for some time and are sure to please the Walkman phone enthusiasts who have been waiting with baited breath for their release.
By: Susan Hargreaves
Posts Tagged ‘Music Software’
Sony W890 Silver Joined by New Black Sony Ericsson W890 Walkman Phone
March 22nd, 2010White Sony Ericsson W580i Joins the Walkman Range
October 30th, 2009
Sony Ericsson have been pushing the boundaries of mobile technology by incorporating fitness and sports applications into their latest phone releases. This technology has been partnered with the manufacturers Walkman software to allow users to engage in sports activities and use their mobile phone to listen to music instead of taking a second music device such as a stand alone MP3 Player along with them.
The Sony Ericsson W580i features the latest version of music software, Walkman 2.0, allowing for download, stream, store and play back of music tracks.
The Walkman software makes managing the music tracks and playlists easier so that with one click the user can enter the music player option, play, rewind, fast forward, equalise, shuffle tracks and create playlists as with a standard standalone music player. To compliment Walkman 2.0 there is also another piece of software called Disc2phone which allows the user to transfer music tracks direct from a CD to the handset by ‘dragging and dropping’ the desired tracks on the screen of a PC directly into the phones memory.
Another feature to enhance the listening experience is MegaBass, this adds stereo widening and depth for a broader sound either through the handsets built-in speaker system or via headset and earphones.
Most MP3 players now feature a randomising function for random selection of tracks from a playlist, the W580i takes this one step further by encouraging the user to simply hold a dedicated button and shaking the handset, when the phone vibrates the software has selected and switched the track.
Following on with the musical theme the W580i also offers an FM Radio that will tune to local and national stations and features RDS technology displaying the name of the station as well as artist and track recognition.
One final music orientated feature is called TrackID, this is recognition software that will send a recording to the Gracenote Mobile MusicID database and within seconds send back the name of the artists and track to the handset. This is particularly useful if the user is out in bars and nightclubs, instead of having to ask the DJ which track they are playing they can simply record a couple of seconds of the music and find out themselves.
Away from the music features the W580i offers a 2.0 megapixel digital camera with zoom and flash plus support for video playback and record. there is also the facility for the user to keep a mobile blog by uploading their pictures, adding text and publishing their work in order to keep friends and family up to date with their life movements and thoughts.
The phone has Bluetooth technology installed for wireless connections to compatible devices such as other mobile phones, TVs, Laptops and PCs. Users can send and receive picture, video, music and software files without the need for cable connections.
As mentioned before the W580i features some very different software that will aid people who engage in sports and fitness, there is a pedometer for keeping track of the number of steps the user makes and a stopwatch for timing trials. Users can listen to their favourite music tracks whilst out jogging and keep an eye on their progress.
To store the numerous amounts of files that are generated from the camera and music player the W580i offers an expandable memory with the use of M2 Memory Stick memory cards taking the overall storage space up to 2GB.
The Sony Ericsson W580i Style White addition to the Walkman range is a clever move from the manufacturer as research shows that one of the most popular colours chosen by consumers for their MP3 Player is white and so will appeal to those who no longer wish to carry more than one gadget.
This is a sleek, slider phone and portable music device all in one and now with its new colour scheme is sure to attract attention.
By: Susan Hargreaves
