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New W42S Walkman Phones from SonyEricsson

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SonyEricsson seems to be screaming “die iPod!” with every Walkman music player or mobile phone it comes out with. You can expect nothing less than that Sony touch of class and craftsmanship in every Walkman-branded device they announce.

The W42S features 1 GB of storage and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The phone measures 49x106x24 mm and weighs 123 grams. The W42S will work on 3G networks, and can download music over the air via the LISMO service.

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Of course it doesn’t hurt that the Walkman was the brand that got the popularity of the portable music player going (in all its bulky cassette-tape glory). However, it might be a problem if the Walkman goes the way of the Betamax. Do consider that Sony loves to make everything proprietary (think Memory Stick; think Blu-Ray, and yes, think Betamax!). For most people, it’s a big drawback that one can only sync the device thru proprietary Sony software. What, no drag-and-drop? Even iPods can do drag-and-drop.

Here’s a comment from ForeverGeek. I agree that the new Walkman phones are a tad too bulky compared to iPods (of course!) and even the sleek iTunes-enabled phones of last year’s vintage (such as those from Motorola).

Looks like Sony is starting to shift their efforts away a bit from MP3 players arena and moving towards the Cellphone MP3 Player Market more. However, in my opinion, they still need to make better efforts. This phone is way too bulky for it’s features.

So much for the “bean” Walkmans (or is it “Walkmen?”).

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Engadget is not as unenthusiastic, though.

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.

However, if you’re fond of accessorizing your portable music player, you’d better go for an iPod instead.

The Nano continues to land lightning fast blows on the Walkman, each one for each iPod accessory tha exists (and trust me, there are a LOT). And the walkman is down! And the counting begins… and… and… *ding ding* iPod Nano is the winner!

Sony Vaio Type A With HDMI and Blu-Ray

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Forget the MacBook. Sony has just released the Vaio Type A with HDMI and a cool Blu-Ray-capable drive (read and burn, baby!). ForeverGeek mentions that Sony has a habit of announcing new products just a few days after Apple launches its own hardware. So in the wake of Apple’s coming out with the MacBook (in cool, shiny black!), Sony, in turn, announces its own black beauty.

Sony has made it tradition to announce similar gadgets to Apple’s on the same day, or a few days after. And with the Macbook being released today, Sony stayed faithful to it’s tradition and introduced today their new flagship model with a Blu-Ray Burner, which I think will be the first ever seen (on a laptop).

I wish Sony would decide to put a slot-in drive for disks instead of the normal ones, but still, I must admit this model is a definite improvement over their current A series laptop.

Now for the specs. Well, what can we say? Top of the line, as usual, in terms of multimedia capabilities for a notebook in this class. From Akihabara News:

… here’s Sony’s Type A with a Blu-Ray burner and HDMI port!!! There will be multiple configurations, but let’s have a look at the VGN-AR70B, a machine with a 17″ screen, a Core Duo T2500 (2Ghz), an NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GT with 256MB that allows a 1920×1080 resolution (perfect for Full HD) and 200GB of HDD space (2x100GB in RAID 0).

This laptop would probably be great for watching those high-def Blu-Ray format movies. But then again, at this point it’s still a question of which standard (Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD) will dominate.

Still, this looks like a great, stylish laptop–good enough to match the looks of the MacBook. I want one!

Sony MouseTalk: I Want One!

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The Sony MouseTalk is one of those cool gadgets that everyone’s going to want. Pure innovation. Pure genius. What is it you ask? It’s a combo optical mouse/VoIP phone. Seems pretty wierd until you think about it!

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How many times have you had your hand on the mouse while either 1) you were receiving a phone call or 2) had the idea to make a phone call? Happens all the time to me. Sony’s clearly targeting the internet generation here: those people who spend hours on the internet every day.

It just occurred to me that there’s a positive side-effect to the MouseTalk: the form forces you to choose one or the other: either talk on the phone or use your mouse. I say that this is positive because there have been too many times when I’ve been surfing the net and reading email at the same time that I’m talking on the phone. Bad combo in the my case. Most of the time the conversation suffers. But Sony’s MouseTalk looks to correct that habit!

Hey, the design looks nice, the combo-functionality is perfect (especially for those constantly on the go), and it looks like Sony has a winner on their hands.

Sony Ericsson Black Diamond

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Warning: viewing this post without reading the disclaimer may cause interminable depression. The image you see below is just a CONCEPT, it is not in production, and therefore not for consumer sale, and hence you CANNOT have one.

Jaren Goh, a Singaporean industrial designer, has created a concept mobile phone for Sony Ericsson, which he has appropriately coined the Black Diamond.

The proposed specifications include a 4mega-pixel camera, encased in a polycarbonate construct with a mirror finish. The screen however, is the most appealing feature, as the OLED illuminates from underneath the polycarbonate casing, hence the screen appears to have no border.

Black Diamond

Visit the designers site

Via [gizmodo] [esato]

Sony upgrades W digicam line

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Sony cybershot W100Sony has announced upgrades to its W-series compact digital camera line at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2006 trade show.

The Rangefinder-style W series gets a facelift as the lower end is now a continuation of the more compact P-series of the recent years, and is more akin to the Canon ixus line in size and feature set. The higher end models retain the old W size and form factor, but now sport higher resolution CCD sensors (7 and 8 megapixels!) and upgraded optics.

New models include the W30 (SRP: US$ 230) and W50 (SRP: US$ 250) on the lower-featured, more compact side, and the W70 (SRP: US$ 300) and W100 (SRP: US$ 350) on the larger, more feature-packed side.

Across the W series, common enhancements include the following:

  • Increased light sensitivity, up to 1000 ISO equivalent settings (up to 1250 ISO for the W100)
  • Intuitive helptext for menu system

Now what would I do with that fast a light sensitivity? I’m worried about noise and pixellation at those ISO levels, even if this was meant to enable faster shutter speeds at low-light operation! But the help system is cool, though, for novice photographers–it takes out the guesswork in photography (sometimes “Auto” mode isn’t enough, since there are a plethora of options one can explore even on a simple point-and-shoot digicam)

At any rate, the W series is worth looking at. It strikes good balance between price and funcitionality.

Sony HDPS-L1

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Sony HDPS-L1

This is an electronic photo storage device; very simply put, you transfer photos from a flash media card to the HDPS-L1, where they are stored on the internal hard drive.

Sounds simple enough, comparable to the advent of sliced bread you may say, well it works and it works well. Included is a 80GB hard drive, as well as audio and video lineouts to connect the photo storage device to the home theatre system. Once downloaded, the images are automatically organized by date, as well as having the ability to sort photos by groupings.

The widget measures only 8.5�?x10�?x1.4�?, and supports seven different types of flash cards as well as USB inputs, and as well as being able to download from the cards, you can also upload to the cards.

When viewing the photos, you can utilize the remote control to move through your collection, as well as viewing them in slide show mode.

The Sony HDPS-L1 in detail:

Hard Drive 80GB
Video/Sound output
JPEG and Sony RAW file support
Background Music
WAV (pre-installed)
Handles USB, Memory Stick/Duo, Compact Flash, Micro-drive, SD Card, xD Picture Card, Multi Media Card

Available in May for about $300

via [fosforgadgets]

Custom 360-themed Sony Cell Phone

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360 Themed Sony Cell PhoneA guy covered a Sony (makers of the PS2, and soon the PS3) cellular phone with an Xbox 360 rings of light design. He got the custom cover from StyleUpCover for about $50.

“…I wanted something that was simple yet unique so I went with the 360 rings on the design. Those that know what it is will recognize it but those that don’t will just think it’s a random design.”

In case you are curious about the type of phone, it is a Sony Ericsson z520. It still cracks me up that it’s a Sony.

via Xbox 360 Fanboy

Xbox Live Arcade Boss Negative towards Nintendo and Sony

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Greg Canessa talks to Next Generation and says that retro downloadable Nintendo games “won’t hold up”, and as far as a Sony online service goes… “good luck”.

Odd coming from the king of download services and retro downloadable content.

“We’re taking a much larger view of this space than Nintendo. Arcade is really about small downloadable games of all types. Look at Geometry Wars; it’s our Halo. That’s not a 10-year-old retro title that you’re running on some sort of emulator. That’s a new title that was designed specifically for Xbox 360.

An interesting article none-the-less, so I recommend you check it out. Ignore the PR campaign elements as best you can.

PS3: Sony sticks with non-unified online service

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This does not make any sense to me. What was the Sony executives thinking? For the Xbox there is Live, which is a central hub for all online gaming. With Sony and their PS3, each game or game company will have their own “micro service” you may or may not have to register for to get on and play against your friends.

Suicide. If reports are true, then Sony is entering the next-generation battle without a central online gaming service. What? Why? Who—

According to OPM (via GamesFirst), online gaming on the PlayStation 3 will be left to the discretion of individual publishers—just like on the PS2. While some may argue that this gives publishers greater freedom to design a unique online experience, it also makes it difficult for Sony to control the quality of that experience. And from a gamer’s standpoint, it’s a real pain in the neck, since each publisher will require its own user account (and possibly fees).

source: Joystiq

Sony Charges Big Bucks for Playstation 3 Developer Kit

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Sony has decided to tell the world of developers how to get a developer kit. You actually have to pay for it but we kind of thought that Sony wanted to make more people to develop for their platform and give some of those kits for free, but unfortunately, you have to pay.

At the conference Sony announced it is actually charging close to $31,000 USD for each developer kit that you order. Even if you have the money and if you want to buy one, you have to pass rigorous evaluations as Sony doesn’t want to give these complex machines away. With the kit you get the documentation and you can imagine what kind of secrets about the hardware itself are in those documents.

These machines are going to simulate what is later going to be known as Playstation 3 and you will get a bunch of developer software on it, it’s a nice and expensive piece of machinery.

If you want one, ask Sony but you have to prove you have a game that is good enough for this console, and if Sony’s hot shots decide it’s good enough you are good to go.