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Sony Ericsson Announces First Walkman Phone
jonknee writes "Sony Ericsson has announced the first in a new line of self-described "Walkman phones" that specialize in playing music. The W800i features a 512MB memory card to store tunes and up to 30 hours of playback (if you keep the phone off, otherwise about half that). We should see a Motorola phone with iTunes onboard within the next two weeks, making March the month of music phones."
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Nokia announced a similar device last month. It had a slight bump in storage, i think it was 768 flash memory. The problem with the nokia version according to early tech specs is it looks like they sacraficed battery capacity more then the other phone companies (moto and ericsson) in order to be able to play music. The coolest feature of that phone though wasn't the music ability but rather the 360 degree rotatable ability of the screen.
The Nokia phone I think is expected to hit in time for summer, there goal was to have it out by beach time so that people would only have to bring one device with them when they beached it. We'll see how it goes though.
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How many "all on one" devices do consumers really need?
On another note... haven't there been phones like this before? What's their claim to being the first?
http://tinyurl.com/6vq2z/
This idea is already quite old, either that or Sony have handed out these new music playing phones to most of the young teeny boppers in my area already.
A simple trip to the local movie theatre and I am pounded with each and every latest teeny pop song each time a phone rings.
Hopefully these Walkman phones won't allow the tunes to be played through the phone speakers, if that's the case I refuse to leave the house outside school hours.
Photos and more here
fuvoo: watch something
Phones that play music.
Phones that perform facial recognition.
Phones that take photos.
Phones that shoot small caliber rounds.
Phones that can be tracked by GPS.
Phones that can extend penis lengths.
Phones that can make water from wine.
Phones that introduce you to your new spouse.
Are there any phones that allow you to talk to someone separated by distances greater than you can shout?
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
Everythign is getting so small now, tiny phones, tiny mp3 players, tiny cameras. It is not that difficult to get each device seperate. I hate this trend towards convergence because you end up with a crappy phone and a crappy mp3 player. I bought one of those phone/pda things and it was terrible. It wasn't half as good as my regular PDA or the phone I traded it in for. So instead i get two crappy devices in the size of one.
Focus on making things better, making phone reception clearer, i don't need to listen to music using my phone, thats what my iPod is for.
Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
ultimately we'll have to ask ourselves what the heck these things are actually for
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
But how do you fit the cassette in the phone?
if(!toilet_paper) roll.replace(new roll);
First walkman phone eh? You can have music on your regular cell phone RIGHT NOW: Call AT&T's customer support line, say to the operator that you're furious and you wish to complain and talk to her manager, wait till she says "yes Sir, please hold" and enjoy endless music for FREE!
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Lessee, it's a Sony digital music format, so it'll be all fucked up. 1. Memory Stick? Give me a break. 2. I'm sure that I can't just put a FAT formatted flash card in it. I'm sure that I have to use some sort of fucking evil-ass Sony piece of crap, PC-only software for the sole purpose of COPYING FILES TO A FLASH CARD.
I've been listening to MP3s on my N-Gage with a 512MB MMC card and stereo headphones for 1.5 years. Granted, I don't have a dedicated start/stop button. On the subject of annoying behavior, yes, I can play songs over the loudspeaker and I can make MP3 files my ringtone should I ever need to annoy you.
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Well as much as some /.'ers hate the convergence of phones and would rather wear a utility belt - this looks like a great mix. I think the older generation instead of lamenting that most convergence phone/camera/music/pda phones dont do it right should applaud the ones that do. This looks like a great first step.
Most importantly the battery life kicks ass on this phone in both modes - I really think that this is the acid test for many - What good are feautures if there is no power to turn on the phone.
One day soon I will own a Phone / PDA / iPod / Camera (Still and Motion) with hopefully some GPS thrown in for good measure - Convergence is key - that or bigger pockets.
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While the idea of a Walkman phone is cool, I'd rather have a clamshell phone -- if only because, with all the buttons on the inside, it's harder (or impossible) to accidentally answer or hang up the phone while it's in my pocket. So, the one I'm waiting for is the Sony Ericsson Z800. With Bluetooth, Infrared, MP3/AAC support, it has just about all I could ask for.
Still, I'm also waiting to see if/when it'll make Apple's list of iSync-compatible phones -- being able to sync with my Powerbook (as I do now with my Nokia 3650) is pretty handy. That, and I'm hoping that an unlocked version won't cost me an arm and a leg (I'm in the US on T-Mobile, fwiw).
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
"if you keep the phone off, otherwise about half that"
uh huh, because it's not like I'd be expecting to receive calls with this phone thing...
I'm mystified by this because my Sony Ericsson V800 already does this. From the pictures, the phone seems to run the same software too. So aside from branding, I fail to see the difference. The V800 also has expandable memory via Memory Stick Pro Duo which cards are available up to 1GB for.
:( But with a little enginuity you could make your headphones work too.
Granted the V800 is not "available" in America, but one can be snagged from eBay and unlocked/flashed. The same thing you're going to have to do with the W800 though.
The drawback to the V800 though is that the earphones connect through the T28 connector as there is no mini-headphone jack.
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But for a lot of people carrying shit around is a real pain. I have a phone and a PDA and a Network Walkman. The PDA never leaves my bedroom. My Walkman rarely comes with me. My phone is always with me.
Having more PDA and music functionality in my phone (my phone has radio but appears to need some crappy Nokia headset for it) would be a definate advantage to me.
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My year and a half old Kyocera 7135 has a built in MP3 player just like the Ericsson with a Palm Pilot built in to boot. It's a great feature for a phone and I was always surprised no other phones were offering it.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
I have a Motorolla E680, It has 50 megs built in, but an SD slot in the bottom (now filled with a 1GB card)
it also comes with real player, so I play my mp3s or mp4/real player format movies in 320x240 resolution.
Not only that is the phone has stereo sound, hand writing recognition on the touch screen, a VGA resolution camera, bluetooth and full GSM world phone capabilities.
The downside is the USB1.1, USB2.0 would have been better.
The greatest part: The phone runs linux with the J2ME over top. Write your own apps in J2ME,
for example, I can SSH from my phone to my network and deal with anything while listening to my mp3s and taking phone calls.
I've been doing this since December, Although I had to order my phone from China, it is fully english and cost me just under 600 dollars.
So why is this new technology anyway?
Press Release: "Not to be outdone, Panasonic, Sony's rival, is coming out with a "BoomBox Phone" -- a giant 200-watt shiny metal of nostalgic beauty complete with a free six-hour cassette recording of best disco hits. The BoomBox Phone is designed to sit comfortably on your shoulder as you make a call with the built-in wireless phone device. There is no better way to chat with your romantic interest with Donna Summer cooing words of love in the background."
Sun and Fun
I've owned and loved my Treo 600 now for just over a year. I have a 256MB SD card in it, loaded with MP3's, a pair of headphones and PocketTunes loaded. I've been listening to music on my PDA/Phone/Camera for quite awhile now.
I think the Treo can take even larger SD cards, too.
There's no DRM that I'm aware of either.
Greg
Parmasean Cheese. It's what's for dinner.
The "obvious" answer is one. The correct answer is unlimited. There is a point where you cannot keep putting devices together. It would be ridiculous to make an "all in one" device that is a phone, a camera, a walkman, and a printer. You would need a seperate "all in one" device that is a printer/fax/scanner/copier. So there are two "all in one" devices already. You can see where this is going.
off-topic: I need my phone to make phone calls. thats it.
ptpete
If you RTFA, you discover exactly what this is. It's a Sony K750i with a "play" and a "stop" button on it. Oh, and it's a different colour.
Woo. I recently had a MP3 playing smartphone for a few days myself - a Sendo X. Lovely phone, adequate MP3 player (there is an interface annoyance but the sound is fine), only problem is that is has a bug in it that makes it crap at reacquiring the network if you disconnect for any reason.
Pity...
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