Filed under: Cellphones

It’s been a long time coming (isn’t it always with Sony Ericsson and AT&T?), but the January-announced W760 Walkman slider is finally hitting the US on contract. Announced today, the shakeable W760a will be available in AT&T locations, bringing with it 3G support, a 3.2-megapixel camera, AT&T Navigator and “full HTML web browsing.” In case you haven’t seen already, it’ll be available in red, black and silver motifs, with the latter hue being exclusive to RadioShack for a limited time. Check it as early as today for $129.99 (with a 2-year agreement) after mail-in rebate.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We don’t know enough adjectives to really explain to you how Sony’s latest Walkman sounds (will “good” suffice?). Nor can we show you in video. We can tell you that it’s small, really small, with a crisp, clean display and UI familiar to you A820-series lovers. Even better, we can drop in a gallery of Sony’s top of the line, 16GB, NWZ-S639F nuzzled up close to the NWZ-A828 as proof of its tinytude. As good as this player is, it’s still just another dedicated Walkman player with an itty bitty, 2-inch display. We’re so over dedicated DAPs Howard, isn’t it time you produced a full-screen Video Walkman?

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Remember those new Walkmans we saw recently? Well the folks at Sony have decided to get all fancy and official with them. The electronics-maker is introducing S-, E-, and B-Series PMPs, all featuring MP3 and WMA playback, drag-and-drop file management, and a variety of storage capacities. The 4GB NWZ-S736F and 8GB NWZ-S738F sport Sony’s “Open Platform” which allows AAC, Linear PCM, and other codec support, 40 hours of battery life, in-flight noise cancellation, and SensMe — which creates song shuffles based on user listening habits. The 4GB NWZ-E436F and 8GB NWZ-E438F come in a handful of colors and deliver up to 45 hours of playback, while the low-end 1GB NWZ-B133F and 2GB NWZ-B135F add an FM tuner and voice recording functionality. The players will be available come September, ranging in price from around $45 to $180.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Sony’s IFA press event isn’t for another couple of hours, but we managed to sneak these shots of Sony’s minor refresh to its Walkman lineup. Everything is looking nice and sleek, and the screens on the S-series players we saw that were on looked sharp and bright, but we’re still waiting to see the fruit of Stringer’s talk last year about not suffering at the hands of Apple as badly in portable video as they did with portable audio — these Walkmans just aren’t doing it. Stand by for official news as we get it.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

A whole new slew of Walkmans have hit Sony’s New Zealand site, and we’ve got the goods on them. The new models, dubbed the NWZ-E435, NWZ-E436, and NWZ-E438 all sport a 2-inch QVGA LCD display, FM tuner, codec support for MP3, AAC, WMA, and Linear PCM files, and clock in at a very petite 8.5mm / 50g. The players will be available in 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB variations, with various color options for each model (except for the NWZ-E438, which only comes in black). Apparently, the PMPs play nice with both Windows Media Player and iTunes, offering drag and drop management for files. No word yet on price, regions, or release date, but we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for these sweet babies.

[Via Sony Insider]

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Filed under: Portable Audio

No, it’s not all Playstation news for Sony today — the company also announced the new NWZ-B130F Walkman, a slender little stick of a player available in several colors. The latest entry in the B series of Walkmans sports a 3-line LCD, MP3 and PlaysForSure WMA support, 90 minutes of playback on a 3-minute charge, an FM tuner, and voice recorder in both 1GB and 2GB capacities. We’re hearing pricing will come at least $20 below that of the iPod Shuffle, but it’s a little moot — it’s scheduled for an Asia-only arrival in August at the moment.

[Via SonyInsider]

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Filed under: Portable Audio

If that Swarovski crystal-clad E010 was a bit too rich for your blood, why not take a gander at said unit’s successor? The recently introduced NWD-E020F series sports that well-known USB stick style, and as you can tell, you can customize yours in (almost) any color you choose thanks to the bundled (and changeable) Style-Up panels. By juicing this one all the way up — which takes just an hour, by the way — users can expect a respectable 28 hours of continuous playback; as for file compatibility, the E020 will play nice with MP3, WMA, AAC and LPCM formats. Get yours here (as in, the US of A) sometime soon for $69 (1GB) / $79 (2GB).

[Via CNET]

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Filed under: Features, Portable Audio, Portable Video

We’ve had the good fortune of putting a Sony NWZ-A829 through its paces over the last few days. Remember, that’s Sony’s top of the line, 2.4-inch, QVGA Walkman with stereo Bluetooth A2DP and 16GB of flash. With Sony CEO, Howard Stringer, ceding portable audio victory to Apple, we had high hopes for the NWZ-A829 as an out of the box video player. After all, Howie said 9 months ago, “We have worked very hard to catch up so that in the age of video we will not suffer as much as we did in audio.” So how did it do? See our take after the break.

Continue reading Video: Hands-on Sony’s NWZ-A829 Walkman with Bluetooth

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Remember all that Walkman hotness that Sony hit Japan with last week? Well, as anyone might’ve guessed, it’s headed Stateside soon for your earbud consumption. In addition to the new NWZ-A820 series flagship (pictured), Sony has the NWZ-A720 series, which cops the looks and specs, but loses the Bluetooth of the A820 players. Both players have roughly 10 hours of video battery life, and 36 hours for audio, with 2.4-inch QVGA screens and capacities ranging from 4GB to 16GB. Meanwhile, the new NWZ-S710F skimps on the sexy looks, and only sports a 1.8-inch QVGA screen, but adds built-in noise canceling. Codec support for all the players includes protected WMA, unprotected AAC, MP3 and H.264 video. The full model rundown is as follows, everything will be available in March:

• NWZ-A828K - 8GB, black, Bluetooth, DR-BT21G Bluetooth wireless headphones, $270
• NWZ-A829 - 16GB, black, Bluetooth, $320
• NWZ-A726 - 4GB, black and pink, $150
• NWZ-A728 - 8GB, black and pink, $200
• NWZ-A729 - 16GB, black, $300
• NWZ-S716F - 4GB, silver, red and black, $150
• NWZ-S718F - 8GB, black, $200

One more shot after the break.

Continue reading Sony debuts A820, A720 and S710F series Walkman players in the States

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Filed under: Portable Audio

If your primary motivation in choosing an MP3 player is its ability to match your shoes then you’re in luck, sissy. Sony’s newest NW-E-series of Walkman USB sticks come in ¥16,000 (about $149) NW-E026F (4GB), ¥13,000 ($121) NW-E025F (2GB), and ¥11,000 ($102) the NW-E023F (1GB) flavors with plenty of interchangeable shells to keep up with your wardrobe. They support ATRAC/MP3/WMA/AAC and Linear PCM with an FM tuner thrown in for good measure. But hey, nobody as hip as you listens to FM now do they? Look for these to go global with the addition of DRM’d WMA but without Sony’s proprietary ATRAC format sometime after the Japanese launch on March 8th.

[Via Akihabara News]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

After the European PR agency seemingly jumped the gun, we finally get some actual hands-on shots of Sony’s newest video Walkman. The NW-A820 series as it’s known in Japan does everything its other NWZ-A820 brother can do in Europe (and presumably the US) only with that icky ATRAC and SonicStage baggage in tow. Sony also announced a new ¥20,000 (about $186) VRC-NW10 cradle with video-out and trick little video-in capability for real-time MPEG-4 recordings straight back to your A820-series player. A SRS-NWT10M external speaker is priced low enough at ¥3,000 ($28) that every teen-age jackass riding the subway will have one. Japan will see the new players in black, white and pink and in 16GB and 8GB models priced at ¥38,000 ($354) and ¥28,000 ($260), respectively. Check the gallery and then head on over to Impress for more.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

After the European PR agency seemingly jumped the gun, we finally get some actual hands-on shots of Sony’s newest video Walkman. The NW-A820 series as it’s known in Japan does everything its other NWZ-A820 brother can do in Europe (and presumably the US) only with that icky ATRAC and SonicStage baggage in tow. Sony also announced a new ¥20,000 (about $186) VRC-NW10 cradle with video-out and trick little video-in capability for real-time MPEG-4 recordings straight back to your A820-series player. A SRS-NWT10M external speaker is priced low enough at ¥3,000 ($28) that every teen-age jackass riding the subway will have one. Japan will see the new players in black, white and pink and in 16GB and 8GB models priced at ¥38,000 ($354) and ¥28,000 ($260), respectively. Check the gallery for hot A820 on iPod touch action.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Having successfully fought HD DVD to the death, Sony can now focus its attention on you know who with the release of their bigger, badder NWZ-A820 Walkman. Sony’s followup to its 2.0-inch A810 (pictured) media player boasts a 2.4-inch QVGA display, up to 16GB of flash, 13.5mm EX headphones, Bluetooth stereo audio, and up to 10-hours of video (H.264/ACV and MPEG-4 support) or 36-hours of music (MP3, AAC, DRM’d WMA, and linear PCM supported) playback off beefier battery. The A820-series will ship in black, silver, gold, and pink in NWZ-A826 (4GB), NWZ-A828 (8GB) and NWZ-A829 (16GB) models all hitting Europe starting this April for undisclosed prices. US too if that FCC filing is any indication. Pics as we get ‘em.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson has plumped up its Walkman line just a tad today with the introduction of the W980, a pretty well power-packed flip sporting 8GB of internal storage, a generously sized external display, and something the company calls “Walkman on Top.” The technology (if you can really call it that) replicates the music player interface in its entirety on the external display, allowing full player control without popping the phone open. Other goodies include an FM transmitter and PlayNow support — a Walkman phone through and through, if we do say so ourselves. Look for it to launch in Q3 in quadband EDGE flavor with HSDPA 2100 (read: no good for use in the US). Sorry about the microscopic photo, by the way, SE’s site is having difficulty at the moment.

[Image via Sony Ericsson Blog]

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Filed under: Features, Handhelds

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Filed under: Portable Audio

We’ve never had much love for Sony’s SonicStage software, and now it looks like there’s yet another reason to avoid it: according to Secunia, there’s a buffer overflow vulnerability in the latest edition, version 4.3, that allows arbitrary code to be injected and run. The bug is triggered by .m3u playlists that contain over 1000 characters and there are already sample exploits floating around, so those of you still rocking the ATRAC action may want to avoid downloaded playlists until things get patched up.

[Via Heise Security]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Those itching for something off the beaten path should certainly look Sony’s way, as the firm is offering up a few funky fresh items to celebrate its Canvas @ Sony art installation. Reportedly, the outfit will be selling a trio of stylish NW-A808 DAPs, MDR-KX70LW earbuds and VAIO VGN-CR90 laptops, all of which will boast unique, art-inspired enclosures. As for prices, the A808s will be ¥26,800 ($228) while the earbuds and laptops will ring up at ¥5,980 ($51) and ¥114,800 ($978), respectively. But you’d better get a move on, as each of the aforementioned items are limited in quantity to 100. Click on for more pictorial delight.

[Via Impress]

Continue reading Sony cranks out artsy new audio gear, VAIO laptops

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Nice huh? That’s the latest Walkman from Sony. However, unless you live in Japan, you can forget about using it to watch your mobile digital TV. This little pup packs a 1Seg tuner, not DMB, DVB-H, or Flo. Measuring just 86.8 × 48 × 12.3-mm, the NW-A910 series player holds up to 16GB of flash memory and a 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 pixel display. The included EPG even allows you to schedule up to 10 programs for recording up to one month in advance for up to 100 hours of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 formatted television inside the device. As this is Japan, it still supports ATRAC in addition to non-DRMed WMA and AAC, MP3, and linear PCM audio playback with SonicStage doing the sync work back to your PC. Rounding things out are an FM tuner, direct encoding from your CD/MD player, clear audio noise canceling headphones, and a battery capable of juicing up to 6 hours of television or 36 hours of audio. The premium NW-A919/BI (pictured) will sell in November for ¥47,800 while a 4GB NW-A916 should pop for about ¥30,000 ($259).

[Via Impress]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!