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Crave: Sony announced a rev to its Walkman line of MP3 players in the form of the B-Series, E-Series, and S-Series.

The S-Series represents the top of the line. This new Walkman comes with the integrated noise-canceling capability found on the Sony NWZ-S710. A pair of complementing, high-end earphones are included in the package, along with an accessory cable that allows the player to be used as a standalone noise-canceling module for use with other audio devices.

Sony has also added support for WMV video, an FM tuner, and a separate podcast menu item for easier management of the content. In addition, the S Series is the first Walkman to feature a customizable interface that includes a variety of themes and the ability to set personal photos as wallpaper. Perhaps the coolest feature, however, is the SensMe Channels function, which is a “smart” DJ that uses an algorithm to analyze songs in order to create custom playlists.

The other video player in the line, the E-Series, is set to replace the NWZ-A720. This Walkman also features a two-inch color screen and WMV/Amazon Unbox support. It has a fantastic rated battery life of 45-hours for audio and 8 for video.

Last but not least is Sony’s new budget model, the B-Series. This player features a built-in USB interface for true plug-and-play capability, as well as a one-touch bass boost button, an FM tuner, and a voice recorder.

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Electronista: Sony Ericsson announced a new entry Walkman phone and a trio of speakers.

The W302 is labeled the most affordable Walkman phone to date but still comes with a 2-megapixel camera, a 512MB Memory Stick Micro, Bluetooth with stereo sound, and FM radio.

It’s also relatively slim at about 0.4 inches thick and better-built than some phones in the category with an aluminum front. The phone supports GSM calls and EDGE data and will be ready by the fall.

Matching the phone are two Bluetooth speaker systems.

The two-piece, stereo MBS-400 and its one-piece MBS-200 equivalent put out calls and music from any cellphone or other device that supports a Bluetooth audio profile and will auto-switch for incoming calls.

With those devices that support full Bluetooth music, an OLED display on one of the speakers shows the current track name. Both ship in the fall.

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Sony Ericsson has laid out its plans for the remainder of 2007 and early 2008, unveiling three new handsets and offering a first glimpse of its PlayNow services platform.

The mobile phone giant will add two Walkman phones to its portfolio, the W890 and W380.

The W890 is a slim candybar-style design with 2GB of storage and a 3.2 megapixel camera as well as all the usual entertainment features found in Sony Ericsson’s Walkman-branded phones.

The W380 sees a departure from the standard by using a clamshell design with an OLED external display to show the name of a music track or caller information.

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Just Another Mobile Phone Blog: This special Walkman box set from Sony Ericsson includes 3 Walkman phones, one high end, one middle end and one low end. W880 represents the high end, W580 middle end and W200 low end.

The set also comes with the MPS-75 snap on speakers and the MPS-70 portable speakers. In addition, it also comes with 3 chargers, 3 usb cables, 3 headsets, 3 memory cards and 3 sets of manuals/software disc.

All this packed up in a nice black Walkman box. It also comes with a high price tag since it does include so much stuff…
 

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PC Advisor: Sony Ericsson is releasing six new phones, including a high-end Walkman-branded handset with around 9GB of internal Flash memory, according to a company spokeswoman.

The music-centric Walkman will more than double the internal memory of previous models and will feature a newly designed media player and large-touch display for easy navigating. But, unlike Apple’s iPhone, the new Walkman will include a keyboard.

“Our new Walkman mobile phone isn’t designed as a response to the iPhone but as a further development of the Walkman,” the Sony Ericsson spokeswoman said.

Several new accessories were introduced at an event in Berlin yesterday, including a GPS (global positioning system) unit that can be connected to a mobile phone and new Bluetooth headsets.

What the Japanese-Swedish joint venture did not announce in Berlin was a new PlayStation Portable (PSP) mobile phone. The blogosphere was full of rumours of a new PSP mobile phone after Japanese employees of Sony Ericsson last month filed a patent application with the US Patent & Trademark Office for a mobile phone with video game features.

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Anythingbutipod: When we first reported that Sony had rolled up its sleeves to begin work on a video-enabled Walkman player, additional details were nowhere to be found. Exactly who has been picking up the breadcrumbs since then is unclear, but whoever it is now has enough to almost make up an entire loaf.

Okay, so that’s an exaggeration, but the specs are definitely coming together. So far, it looks like the device is aiming to take down the iPod nano. Rumored to be available in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB capacities, the video Walkman will have a thinner (0.26″), less rounded NW-A3000/A1000 look and an 8- to 10-hour battery life for video playback. An exact screen size hasn’t been disclosed, but it will almost certainly be bigger than the nano’s 1.5 incher. And word on the street is that the black, blue, pink, and violet players will be priced to compete with Apple’s $149 to $249 offerings.

Sony is expected to make an announcement early next month, so it won’t be long before we find out anything for sure.

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Bloomberg: Sony Ericsson, the world’s fourth-largest mobile-phone maker, said third-quarter profit almost tripled on sales of handsets with high-resolution cameras and Walkman music players.

Net income jumped to €298 million from €104 million euros a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement today. Sales rose to €2.91 billion as they sold a total of 19.8 million phones in the quarter.

“I see no reason why they can’t continue on that level for quite a while,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics Ltd. in Milton Keyes, England.  “They can string more out of the Walkman brand and they have another few brands, such as Bravia and the Playstation, to play with.”

Sony Ericsson said it had about 8% of the global market in the quarter, and reiterated the industry will expand to more than 950 million units sold this year.

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Some good news coming out of the display division, finally. Sony said net profit rose to 216 million euro in Q2. In short: flatscreens and phones (Sony Ericsson’s Walkman-branded phones in particular) are making up for the heavy PS3-losses.

(source: ZDnet.be)

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