Sony Ericsson Walkman phone ups the ante in mobile music

With the opening of its fifth concept shop in the country, Sony Ericsson launches its entry into the mobile music scene with its new Walkman branded phone, the W800i.

The W800i combines a mobile phone, a Walkman-quality digital music player, and a 2.0-megapixel camera with auto focus packaged in a slim, lightweight device of less than 100 grams, with a fresh, stylish design.

Sony’s world-famous Walkman mobile music heritage makes the W800i a serious contender in the mobile digital music player market. 

With no compromise in sound quality, the W800i is supplied with high-quality stereo headphones and is compatible with the proven, industry-standard MP3 and AAC music file formats.

Storage capacity is also plentiful with the phone’s up to 34 MB internal memory and the supplied 512 MB Memory Stick Pro Duo, which gives capacity for around 125 music tracks or 10 to 12 full-length CDs. For greater music storage, the phone’s memory slot is extendable up to 2GB.

"The W800i enhances the mobile lifestyle by offering music anywhere, anytime. Based on recent launches in China and across the Asia-Pacific, the W800i has been well received by consumers. We expect to establish a solid leadership in mobile phone music with the W800i," says Sony Ericsson general manager Dennis Manzano. 

The W800i is supplied with Disk2Phone PC software, which enables quick, convenient transfer of music CDs onto the phone via a PC. The software makes it easy to browse, sort, find, transfer and delete music files.

Users need never miss a call when listening to music, as the phone ring is played through the stereo headphones. If the user chooses to take the call, the music is paused for the call’s duration and resumes at the point when the call was taken. 

The music player is operated with just one Direct Music button that plays, pauses and stops tracks. Music player and phone can also be used independently of each other; a user can still enjoy music on a long-haul flight even with the phone mode switched off.

The W800i can play for up to 23 hours if both music player and phone are switched on, or up to 30 hours if it is solely on music mode.

"Music phones will fill a ‘spontaneous listening’ space in the market for times when you don’t have your dedicated digital music player with you – rather like camera phones that have led to spontaneous picture taking in a way quite different to using a dedicated digital camera," says Manzano.

"We think music phones will appeal to digital music player users as they already have large storage of digital music stored on their PC and will be able to use the same music files on their music phones," he adds.

For imaging, the W800i’s 2.0-megapixel camera comes complete with auto focus, digital and playback zoom functions, photo light, an active lens cover and a digital still camera interface, allowing great photos and videos to be taken in a variety of conditions.

Additional features include Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 Standard Edition for convenient photo viewing; built-in FM radio; a 40-voice polyphonic sound system for ring signals; QuickShare for image and video sharing; MusicDJ composer; Java 3D for excellent graphics and gaming; and GPRS, WAP and Bluetooth connectivity.    

Users can get more out of the Sony Ericsson W800i with useful accessories such as the MMC-60 Music Cable, which connects the device to play out on a stereo hi-fi, and the HCA-60 advanced car handsfree which allows music to be played through car speakers.

As part of the W800i’s global launch, Sony Ericsson is inviting music lovers to log on to www.walkmanphones100.com to register their top three favorite songs of all time and the reasons why these tunes make up the soundtracks of their lives.

Voters get a chance to win one of the new Walkman phones complete with the world’s 100 favorite songs, as voted by music fans worldwide on the site. 

Each of the lucky runners-up will also get a member of the new family of Walkman phones, which includes the W800i. Results of ‘The Walkman phones 100’ global poll will be released worldwide on Sept. 28.

Aside from Sony Ericsson Concept Shops, the W800i is now also available in all Sony Ericsson authorized dealers nationwide.