Sony has announced a $160 ‘Premium Sound’ memory card because, well, f*ck it, why not. (The sheer number of headlines that have gone through my mind for this headline and the rage and problems that this represents at Sony are beyond comical). Designed to be used with the new premium Walkman NW-ZX2, which by itself fetches a $1,200 price tag and offers oodles of features like noise cancelation and native support for Hi-Res Audio, the new lossless audio format, these latest Premium Sound micro SDXC memory cards will be sold in Japan for around $160. Best part, they cost roughly 5 times the normal price of an SDXC card but surely we can expect a sound difference right?
Walkman
Despite the popularity of smartphones that have rendered useless the need for a separate MP3 player, there are still occasions where a dedicated device is best. Athletes know this all to well and to answer that cry, Sony is releasing the Walkman WS610. While we’ve already covered the Walkman WAS610 in depth, tech specs can reveal interesting information about a device that might help us make a purchase. To that end, after the jump, the full Sony Walkman WS610 specs awaits you along side a video overview.
The Sony Walkman NWZ-A17 is a beast of a device. 50 hours of music playback with native High-Resolution audio make it MP3 player of choice for music lovers. However, not all of us are that and there are still plenty of situations where that device just doesn’t seen appropriately, namely, when working out. Luckily for us and athletes, Sony has another solution in mind. The Walkman WS610, also announced at IFA takes everything you’d expect an portable MP3 player like the iPod Shuffle has to offer and wraps it in a more wearable design that’s waterproof with a neat Bluetooth trick up its sleeve.
Lets talk details shall we?
In the past year, Sony has been focusing on High-Resolution audio. For those unfamiliar, High-Res audio is part of a movement that involves artists, labels, and device makers that want to move beyond MP3 and provide better sounding music. In the battle for High-Resolution audio supremacy, Sony finds itself in a unique position by owning a record label and producing devices capable of playing back the higher quality files. One such device is the new Walkman NWZ-A17. Announced at IFA, the new Walkman A17 is the world’s smallest and lightest High-Resolution Audio digital music player that packs a 64GB drive that can deliver 50 hours of music playback.
Interested? Let’s talk details.
Sony has proven itself once again in design terms, with no less than 26 of its products earning the seal of approval from the iF Design group, with three products earning a gold award. In individual company achievements, Sony ranked the third highest awarded company, ahead of rivals Apple and LG.
iF is an international group that recognises excellence in product design. It is their aim to “strengthen public awareness of design” and their logo has been an illustrious global standard of design for over sixty years. This year’s event took place on February 28th in Munich, Germany.
It probably surprises few that Sony would do well with awards for design. The company has always raised the bar with iconic and effortless designs with current class-leaders in the Xperia Z2, the PlayStation 4 and the luxury X9000A Bravia TV line to name but a few.
Read on to find out which Sony products earned gold and which two awards come at a bittersweet time.
The Xperia L has finally been updated, after been left quiet on the update front since May this year. Some users had began to doubt the update support for the device until now. Thankfully it has jumped to a newer version of Android too – Jellybean 4.2. Sony says to expect an updated user interface, new camera features and more. Read on to find out when, where and how.
Update – Xperia L 4.2 Jellybean Update Certified – 15.3.A.1.17.
You may remember our previous coverage of Sony’s portable media players featuring high-resolution audio. High-resolution audio promises to do for audio what high-definition did for video. If you haven’t yet graced your ears with this, then prepare to hear a lot more from your favourite music than you’ve heard before. Sony has been busy organizing industry efforts behind the scenes to help stimulate the up-take of high-resolution audio. Why bother with dedicated media devices any more? Sony presents: ‘bringing audio quality back’.
If the Sony Walkman NW-ZX1 is your type of thing but you can’t afford the $760 price tag, know that you’re not alone and that Sony is aware of this. Thats why for the common folks, Sony has announced the Walkman NW-F880 which packs the same 4-inch Triluminos display with 480 x 854 pixels and runs on Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, giving you access to thousands of apps. Like its bigger brother, the Walkman NW-F880 also offers S-Master HX digital amplifier, DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) HX technology, Clear Audio+, all designed to give you a better audio experience with the many file formats that it supports. Those include:
While Apple has long won and shifted its focus from MP3 player market, Sony continues to push what we think and expect from our portable music players. The new Sony Walkman NW-ZX1 is no exception. Powered by Android, the NW-ZX1 is best thought of as a competitor to the Apple iPod Touch. Like the iPod Touch, the Walkman runs a full OS at its core, Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean which allows the unit to be fluid and more importantly, have access to thousands of apps. But that’s where similarities end between the two units.
Sony by now has realized that there is no way that it will be able to compete with the dominance of iPod which continues holds nearly 80% of the MP3 market share. More importantly, for the same reason that Apple has shifted its focus, Sony knows that a majority of consumers carry their music on their smartphones so instead of trying to create an iPod Touch close, Sony chose to go in an entirely new direction with the Walkman NW-ZX1 and the 74,800 Yen (around $760) price should be an indicator. Don’t even bother thinking about what Sony has placed inside of this unit as the list will be far shorter if we talked about what’s not included.
You might question the need for a single device when smartphones are made to be capable music players. But the Walkman F886 is the latest Sony media player that wishes to provide the audio dream that typical smartphones just can’t provide. Audiophiles will want to look beyond a multi-tasking device like a smartphone and instead find a device that is dedicated to providing a personalised audio experience with accurate sound reproduction. Enter: Walkman F886, with high-resolution audio better than CD quality, Sony says.
It’s only been a few days since Sony rolled out a new update for their Socialife app for Android and Windows 8 with a free new look and functionality and the company is already rolling out another series of updates. This time, exclusive to their Android fleet, Sony is updating their Walkman, Movies, and Album apps with better integration of your media that resides in the cloud. Lets talk details.
The MP3 player market race is heating up, if this was 2005. None the less, Sony feels like it’s time to update their Walkman line with two new E-series models. Choosing to keep things simple, the entry level E380 offers a 1.77-inch display which can be manipulated with the scroll wheel like button beneath it. While not a lot is new this time around, battery life has been greatly improved to 30 hours of continues music playback from the internal 8GB drive with no expandable memory option. Music should also sound better than ever due to its five-band EQ which provides technologies like Clear Bass and Clear Stereo. Despite a design difference, it should be noted that the E-series is designed to compete with the iPod Nano line and not the iPod Touch line which offers access to the App Store and is far more feature rich.
Surprising almost everyone, Sony has announced the new Walkman F800 with Android 4.0 at its core. The latest PMP (personal music player) from Sony is here to replace the ailing Z series with an 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB option which provide 4.5 hours of video playback. Other goodies about the 3.5-inch multitouch units include a NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth which allows for connection to enabled speakers, headphones, hi-fi systems, and car stereos. Those looking for an alternative to the iPod Touch will also be happy about the inclusion of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right from the box. Unlike other devices, which at their core run on Android but instead are modified to look and behave otherwise, the F800 series proudly uses the OS from Google and will allow for full access to Google Play for additional apps. Pricing on the 8GB remains hidden while the 16GB and 32GB can be yours for $269 and $299 when they become available this August.
Way back in September, Sony unveiled the Sony Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player, their version and take on the Apple iPod Touch. The device soon became the Sony Walkman Z which we learned is powered by Android and a bevy of impressive specs like 512MB of RAM, a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and a 4.3-inch LCD screen (480×800).
Since September, all has been quite from Sony on this iPod Touch competitor and we began to wonder the fait of this device. Now, we’ve learned that the Walkman Z has just passed through the FCC (where all devices carrying a wireless chip have to stop by). After passing its 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth radios tests, one would have to guess that such a device was submitted to the FCC so that Sony could prepare for a roll out at some point. However, seeing how the holiday season is coming to an end in little over two weeks, it’s safe to assume that you won’t be getting one for Christmas.
Previously, it was also revealed that Sony would be releasing the device in a 16, 32 and 64GB variations. Now, we know that Japan will instead be getting a 8, 16 and 32GB models while the US is currently left with only an 8GB version. Of course, all these things can change as we still don’t have a release date, let alone official confirmation of the device for US release.
Only a mere two weeks ago did we discuss the idea of Sony turning their then prototype Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player into a full fledge Apple iPod Touch competitor. If our poll was any indication, a majority of you are ready for a proper competitor for the iPod Touch with Sony hardware and Android software. Now, Sony is making this idea a reality with the Walkman Z and they’ve got a whole suit of features that will make the most diehard fans of any device give the Sony Walkman Z a second look.
The Walkman Z series is housing some of the latest features and technology from the Android world. Behind the Android Gingerbread 2.3 OS lies 512MB of RAM, a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and a 4.3-inch LCD screen (480×800). After the jump, you can find full specs, price, pictures, and an overview of the Sony Walkman Z.
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