So Can Sony deliver the ultimate Walkman?

Today Sony unveiled the new PSP, or Next Generation Portable (NGP).  The new device packs a lot of punch, with a quad-core cpu and a quad-core GPU.  I personally was not expecting for Sony to go all out like this but with supposed debut for the Winter holidays, by then dual-core and possibly quad-core devices will be on the market and will no doubt have quite the punch.  Apart from blazing computing power, Sony has included a 5 inch OLED touchscreen on the device.  I am wondering where Sony is sourcing this 5 inch OLED, Samsung displays or LG?

This brings up the question, will Sony be able to deliver when it comes to new Walkmans?  If rumours are true, then a new Walkman should be coming out later this year, possibly Spring 2011, if not then during IFA in Fall of 2011.  I would hope that Sony will release something sooner rather than later since Fall 2011 is quite some time off.  No doubt an OLED screen, touchscreen? maybe, but it doesn't have to be touch but will probably be touch given the current trend.  Physical controls are a must for volume, play/pause, backwards and forwards like on the X-Series.  Of course if the new Walkman is to have internet capabilities, then a fast CPU is a must to drive the browser.  Noise-cancellation would be nice along with on the go playlists, with the ability also to delete songs off the player.

Apart from that, I personally don't need apps or other addons.  So will Sony deliver this year a great new Walkman?  We'll see.

Sony event on January 27th

Rumour has it Sony will hold an event on January 27th  related to "business overview and strategy meeting", whatever that means.  The site Joystiq is reporting that the event will be used to introduce the new PSP2 that is supposed to go on sale later this year.  Regardless if the rumour is true or not, I am secretly hoping that Sony will have new Walkman there, but I am doubting anything will even show up Walkman related.

That being said, hopefully Sony will have something before the Summer with regards to the Walkman brand, otherwise it will be a slow year.

Sony X-Series Firmware Update to Firmware v1.11

It appears that Sony has released a firmware update for the X-Series Walkman, X1050/X1060.  I was surprised to find this update considering it was released last year in the middle of December.  This firmware update also pertains to the US model, X1051/X1061, so if you are from the US, don't worry you are not left out.  A quick list of the updates in the new firmware: 

-Reduces the time required to open Web pages
-Improves Web page scroll speed
-Improves Web page layout display
-Improves display of Web pages using frames

Full update overview and links to the firmware after the break.

Sony NWZ-S754 Shows up in Canada

What's this?  Well it looks like the new S-Series on sale in Canada at Futureshop's website.  ABI member fireballz discovered this last year in late October, which is shocking since I have not seen any press releases from Sony Canada with regards to this player, or even any mention of it on the Sonystyle website.  I will be contacting Sony Canada to get further information but I doubt I will receive anything since they rarely know what is going on at all with the Walkman brand.  Link after the break.

Demise of the Walkman Brand?

I was initially going to call this post "death of the Walkman brand" but I doubt Sony would kill the Walkman brand at this time, or any time in the near future.  As most gadget lovers know, this past week was the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 and like all Walkman fans I was eagerly hoping for something brand new from Sony to replace the old X-Series.  Perhaps expecting an X-Series replacement was a bit too much, but the X-Series was introduced at CES exactly 2 years ago, so it would make sense for a successor to debut here as well.  Unfortunately no new Walkman debuted at CES or anything remotely related to the Walkman brand.  If it wasn't a new X-Series perhaps Sony was going to introduce the new S-Series to the US as a higher end model but it appears that this model will not be sold in North America at this time.  More rant after the break.

Hmm nothing again?

Well from the looks of the press releases, it appears nothing new from the Walkman brand, only some new headphones but it remains to be seen if something else will show up on the show floor but I am not holding my breath at this moment.

Sony Press Conference Tonight (Update)

Just to remind everyone, Sony will be having their press conference tonight at 5pm local time, so pacific standard time, which is 2 am in central Europe.  So far nothing new has leaked in the Walkman camp, so if anything shows up I will have it posted on here.  Link to press conference after the break.

Brief History of the Sony Walkman from Sony

When Sony announced that it would no longer produce the cassette Walkman, many fans were not happy to hear this news.  My first Sony device was a cassette Walkman, sure it was an old cheap $25 dollar Walkman, but it did the job and sounded great.  I regret not keeping it.  Anyways Sony has made a little video paying tribute to the old Walkman with a brief history of the Walkman brand itself.  Unfortunately the video is from Sony US so there is no mention of any of the new S-Series or A-Series players.  Enjoy the video.

New Blog Design

I have finally been able to update the blog with a new skin and design.  It took a couple of days to customize the skin but I have finally been able to finish it earlier today and was able to upload it this evening.  The new design has larger text, a search engine, featured videos and a slider at top with the top news or posts.  I have also updated the about and contact pages but still have yet to add anything to the 'level 1' link.

I am hoping that this cleaner look will attract more visitors and viewers and hopefully more people will comment than in 2010.  With this new simpler design, I hope I will be able to post faster news updates and even if possible using my mobile phone.

Perhaps CES this year will have some surprises for Walkman fans, and with Android 3.0 coming later this spring, perhaps the Android Walkman is not far off...