AV Watch Review of Sony Z-Series

AV Watch has done a review of the new Z-Series which is available for purchase in Japan.  You can find the translated version of the post from AV Watch here.  It appears that the new Z ships with NC headphones  (MDR-NWNC33) and a WM-post to USB cable for transfers.  The 4.3 inch screen has a resolution of 480x800 which is said to offer a good viewing experience.  Supported video formats are MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (.Mp4, .M4v), MPEG-4 (. Mp4,. M4v) and WMV.  The new Z does feature a micro HDMI  port which is handy when connecting to a TV but it appears that AV Watch had some issues with this.

Music Unlimited Now Available for the Walkman

Sony's Unlimited music service is now available for the Walkman Line.  Before it was initially only limited to Android devices, gaming devices and Sony's Tablets.  There are 2 pricing categories, 3.99 and 9.99 but in order to use it on a Walkman, the 9.99 plan has to be purchased.  Unfortunately service availability is limited, with users only from Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States being able to access the new function on their Walkman.

This is an intriguing new function on the new Walkman if you are into streaming music and if you are in the areas where it is available this might be a nice incentive to get one of the new Walkmans as a gift for someone or yourself.

Sony Z-Series graces the FCC

 

I had a feeling that Sony would possibly debut the Z-Series at CES, so it comes as no surprise to see the new player hit the FCC.

 

I do wonder if Sony will be using Ice Cream Sandwich for the OS or will stick with a customized Gingerbread setup.  Who knows, 3 models, possibly 16, 32 and 64 GB.  Link to the FCC site and 2 more images after the break.

Maxell FM Radio Speaker Dock for Walkman (MXSP-2200WM)

Not much information on this unit, except that it comes in black and white, is FM radio/clock dock.  From the 2 blog entries online (1, 2), it seems to have quite good sound quality and a nice bass.  No pricing information provided.

Link the PDF manual (in Japanese)

AV Watch Hands on with new Sony Walkmans

AV Watch has a hands on from the Walkman event today, check it out at their site for tons of photos. Links below.

Sony Japan Introduces New A-Series and S-Series Walkman

This was no surprise, Sony Japan has decided to introduce the new Walkman A and S-Series to Japan.  The mystery of what happened to the Noise Cancellation on the EU/US model is now solved, it is from the Japanese model.  Even the new S-Series features noise cancellation.

Sony Introduces new Android Walkman Z-Series

Sony Japan has unveiled the new Android Walkman dubbed the Z-Series. Slated for a December 10th debut, the new Z-Series comes in 3 different capacities (16, 32 and 64GB) and 2 different colours, red and black. The screen is a 4.3in LCD with a resolution of 480x800. Like the X-Series, the new Z-Series will ship with the S-Master MX Amp. Digital Noise Cancellation is also supplied to cut out 98% of outside noise.

Sony Walkman Event 9/13 (Japan)

According to AV Watch and The Walkman "Play You" Facebook page, it appears that there will be a Walkman Event in Japan tomorrow on the 13th of September at 13:00 local time.

Sony Walkman MEP Hands on Videos

 

Here is another hands on of the new Walkman prototype, which I will be dubbing the Walkman MEP for short.

New Sony Walkman Flagship Announced (prototype)

Photo: Engadget

Sony has just announced a new flagship Walkman at IFA 2011, running you guessed it, Android!!. :D More as the story develops.  Image source Engadget from the press conference.

Sony Japan Releases New W-Series Walkman

Sony has announced that the new updated W-Series will be coming to Japan.  The Walkman will ship only in 4 GB capacities and 4 colours, blue, black, pink and white.  Like the previous model the new W is waterproof but it is 25% lighter this time around at 32g versus 43g previously.  Suggested retail price is 10,000 yen with an availability date of September 10th.

In addition, there will be an optional carrying case, the CKS-NWW260 with a suggested price of 2000 yen.

Three of A Kind, of Walkman that is

 

It been less than a week since Sony announced the new Walkman lineup and the opinions in the Walkman community are mixed.  One obvious problem is Sony US's decision to only offer the 16GB A-Series while the competition is at 64GB.  This clearly demonstrates how much confidence Sony has for the US market, unless Sony has another higher capacity Walkman in the works to replace the 32GB X-Series?  So are the new Walkmans worth their price?

Pocket-lint hands with New Walkmans

Pocket-lint has some live photos of the new Walkmans and I have to admit some of the photos are not that flattering and make some of the Walkmans appear "cheap".

New Walkmans 2 Photo Gallery

More glorious photos of the new Walkman range. What do people think?

New Walkmans Gallery

I decided to post up the press release images in a separate post so here they are.  First batch of photos after the break, the rest of the photos can be found here.

Sony Walkman goes wireless

Sony has finally announced the new Walkman range which includes the new A-Series, S-Series, E-Series and W-Series.  The new A-Series comes with a S-Master MX Digital amp, a 2.8inch LCD touchscreen and Bluetooth.  I guess that OLED got lost somewhere along the way to the announcement. 

Sony NWZ-A860 and NWZ-S760 Walkmans Revealed

Well I was not going to post these this weekend but I am so here they are, please link back to the article or blog if you use the images, thanks.

Sony NWZ-E460 Walkman Photos

 

After posting the first photos of the new E460, I return with higher resolution images which some of the details of the new E and the menu.  It appears that bookmarks have moved onto the main menu and like with the previous E-Series, SenseMe returns, along with voice recording.  Availability for the red version is supposedly August 10th, with the remaining units slated to arrive early September with pricing of 79 Euros for the 4GB and 99 Euros for the 8GB.

Sony NWZ-W260 Debuts

Sony has introduced the successor to the W-Series, this time with a new design, unlike previously.  According to Sony, the new W-Series is 24% lighter and 2/3 smaller than the W250 version and of course is water resistant.  The new W-Series will come in 2 and 4 GB capacities, 2 colours (black and white), and should retail for about $60 and $80 respectively, no word on pricing for Europe, but prices should be similar to the current W.  The model will also be available in Korea from what I gather, but only the 2 GB model.

Sony NWZ-E463/E464 Photos Walkman (Update)

 

Well another Walkman leaked...well not really, just the new NWZ-E460 model, which will come in 2 capacities, 4 and 8 GB with pricing around 70 Euros for the 4GB model and 90-100 Euros for the 8 GB model.  Headphones will be the MDR-EX083, which is not the pair in the photo (MDR-EX082).  The new E-Series will come in 5 colours, black, red, pink, green and blue.  No information about release date but Amazon.de states 1-2 months before they become available.

Other information is 50 hours of battery life, FM radio, SenseMe function, voice recording, dynamic normalizers and Qriocity compatible which is not a surprise.  An announcement should be coming soon for the new E-Series (I hope) along with new S-Series and A-Series.

According to Amazon.co.uk, the new E-series will be available on July 27, Play.com will have the player available on July 31st.

Sony NWZ-A860 and NWZ-S760 Info and Pricing

 

It appears 2 new models have appeared on the FCC website, the new A-Series (right) and S-Series (left)

 

According to CNET the A-Series will ship with an OLED screen, larger than the current model's screen size of 2.8 inches, most likely 3.0 inches.  As for the S-Series, it should feature a TruBlack LCD display.

(Rumour) Sony NWZ-E460

 

 

This was inevitable, like with the previous E-Series, there were 2 versions, so it only makes sense to have 2 versions this time around.  I found the information via a Korean certification website which states Sony submitted the new E460 for "radio certification" on June 16th 2011.  It seems that the E460 will ship in 3 capacities, 4, 8 and 16 GB:

NWZ-E463 - 4 GB

NWZ-E464 - 8 GB

NWZ-E465 - 16 GB

Apart from capacity information, little else seems to be revealed by the filing, but it is safe to assume that the only major difference will be the addition of a WM-Port instead of a USB port and possibly different colour options. 

Sony A-Series Walkman disappears from Sony Australia

It appears that Sony Australia has removed the A-Series from its website.  When the A-Series debuted on the Hong Kong Sony website, it appeared not too long right after on the Australian Sony website.  So naturally I checked the HK Sony site and their Walkman section, but it is not loading for me and it shows 0 out of 0 products found, so I am confused.

White Sony NWZ-E363 model

I somehow missed this while browsing the Australian Sony website previously or maybe the white version was added later, regardless, here are some photos of the new (unannounced but released) E-Series.  Specs are identical to the black version, 4 GB, 2 inch QVGA LCD and 30 hours of battery life.

 

The Walkman Blog Mobile Web Version

I have no idea how many people visit the blog using their mobile phone but I have turned on the ability to view the site as a mobile version when using a mobile phone.  The user has the ability to change to the normal site but this is a much better compact view for the blog which increase load times and decrease the bandwidth needed to view the blog.

Sony NWZ-E363 appears on Latvian and Australian Sony Sites

Well it appears that either Sony Latvia jumped the gun or an announcement is due soon from Sony regarding the new E-Series.  Nothing really new to add to the specs, it's just like the old E-Series but only a new design, and less battery life which is weird.  Anyways, hopefully the new E-Series will not be the only new Walkman this year. 

UPDATE - pricing is out on the Australian Sony website, the 4GB model is priced at 99 AUD which is the same price as the older 4 GB E-Series in Australia.

Sony Latvia (click here)

Sony Australia (click here)

I am not sure if the link will remain up, but I have saved images of the website below.

New Sony Walkman B-Series Debuts (NWZ-B160)

I am puzzled what is new in this B-Series, it looks identical to the previous version, the B150.  Perhaps Sony just decided to re-brand the old one and call it the B160 because they were so lazy.  Or maybe the old B-Series was selling so well there was no point in releasing a new design.  Apart from the same design, it seems only a new colour or 2 were added as well..  If you are eager to grab one, you will have to wait for June.

Sony NWZ-E363/364 Leaked

Well what do we have here?  Looks new right?  Well it is the update to the E-Series, the NWZ-E360.  At first glance little has changed, the screen size appears to be the same 2" QVGA (320 x 240) and we have a similar button layout like the previous E.

 

Capacities will be 4 GB (E363) and 8 (E364) with a 30 hour rated battery life.  Clear audio technologies, along with FM tuner, alarm and timer are included.  Like the previous E350, the NWZ-E360 also makes use of a USB connection rather than the WM-Port.  Only colour available seems to be black.  No information when this will debut, but it shouldn't be long now.

NOT the Android Walkman

Sony Ericsson just unveiled a new Walkman branded phone, the W8.  The Android 2.1 phone packs a 600 mhz CPU and a capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480.  GSM Arena states this is just the old X8 repackaged as the new W8 with a newer version of android.  Clearly SE is just trying to cut its losses by using the old X8 but including android 2.1 and not 2.2 is a shame.

Will the new Walkman be delayed?

I am sure everyone is aware of the devastating earthquake in Japan, so it would come as no surprise to hear that various industries have shut down due to the earthquake. I have been following the developments of the new Vaio SB laptop and supposedly there are now supply issues for the CTO models. 

Maxell Cylindrical Speaker dock for the Walkman

Maxell has unveiled its first "Designed for Walkman" speaker dock for the Walkman, the MXSP-1200WM.  Due March 3rd (Japan only) in 2 colours navy and orange with an expected retail price of around 9000 yen or 79 euros.  The dock features the WM-Port so any Walkman with the port will work with the dock.  Output is 4.2W x 2ch with a playback frequency of 80Hz - 20kHz.  A remote comes included with play/pause/forward/backward and volume control buttons. Although not a clock, a sleep timer is included which can be set for 60 minutes.  A 3.5mm stereo input is included for connection of non-Walkman products.

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?

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.

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

Sony NWZ-S754 Shows up in Canada

What is 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.

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 was not 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. 

Nothing again for the Walkman at CES

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 CES 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.

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.