Sony puts swivel into new Walkman
Sony Ericsson's second batch of Walkman camera phones aren't even out yet, but they are already turning heads.
The W600a media player swivels out to reveal its phone, has a 1.3-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, a video recorder and picture light. The company showed off the orange-and-white device for U.S. markets at a press event in New York.
The new Walkman improves on some of the designs of its W800i cousin, which was introduced at the CeBit trade show in Germany earlier this year. Like the W800i, the W600a also has a 262K color display and an embedded FM radio. But the W600a does not come with slot for Sony's MemoryStick, which makes it difficult to support outside programs.
Still, Sony said with 256MB integrated memory, the W600a can store up to 10 full-length CDs, or between 80 and 120 songs depending on bit rate. The W600 has batteries that Sony claims can play music for up to 15 hours with the phone on, or 30 hours with the phone off. The music player also has MP3 and AAC support and stereo speakers, something the W800i does not have.
For gamers, the new handset supports 3D Java games that can be played in both vertical and horizontal mode. The W600a also has Bluetooth to connect to devices like printers and headsets or for peer-to-peer gaming. The camera phone also has tri-band EDGE/GPRS class 10 support for connecting to networks. Access to the Web comes via Access' NetFront HTML browser.
The W600 is expected to ship sometime after Oct. 1, 2005. Sony Ericsson is also expected to announce soon its W800c in some limited markets, according to its Web site.
