The portable music stakes just got a little less Apple as the Sony Walkman, a brand that’s been popular for somewhere around three decades now, got a serious upgrade in the form of Android functionality. But what else is contained in this impressive little package? More than you might think.
The Sony Walkman, currently dubbed the Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player, doesn’t just handle music. Much like the iPod Touch has for some time now, it’s set to not only handle music but also video as well as access to Android Market, giving it a wide variety of apps to use (though not near as many as the iPod Touch can tackle, or at least, not yet). It will also work with Music Unlimited, a cloud-based music service that offers two levels of subscription, either the $4 per month basic package or the $10 per month premium package, as well as including S-Master MX technology for improved sound quality and, in what is reportedly a first for the Walkman lineup, graphic visualizations that accompany the music. It’s also got a 4.3 inch LCD display showing at 800 x 640 resolution and can both play games and surf the web, ostensibly through a wi-fi connection as a 3G connection wasn’t mentioned.
You’ve already heard about the Sony Ericsson Live With Music phone from our own Robert Nelson just a few days ago, so you’re already quite aware that there have been some attempts at Walkman branding with phones before. This, however, is significantly different in that it doesn’t seem to be a phone, rather, just a PMP like the iPod Touch. As for a release date or pricing, neither was mentioned at the time, though no doubt many hope it will hit in time for Christmas shopping.
I’m actually pretty impressed by this, myself, and it’s good to see someone get into those stakes. While I’m pleased with my old iPod Touch, it would be nice to have an Android equivalent to see what they’ve got going on on things like the Android Market.
But what do you think about this? Would you want a Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player? Or is this iPod Touch competitor way too late to the party?
