Much-touted W880 Walkman phone, W610 debut
updated 09:05 am EST, Tue February 6, 2007
S-E W880 and W610 Official
Even higher-profile among Sony-Ericsson's phone announcements on Tuesday are the company's two new Walkman phones. The W880, nicknamed the "Ai," has finally received its official specifications after both a company teaser and earlier leaked photos. The phone is Sony-Ericsson's slimmest ever to date, measuring only 0.37 inches thick; that's as thin as a CD case, the company says. Despite the thin shape, the phone still makes room for a 2-megapixel rear camera, a forward-facing VGA camera, and UMTS broadband in its initial form. Music playback also lasts for 18 hours, while even the normally taxing phone use lasts for 6 hours. A 1GB Memory Stick Micro provides ample initial storage for songs.
As hinted at by Swedish news, the phone is due for Europe and other markets within the next few weeks; a North American version has yet to be announced but may be a variant of the also-announced W888c, a Chinese version which goes without the front camera or largely Euro-centric UMTS broadband.
A full-size photo as well as details of the American-friendly W610 follow after the jump.
Slightly thicker than the W880, the W610 pictured below is said to actually gain some features over its more luxurious counterpart. While still sporting a 2-megapixel camera and shipping with a smaller 512MB memory card, the W610 can play music for a much longer 25 hours, also extending its call time beyond the W880 to 7 hours. It lacks the front camera but has a rare photo mode that rotates the menus on their side, allowing the phone to more closely resemble a dedicated digital camera.
Importantly, the W610 is built for North American networks and has a quad-band GSM radio with EDGE Internet support. Sony-Ericsson anticipates shipping the handset to several markets by the end of March, which will likely include Canadian and US editions.
