Sony Walkman X, W answer iPod touch, shuffle
updated 08:40 pm EST, Wed January 7, 2009
Sony Walkman X and W
As part of its CES campaign, Sony on Wednesday updated the Walkman line with two models that enter uncharted territory for the company. The Walkman NWZ-X1000 is its first touchscreen media player in North America and aims squarely at the same field as Apple's iPod touch or the Samsung P3. The player claims a much more vivid picture through a 3-inch OLED touchscreen which is both more color-rich and quicker to respond than LCDs. Sony also asserts that the X series is easier to control as it has hardware side controls that can be used in addition to finger input.
Again like its close competitor, Sony also includes Wi-Fi and uses it to fill out the device's experience, with a web browser, podcast downlading and YouTube letting owners use it semi-independently. New to any player, Sony says, is a new, purely digital noise canceling that blocks ambient sounds in software rather than relying on potentially expensive hardware. A bundled pair of in-ear EX headphones add passive noise reduction of their own.
The X continues Sony's recently opened-up support for AAC/MP3/WMA audio and MPEG-4/H.264/WMV video, and should be system-independent. Sony doesn't plan to ship the X series until the summer but promises 16GB and 32GB models.
Runners and other exercisers are being directed towards the NWZ-W202, one of the few if not only screenless Sony music players available; it builds a music player directly into a set of earphones and thus eliminates the usual cord. Like the iPod shuffle, Sony mitigates the lack of a screen by implementing controls for semi-random playback. A pure shuffle mode is available but can be assisted by a ZAPPIN system that plays short samples of each track until the wearer stops at a preferred song.
While battery life is curbed to 12 hours on the W, a quick-charge mode gets about 1.5 hours of playback after just three minutes of power. The lone model carries 2GB of music and will ship in April for about $70.
NWZ-X1000
NWZ-W202
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Doctored Shots?
So did Sony PR really release PR shots with the unfortunate song title "Another Wanna Be" promently featured, or are MacNN editors just having a bit of fun here?
The only thing I'm wondering about as Sony claims to compete against the iTouch is what OS is this thing running, and what plans are there for an SDK?