Sony finally launches its video Walkman
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(InfoWorld) - Eighteen months after rival AppleÂ  raised the bar in the music player market with itsÂ video iPod, Sony will launch its first digital video Walkman. The NW-A800 series Walkman will initially go on sale in Europe in April. They'll appear later in other markets but timing hasn't yet been decided, Sony in Tokyo said Friday. For Europe there are three models: the NW-A805, A806, and A808. The only major difference is in the amount of flash memory, which is 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB, respectively. The screen is a 2-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) panel with QVGA resolution (240 pixels by 320 pixels). It's orientated in portrait form rather than the landscape form used on the iPod, but videos can be viewed with the device either held vertically or horizontally, said Sony. Audio playback in a number of flavors of Sony's ATRAC compression is possible, and Sony supplies software for converting Windows Media Audio, MP3 and WAV files to ATRAC. It's also possible to directly load MP3 files onto the Walkman, but battery life will be shorter. For video the Walkman plays back MPEG4 H.264/AVC encoded files. Playback time on a fully-charged battery differs depending on the type of files. For audio its roughly 30 hours for ATRAC files encoded at 132KbpsÂ while for video its seven hours for MPEG4 files encoded at 768Kbps. Video files at lower bit rates will take up less space in the memory but also make the Walkman work a little harder on the decoding, so the time drops to about six hours and 30 minutes for a 384Kbps file, according to Sony's figures. The Walkman measures 44 millimeters wide by 88mm high and is 9mm thick. It weighs 53 grams. The NW-A805 is listed on Sony's online store for â¬180 ($237), the NW-A806 for â¬230 and the NW-A808 for â¬300. In comparison Apple's 30GB iPod costs â¬289 in Germany. The two products are difficult to compare on price alone, however, because the iPod has a larger screen and is also bulkier and heavier than the new Sony Walkman. Sony historians will note that the new product is not actually Sony's first Walkman to support video. That recognition goes to the GV-8 "Video Walkman" that was put on sale in August 1998 and played back Video 8 cassettes from camcorders. It cost Â¥118,200 (approximately $820 using the historical exchange rate). Â
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The consumer electronics maker said it introduced a new version of its Walkman that includes the ability to play digital video.
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Sony debuted an innovative new bendable 2.5-inch display, one that is less than 0.01 inch thick -- not much thicker than a piece of paper -- and can display full-color video.
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Sony will release a version of its LocationFree TV system on December 1 in Japan with support for high-definition.
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(InfoWorld) - Bringing together existing technologies can often make a new product more useful, as can be seen with a few of the gadgets coming out of East Asia this month. Casio Computer has added a YouTube function to its newest digital still camera, so you can just shoot, connect and click to upload video to the popular Web site, while Sony's PSP is getting a mobile digital TV tuner. The month has also seen some playfulness in the MP3 space. Reigncom of South Korea's iRiver now has a Mickey Mouse-styled MP3 player, although its sale will be limited due to a marketing agreement with Disney. Meanwhile Japan's Sony has pimped out its E-series Walkman with crystals. Casio YouTube digital still camera Casio has the first digital cameras with a video mode optimized for YouTube. CalledÂ the Exilim EX-S880 and EX-Z77, the cameras will be released worldwide starting in the U.S. in August, followed by Europe and Asia soon after. So how do you get a clip onto YouTube? First, you shoot a video in the YouTube mode then slip the camera into a dock. This automatically starts a video management application on your PC (Windows XP SP2, 2000 SP4 and Vista only) and grabs the movie files. The application can be set up with a YouTube account, default title name and other settings, so getting the video online involves simply clicking the upload button. Alternatively, you can enter information specific to the clips and then upload them. It's very easy. The EX-S880 can take 8.1 megapixel images, has a 3X optical zoom and will cost about $300. Samsung's RDS music player It's difficult to differentiate MP3 players these days. They're all small and often have similar screens and are compatible with the same handful of formats. But along comes Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s U3 with a feature not often seen: RDS (radio data system). It's used on many FM radio stations in Europe and sends the station name, details about the song playing and other useful information alongside the signal. The U3 will display this on its 4-line OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen. The U3 is about the same size as a pack of chewing gum and has its own USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector, so it doesn't need a cable to connect to a PC. It will be available in black, white, blue, pink and green, and in three capacities: 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB. It's available globally for $79, $99, and $149. Sony's PSP with digital TV Sony is bringing mobile digital TV to its PlayStation Portable. The plug-in tuner works with Japan's "OneSeg" format mobile TV broadcasts, which delivers a QVGA (320 pixel by 240 pixel) resolution video signal that can be processed easily by portable gadgets. The new PSP also features a video-out connector so it will be possible to hook up the device to a TV to watch programs, although as the same channels are available on conventional TV at higher quality there would be little to gain. It will cost Â¥6,980 ($57.38). OneSeg-format broadcasting is used only in Japan, so the tuner isn't compatible with the formats used in other countries. Fujitsu slim and waterproof phone With cellphones getting so light and slim it's easy to wade into the sea at the beach and forget your handset is still in your pocket. The usual result is a dead phone. But users of Fujitsu's new F704i don't have to worry. The handset, which will be on sale in Japan just in time for the summer, is waterproof. It's a WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) handset with 3G roaming and will be available in Japan only through NTT DoCoMo. It's a shame the camera offers only 1.3 megapixels or it would be even more useful for holiday beach snaps. IRiver Mickey Mouse MP3 player IRiver's Mickey Mouse MP3 player is too cute to pass over. The player, which packs 1GB of memory, is a small round ball with two smaller round balls attached to the top as ears, so that in silhouette it looks like the DisneyÂ cartoon character. The right ear twists to advance or back-up a song and the left ear is the volume control. There's an on-off button on one side and a small LED (light emitting diode) lamp on the other side that glows green or red to indicate whether that player is on or off. Models come in black, white, blue, pink and silver. It will initially be available in South Korea and Hong Kong for about $50. LG HSDPA Cellphones LG ElectronicsÂ is releasing a fewÂ new phonesÂ with support for HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) wireless data connections. The LG-KH1400 marries the HSDPA networking with digital mobile TV reception. The display can be twisted horizontally to watch shows, and there's a video output socket to feed the picture to a bigger screen. The handset also has a 2-megapixel camera. Another phone, the LG-SH130, is a more basic slider model that brings fast data transfer and global roaming without the bells and whistles of the KH1400. Both are available in South Korea only. Sony's 'bling' Walkman Sony is adding a touch of bling to its Walkman line with a set of E-series devices decked-out with a generous sprinkling of crystals. The music players, which were launched in a more bland plastic case earlier this year, will be available in September through a link with Tokyo's Abiste costume jewelry store. They'll cost between Â¥15,800 for the 1GB version and Â¥24,800 for the 4GB version and be available only in Japan. Â
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It has been 25 years since Sony launched the original Walkman, now the portable entertainment scene is going through a energetic renaissance, but this time it is digital.
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Sony Corp 6758.T launched its first MP3-compatible flash memory digital music players under the Walkman name on Monday in the latest bid to reclaim the lead in a market it has lost to Apple Computer&#39;s iPod.
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Sony's first digital audio players to support MP3 files have been released in Europe in a significant change in strategy.
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Sony has launched two flash memory digital music players that carry the Walkman brand in Europe. The Walkman NW-E99 and NW-E95 take aim at rival Apple&#39;s iPod Minis.
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The company which invented the walkman and created a new niche with it has now got its ear to the ground. The latest Walkman music player to emerge from their workshop seems to be a hybrid of sorts.
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Sony&#39;s PlayStation Portable may ultimately live up to company promises of a &quot;Walkman for the 21st century&quot; that revolutionizes entertainment, but that&#39;s not going to happen next week.
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When Sony Corp. President Kunitake Ando showed off the new Walkman meant to counter the assault by Apple's iPod portable music player, he held the prized gadget at the gala event upside down.
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SONY has released the worldâs first high definition handycam for the consumer market - the HDR-FX1. The device, which will be available locally and in the region from mid-November, at an estimated $US4500
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Sony&#39;s new generation of digital music players play both its Atrac format and MP3s, allowing Japan&#39;s electronics giant to better compete with Apple&#39;s iPod.
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(InfoWorld) - Nothing's worse than delays when you're waiting for a hot new gadget. Just ask the tens of thousands of people who queued up all night for the PlayStation 3 when it made its global debut here in Japan Nov. 11. The console had originally been due out in the early part of the year but was held up by several problems. Judging by the lack of stock in stores, it's still difficult for people who want one to do so before the end of the year holidays. So it's nice to see Panasonic living up to the promise it made at this year's Ceatec show with the HDC-SD1 camcorder. This small-size high-definition video camera records straight to an SD card. If you hate dealing with tapes but want home movies in high-def glory this might be just the thing .... if you can afford it. By comparison, you could pick up three PlayStation 3 consoles for the price of this camcorder, assuming you can get your hands on them! Panasonic HD Camcorder The HDC-SD1 from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.Â (Panasonic) records AVCHD-format video directly to a SD (Secure Digital) memory card. A 4GB memory card, which costs around $200, can accommodate about 90 minutes of video when recorded at 6Mbps. The video is 1080i (1,080 horizontal lines, interlaced scanning), which is just below the 1080p (progressive scanning) system judged to be the highest of several video quality levels that fall within the high-definition bracket. It also has a 3CCD (charge coupled device) sensor behind the lens. It goes on sale in Japan in December for Â¥180,000 ($1,527) with a bundled 4GB card. Overseas launch plans have not been announced. Kenwood Media Keg Kenwood Corp.'s Media Keg provides yet more evidence that music players will get smaller and smaller until we can't see them anymore. The device, which has the snappy HD10GB7 model name, contains a 10GB hard-disk drive, measures just 44mm by 62mm by 17mm, and weighs 78 grams. It has a 1.5-inch OLED (organic light emitting diode) display on its front with a small keypad positioned directly under the display. You can play MP3, WAV and Windows Media audio files including those with Windows Media DRM10 digital rights management. It will go on sale in Japan in early December for around Â¥40,000 ($344) and while no international launch plans have been announced, the on-screen menu supports Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Spanish. TurboLinux Wizpy TurboLinux, perhaps best known for its Linux operating system, has a new MP3 player that is sure to interest geeks everywhere. The Wizpy does all the kinds of things you'd expect from a music player these days -- MP3, AAC, Ogg, JPEG images, and Divx videos -- and has a surprise: A partition with an install of the TurboLinux Fuji operating system. This means you can hook this up to a PC's USB port and boot into Linux and access installed applications. TurboLinux advertises it as your own OS in the palm of your hand and it certainly looks that way. The Wizpy will be out in Japan in February with no word yet on availability in other markets. There's no word yet on price. It weighs just 60 grams, which makes it lighter than most cell phones. Toshiba 8GB SD Card Hot on the heels of Panasonic's SD Card camcorder (see above) comes word from Toshiba that it will soon begin sellingÂ an 8GB high-speed SD (Secure Digital) memory card. The card will be available in January and supports the "class 4" high-speed data writing specification. Toshiba's new card should be able to hold about three hours of high-definition video from the Panasonic camcorder. The card will cost about Â¥40,000 ($340) in Japan. It will go on sale in Japan, North America, and Europe in early January. NEC Tough Laptop Drop it, freeze it, drench it -- do whatever you want to thisÂ new laptop from NEC. Well, almost anything. The "Shield Pro" FC-N21S laptop can withstand dust, extreme temperatures (between -20 and 50 degrees Celsius), water and drops of up to 90 centimeters -- just make sure that the machine is switched off and the lid is closed. The convertible-type PC has a 12.1-inch touch panel LED-backlit screen and runs on an Intel Core Solo processor at 1.2GHz. It will be available in January for between Â¥250,000 and Â¥300,000 ($2,165 and $2,600). A model with an 8GB solid state disk made up of flash memory chips will also be available. IOData Bath-proof HDD So, you're in the tub and have an urgent need to back-up data? Not to worry, IOData Device Inc.'s latest hard-disk drive is just the thing. There's a 1-inch hard-disk drive inside the case, which is waterproof and shockproof to one meter. Connection is via USB 2.0. There are two versions, one with 8GB of capacity and one with 12GB, and both will be available in Japan in mid-December for Â¥15,700 and Â¥21,000 respectively. IOData didn't announce international launch plans. R&D Corner: Samsung develops thinnest LCD Holding out the promise ofÂ even thinner cell phones, Samsung ElectronicsÂ said it has developed a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen that is no thicker than a credit card. The panel is 0.82mm thick and means, according to the company, that manufacturers will be able to trim up to 2.4mm from the thickness of a cell phone. That's good news for consumers looking for slimmer and sleeker handsets. The LCD panel should be in production in the second half of 2007 so will likely turn-up in cell phones late next year or in 2008. Â
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Noise-suppressing headphones included Sony will next week launch its latest Flash-based digital audio player, if online retailers' listings of the as-yet-unannounced Walkman NWS700 series devices are anything to go by.â¦
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Sony embraces MP3, while new Blu-ray and speaker technology reaches the living room.