Sony Ericsson Announces The Walkman Z Series of PMPs

Before the iPhone and Android powered handsets arrived, Sony Ericsson was known for its Cybershot and Walkman series of phones. Ever since Android explosion and SE adopted Android as its primary OS, it launched its entire Android range under the Xperia brand, killing the Walkman and Cybershot range.


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Sony Ericsson loyalists all around the world hoped that someday the company will launch a Walkman branded Android handset. Cybershot loyalists, already got some love with the Xperia Arc and its 8.1MP Exmor R sensor.
When Sony Ericsson finally announced its first ever Walkman branded phone, the Walkman W8, it was a total disappointment. The W8 was basically a re-branded X8, which is a low-end Android phone running the age old Android 2.1.
Today, Sony Ericsson has announced a new range of Walkman Z series of personal media players (PMP). The PMPs are pretty powerful, and sport an Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC, along with 512MB of RAM and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Gyroscope, HDMI port and DLNA. The PMPs sport a 4.3-inch WVGA (480×800) screen. The press release from Sony Ericsson does not mention whether these PMPs display support its BRAVIA engine based Reality Display or not.
For the die-hard audiophiles, these PMPs feature an “S-Master MX” digital amplifier, Digital Noise Cancelling, DSEE, Clear Stereo and Clear base, 5-band Equalizer, 5 speeds VPT Acoustic Engine, Dynamic Normalizer and xLOUD. The Walkman Z series of PMPs from Sony Ericsson will run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
These PMPs will also have a dedicated “W” button, along with a new UI. Sony Ericsson will also launch some new accessories with these new PMPs like headphones, leather case, Silicon case and screen protectors.
The PMPs will be available in capacities ranging from 16GB to 64GB. The base model of the PMP costs around ¥ 28,000 ($363), with the top-of-the-line 64GB variant costing ¥ 43,000 ($558). Sony Ericsson will launch these PMPs in Japan. The company did not mention anything whether they will release these PMPs in other regions of the world as well.
It’s quite ironic that these PMPs from Sony Ericsson are more powerful than their Android based handsets. None of the current-gen Android handsets from Sony Ericsson feature a dual-core processor. Hopefully, Sony Ericsson will launch some dual-core powered phones before the end of this year.