SI: Sony?s First Touchscreen Walkman Revealed

[Christopher]

Sony is set to debut a new 16 and 32GB drag and drop Walkman during CES 2009, according to trusted inside sources. This will be the most advanced music, video and photo Walkman music player ever released by Sony to date. While it was revealed before to Wired that Sony’s new Walkman would have Wi-Fi capabilities, we have now learned that Sony’s new Walkman will also be touchscreen and WQVGA. The touchscreen will not be the usual LCD, but a brilliant three inch OLED with a contrast ratio around 10k. OLED display capabilities in terms of color reproduction are far beyond the average LCD, which means 100% color reproduction across a wider viewing angle.

While most of the usual menu structure of the current Walkman series will be retained in this new model, there are several new exciting features included. For example, upon listening to an artist, you may click on the artist name and watch music videos of the artist on YouTube through Wi-Fi (WPA and WEP support included). Additionally, there will be a Youtube icon on the main screen that will allow full access to the website - search, pause, FF/RW included very similar to Youtube access on the iPhone/iTouch. Additionally, this new Walkman will be able to subscribe to audio podcast and Crackle video feeds; this means automatic download of new updates, the ability to delete old feed content, all over Wi-Fi. Audio codec support includes MP3, WMA, AAC, PCM, while video codec support is AVC (h.264), MPEG-4 and WMV.

There will be built-in search capabilities that can be used to learn more about your favorite artist, and users will be able to purchase full CD’s of their favorite artists through the Walkman at Amazon. A powerful S-Master digital amplifier is built into this device as well as digital noise canceling to ensure optimal sound. On top of all of these impressive features, Sony has also included a FM transmitter to truly differentiate this product amongst the competition. Also, while the product shots above do not show hardware buttons for music control (previous track, play/pause, next track and volume), we believe this device will have dedicated hardware buttons for this functionality.

..and yes, it comes with a fully functional web browser, but we cannot confirm or deny flash support.

This information is a Sony Insider exclusive, brought to you here first.

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[Ascariss]

Will defintely be picking one up, hopefully in the 32gb size, I just hope the pricing is competitive and that both the 16 and 32 gb models will be offered in canada.

[tds101]

This, or the Cowon S9. Very sweet indeed. I now have the S639 (I'm in the US, so I imported it from the UK), and then this masterpiece comes along. 32gb, I'm there!!!!

[Guest Stuge]

Hey,if its Sony insider exclusive, then you should put a watermark on the picture.

[juli]

I posted this yesterday in a 'dead' thread. I didn't see there were two on the same subject

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OHHHHH!! I am so having that! I hope to God it has an external rocker, I've been spoiled by that with Sony daps smile.gif

And the S-Master digital amplifier will make it pretty powerful I imagine. The CPF-NW001 speaker cradle uses the same technology, and that is incredibly powerful. It totally fills my 14ft x 12ft kitchen with sound and no distortion, and it sounds really good too. Quite often, people ask me where the speakers are, they can't believe it's coming from such a tiny unit.

Just the fact Sony are introducing something new into the mix is exciting. I remember on Atraclife, when we followed the NWZ-A829 from the first sketchy designs, all the way through to its release. Although those of us in the UK were never sure if we were even going to get the 16GB version or not, until the last minute. I hope Sony is better prepared this time, and that we all know where it will be released and in what capacities in ADVANCE please Sony!!