PRAISE THE LORD!!! Sony coming out with (SEXY) new Android DAP!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 9, 2011 at 4:17 PM Post #31 of 64
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman Demonstration:​
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This one's a phone, but it's kinda nice. Strange, yes, but still nice.​
 
Sep 11, 2011 at 1:46 PM Post #35 of 64

 
Quote:
love the minidisc era...still use my mze10 on a daily basis, however i do admit that although just a player it still lacks quality over some of the sharp netmd's i've got. =[


She is still a stunner! Wish I had not got rid of mine on e-Bay last year as I sold it for the price it cost when it was new.  This was most probably the best designed Walkman ever regardless of format, my dream would be for Sony to make this with a flash drive installed and a touch screen on front lid (one can dream). The Net MD's all came out shortly after this player if I remember rightly?
 


Quote:
Sony used to really innovate.
 
Not having removable storage these days is very poor. I don't know what they are waiting for, or who they think their customers are (suckers?). They are also capable of supporting FLAC lossless playback (as we have seen from a Sony Ericsson product they released supporting FLAC) but haven't implemented it wholesale in their Walkman hardware. Very poor for a company that used to do so much to tape Walkmans to enhance their sound for their users.
 
Their Walkman sizes were constantly reduced, despite the bigger media. The remotes were fantastic. The removable batteries were fantastic (both gumstick and AAs). The battery life was always the top for their class. Their headphone outputs were high-powered and fantastic.
 
Now they seem content with innovating very little.
Same with Panasonic and Sharp and other players who basically shared the worldwide portable audio market between them.

 
 


 
Quote:
MiniDisc ruled.
I haven't liked any Walkman line-up in modern times for some basic reasons:
 
I really don't care for big screens in a player, and fixed storage sizes and non-removable batteries.
 
When they release a unit with proper remote, removable storage & batteries, then I will be interested. Then they will be doing something UNIQUE and different to all the other losers in the portable audio market (aside from sound quality).
 
I love Sony's PCM-M10, but it's not branded as a Walkman and its tasks are more for content creation. Anyway, make that half the size, keep the headphone output the same power or more (so we can have a wider variety of headphone choices like on the old-school Walkmans), give us a proper remote (please!) and add some better playback features/search features that the PCM-M10 lacks. Take the mics out. Take the in-built speaker out. Just make it smaller, allow optional mic, which they can easily do with the tiny MicroSD/M2 cards as the storage medium.
 
On their really small stick models, allow removable MicroSD storage and give a proper remote for the higher models. Let the storage be the user's choice.
 
I don't want a colour touchscreen or touch controls anywhere except on the unit's buttons and the remote. I want removable storage and batteries for longevity. I don't care for this throwaway society and I don't care for Android. I want a Walkman that focuses on the basics again: great sound, great headphone output, basic screen to get around with and edit (like MiniDisc), a nice 3-line or 4-line monochrome LCD screen. Great sound. Great battery life. The ability to carry a spare battery if it runs out on a trip/holidy/outing. The ability to switch media. That's it!


I think we all have a definition in our minds what constitutes the perfect player which is going to vary from person to person but I think what is annoying is for a company who once innovated the original portable players is how they constantly miss out on features we all keep asking for on these players which most of them they could implement quite easily if they wanted to without affecting the costing of their daps.
 
 I think where knocked sideways a few years ago by a company that had a new slant on definition of a portable music player that was innovative and due to the world wide phenomenon sales which made it a global success and since then it seem's Sony have playing catch up with the new innovators on the block Apple despite the Sony's still producing daps that can sound better than their counterparts.  
With this dominance of sales to the mass by Apple in turn it has taken a big slice from Sony's figures in the last few years and I think this is what has pushed Sony into almost a shell with their budget/ investment in the Walkman sector to invest more maybe on their flat screen technology & cameras for example as to me it was like an admittance Sony could not out wit or  compete   
with the new kids on the block so feels like they have just turned out half baked players at times in the last few years which have been average at best or when they have been good have had some negatives which have stopped it from been a real perfect all round  dap. 
 
Which brings me around to the current crop of Sony offerings which is about to be another chapter for them with the direction for the new gen of Walkman's going Android...
It is about time with bigger storage flash drives taking time to become cheaper in daps for bigger storage that Sony should think of incorporating a SD card slot in their players yet the same could be said about Apple with both their Ipods & Ipad's having a SD slot also.  
 
This new prototype Android Walkman screen is most probably a bit to big to be classed as a portable Walkman for many of us but feel with this been Sony's first attempt at a Android dap which will be also their flagship machine and not forgetting with Sony themselves (the key to it all is in this next phrase) are  classing it as a "mobile entertainment player" which suggests they are trying to not put all their egg's in one basket with this much hoped Sony revival of a machine and cater for the video playback just as much as the music aspect with this 4.3 inch screen. 
 
Personally I think with the real estate of  this screen makes a bit big for a Walkman for on the go in my pocket with also owning a HTC phone which is a 4.3 screen size would make transit on foot interesting. I do think in time over the next year with Sony rolling out a new range of Android Walkmans there will be smaller players to choose from but for now the new A series fill that gap for a smaller portable touch screen player. 
 
My personal take on this is if Sony could get enough of a budget signed off to take on Apple and let their creative R & D guys have free reign whilst incorporating all the omissions from the previous players that all us Audiophiles want in a perfect Sony dap there would then be a range of players that cover different types like always keeping a hard button player version in a smaller body form with the choice of either monochrome or colour screen's which also consist as standard SD card slot/ gap less playback/ Flac/ On-the-Go playlists which could then become the "Retro walkman range" whilst offering a basic "E" version as usual then the "A" series version with the top end amp built in with a higher quality material finish to set it apart from the "E" model.
 
And then the other range would them consist of  the Android range which should have at least 3 touch screen models with their own different designs with a 2.8", 3.8" and no doubt there will be a market for the 4.3" screen for those who want the all round ability with bigger video viewing could have extra features to compliment this version with maybe a camera if it wants to be the player that is  all things to all men & women so to speak. 
 
Not to forget keeping the smaller stick cylinder type models they do but with a bit more flash memory stuffed in them perhaps to what they get now.
 
Just my slant on how I would like to see Sony  be dealing their cards at the moment if they want to really cover the bases to get back a slice of dap cake market and make all us Audiophiles happier at the same time!
 
Still does not detract I will more than likely go soppy for this eye candy Prototype regardless if it still has the usual Sony omissions we all want and get it just on the strength of the new hopefully improved digital amp, 64gb of storage with the new  Android o/s. 
 
 
 
 
Sep 12, 2011 at 9:25 AM Post #36 of 64
yeh the net mds came out around during the time the mze10 came out, since it was a player only back then i had to record all the minidiscs in realtime before the netmds came out. Good thing about the minidiscs back then was i believe they had opt out, i'm almost sure the sony one i had before the mze10 had a opt out as well as my sharp netmd. They were good quality stuff, they came out just in the transitional period between disc based mp3 recordings to mp3 players, of coz soon after wards the mp3 players and ipods basically ruled these things useless.
 
Sep 13, 2011 at 6:45 AM Post #38 of 64
Sep 13, 2011 at 10:46 AM Post #41 of 64
Good
 
Sep 13, 2011 at 2:18 PM Post #43 of 64
The only real downside is the lack of hardware control buttons (except Volume and "Walkman")!

I will buy this machine! GREAT to see a real alternative to the lame iPod!
 
Sep 13, 2011 at 3:12 PM Post #44 of 64
Um, so what's it called?
 
 
So far we have two Sony Ericsson Walkman phones...... that use robotoid.
 
- W8
- Live With Walkman (LWW)


Hi kiteki. No you have misunderstood, this product is different from the Walkman phones that's marketed under Sony Ericsson Mobile Communication division. (I think I have already mentioned to you in another thread, this is a proper 'Walkman' DAP product marketed directly under Sony A/V division, similarly like those A and X-series Walkmans) The reason why I'm quite excited about this release, as I have always been craving for a proper Walkman that comes with Android OS instead (due to reasons like open-format support for FLAC/APE files for example) Anyway it has being confirmed earlier today, the official name for this product is known as NW-Z1000 series. :)

I wouldn't call it $550 sexy when you buy an equally equipped phone for near that price, sans contract.


Lol, you have under-estimated Sony's targeted demographics for the latest Z1000 Walkman product. It's not just any other traditional Sony Walkman or Walkman phone marketed by SE, this comes equipped with a proper Android Gingerbread 2.3 OS like Cowon D3 (OS firmware upgradable in future and that means more newer features) and underneath with an impressive Nvidia Tegra 2 1Ghz Dual-core processor SoC in it, which has the native horsepower/capability to decode 1080p H.264 or DivX media contents, something which cannot be done on the older Walkmans or Cowon D3 for that matter.

Yes, although the Nvidia Tegra 2 may be commonly found in smartphone/tablet devices such as the Motorola Xoom, Atrix or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, but you forgotten about one crucial thing that probably bothers many DAP users out there, which is they might prefer not to carry a device with a built-in onboard camera. So in some situations where you tend to work in sensitive companies that does not allow camera devices or in some circumstances, where you have to go back to serve your annual reserve military service training in your own country (like for example countries like Singapore or Taiwan), in such cases we really really appreciate quality DAP products that does not have any onboard camera device.

Here's some more details from CNET:
 
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20105214-1/sony-officially-details-android-walkman/?tag=cnetRiver
 
Looks like the pricing is - as expected - through the roof...and no North American release date yet :frowning2:


No, don't take the official japanese RRP as an indication of its true pricing, you have to remember that japanese yen exchange rate is at an all-time high now, so probably not a good measure or guess, for how much it will cost for the US market or anywhere outside JP. I'm living in SE Asia, probably will find out for you guys from places like HK or Taiwan, and report back on this thread when I have some real information in regards to prices outside of JP, so for those of you who might be keen in importing, maybe it will be a good solution for you guys.

Anyway, here are some additional real-life pictures of the mock-ups over at AV Watch Impress website. Sony Japan has also just updated their Walkman products main page earlier today, to reflect the latest Z and A-series Walkman products line-up.

Cheers.
 
Sep 13, 2011 at 3:15 PM Post #45 of 64
Sony Ericsson and their Walkman branded headsets are NOT the same as a Sony Walkman. SE has had Walkman branded stuff for quite some time.
 
What strikes me is the different codec support of the Tablets vs. the Walkman. I'm glad the Japanese will still have ATRAC, but it makes me wonder why it didn't make it to the Tablet - at least in Japan. It frustrates me that the different divisions of Sony *still* don't talk with each other.
 
That said, I'll be getting the Japanese version. It's been 2 years since I got my NW-A847 when I was in Japan in 2009. I was about to wait for the new NW-A867 but I'll wait for the Z. May be time to retire the X at that point.
 

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