Sony brings new features to its Walkman range

3 Aug 2012

The colourful E470 series of Sony Walkman MP3 players

Sony’s latest range of Walkman multimedia players offers consumers plenty of variety, from the colourful and karaoke-ready E470 series, to the Android-powered F800.

The E470 series comes in a selection of vibrant colours with a 2-inch LCD screen, claiming 36 hours of battery life. Users that like to sing along can switch to Karaoke mode for synchronised lyrics display, while pre-installed games can provide a quieter brand of entertainment.

The E473K model comes with a portable speaker dock powered by the player’s battery.

Sony has also introduced the E570 series with digital noise cancelling technology, which apparently reduces background noise by up to 98pc.

Both the E470 and E570 series models are just 7mm thick, as are the S770BTs. The S770BT offers the same lengthy plackback as the E series and also comes with colour-matched Bluetooth earphones for wireless listening. Its Bluetooth connectivity means users can also use the S770BT to stream audio to other devices, such as speaker docks, or home and car audio systems.

Sony Walkman F800

Sony Walkman F800

Finally, the Wi-Fi-enabled F800 series comes with a 3.5-inch multi-touch LCD, Master MX Digital Amplifier, Bluetooth capability and a built-in xLOUD speaker system. Unlike the others, this multimedia player is powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and comes with pre-installed apps for access email, maps and a media gallery. Users can also add more apps downloaded from Google Play.

All Sony Walkman models are compatible with Sony’s Music Unlimited service, which lets users access an extensive catalogue of songs for a monthly subscription. Using Music Unlimited, users can transfer playlists and ad-free radio channels to their Walkmans for offline enjoyment, or they can use simple drag and drop to transfer media on their home computers.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com