Sony Hi-Fi EX90SL In-Ear Headphones

Sony Hi-Fi EX90SL In-Ear HeadphonesFans of Star Trek keen to feel like their communicating with the Xyrillians when they’re hoverbooting walking down the street may be interested in Sony’s new EX90SL in-ear headphones.

Looking like a slimmed down version of the shiny chunk of metal that resided in Lieutenant Uhura’s lughole, the ‘bud’ style phones have encapsulated, inner-ear-speakers attached to a space-age shiny metal casing.

To ensure that the sound gets right down yer earhole, the EX90 sports an articulated design that swivels to get in deep and dirty amongst the ear wax.

Sony Hi-Fi EX90SL In-Ear HeadphonesThe high quality ‘phones sport a pair of large, 16 Ohm, 13.5mm (CCAW) speakers serving up 106dB/mW on a wide 5 to 25kHz frequency response (not that any human is likely to hear the extremes of that quoted range. Unless you’re an owl or something). Output is rated at 200mW (IEC).

Aimed at the mobile MP3 listening market, the Sony’s look to offer a real improvement on the standard cheapo headphones that get bundled with players, but we strongly recommend users give this style of headphones a try out first before whipping out their wedge.

Sony Hi-Fi EX90SL In-Ear HeadphonesWhen we reviewed the MDR-EX71SL Sony Fontopia in-ear headphones we found that the air-tight seal made us go over a bit funny – although we were wowed by the sound quality. And if you’re listening to music and eating at the same time, the sensation can be distinctly odd!

The EX90SL’s appear to be only available in Japan at the moment, retailing for around 10,000 Yen (£48). We’ve no idea when they’ll be beaming units into the UK.

Sony Japan

Gold! Sony Ericsson W700 WALKMAN Phone Launched

Gold! Sony Ericsson W700 WALKMAN Phone LaunchedRolling off Sony Ericsson’s well-furrowed product slipway this morning is the W700i Walkman Phone, the company’s eighth addition to their Walkman range.

Looking almost identical to its big brothers in the W800 range, the W700 is designed to tempt the pockets of punters looking to play a bit of music but not needing a “full blown music phone.”

“The W700i builds on the legacy of the first Walkman phone, the W800i. This phone will appeal to anyone who wants a quality music player in their phone for occasional listening,” commented Jan Wäreby, Corporate Executive Vice President, Head of Sale and Marketing, Sony Ericsson.

Sporting a natty Titanium Gold finish, the W700 comes with a Memory Stick in the retail box, although punters will only get a measly 256MB PRO Duo card instead of the 512Mb card bundled with the W800i.

The phone can, however, accept cards up to 2GB, providing storage for up to 47 CDs – long enough to see you through even the longest of tube delays.

To save battery life (and keep flight attendants happy), the music player works when the phone is turned off.

Gold! Sony Ericsson W700 WALKMAN Phone LaunchedLike the W800, the W700 comes with a full complement of onboard gizmos, including a two megapixel camera, 1.8 inch 262k 176×220 colour TFT display, dedicated music buttons and Bluetooth and Tri-band connectivity.

Battery life is claimed at up to 30-hours of music playback time, 9 hours talk time and 400 hours standby time.

The W700i will ship globally during Q2 2006, with a ‘Smooth White’ colour option available in some markets.

Sony Ericsson W700 specs
Band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
Data GPRS
Size 100mm x 46mm x 20.5mm (3.9″ x 1.8″ x 0.8″)
Weight 99g (3.5oz)
Battery Life 9 hours talk time, 400 hours standby time
Main Display 1.8″ 262k color TFT LCD, 176×220 pixel resolution
Sub-Display N/A
Camera Yes, 2.0 megapixel
Video Video capture/playback
Messaging MMS/EMS/SMS
Email Yes
Bluetooth Yes
Infrared Yes
Java Yes, MIDP v2.0
Polyphonics Yes
Memory 256MB on board memory, Memory Stick PRO Duo expansion

Sony Ericsson

Sony China Announces CE-P MP3/FM Players

Sony China Announces CE-P MP3/FM PlayersDetails of a snazzy new range of Sony flash memory MP3 player/FM radios with a colour display have appeared on Sony’s Chinese site.

As our Chinese translation skills are up there with our ability to understand advanced quantum physics explained in Latin, we may not be 100% accurate here, but it appears that Sony China is introducing a new range of flash memory multimedia players, under the name of the CE-P series.

Sony China Announces CE-P MP3/FM PlayersSporting attractively bijou dimensions of 75.5mm x 45.5mm, the CE-P is smaller than a credit card (but not as thin, natch) and is designed for carrying around your neck, gangsta-stylee.

The first model to be designed by the Sony China Creative Centre in Shanghai, the front of the display is dominated by a 1.5″ 260K color OLED display.

Sony’s designers have turned up the feature set to eleven, with the unit ramming in MP3/WMA playback, a built-in 87.5-108MHz FM tuner and FM radio recording, voice recording, BMP/JPEG picture display and USB 2.0 for file transfer.

Sony China Announces CE-P MP3/FM PlayersThe CE-P series will come in three flavours, offering storage capacity from 256MB to a 1GB.

We’ve no idea about availability in Europe and America, but pricing should be somewhere in the region of $150 (E124, £86) for the 1GB model, $125 (E103, £72)for the 512MB and $100 for the bottom-of-the-range 256MB unit.

Sony China

Sony CD-U70/ U50 USB Voice Recorders Announced

Sony's CD-U70/ U50 USB Voice Recorders AnnouncedAs voice recorders go (and, let’s be honest, they’re not the most exciting of gadgets) Sony’s new CD-U70/ U50 devices look to be quite natty numbers.

Sporting Sony’s usual design flair, the voice recorders come in two flavours, the top of the range ICD-U70, touts a hefty 1GB of flash memory, and its smaller brother the ICD-U50, which comes with 512MB of memory.

You’d have no bother losing these fellas down the back of the sofa as the recorders are pipsqueak-sized, measuring just 30x20x99.7mm and weighing in at a trouser-untroubling 64g.

Touted as a ‘three in one’ gizmo, the Sony IC recorders can be used as a mass data storage drive, an MP3 player and a voice recorder, with the thing plugging straight into the USB port of a PC.

For voice recording, there’s three modes on offer – LP/SP/HQ, with the built in monaural microphone offering high and low sensitive settings.

Sony's CD-U70/ U50 USB Voice Recorders AnnouncedBattery life is listed as an impressive 140 hours for voice recording and 6 hours for MP3 playback, with the unit offering Digital Pitch Control, Digital VOR (Voice Operated Recording) and 5 message folders to keep your perambulating wafflings filed away neatly.

For playing back your words of wisdom, there’s a tiny 10mm speaker onboard with a teensy-weensy 35mW output as well as a headphone socket (and bundled ‘phones).

The ICD-U70 comes in silver only while the ICD-U60 comes in groovier blue and white finishes.

Availability should be from mid March, 2006, with prices around $179.00 for the and $129 for the ICD-U70

Sony

K800 and K790 Camera Phones From Sony Ericsson Earn Cybershot Status

K800 and K790 Camera Phones From Sony Ericsson Earn Cybershot StatusIn a reflection of the growing convergence between phones and digital cameras, Sony Ericsson have declared their new K800 and K790 phones to be worthy of the Cybershot brand.

In line with their photographic aspirations, the two handsets come with integrated 3.2 Megapixel digital cameras offering autofocus, Xenon flash and Sony Ericsson’s BestPic imaging technology.

Taking pictures on the phone is easy. Once you’ve finished yakking, turn the handset on its side, slide the active lens cover downwards and you’ll be presented with a ‘proper’ camera interface, similar to that found in Sony’s Cybershot models.

Using the 2.0″ QVGA 262K TFT display as a viewfinder, users can take advantage of the new BestPic technology, a fancy-pants burst mode which blasts out 9 full-resolution pictures in rapid succession.

Once the shutter is pressed, the camera presents the user with four pictures before and four pictures after the actual image was captured, with the option to scroll through the selection and save the ones that look best.

There’s also an auto red-eye reduction and PictBridge support for shunting your pics direct to a printer.

K800 and K790 Camera Phones From Sony Ericsson Earn Cybershot StatusTo help share your photographic masterpieces, Sony Ericsson have struck a deal with Google to enable easy photo blogging with the search engine’s Blogger service.

Photo storage is taken care of with onboard capacity for 100 pictures and a Memory Stick Micro expansion slot.

Both Cybershot phones come stuffed with useful mobile features, with the dual-mode UMTS/GPRS K800i boasting 3G connectivity with video calling, a stereo FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth 2.0 with stereo audio streaming and USB 2.0 for uploading pics to PCs.

The near-identical K790i knocks a few quid off the price by eschewing the 3G and video, offering tri-band GSM with EDGE connectivity instead.

Other gizmos to be found on both phones include video recording/output, HTML browser, an e-mail client with P-IMAP support; an RSS reader, 3D gaming and a music player with MP3 and AAC support.

Both products will be commercially available in (ahem) ‘Velvet Black’ and start shipping globally during Q2 2006.

K800 and K790 Camera Phones From Sony Ericsson Earn Cybershot StatusSony Ericsson have also announced two additions to the K series along with a new phone in the Z range.

The K510i comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera phone, Bluetooth, push email and fun imaging effects (whatever they are), while the entry level K310i offers a VGA camera with practical tools for viewing, storing and sharing images.

Finally, the Z530i clamshell camera phone offers a basic feature set including an 0.3 Megapixel camera, music player with MP3/AAC support, Bluetooth, 28 MB of onboard memory, RSS reader and WAP 2.0 browser.

K800 and K790 – Features and specifications

Imaging & Messaging3.2 Mega pixel with Auto Focus Camera
Xenon Flash
BestPic™
Video and image stabilizer function
2.0″ QVGA 262K TFT display
Active lens cover
Photo keys
Cyber-shot™ user interface
Memory for 100 pictures (at 3.2MP), 64 MB internal user memory
Video recording/playback
Adobe picture/video PC SW
16x Digital zoom
Auto red eye reduction
DPOF & PictBridge
Time line view of pictures
Picture Blogging (powered by Blogger)
PictureDJ ™ and VideoDJ
Standard push e-mail (P-IMAP) support
VGA camera for Video Telephony (no VGA camera in K790)

K800 and K790 Camera Phones From Sony Ericsson Earn Cybershot StatusEntertainmentMusic Player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ support)
Video Player
Music DJ™
OMA DRM phase 1.x
Streaming Audio/Video
3D games
A/B buttons for horizontal games support
RDS FM radio

ConnectivityBluetooth® 2.0
IrDA
HTML Full Browser with RSS readers
USB 2.0 Mass storage
External antenna connector
Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot
Flight mode
Multitasking
USB cable, stereo portable handsfree and PC software in the box
Talk time: up to 7 hours GSM/2.5 hours UMTS
Standby time: up to 350 hours
Size: 106 x 47 x 18 (22) mm
Weight: 115 grams

Sony Ericsson

Sony Cybershot and W Series Digital Cameras Announced

Sony Cybershot and W Series Digital Cameras AnnouncedIn a flurry of press announcements, Sony have announced no less than four shiny new cameras to add to their popular range of digital compact cameras.

Sony Cybershot DSC-H5 and DSC-H2
It seems that they liked their Cyber-shot H1 so much that’s it’s spawned two new updates, with both featuring an image stabilized 12x optical zoom, electronic viewfinders and a host of exposure modes including manual, aperture and shutter priority.

The bigger brother Cybershot DSC-H5 sports a 7.2-megapixel CCD with a man-sized three-inch LCD screen, while the DSC-H2 serves up 6 megapixels and a more modest 2.5 inch screen.

Sony Cybershot and W Series Digital Cameras AnnouncedBoth cameras come with optical zoom lens offering a huge range of 36-432mm (35mm equiv) at F2.8-3.7.

The combination of Sony’s Super SteadyShot optical image stabilisation and high sensitivity settings (up to IS0 1000) should let all but the shakiest folks on wobbly shoes get sharp pictures.

Offering 32MB of internal memory, both cameras take Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick PRO Duo cards (now available in capacities up to 4 GB).

Sony Cybershot and W Series Digital Cameras AnnouncedThe DSC-H5 camera will be available in May for about $500 (~£287, ~€420) and the DSC-H2 a month earlier for around $400 (~£230, ~€337).

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70 and DSC-W100
Slipping in to the front of the W series pack are the DSC-W70 and DSC-W100 compact cameras.

Sony Cybershot and W Series Digital Cameras AnnouncedFeaturing 8.1 and 7.2 million pixels respectively, the DSC-W100 cameras offer a 3x zoom (38-114mm), eye-level viewfinder and a 2.5-inch screen.

There’s some useful manual controls on the DSC-W100, with a manual exposure mode giving up to 46 steps of adjustable shutter speeds (30 – 1/1000 sec) but there’s only two steps of aperture control available.

Both cameras offer a wide range of ISO sensitivities with the DSC-W70 covering 100-1000 ISO and the W100 managing an impressive 80-1250 ISO.

Sony Cybershot and W Series Digital Cameras AnnouncedBattery life is an impressive 360 shots on a single full charge, with the W100 coming with 64MB of internal memory and the W70 58MB. Both cameras use Sony’s Memory Stick storage.

The Cyber-shot DSC-W100 will be knocking out for $350, and the DSC-W70 for around $300 (~£172, ~€253). Both models are scheduled for release in April and will be available in black and silver.

Sony

K610i 3G Phone Announced By Sony Ericsson: 3GSM

K610i 3G Phone Announced By Sony EricssonSony Ericsson has slipped out is slimmest-ever 3G handset at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona, Spain.

The Sony Ericsson K610i is a lightweight and affordable 3G phone measuring a pocket-unruffling 102 x 45.2 x 16.9mm – roughly the size and weight of a typical 2G stick phone.

The lightweight handset (92g) sports a built in 2 Megapixel camera which should be good enough to produce reasonable quality 5″ x 7″ prints (and even the odd 10″ x 8″ print at a squeeze).

Reminiscent of the hugely popular T610 phone, the front of the phone is dominated by a 1.9 inch, 262K (176 x 220 pixels) colour display and a large keypad, with a tiny camera, midget-sized mirror and speaker on the rear.

K610i 3G Phone Announced By Sony EricssonNaturally, there’s an integrated music player lurking inside the rounded lines of the K610, with supported formats including MP3, AAC and e-AAC+.

Connectivity comes in the shape of Bluetooth, Infrared and USB 2.0 with external storage comes in the shape of Sony’s new Memory Stick Micro M2, which can be expanded to 1GB.

The excellent NetFront Web browser comes pre-installed on the phone, and there’s also an RSS reader integrated into its messaging section.

Sony Ericsson are promising an impressive battery life: 7 hours GSM, up to 2.5 hours WCDMA and up to 400 hours GSM and up to 350 hours WCDMA in standby mode.

The Dual Mode UMTS handset will be available in ‘Evening Red’ and ‘Urban Silver’ colours, and should start shipping during Q2 2006.

Sony Ericsson also announced a new, entry level handset at the show, the J100. This dual band handset offers a 65K colour screen, polyphonic ringtones and 8 hour talk time.

K610i 3G Phone Announced By Sony EricssonSony Ericsson K610i Specs:

Imaging & Messaging:
2.0 Megapixel camera
2 x digital zoom
Horizontal camera user interface
Video call (integrated VGA camera)
Video record and play
Video streaming
PictureDJ
SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
262,144 color 1.9″>176 x 220 pixels

Entertainment:
Disc2Phone ripping software
WAP 2.0 XHTML/HTML
Java MIDP 2.0
Media player (supports MP3, AAC and E-AAC+)
Music download
Polyphonic ringtones, 72 voices
MusicDJ
2D and 3D gaming

Connectivity:
USB cable
USB 2.0 mass storage, full speed
Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™)support (up to 1 GB ) Bluetooth
Dual mode UMTS and GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900

Business:
Standard Push e-mail (M-IMAP)
Sony K610 has Speakerphone
Modem
PC synchronization
File manager

Talk time:
Up to 7 hours GSM, up to 2.5 hours WCDMA
Standby time: Up to 400 hours GSM and up to 350 hours WCDMA

Size:
102 x 45.2 x 16.9mm
Weight: 92 grams

Sony Cybershot DSC-W50, DSC-W30 To Battle Ixus

Sony Announces Cyber-shot DSC-W30 And DSC-W50 Cameras Ahead of the big PMA (Photo Marketing Association International) show at the end of the month in Florida, Sony has announced two new 6-megapixel cameras in their ‘W’ range.

The ultra-compact Cyber-shot DSC-W30 and DSC-W50 models feature optical viewfinders, Sony’s Clear RAW imaging technology (claimed to produce low noise images up to ISO 1000), a 3x zoom and 2.0-inch and 2.5-inch screens, respectively.

Sony Announces Cyber-shot DSC-W30 And DSC-W50 CamerasLooking somewhat reminiscent of the Canon Ixus / Elph range, the miniaturised, re-engineered W-series offers a compact, highly pocketable design (89x59x23mm) with a price that’s easy on the pocket too, with the DSC-W30 retailing for $230 (~£132, ~e193) and the DSC-W50 for $250 (~£143, ~e209).

Both cameras follow the trend of offering high light-sensitivity settings (in this case, up to ISO 1000), letting snappers capture fast-moving subjects and take more natural-looking low light shots without flash.

Sony Announces Cyber-shot DSC-W30 And DSC-W50 CamerasAt higher ISO ratings noise can become a real issue, but Sony are claiming that their Clear RAW imaging technology keeps the multi-colour snow-storm effect to a minimum.

Boasting 400 shots on a single charge, the DSC-W30’s batteries should provide enough juice to keep compulsive photographers going all day, while Sony’s Real Imaging Processor circuit claims to deliver quick start-up and fast shot-to-shot times.

Both cameras come with 32MB of internal memory, with Sony sticking with their propriety Memory Stick Duo storage, offering capacities up to 2GB.

Sony Announces Cyber-shot DSC-W30 And DSC-W50 CamerasTo help fumbling newbies and the easily baffled, Sony has added a new function guide which displays a short onscreen text explanation whenever a shooting mode is selected. This can be turned off once the user becomes familiar with the icons on the mode dial.

The Cyber-shot DSC-W30 should be available later this month, with the DSC-W50 following in March.

SC-W30/DSC-W50 specs:
Sensor 1/2.5 ” Type CCD, 6.0 million effective pixels
Image sizes 2816 x 2112, 2816 x 2112 (3:2), 2048 x 1536, 1920 x 1080 (HDTV), 1632 x 1224, 640 x 480
Movie clips 640 x 480 @ 30 / 16fps, 320 x 240 @ 16 / 8fps, 160 x 112 @ 8fps
File formats Still: JPEG
Movie: MPEG VX
Lens 38-114mm, F2.8-5.2, 3x optical zoom, Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar
Focus 5 area Multi-point AF, Single, Monitoring
Metering Multi-pattern, Center-weighted, Spot
ISO sensitivity Auto, ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000
Shuttter speed 1/2000 – 1sec
Aperture F2.8-7.1 (wide) F5.2-13 (tele)
Modes Auto, Shutter priority, Aperture priority
Sony Announces Cyber-shot DSC-W30 And DSC-W50 CamerasScene modes Twilight, Twilight Portrait,Landscape,Beach,Snow,Soft Snap
Connectivity USB
Weight (no batt) DSC-W30: 123 g (4.5 oz)
DSC-W50: 127 g (4.7 oz)
Dimensions DSC-W30: 89 x 59 x 23 mm
DSC-W50: 89 x 57 x 23 mm

Sony

Sony VAIO VA1 Series Wireless Home Entertainment PC

Sony VAIO VA1 Series Home Entertainment PCSony has announced the new VAIO VA1 Series, a wireless home entertainment desktop computer.

Looking like it was knocked out by designers in a hurry to get home, the chunky machine seems to lack Sony’s usual flair for design, but underneath the less-than-glamorous exterior lurks a novel hybrid machine, boasting analogue and digital TV tuners, a DVD rewriter and capacious hard drive.

The display is a big Sony 20″ screen with true 16:9 aspect ratio, X-black technology and double lamp illumination, with a nippy 2.8GHz Pentium D 820 processor powering the PC.

Graphics are taken care of courtesy of an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 with 128MB RAM, with the integrated TV tuner offering both analogue and digital channels, with built in Freeview.

Running on Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition, there’s a high capacity 250GB hard drive inside and a dual layer DVD DVD±RW rewriter, capable of recording up to four hours of DVD-quality TV in one go.

Sony VAIO VA1 Series Home Entertainment PCHigh definition audio is provided by Sony’s Direct Stream Digital (DSD), a technology developed by Sony in conjunction with Philips.

Despite its all-in construction, some expandability options are provided with space for a second hard disk and slots for more RAM.

In line with its home entertainment pretensions, the machine includes a wireless keyboard with built in touchpad, a wireless mouse and remote control.And to keep things neat and tidy, the whole caboodle uses a single plug. Nice.

Full details, comprehensive specs and product photos are (as you can see) somewhat thin on the ground as we went to press, but we’ve heard that the Sony VA1 should be available from February, priced at around £1,500 ($2,620, €2.185).

M600 Handset Announced by Sony

M600 Handset Announced by SonySony Ericsson have announced their new M600 handset, a tri-band (900/1800/1900 plus UMTS 2100 for 3G data outside the US) jobbie, with Symbian OS 9.1 and UIQ 3.0 operating systems.

Measuring a pocket unruffling 15 mm thick, the 3G-capable communicator sports a Blackberry 7100x style dual function QWERTY keyboard and a large, touch-sensitive, 2.6-inch 240×320 262K colour display.

The dual function thumb-board offers continuous spell checking and word completion, with input aided by a 3-way jog dial and handwriting recognition.

M600 Handset Announced by SonyTouted as a “fully-specified email tool and mobile phone”, the handset offers true multitasking, so a user can, for example, browse the Internet while chatting away on the phone.

The onboard push email applications and remote synchronisation options should please the swivel-action office crowd, with support for AlteXia, Ericsson Mobile Office (EMO), iAnywhere OneBridge, Intellisync, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, RIM – BlackBerry Connect , Seven, Visto and standard email.

M600 Handset Announced by SonyFor road warriors and shuffling suits, there’s the facility to read and edit PowerPoint, Word and Excel documents and Adobe PDF files on the move, with the popular Opera 8 browser provided for surfing the Internet.

For storing email attachments and multimedia content, there’s 80MB of internal memory, with Sony bundling in an additional 64MB Memory Stick in their new, teensy-weensy, bound-to-lose-it-in-seconds Micro M2 card format.

The built in media player offers support for MP3, AAC, ACC+, E-AAC+ and m4a, streaming audio and video playback 30 fps with Stereo Bluetooth support.

M600 Handset Announced by SonyIn line with its business focus, there’s no built in camera, and Wi-Fi is an unfortunate omission too.

For some reason we kept thinking of a Spectrum ZX-80 when we looked at the phone, but I guess that’s no bad thing.

Sony Ericsson will be making the new phone available in Granite Black and Crystal White from Q2 2006.

Sony Ericsson’s M600i, A First Look [All About Symbian]