An Overview Of The Sony Ericsson W8 - Featuring A Walkman Music Player

By Author: Chris Westley
Total Articles: 168
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Sony Ericsson seems to have been concentrating more on its Xperia smartphones over the last year or so, with several new releases in the range. However they have just announced a new Walkman phone, the Sony Ericsson W8.

This handset sees the introduction of the manufacturer’s Walkman technology on an Android smartphone which also boasts touchscreen functionality. This is certainly a handset which Walkman fans have been waiting for. This article will offer an introduction to the W8, and take a look at the features on offer.

Obviously, one of the main draws of this handset is the built in Walkman music player. Sony’s music technology has come a long way since the days of the portable cassette player, and its inclusion in this smartphone means that it offers instant appeal to those who like to use their phone to store and listen to their digital music collection. The Walkman player offers easy navigation of the user’s music collection as well as supporting multiple file formats, and there is a microSD slot included; this can be utilised by installing a memory card of up to 32GB, meaning thousands of music tracks ...
... can potentially be stored in the phone. As you would expect, there is also a 3.5mm headset jack built into the phone which allows compatible headsets to be used.

Aside from the music features, the Sony Ericsson W8 is actually an impressive all round smartphone. The Android Eclair (version 2.1) operating system works alongside a 600MHz processor, powering demanding applications. Users can browse the internet whenever they have a 3G or Wi-Fi connection, and there is a built in digital camera. This boasts 3.15 megapixels, and operates at 2048x 1536 pixels; this may not be the highest resolution available on a smartphone, but provides everything you need to take spontaneous snapshots, with pleasing results. A nice bonus of this camera is that is can also shoot VGA quality video footage at a rate of 30 frames per second.

As you can see, the Sony Ericsson W8 is more versatile than meets the eye. The Walkman aspect of the phone is just one of the many impressive specifications. This is also the first Walkman phone from Sony Ericsson to feature touchscreen functionality. Users are treated to a 3 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, with a reasonable resolution of 320x 480 which means it offers good display quality of photos or videos etc.

Whilst its specifications are by no means groundbreaking, it is good to see the manufacturer upping the specs of its Walkman phones. The Sony Ericsson W8 will make a great first smartphone or a change from the few models which still dominate the smartphone arena. As with the previous Walkman phones, I’m sure we can expect the W8 to be an affordable option upon its upcoming release; coupled with its decent specifications, this means it is likely to be a popular handset.

Check out the best Sony Ericsson W8 deals and Sony Ericsson Xperia Play deals