The Best of The Best
Updated Daily by Tech Labs
Mobiles
Laptops
MP3 Players
Digital Cameras

CES: Sony Walkman X-series vs iPod Touch

Techtree News Staff, Jan 09, 2009 0830 hrs IST

Features 3-inch OLED touchscreen, wi-fi and built-in noise cancellation to directly compete with Apple's iPod Touch

Sony announced Apple's iPod Touch competitor - Walkman X-series portable media players - with 3-inch OLED touchscreen and wi-fi support.

The new models, NWZ-X1050/X1060, come in 16GB and 32GB capacities. The models tout built-in Digital Noise Cancellation feature for background noise reduction.

Sony hasn't disclosed the price of the Walkman X-series players.

Walkman X-series PMPs sport 3-inch 432x240 pixel OLED display - half an inch short than iPod Touch - and promises better colors and contrast. Sony packs couple of audio technologies namely, Clear Audio Technolgy for wider bandwidth audio, S-master Digital Amplifier technology for richer ultra-low distortion audio, and, of course, the Clear Bass-Clear Stereo.

Support for wi-fi has been added in Walkman X-series for browsing the web, downloading podcasts or streaming videos from YouTube. Sony has added support in the form of popular audio-video formats such as AAC (Non DRM), WMA (DRM), LPCM, AVC (H.264/AVC), MPEG-4 and WMV. The PMP bundles 13.5mm EX series headphones, USB cable, audio in cables and connector for airplanes.

Also, Walkman W-series model NWZ-W202, a wearable portable media player with 2GB capacity, was also announced. The NWZ-W202 appears heart-shaped and built with in-ear/ear-bud headphones, and offers mere 12-hours battery life. It carries quick-charge function, which offers 12 hours music play over 30 minutes charge.

The NWZ-W202 features new ZAPPIN mode for browsing through music collection quickly.

Available in five colors - black, white, pink, green and violet - the NWZ-W202 is priced at $69 (Rs 3,350).

TAG KEYWORDS

USER COMMENTS

Looks nice, but still need to see how good battery life and video support are, and if it has a memory slot. Even if it does, it will almost definitely be their own, proprietary memory stick which is more expensive and less common, and the main reason I typically avoid their products.

by Vertigo, Big Rapids, on Jan 16, 2009 06:33 AM, Report abuse Reply

walkman sounds much better than apple.

by viksit, delhi, on Jan 10, 2009 10:52 PM, Report abuse Reply

I think the price will be a little higher than the iPod Touch. But looking at the specs - OLED screen, WiFi, Noise-cancellation, EX series earphones - I'm willing to pay a premium. iPods are never going to sound as good as the Walkmans. However, the user interface and touch-screen implementation (App Store as well) are the biggest factors in favor of the Touch. If Sony can create a similar experience then the X-series will surely be a good choice.

by Hardik, Thane, on Jan 09, 2009 03:50 PM, Report abuse Reply