BERLIN—Aiming squarely at the app-happy iPod touch, Sony showed off a prototype of an Android-based Walkman music player here at IFA.
Basically, the player is an Android phone without the phone, and with beefed-up music-specific features, including a hook into Sony's cloud-based Music Unlimited Service, which serves up more than 10 million songs. The best part, though, is full access to all the apps in the Android store.
The prototype player looks like your typical Android phone, well actually, it looks like the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, with a 4.3-inch 800-by-480 touch-screen display with the standard Android Back, Home, and Menu buttons below. I was able to spend some time with the player, and the screen was bright and responsive to touch.
The back is a textured blue plastic with the Walkman logo and a speaker on the left. It's curved slightly for comfortable feel in your hand. There's a standard 3.5mm jack, Bluetooth support for wireless headphones, and a Mini-HDMI out so you can mirror the player's screen on an HDTV. DLNA support allows you to view the player's screen on a DLNA-ready television. A gesture function lets you flick a picture or album art toward the top of the player's screen to send it to the TV. Sony wouldn't disclose the device's processor, storage, or battery type.
Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Walkman offers full access to the Android Market. Sony wouldn't say whether the player would run the most-recent version of Android when it actually reaches market, but Toshimichi Nagashima, general manager of Sony's Mobile Business Group, said that the company realizes that it's important for Android devices to run the latest OS version.
The integrated music player app looks a lot like Android's stock music app, but the Walkman has been enhanced with some music-specific features. The W.Music app with Sony's SenseMe technology analyzes your songs or those from the Music Unlimited service, takes the mood and the tempo, and categorizes them by channels such as Extreme, Dance, Mellow, Relax, and Lounge. Various graphic visualizers move with your music, and a dedicated W button on the side of the Walkman summons player controls (Play, Stop, Previous, Next) when you're in another application, or if the phone is locked. Also, Sony claims its S-Master MX technology clarifies low-end and improves overall audio quality. I can't verify those claims, but Dido's "Thank You" sounded great through a pair of Sony headphones. Nagashima said the player would likely be bundled with higher-quality earphones.
Since it's a prototype device, no price or availability date were disclosed, but Sony said it plans to release the Walkman in major worldwide markets, possibly in time for the holiday season.
For hands-on photos, see the slideshow above, and check out the slideshow below for all things IFA.