Sony-Ericsson W950: First Symbian Walkman Phone

A new Symbian-based Walkman phone was
announced — it’s expected to be available in Q32006 in EMEA and
Asia-Pacific, and it is to-die-for beautiful. I love Sony-Ericsson phones, both as a consumer and as a developer, but I don’t have any firsthand experience with these Walkman phones.

I have a Sony-Ericsson s710a. For most people, this phone is nowhere close to mobile enough. It is hefty in my pocket, but the gorgeous screen more than makes up for it. I don’t use cell phones to talk — I use them for mobile data access — so most normal ergonomic standards mean nothing to me anyway.

As a developer, one of the most compelling reasons to love these phones
is that they all behave remarkably similar to other phones in the
product line. Sure, there are tweaks to get your applications
compatible with the platform, but if you build it for one phone in
their line, there’s a good chance that it will work for all phones in
their lineup. Plus, they offer really good developer support and
resources, much like Nokia does.

So, on to the point of this post. A new Symbian-based Walkman phone was
announced — it’s expected to be available in Q32006 in EMEA and
Asia-Pacific. Check out some of the features on this phone:

• Touch screen (whee!)
• 4GB internal memory, 80MB user free memory, 64MB RAM
• 240×320 pixels QVGA
• Plays MP3, AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+, WAV and m4a
• Supports: File and PIM APIs, Bluetooth API, Wireless Messaging 2,0 API, Web Services API, Mobile Media API, Mobile 3D Graphics
• Hardware graphic acceleration
• Infrared, Bluetooth, USB 2.0 connectivity
• a slew of other features

I’d love to get my hands on one of these — one that functions here in the States, of course <sigh>.

W950 on Developer Portal
W950 on consumer site

Technorati tags: cellphone, mobile phone, Sony-Ericsson, Walkman