Sony Ericsson roundup: W902, W595, W302 preview

Sony Ericsson is making headlines again today, but the three fresh Walkmans is no news any more. The news is we got the actual handsets and our coverage goes deeper with a quick preview of the three new phones to hit the Walkman lineup. We already introduced the 5-megapixel Sony Ericsson W902, the cute slider W595 and the compact W302, which were chosen by Sony Ericsson to celebrate the third birthday of the Walkman series. We're now heading beyond the headlines, while the news of their announcement is still hot.

Sony Ericsson latest Walkmans

We are not going for a feature comparison since the three newcomers are running in different lanes and targeting different segments. We'll be focusing instead on the novelties they bring to the Sony Ericsson portfolio and their implementation. All the devices we received for reviewing are working pre-release units. They are in for some minor bugs, but nothing too disturbing. In other words, the preview should give you quite a close idea of what to expect from the new Walkmans.

Sony Ericsson latest Walkmans

Sony Ericsson W902 is quite understandably the handset to create the biggest hype. The first 5 megapixel Walkman takes a bold Cybershot-meets-Wseries stand, much to the delight of Sony Ericsson devotees. Walkmans have so far been below-par in terms of imaging (save for the W800 back in the day), forcing upon users the dreadful choice between a good camera and good music package.

Sony Ericsson W902 official images

Sony Ericsson W902 is a tough challenge for the current Walkman flagship W980. The newbie has a better camera, card slot, screen auto rotation and ships with 8GB M2 cards against the FM transmitter, touch-sensitive music controls and 8GB of built-in storage of W980. All in all, the choice between the two boils down to your personal priorities and taste.

Sony Ericsson W902

Sony Ericsson W902 live

Next in line is the Sony Ericsson W595. The slider does make a great first impression with slick looks and comfortable handling. It also has all the currently available Walkman niceties, including SenseMe and Shake control.

Sony Ericsson W595 - Sony Ericsson W595 official images

Other than that, the W595 has quite a decent feature set and appears a viable successor of the very successful Sony Ericsson W580. The mid-range slider is well due for an upgrade. Much like its predecessor, W595 has the responsible task of adding a touch of style to the Walkman mid-ranks. Our initial impressions are that it's quite up to it.

Sony Ericsson W595 live

The last star of the day is the clean-cut Sony Ericsson W302. The extremely compact bar is distinguished by its minimalist design with solid build and brushed metal panels.

Sony Ericsson W302 - Sony Ericsson W302 official images

Coming with a good deal of Walkman skill and a nice camera interface, the W302 might turn a great success if tagged with the right price. It feels great to handle and, despite a few beta stage issues, did manage a good impression.

Sony Ericsson W302 - Sony Ericsson W302 live

With all the previewing we have ahead, it's about time we skipped the small talk and got to work. Take the jump for our first impressions of Sony Ericsson W902. The other two are close in line.

Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena gets spied

At risk of getting delayed right into obscurity, Sony Ericsson looks like it's finally just about ready to release its long-announced PlayNow Arena mobile media store in a couple of European locales. SEMC Blog got the lowdown on screen shots of both the web-based and mobile versions of the Arena client, and we'll be honest, we're not really seeing what took so damn long. Okay, so we've got a unified portal for buying games, images, and music -- that's great and all, but not terribly unique, innovative, or interesting beyond the fact that many modern Sony Ericsson handsets should have tight integration with it out of the box. At least N-Gage can use the excuse that its fairly extensive community gaming aspect took some work to build out and get right; this, on the other hand, is little more than a glorified media store. Tell you what, though, guys: release a US-spec W980, and we'll cut you some slack the next time you delay a web portal by a few months. Honest.

Video demo of Sony Ericsson Paris surfaces

A very short video with a demonstration of Sony Ericsson’s new Paris device has been found on YouTube. The video depicts the handset for very common use, and does not really parade any of the advanced features of the device that we all know it has. The demo is very short, and seems as if it is destined to run as a a commercial somewhere.

As you can see from the screen shot here, they are just showing off its basic touch ability. In this shot, the screen is being used to zoom in on a map, presumably to help our hero in the video navigate his way back to what appears to be his penthouse suite. The theme of the video seems to be work and play, that Sony Ericsson has you covered.

Interesting at the end of the video the flash the man uses to take his picture is very thorough and abrupt. Freezing, zooming in on, and intensely studying the video could not answer my question as to whether this is xenon flash, or a very good LED flash, possibly even a dual LED array. Check out the video of the demo below.