Sony Ericsson has released a duo of new Walkman phones recently, handsets with built-in music features like xLoud and a dedicated Walkman button.
Despite being cheap, the Mix Walkman was a a disappointing budget offering, let down by it’s propiarty user interface. The next offering is the Live with Walkman (or the WT19i) and it looks infinitely more promising, offering many of the features of the Mix, but this time with an Android user interface.
Retailing at around £189-£220 sim free online, the Live with Walkman is aimed at the entry/mid-level smartphone users. Those that want to use their handset for listening to music, but still want to be able all the smartphone functionality to play games and download apps from the Android Market.
There’s a 3.2-inch 480×320 screen for movies and browsing, but the highlight of this handset is its music capability. Tap the Walkman button to launch the music player, enhancement features include xLoud and multiple equaliser settings, there’s also Music recognition via Gracenote and PlayNow.
The on-board camera has a respectable resolution of 5-megapixel for stills and the ability to capture 720p HD movies. Other phone features include: Smile detection, an image stabiliser, 3D sweep panorama and red-eye reduction.
Connectivity includes WiFi, 3G, aGPS and surprisingly for a phone at this price bracket DLNA for wireless streaming.
We’re going to be testing the Live Walkman over the next few days, we’ll bring you a full review
as soon as possible.
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: In box
Part of Sony Ericsson’s Green Heart range, the phone doesn’t include a manual, the use of recycled plastic and reduced packaging
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: accessories
Supplied in the box is a USB cable you can plug into the DC adaptor to charge at the mains, headphones and some leaflets
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: controls
Alongside standard Android controls, the light central control button flashes when music is playing
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: back
The back of the phone has a rubber coating, which makes it easy to grip without slipping. Adjacent to the 5-megapixel camera is a video light.
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: battery
Supplied with an EP500 battery, Sony Ericsson quotes 6hours 42 minutes talk time over HSPA. Rising to 14 hours 15 minutes over GSM. A 2GB microSD card was supplied with our test unit
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: side controls
A dedicated camera shutter and volume control are located on the side, both are plasticky.
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: Walkman controls
Access music controls by tapping the Walkman button on the top of the phone. Like the Power button, it’s rubberised, which means it feels a little unstable to touch.
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: homescreen
Running Android 2.3.4, have up to four icons of your choice in each corner, of course you can add widgets as well if you like.
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: main menu
Choose the way apps are displayed in the main menu. There are four different options: favourites, alphabetical, most used and recently installed.
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: browser
The webkit browser loads fairly quickly and responds well to touch, you can have multiple pages open at once
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