Sony Ericsson is hoping its new Walkman-branded phone will be the music equivalent of what its Xperia Play device was supposed to be for gaming.
It’s called “Live With Walkman,” and unlike the Xperia Play, which was unable to use the “Playstation” name, there is no question about what the purpose of this phone is.
Users will be able to have one-touch access to music services, including a pre-loaded MP3 player and a portal to Sony’s Qriocity platform.
Qriocity allows users to stream unlimited amounts of music for a small monthly fee; it acts kind of like a premium version of Pandora, wherein users can actually download tracks as opposed to only being able to listen to them.
Social networking is also a big deal to the Live With Walkman. Users will be able to connect to Facebook from within any of the phone’s numerous media and entertainment apps, making it a seamless and integrated part of the device.
With a 3.2-inch display, a 1 GHz single-core processor, and a 5-megapixel camera, the technical specs aren’t nearly as impressive as what we’re used to seeing on the latest high-concept phones.
But that means the Live With Walkman will most likely debut at a consumer-friendly price. That detail has not been announced, but most likely it’ll be priced at under $200 if it hopes to make a splash in the market.
And after the unfortunately sluggish sales of the Xperia Play, Sony Ericsson needs to make a splash. The company has been aggressively trying to make a name for itself after it became an exclusive Android manufacturer, and we’re sure to see even more unique devices as it continues to push forward.
