September 16th, 2009
Sony A-series Walkman is thinnest yet; 64GB, OLED, noise cancellation
Apple iPod who?
Sony’s A-series Walkman portable media player was announced today in Japan, and it’s only a matter of time before the device makes waves stateside.
Good thing, too: this Walkman sports a 2.8-inch OLED display (240×400), FM radio, TV-out and noise cancellation.
Better yet, it’s just 7.2mm (0.28 in.) thick and weighs 2.2 oz. To compare, Apple’s iPod nano is 0.24 in. thick and weighs 1.28 oz.)
Unlike Sony’s X-series Walkman, however, the A-series has neither touchscreen nor Wi-Fi capability.
The A-series offers a drag-and-drop feature that automatically transcodes video from your computer. Battery life is rated at 29 hours for music or 9 hours for video.
It’s due for release in Japan on Oct. 31 and will be packaged with premium MDR-EX300SL earphones. Pricing will be:
- 16GB: Y24,000, or approx. $226
- 32GB: Y30,000, or approx. $332
- 64GB: Y40,000, or approx. $443
No word on U.S. availability yet, but the players are expected to arrive sometime this holiday season.
Related: Sony also announced the slightly-cheaper but quite similar S-series Walkman player.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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