By Patrick Avenell
Sony Ericsson has released a new phone designed to compete with both Apple and Motorola. The clamshell handset is described as the “true market leader” for music on your mobile phone.
The new W980 Walkman phone has been specifically designed for music playback, as Sony Ericsson head of marketing for Oceania, Josh Oxspring explains.
“The W980 Walkman phone really sets a new standard for quality music experiences on your phone.
“We wanted to design a leading music player that we could combine with a feature-packed phone, all the while pioneering an audio experience that always left you wanting more.
“The W980 will surpass all expectations.”
The use of the clamshell model, which Sony Ericsson describes as a “unique design”, is interesting as this design has declined in popularity since the heady Motorola RAZR days. Since that time, rival brands, including Nokia, have focused on slide, twist and compact flick handset forms.
The press release accompanying this announcement describes the W980’s music playback capabilities as having, “Superior storage capabilities – 8GB internal memory lets you store up to 8,000 songs”. Whilst 8 gigabytes of memory is large comparably to some phones, for example, the LG Secret requires an SD card to achieve a maximum 4 gigabytes, it is dwarfed by the Apple iPhone, which can be purchased with 16 gigabytes of built-in flash memory.
The Sony Ericsson W980 is available now for RRP $899.