Sony Ericsson W550: Walkman phone family keeps growing

It seems like we've been standing outside the maternity ward for months, clutching our flowers and fluffy rabbits, in anticipation of the birth of Sony Ericsson's W800 Walkman phone. We're still waiting for the W800 to draw its first breath and start wailing (it's due on shops on Friday 12 August), but Sony Ericsson has nevertheless announced that it's pregnant again -- with the W550 Walkman phone.

The W550 will be the third member of the Walkman phone family, following the W800 and the W600 (originally announced as a US phone, but now scheduled to ship globally). Headline features on the W550 include MP3 and AAC playback, supported by 256MB of internal memory (enough for 60-120 songs). It ships with stereo headphones and also has built-in stereo speakers, so you can listen to music privately or annoy the other people on the bus. You can even tune out on aeroplanes, thanks to a direct music button that lets you operate the music player independently of the phone. Sony Ericsson claims the battery gives you up to 30 hours of music.

Other features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, full Internet browsing, multiplayer gaming over Bluetooth, a swivel design and optional Style-Up covers to change the look of your phone. The W550 should be available in Q4. -ML

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