[Macworld]

Post your comments for Walkman phones won't save Sony Ericsson, says analyst here

[bigh]

Sony has dropped the ball completely in the branding of their phone lineup. The Walkman brand is rooted in the 80s and no longer carries excitement. The Sony-Ericsson name combination diminishes what luster remains with a simple Sony name. And numerical designations are simply not memorable. They need a new marketing head... Perhaps an entirely new department.

[leicaman]

That they think memory stick is an attractive feature makes them look even more out of touch than I was thinking!
How clueless can they get?

[NaOH]

The last Sony Ericsson phone that I was at all interested in was the P990i.
I was horribly disappointed when Sony Ericsson dropped any further development for the platform.
There were still lots of bugs and glitches that marred an otherwise excellent design.
Since then, I haven't seen a single phone from Sony Ericsson that has got me interested.
Last week, I finally bought an iPhone 3G.
At least Apple have shown themselves willing to stand by the iPhone by upgrading the OS on the original model.

[Retroperra]

Apple has a bit to learn aswell. I've been trying an old GSM iPhone for a quite some time now and I still feel the SE phones are more matured as phones.
But I'd love to see is a phone as mix of a modern SE, Nokia N95 and iPhone.
And it's all about buzz-acronyms isn't it:
3G, GPS, WIFI, BT, USB, µSD, MP3, MMS, mm
That last would be millimeters.
A phone as thin the W890 but with a screen as big as the iPhone. And of course all those the N things the iPhone are missing: microSD cards for media and file storage, built in GPS and radio, and a 5MP camera.
The only issue would be fitting a big enough battery. But those are exchangable by the customer on the field, right? ;)

[natmusak]

bigh said:

Sony has dropped the ball completely in the branding of their phone lineup. The Walkman brand is rooted in the 80s and no longer carries excitement. The Sony-Ericsson name combination diminishes what luster remains with a simple Sony name. And numerical designations are simply not memorable. They need a new marketing head... Perhaps an entirely new department.

Or they need to give up on the markets they're failing in. :D

Their main success is in TVs and game consoles. Very few companies can offer everything for everyone. Sony's definitely not one of them. Also, the use of Walkman branding is strange. Their PSP was billed as the "new Walkman" by Sony themselves and in many respects, it is. So why then put out butt ugly mp3 players and cell phones that might cannibalize your flagship portable device? I don't think they know what to do.

[Gorthaur42]

It's almost depressing to see what's happened to Sony over the past decade or so. With the release of the Walkman back in the 80's, they were breaking all sorts of new ground. Now their products come across as being overpriced copies of something else. Sad.

[lipbalm]

I disagree with some of the negative assessments of Sony Ericsson's phones. I currently own a W810i and I plan to buy a W302 when it becomes available.

And, if for only sappy nostalgic reasons, I like the use of the Walkman branding.

Here is what I like about my Walkman phone:
* It is the most usable MP3 player of any of the several music phones I have tried. I sold my 3rd-gen nano to a friend and I now use my phone as my primary music player (mostly to listen to podcasts while commuting). I also use the FM radio quite a bit.
* It has the best quality photos of any camera phone I have used (the autofocus and flash actually work and the pictures come out great in most lighting conditions).
* It has near-perfect out-of-the-box Mac integration including: USB mass storage (drag-and-drop MP3s, pictures, etc.), calendar/contact syncing with iSync, works as a tethered Bluetooth modem (for sucky but usable EDGE speeds when I can't get Wi-Fi access).
* Best battery life of any phone I've used (even with frequent use of the music player).
* With Opera-mini, Google maps, and Gmail, it is a decent little Internet device.
What I don't like about the phone:
The lack of a standard headphone jack (the proprietary headset adapter drives me batty* especially when I forget it at home) .
* Sony's use of their memory sticks when everybody else uses micro-SD.
The W302 is esentially the same phone I already have but adds a thinner, sleeker design and an AM radio (so I can finally listen to my local sports radio station while on-the-go. I look forward to nabbing one when it comes out.

[paleface]

I have been using SE touch screen phones for some time. I started with the P800, then the 910 and when the 990 wasn't released here in Australia I waited and bought the P1 8 months ago because I thought the 3G iphone would not happen for some time.

The P1 seems to have fixed some of the bugs in the previous phones and it has a better form factor but they dumbed down the user interface in several ways inlcuding reducing the thumb wheel from 5 way to 3 way. It seems to have lost the intutive nature of the previous models. Otherwise a great phone that works well most of the time and survives the expected 'bounces' when droopped on roads, footpaths etc.

Now of course I am locked into a contract that makes it expensive to pay out and then buy an iPhone. However this will work in my favour as Apple gets rid of the bugs and adds missing must--haves like cut and past, proper blue tooth etc etc. And of course Marketcircle will release its Daylite CRM iPhone app later in the year which will be worth the wait.

SE's latest smart phone offering is a Windows-based device which is not where I would be heading, even if I wasn't getting an iPhone. They led the pack for a while with the P series but need to lift thier game to survive.