Sony Ericsson announces W880 and W610 Walkman phones

We've already knew it was going to happen and it really did - Sony Ericsson today announced its new line that consists of the phones the manufacturer is going to launch during the year. All the new models are in candybar design, but among them are budget phones, some targeted to multimedia, and two music-oriented Walkman phones.

SE W880

Sony Ericsson W880 was rumored to be the "Ai" phone - the slimmest device of the manufacturer. Only 0.35 inches (9mm) which is slimmer than Motorola's SLVR/RAZR and Q and a bit "thicker" than Samsung's ultra-thin candybars. Don't judge for the book by its cover it true for the W880. Dispite its size it is also feature packed and has QVGA display (only 1.8" though), M2 memory slot (it comes with 1GB memory card in box) and full Walkman capabilities. Unfortunately it still doesn't have standard 3.5mm stereo jack but uses adapter (also included in the box) to connect standard headphones - something silly for a "Walkman". The W880 is tri-band + UMTS phone for Europe.

SE W610

W610 on the other hand is quad-band GSM capable of global roaming. It is fatter, at 0.55 inches (14mm) and being part of the mid-tier - not so feature packed. It comes in the box with with half-gigabyte M2 card for memory. As a standard Walkman phone A2DP stereo Bluetooth audio is supported and unlike the W880, it has FM radio. An additional bonus is the auto-focus of the 2-megapixel camera (not present for the W880) which partially compensates for the lack of 3G.

The W880, together with W888 (the Asian version that drops the 3G) are expected to launch in first quarter of the year, while we will have to wait until Q2 for the W610. All of the phones have scored FCC approval.