Stakes raised: new Walkman, Cyber-shot phones

Sony Ericsson launched a range of new Walkman and Cyber-shot phones yesterday among a raft of new products. Two new Walkman phones are on the way, plus a 5-megapixel Cyber-shot model.

Walkman range

Leading the new range is the Sony Ericsson W960i Walkman phone, a Symbian UIQ-powered music player smartphone. It features a touch sensitive display so you can use your fingertips to navigate the menu and play music. It has an 8GB internal memory, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 3G capabilities and Wi-Fi.

The W960i also offers full 3G multimedia facilities, including a web browser, streaming video and stereo Bluetooth. It comes with a set of Bluetooth headphones too.

The Sony Ericsson W910 is a 3G HSDPA-enabled Walkman phone with 'shake control' that lets you change or skip tracks by shaking the handset. The W910 has a slider design in red or black and offers a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and world phone support. It also has 3G capability for speedy transfers.

Cyber-shot phones

Sony Ericsson announced the Sony Ericsson K850i as well. It's a 5-megapixel camera phone with 16x zoom, a Xenon flash, camcorder, sliding lens cover and PictBridge technology for printing photos. It also has a built-in FM radio, memory card slot, Bluetooth, email/text/multimedia messaging and a music player.

Entry-level

Two new models in Sony Ericsson's Z range of entry-level phone handsets were also announced. The first, the Sony Ericsson Z250 , is a clamshell model which is only 19mm thick. The second, the Sony Ericsson Z320 , is a 1.3-megapixel sporting clamshell. It can store up to 100 photos in its Pocket Photo Album.

We'll be speaking to Sony Ericsson this morning to get the low-down on these new phones.