Just like the iPod touch isn’t just for music anymore, neither is the Walkman. Sony’s Z1000 features a 4.3-inch (800×480) display, Tegra 2 processor and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with full access to the Android Market. Watch Gizmodo Australia’s quick hands-on video with the player from CES.
Sony’s proud of the audio tech in the deice: S-Master MX sound and an xLoud compact speaker on the back’s concave surface that actually gets amplified when you place it on a flat surface. FM Radio is also built in.
Still no word on local pricing, but Sony tell us that the Z1000 is definitely confirmed for an Australian launch. In the States, it’ll cost $250 (8GB), $280 (16GB) and $330 (32GB). That’s cheaper than local pricing of the Galaxy S Wi-Fi – and close to the pricing of the iPod touch range. Just depends how much it ends up when it arrives on our shores. We’ll update you when we know more.
Danny travelled to CES as a guest of Sony Australia
Aard Vark
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 4:55 PMLooks awesome, but the only way this thing is going to gain traction is if Sony can price it near or below the iPod touch. 90% of punters aren’t going to care if its specs are better than the iPod. Sony have shot themselves in the foot in the past with their non-android Walkmans (Walkmen?) being more expensive than the equivalent Apple model. That’s why these days ‘iPod’ is synonymous with portable music, not ‘Walkman’.
Matt L
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 4:57 PMOh nice! The new iPod touch!… Still using the old 8 16 32 gb method… Should have chucked a whole tezza in it!
Jackson Bison
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 5:06 PMNice one Sony – as per usual, you’re running old software
Anthony
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 5:10 PM1. It needs a reset button?
2. There’s no MicroSD slot?
3. More than an iPod Touch, but with no cameras?
FAIL.
light487
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 10:19 AMYer.. kinda agree with this comment the most and the previous one about there being small inbuilt storage sizes.. way out of date product. It’s a good idea to try and get that market some competition.. but you have to atleast try to compete with similar stuff.
Luke
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 5:14 PMDespite the fact that Apple inc. has blinded the minds of many consumers (through total reliance on advertising and word of mouth propaganda; rather than actual quality of product) – i will personally choose this device over any apple device and i will constantly be suggesting my friends buy this device and boycott the global menace that is Apple inc.
Android will win the war against Apple inc.!!!!
LUCIFER
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 5:17 PMsounds like you need to relax breh it’s not that serious.
Kroo
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 7:06 PMSo are you saying resistance is futile? Take a breath and see a doc about that hemroid phone stuck up your ass.
NOZ
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 10:10 PMit kinda is…Apples a bit of a monster these days…
Esophagus
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 5:42 PMFM transmitter or no sale.
Muskrat
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 5:51 PMso wheres the am radio band?
Esophagus
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 9:21 PMThink of all the expensive Griffin/Belkin accessories you can avoid! I’ve only seen one MP3 player offering the functionality, but considering the size of the iTrip I don’t understand why it’s skipped over. Everyone has FM radios, not so many like the content on them.
Kroo
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 7:02 PMGreat. Now I’ll have something to put next to the dusty zune sitting in the closet.
Phil
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 9:40 PMI actually bought one of these a while back off an OCAU member for a bargain. So I guess if anyone wanted to know anything further about it I’m willing to answer all questions to the best of my ability.
As a general overview of it the player itself is massive, it dwarfs all over my zune hd and ipod touch. I never realised how big and uncomfortable it is to hold in the hand and the thickness of it does not help at all. It does the usual android stuff like play music, video, angry birds etc. and performs all those task like any tegra 2 equipped device (I did have a few crashes in the early days with the music app but that’s all sorted now). The biggest disappointment with the player so far is the battery life, it is absolutely horrendous and requires a charge every single day if you play music while playing the occasional game of uno in airplane mode. If you plan on browsing a lot or watch movies expect half a day maybe. To me it sort of feels like Sony is trying to bridge the gap between a portable hand held tablet and a dedicated pmp however they’ve fallen short of either target. If you want a dedicated pmp get a Cowon J3, if you want a small hand held tablet get a Galaxy Tab or something.
Jordan
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 1:24 AMI’m sorry, local price of the Galaxy Player? When did Aus start selling this???
MotorMouth
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 9:42 AMI don’t get the point of things like this and the iPod Touch. Surely anyone who looks at them would realise they have exactly the same functionality in their phone already? I want my music player to do stuff my phone can’t, like store my entire collection and last a week on a charge. My music player doesn’t need a camera or apps or anything else, it just needs to provide a superior music experience. Unfortunately, the only company that seems to have understood this has decided to stop making music players.
kiteki
Friday, March 2, 2012 at 6:59 AMThe comments here are all missing the point, this player is focusing on sound-quality, surpassing all smartphones, Apple, Zune devices, and the like.
Have a look at the iBasso DX100 for example, that is $829, with 7 hours battery life, and sold like hot-cakes on it’s launch.