Sony Ericsson today kick-started its entry into the mobile music market with the announcement of the W800, the first Walkman branded mobile phone. The Sony Ericsson W800 is the first product to combine a mobile phone, a high quality digital music player with up to 30 hours’ battery life, and a 2 Megapixel camera.

The W800 is supplied with quality stereo headphones and it is compatible with the proven, industry standard MP3 and AAC music file formats. Storage capacity is also plentiful as the supplied 0,5GB Memory Stick Duo gives capacity for around 150 music tracks, or 10-12 full length CDs from the user’s existing CD collection. And loading music into the player is a breeze thanks to the supplied Disk2Phone software, which enables quick, convenient transfer of music CD’s onto the phone via a PC. Keeping the collection up to date is no trouble at all as the software makes it easy to browse, sort, find, transfer and delete music files.

If the user chooses to take the call when listening to music, the music is paused for the call’s duration. The music player is operated with just one Direct Music button that plays, pauses and stops tracks, and player and phone can be used independently of each other, so for example the user can switch the phone off for a plane journey while still enjoying the music player.

Battery life is a key consideration for owners and the W800’s battery has enough stamina for the longest journeys – it will play for 15 hours’ if the phone is switched on, or up to 30 hours if it isn’t.

Although weighing in at less than 100g, the W800 also offers a 2 Megapixel camera complete with autofocus, picture light, active lens cover and digital still camera interface, so great photos can be taken in a variety of conditions.

Users can extend their use of the W800 with useful accessories such as the MMC-60 Music Cable which connects the device to play out on a stereo hi-fi, and the HCA-60 Advanced Car Handsfree which allows music to be played through car speakers.