Sony's Recession Friendly Walkman, Phones

Sony went all out for CES this year. With representation for Sony Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Ericsson and Sony Music Entertainment, the company had all its bases covered and despite the Howard Stringer keynote (with Tom Hanks and Usher) taking a lot of the glory, Ericsson launched a couple of handsets yesterday that managed to catch the eyes of almost everyone on the floor.

Sony announced the C510, the latest in the company’s Cybershot line and added one more handset to it’s Walkman range, the W508. Both phones are going to be pretty affordable and aimed at the middle market segment. With the economy showing no major signs of improvement, it’s always good to see products with pricing in line with what the average consumer can afford without compromising on features.

The C510 is actually the cheapest Cybershot phone available and includes Sony’s smile shutter feature. As for the W508, the easy on the eyes, affordable phone is probably the slickest in Ericsson’s line of Walkman phones so far and that’s a line that stretches back quite a bit. It also has the option of interchangeable covers, allowing users to personalize their cell phone with one in the box.

Aesthetics aside, both are easy to use and follow the same Ericsson UI we’ve seen in previous models. Pics and specs after the jump.

Cybershot C510
*  Size: 107 x 47 x 12.5 mm
* Weight: 92 grams
* Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
*  3.2 megapixel camera
* Up to 3.2x digital zoom
* Auto focus
* Smile Shutter
* Face detection
* Photo fix
* Photo light
* Video light
* Video recording

W508 Walkman
*  Size: 93.5 x 50 x 14 mm
* Weight: 98 grams
* Resolution: 128 x 36 pixels
*  3.2 megapixel camera
* Up to 3.2x digital zoom
* Comes bundled with 1GB M2
* Photo fix
* Picture blogging
* Video blogging
* Video recording
* Shake control
*  Bluetooth
* USB support