Sony Ericsson W980i

Sony Ericsson dropped a new Walkman mobile phone/media player to the market today with the W980, featuring 8GB of internal memory, included headphones and something the company is calling “Walkman On Top”.

The new Walkman On Top is a lot like it sounds. SE put the controls and the display of current playing tracks on the front of the device allowing complete navigation and viewing without having to open up the handset, hence the name “on top”. The new Walkman also comes with built-in stereo speakers and FM transmitter letting users share their tunes directly or through an FM radio on a home or car stereo. Sony Ericsson also wanted to make sure that listening to music alone was clear with quality sound and threw in Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-77 headset

. The headset allows listening to music and the ability to take calls hands free.

The Walkman W980 is a UMTS/HSDPA 2100 GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 mobile phone measuring 3.6 x 1.8 x 0.7 inches and weighing a modest 3.5 oz. Sony Ericsson says they will have the W980i model available in the U.S. around the third quarter of this year. The HPM-77 headset is expected to be out a little earlier with a release date of around June. No word on pricing at this point.