The Walkman X series is a portable music player designed and released by Sony in Japan in 2009. It was marketed as a high-end, internet-enabled model in the Walkman digital player family in 2009. The model debuted in Japan in April 2009, and then became available in North America, Europe, China and also other regions. The Walkman X series was the first Walkman device to feature a touch screen and S-Master digital amplifier technologies.
Only one generation of the X series was released, making up two models: the 16 GB NWZ-X1050 and the 32 GB NWZ-X1060 (in the US, NWZ-X1051 and NWZ-X1061 respectively). A limited version of the Walkman X series was released only in Japan, with a slightly different design and a higher price. In 2011, it was succeeded by the Walkman Z series.
The design features a glass front screen cover rather than plastic. The side consists of a granite-like texture. It measures 3.8 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.4 inch and weighs 98 g.[1] Although primarily designed for touch screen operation, the Walkman X has play/pause and track shuttle buttons on the top side, and a volume rocker on the right edge. The bottom contains the proprietary WM-Port-to-USB connector and the 'hold' switch is on the back.
Control and navigation
The player uses a tilted scrolling effect for video and album art. The user navigates through the items stored on the Walkman by sliding the fingers over the screen and tapping to select an item. The separate buttons for volume, play and track navigation allow use in a pocket or by the visually impaired. The main functions are laid out as icons on the main screen. 'Music Menu' lists songs, artists, albums and genres. A soft key that at the bottom of all music screens allows selection of various sub-menus, including a folder browser option.[2]
Sound quality
The Walkman X series includes an S-Master amplifier which is a form of Switching amplifier (also known as Class D). It also features some proprietary Sony technologies including DSEE (to predict and restore high frequencies lost during audio compression), Clear Bass (to enhance bass levels while minimizing distortion at high volume) and Clear Stereo (to provide improved channel separation with open type headphones).[3] There is also a built-in ambient-noise cancelling feature which cancels noise picked up from small microphones on the outside of the supplied earphones. These technologies are forms of digital signal processing.
Web browser
The Walkman X player is the first to feature a web browser. The device doesn't support flash video, although it has a separate application for YouTube video playback. The web browser is based on NetFront, which is also used on the PlayStation Portable.
Reception
With box
The Walkman X's notable market rivals at the time of launch were iPod Touch, Cowon S9 and Samsung P3.[4]
Specifications
3.0 inch OLED screen, 432×240 pixels resolution, 262.000 colors.
Battery life: up to 33 hours on music playback or 9 hours on video playback. Battery fully charged in three hours.
FM Radio.
Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g.
Music files: MP3, WMA, AAC up to 320 kbit/s, WAV, and VBR files.
It is a single internal entity overseeing all wholly owned development studios within SIE. It is responsible for the creative and strategic direction of development and production of all computer entertainment software by all SIE–owned studios, all of which is typically produced exclusively for the PlayStation family of consoles.
With the launch of the PlayStation 5 in 2020, Worldwide Studios brands all releases be it internal or externally developed under the "PlayStation Studios" label.[3]
History
SCE Worldwide Studios (SCE Worldwide Studios) was established on September 14, 2005, with Phil Harrison being appointed as president.[4] On May 16, 2008, Shuhei Yoshida became president.[5] In April 2016, Sony's Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) divisions merged, creating SIE Worldwide Studios.[5] Hermen Hulst succeeded Shuhei Yoshida as president of SIE Worldwide Studios on November 7, 2019, with Yoshida being delegated to lead Sony's indie development.[6]
Naughty Dog is home to the ICE Team, one of Sony's Worldwide Studios central technology groups. The term ICE originally stands for Initiative for a Common Engine which describes the original purpose of the group.[25] The ICE Team focuses on creating core graphics technologies for Sony's worldwide first party published titles, including low-level game engine components, graphics processing pipelines, supporting tools, and graphics profiling and debugging tools. The ICE Team also supports third party developers with a suite of engine components, and a graphics analysis, profiling, and debugging tool for the RSX. Both enable developers to get better performance out of PlayStation hardware.[26][27]
XDev
XDev Europe, established in 2000 and based in Liverpool, England,[7] collaborates with independent development studios across Europe and other PAL territories to publish content to PlayStation platforms all over the world. XDev has helped to create and publish, titles such as the LittleBigPlanet, Buzz!, MotorStorm and Invizimals series, Super Stardust HD, Heavenly Sword, Heavy Rain, Beyond, Tearaway and Resogun. Partners include independent developers such as Quantic Dream, Magenta Software, Climax Studios, Novarama, Supermassive Games and Sumo Digital, as well as SCE subsidiaries such as Media Molecule and Guerrilla Games. In addition to funding projects, XDev offer full production, project management and game design support. Titles are also supported with community management, online production and dedicated outsourcing management facilities. XDev work directly with Marketing and PR teams in all Sony territories to promote and publish games worldwide.[28][29]