Spyro and Zylo join Sony Ericsson’s Walkman family

Using your mobile as an MP3 player is not a new idea, but one that Sony Ericsson have been successfully peddling for many years now. Their Walkman mobiles may not offer the glamour of Apple models, but they come at a considerably lower pricepoint and with a host of additional features, including one button access to social networking sites and the option of using your music as a background to your calls. The idea behind the new handsets is that music is no longer a purely personal experience, and the phones continue a one button linkup to various social networks to allow you to recommend tracks and videos to your friends.

Here’s the lowdown on the latest handsets

The Zylo

This is undoubtedly the Daddy of the pair, featuring a more comprehensive spec list and a rather stylish candybar slider. Interestingly (and great for audiophiles) it’s the only one of the pair to support the FLAC lossless codec which means it lets you enjoy a premium audio experience on compressed files. A nice feature about this handset is its ability to let you listen to tracks whilst taking phone calls (cleverly titled the Music Call), which adds to the sharing element of the phone, and enables you to integrate music into every aspect of your life. The handset also comes preloaded with sounds so the user can pretend they’re hanging out in the office or sitting in a restaurant- that is, if you like adding an element of subterfuge to your friendships.

The Zylo is 3G enabled and boats quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE for world-wide accessibility. It features a 2.6 inch screen and a 3.2 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom, which is a little bit of a letdown as their more premium music phones such as the W995 and the Satio have 8.1 and 12.1 megapixels respectively. However, it does let you geotag snaps, which you can then upload to YouTube, Facebook or Twitter all of which are integrated into the homepage of the handset for easy access. As with all Sony Ericsson phones there are certain features you can expect, and this doesn’t disappoint, featuring Track ID (a Sony Ericsson version of Shazam which lets you identify music that’s playing on the radio by using the internal mic), WalkMate (an internal pedometer) and Shake Control which lets you alter the volume and switch songs with a deft flick of the wrist.
It boasts a 240×320 QVGA screen and features USB 2.0 connectivity as well as Bluetooth, and you get the option to purchase a snap on speaker stand for easier ways to share your tunes. There’s 260 MB of internal memory, but you’ll really want to invest in a microSD card (up to 16GB) to really make use of the phone facilities.

It will be available in three colours, Black, Silver and Pink, from Autumn 2010

The Sony Ericsson Spiro

Not to be confused with the beloved purple dragon (Spyro, for those not in the know) this handset bears few similarities. Fire breathing qualities? Zilch, but it does however have some stake in the cuteness department, as it will be available in a selection of colours. At 90g, it’s 25g lighter than its big brother and is a trimmed down version of the Zylo. This handset has a 2.2 inch QVGA screen, but features so little onboard memory, that forking out for a microSD card is mandatory- but it can handle up to 16GB which is a fair amount of tunes.

The Spiro features many of the same Walkman benefits as the Zylo, with enabled networking applications, TrackID and access to the PlayNow store, but has a 2 megapixel camera and lacks the FLAC codec. It doe however double up as torch (handy when hiking late at night) and features a micro USB connector which makes charging simpler and more efficient.

The handset also features a 3.5mm jack, which means you can use it with your own headphones (hurrah!) and it will be available in Contrast Black, Sunset Pink, Spring Green and Stealth Black. I’m not sure the difference between those two types of black- possibly one will be gloss and the other matte?

Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a mid ranged mobile with music functionality, these babies could make you very happy come Autumn.