Sony’s latest Walkman portable media player is basically an Android phone that doesn’t make phone calls, but which makes up for that oversight by offering long battery life and high-quality audio playback.

The Sony Walkman F886 is an Android-powered media player with a 4 inch, 854 x 480 pixel display, support for 24-bit, 192 KHz audio, and up to 35 hours of MP3 audio playback or 26 hours of 24-bit, 96 KHz audio.

It’s basically an Android device for folks that don’t need a phone, but who do value audio fidelity.

Sony Walkman F886

The Sony Walkman F886 features an S-Master HX digital amplifier and digital noise cancellation technology. It supports WAV, FLAC, AIFF, and Apple lossless audio files, as well as MP3 music.

It supports WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC, so you can pair it with an NFC-compatible Bluetooth headset by tapping the Walkman to your headphones.

The device runs Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and features support for the Google Play Store, which means you’ll be able to run most Android apps. But it’s pretty clear that the Walkman is designed first and foremost for media playback.

That makes Sony’s decision not to include a microSD card slot a bit strange. While you can certainly fit an awful lot of standard quality MP3 files in the 32GB of built-in storage, it’ll quickly fill up if you start loading up the device with 24-bit, 96 KHz or higher quality audio files.

The Sony Walkman F886 is up for pre-order in the UK for £249, including VAT. That’s about $389 US, but it’d likely be cheaper if and when it goes on sale in the US.

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7 replies on “Sony Walkman F886: 4 inch Android media player with 24-bit/192KHz audio”

  1. Okay, so it “supports” 192/24 audio, but will they have an online store with actual 192/24 files to download? If so, sign me up. Otherwise it’s kind of meaningless.

  2. Do people who care enough about music to buy something like this (rather than just use their cell) not need more space than that? I can barely get by with my iPod classic at 160gigs. That is only about 400 full albums on medium quality MP3. I am waiting for a 500gig player that is similar in design.

  3. No camera! That was what stopped me from buying the Walkman Z. Sony makes such great cameras for phones, I just wish they would add one to a Walkman. That would make this some serious competition over the iPod Touch.
    Guess I’ll just beam pictures to it with NFC or WiFi Direct

  4. I have listened to music on my smart phone but it seems to drain the battery quicker which could be used later when I need to call someone. I think this is a good idea since – as it is stated above – the battery lasts longer. One can use the memory just for music whereas the cell phone would need the space for data and apps. I hope it is lower when sold in the US. I think it would appeal to many. I think not having a micro sd card slot is a mistake.

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