Sony have revamped their Walkman range and the new models are the E470 Series. They feature a similar design to their previous Walkmans and come in a variety of colors including red, blue, green, pink and bronze. The new Walkman range however is their thinnest today measuring 7mm thick. The E470 features a 2 inch display and Karaoke mode, along with a few games, such as Sudoku and Tetrist.

For those looking for something a bit more advanced, Sony have also announced the F800 Series of Walkmans. The F800 Series runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. The F800 features a 3.5 inch display and not only supports Windows Media Player for transferring music but, also supports iTunes and can be connected via a cable or through Bluetooth.

Both the E470 and F800 will go on sale next month from Sony Stores. The E470 is priced at $79.99, $89.99 and $109.99 for the 4GB, 8GB and 16GB models respectively. The F800 starts at $269.99 for a 16GB model, while the 32GB model is priced at $299.99.

With CES 2012 now over, we’ve compiled a list of Sony specific announcements and news from the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas.

We also learned some key stats from the event, such as more than 60 billion hours of Sony Music is listened to each year and there are more than a billion people who watch Sony movies and TV shows each year. There will be 300 million Sony networked devices in market over the next three years and there are currently 900 million products in households.

The Press conference also covered the Sony Entertainment Network and why it exists, which summed up is “to give consumers a single, cloud based, place for all their networked content (games, music, movies, TV shows), with one login and one digital wallet”.

The Sony PlayStation Vita will launch February 22nd with Netflix in the US and the Sony Tablet P will be released shortly and both will come with Sony Entertainment access.

The next stage in Sony Entertainment Network is PlayMemories Online which will let you host your photos and video “on the cloud”. This will launch in spring.

Xperia Handsets:
Sony Xperia ION is the first LTE smartphone from Sony and will be exclusive to AT&T in the US. Featuring a 4.5 inch display, 1.5GHz dual core processor and 12 megapixel camera, the Xperia ION along with the Xperia S will be the first handsets to drop the Ericsson branding since Sony bought Ericsson out of the joint venture. The Xperia S features similar specifications as the ION, a 12 megapixel camera and a 1.5GHz processor but, will come with a 4.3 inch display and will be released globally.

Cameras and Camcorders:
Sony’s top 2012 camcorders will come with a new technology called Balanced Optical Steadyshot which will reduce handshake blur by as much as 13 percent. We will also see camcorders with built in projectors with the ability to show images of up to 100 inchs on a wall with enhanced audio. The Bloggie Live Camera was also announced. A new Bloggie that allows you to stream video directly from the Bloggie camera using a Qik account. The Bloggie Live Camera features built in WiFi and is in stores now.

Google TV:
A Blu-Ray player with Google TV packed with features and enhanced Media Remote usage, an Android app that is available on the Sony Tablet S and Sony Xperia phones.

Music:
Sony will be launching an Android powered Walkman. The Walkman Z series features built in WiFi allowing you to connect to the Android Market and can be connected to a TV via a HDMI cable or DLNA. Sony have also announced Balanced Armiture Headphones which are around a quarter of the size of regular noise cancelling headphones.

Certain services on the PlayStation network and on Qriocity are to be reopened, according to a press release from Sony. Kazuo Hirai, the head of the PlayStation department has made a statement apologising for the error that caused over 75 million PSN users to have their confidential details stolen by hackers. He has also announced that some services on PSN will resume

“The organisation has worked around the clock to bring these services back on line and are doing so only after we had verified increased levels of security across our networks. These illegal attacks obviously highlight the widespread problem with cyber-security” – Mr Hirai

Sony have also announced that the PlayStation 3 is to recieve a compulsory system software update which will make users change passwords before they can use the network again. Sony intend implimenting a number of new security measures including more intricate firewalls and data protection and by allowing users to change passwords only from the PS3 console that they first activated the password on or by activating through email.

The ‘limited’ services that Sony are reopening on the PlayStation Network and Qriocity are expected to be up and running within the next week or so.

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Sony have announced the release of ten new additions to their headphone ranges, which will be available to buy from March.

There are two new ‘ranges’ as such including the  MDR-ZX series and the MDR-EX series and they are joined by the arrival of the MDR-Z1000, which is a professional monitor headphone. The MDR-ZX range includes the ZX 700, Zx 500, ZX 300 and the ZX 100 models and are a closed-type earphone design. The MDR-EX range are an ‘in ear’ type of headphone and includes the EX510LP, EX 50 EX 40, EX12iP models. The EX12iP is designed specifically to match the ipod, iPhone and iPad range and has in-line control.

Features of the range are shown in the table below (click on image):

Research is showing that for a brief moment at least, Sony have taken the crown in Japan and have sold more Walkmans than Apple have sold iPods in the last month.

It might not seem like a big deal on the surface but, since 2001 when research company BCN began compiling their monthly sales stats, this is just the second time that Sony have come out on top (which lasted a week), with Apple and their iPod range outselling their competitors for the rest of the time. Last month the Sony Walkman held a 47.8% share of the market where as the iPod had 44%. Many expect this will all change when the new iPod models are released by Apple in Japan but, for the time being Sony can puff out it’s corporate feathers and celebrate it’s victory in the Japanese market.

Between them Sony and Apple hold around a 90% share of the market for portable music players in Japan anyway, so there is no real loser in this battle anyway.

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Over at Gizmo Dot, the folks have got hold of the popular NWZ-E443 Walkman from Sony. The E443 is available in both red and black and in 4GB or 8GB variants. The model unboxed is the red 4GB version which retails for around £60 in the UK.

The 4GB of storage can store around 1000 tracks or 15 hours of video. The battery can last for around 30 hours while playing music, or 6 hours while watching videos. An FM Radio is also built in, so if you fancy a break from your music tracks, you have an alternative option. The Walkman also supports the viewing of photos. As for transferring media, it can be done easily on the Walkman with Windows explorer, no need for a seperate client to transfer music and video. The E443 Walkman features a proprietary port, which is a bit of a disappointment, mini USB would have been much better but, a cable is provided with the Walkman for transferring media and charging via computer. An additional wall charger can be purchased for the Walkman, or alternatively, an AC adapter that features a USB connection port, as found with many new phones, such as the Xperia X10.