Has the new Walkman got the X factor?

Friday 26 June

The Sony X-Series Walkman is Sony’s attempt at wrestling back the portable music crown from Apple. Can it achieve the seemingly impossible? Jon got to grips with Sony’s brand new, jolly expensive, flagship media player to find out.

Almost in an attempt to say “we’re different to the Touch” Sony has designed the X-Series with a sort of “granite” effect – a world away from the glossy-aluminium iPod Touch design. It comes in 16GB and 32GB flavours and has a slightly smaller screen than the Touch at three inches. That said it does trump the Touch by using OLED technology.

Sony players have always provided excellent sound quality, and the X-Series is no different. Sony’s even gone so far as to incorporate built-in digital noise-cancelling tech into the X-Series. But has the big S concentrated too much on the audio side? Can the X-Series match the Touch as an all-round PMP as well as a music player? Jon finds out.

I, in the meantime, have been sorting through all the latest gadget news for you and, as a treat, we take a look back at the best bits from the Wall of Fame. And trust me… there were a lot!