A random Polish auction site probably isn't the first place we'd think to look for leaked prototype Sony Ericsson hardware, but heck, maybe it should be. This here stylish, brown, brushed metal candybar showed up recently on allegro.pl, bearing the telltale "SE123" badge on its rear and all the signs of a successor to the 9.4mm W880i: a listed 3.2 megapixel camera (up from the Ai's 2 megapixel piece), UMTS, 12mm case thickness, Memory Stick Micro M2 slot, and a slightly -- okay, significantly less ridiculous numeric keypad. You might argue that it's a step down in the looks department from its supposed predecessor, but with the better cam, better keypad, and we'd imagine a slightly tighter fit by launch, we're guessing it'll have a few takers. You didn't forget EDGE this time around, did you, Sony Ericsson?

[Via Unwired View]

Just like we thought, Sony Ericsson officially launched their W880 (Ai) Walkman musicphone today. Good thing too, 'cause all the leaked photos and SE teasers were getting a bit tiresome. So was the wait worth it? Depends, do you like slim musicphones swaddled in brushed stainless steel? At just 9.4-millimeters thin, it's SE's slimmest Walkman phone yet and packs a 1.8" QVGA 262k TFT display and 2 megapixel camera with a 1GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card included in the box. It also comes pre-loaded with Walkman Player 2.0, Disc2Phone music management, and the TrackID music recognition applications. It also features a Flight Mode for use on the airplane and battery capable of up to 20-hours of music playback or up to 6 hours 30 mins of talk time. Good so far right? Sadly for those of us in The States, it'll only be sportin' UMTS 2100 and GSM 900/1800/1900 when it hits Europe in Q1. A GSM-only variant dubbed the W888 is headed to China. Check the gallery below for a taste of what might have been.

Oh yes it is. That's the Sony Ericsson W880 "Ai" Walkman up there comin' atcha straight out of Sweden. We still don't know if the tri-band GSM / UMTS and QVGA specs are the real deal or not. But that's definitely a 2 megapixel camera on the back. Now, according to Swedish site NYA!mobil.se (via a bit of janky machine translation), the Walkman W880 will apparently join the living on Tuesday, 6 February -- in Sweden anyway, home country of the Ericsson half of that SE equation. At this point, that date seems fair enough. Besides, they've managed to get their hands on the device so they must know a little something, eh? More pics including a peep at the user interface after the break.

[Thanks, David]

We've seen Sony Ericsson's darling go from the drawing board to cardboard and from photo shoot to quasi-realization, and now the FCC is giving us all precisely what we knew was coming. The handset formerly known as "Ai" has now been granted a pass by the Commission, setting things in motion for the W880i to grace the hands of civilians sooner rather than later. No, there's no new deets concerning price or release information, but all those out there yearning for this handset to hit your market shouldn't be in the dark for too much longer, as we're officially on the home stretch now. Be sure to hit the read link for all the specifics from the Commish itself, if you're into that kind of thing.

It ain't exactly the full disclosure we were hoping for, but hey, baby steps... Sony Ericsson's at least admitting the W880 "Ai" exists now, and that counts for something, right? The press release couldn't possible be more sparse, simply stating that the handset "will blend astonishing good looks with all of the music-centred features that fans have come to expect" from Walkman phones and more details will be provided closer to release in the first half of '07. And, oh yeah, there are a couple teaser shots that manage to be even less revealing than the plethora of spy shots we've already scored; at least they're kinda artsy.

[Thanks, Mike]

The gig's up, Sony Ericsson; everyone's scooped this thing, and you've no option but to come clean at this point. While there's still no telling when exactly the W880i "Ai" is gonna go official, we've seen it from pretty much every conceivable angle now, and Russian site MobileLife has published some possible specs brought over from Esato. We could be looking at tri-band GSM plus UMTS (presumably on the 2100MHz band only), a QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, and Memory Stick Micro slot -- all of which are believable enough, though we think it's genuinely inexcusable at this point for a halo model from any major manufacturer like this to come equipped without quadband GSM, if not tri-band UMTS. That's alright, folks, we don't want your love anyway... we're not sold on the Ai's styling quite yet. Maybe the next batch of spy shots'll clear it up for us?

[Thanks, Jabar]

It's practically a foregone conclusion that the first shots of anything these days just have to sport the most atrocious quality possible, as anything better would just ruin the mystique and allure. Running par for the course, the first snapshot we saw of Sony Ericsson's presumably forthcoming "Ai" thinphone looked more like a smattering of pixels than an actual image, but we've now found a few pictures that confirm the general shape, size, and layout. While we're not sure if the firm will stick with the "Ai" moniker, there's word that it could be marketed as a Chocolate-rivaling Walkman (W880i?), but time shall tell. Be sure to hit the read link for a few more shots.

Member shaliron over at Esato appears to have done some serious homework compiling a list of all known Sony Ericsson handsets in the pipeline, complete with nifty color coding to indicate verified, debunked, and new intelligence. We encourage Sony Ericsson fans and non-fans alike to go check out the real deal, but in the meanwhile, we've put together a Reader's Digest peek here at some of the highlights. First up, the music-oriented Walkman series could be growing by a solid six devices in the coming months, topped off by a successor to the UIQ-based W950 codenamed "Maria," a (possibly UIQ-based) clamshell dubbed W910, and the oft-discussed Ai. The camera-focused (no pun inteded) Cyber-shot series will be enjoying a bumper crop itself: a successor to the K800 is allegedly already in the works, "Sofia," packing a 5 megapixel shooter, UMTS, and QVGA recording, while a possible Handycam-branded M600 variant would obviously reign supreme for its video capabilities. Other highlights include a promise that HSDPA will factor into the company's 2007 plans, a wide-scale migration of the FastPort connector to the sides of the handsets, and a shortening of the span from announcement to release of UIQ-based models (a move we applaud). As we said, there's plenty more juicy tidbits to digest over at Esato -- but even with what we've presented here, it's safe to say Sony Ericsson's shaping up for a killer '07. Any UIQ or 3G love for the US of A, folks?

Not long after word spread that Sony Ericsson wanted to get into the thinphone game with its "Ai" handset sometime next year, pictures are starting to circulate of something that is claiming to be a prototype of the device. Rumored to sport 3G data, a 2 megapixel cam, and a rubberized 9.4mm-thick body with aluminum keys (or foil-wrapped Chiclets -- same difference), we personally think these fuzzy shots look more like a poorly constructed joke than an actual phone, but who knows? Maybe these super-early concept phones painstakingly hand-built by Sony Ericsson's brightest and best look... well, hand-built.

[Via Slashphone]

Alright, we know Moto had some mild success with this "RAZR" phone of theirs, but we're pretty much done with comparisons already. Sony Ericsson is prepping a thin new candybar phone for March of next year, the 9.4mm thick "Ai," and while stock holders and rumor mongers might like tossing the "RAZR rival" spiel around, we're just not seeing it. What we are seeing is a pretty sexy sounding phone from a company on the rise -- Sony Ericsson recently overtook LG to slide back into fourth position. The phone, which hasn't actually been confirmed by SE yet, but which seems to be a fairly open secret by now, will be coming in silver and black editions, and purportedly will be positioned as a high-end Walkman camera phone. We'll be sure to keep an eye of out for spy shots of a handset that looks absolutely nothing like Motorola's flagship offering.