Sony Ericsson have been pushing the boundaries of mobile technology by incorporating fitness and sports applications into their latest phone releases. This technology has been partnered with the manufacturers Walkman software to allow users to engage in sports activities and use their mobile phone to listen to music instead of taking a second music device such as a stand alone MP3 Player along with them.

The Sony Ericsson W580i features the latest version of music software, Walkman 2.0, allowing for download, stream, store and play back of music tracks.

The Walkman software makes managing the music tracks and playlists easier so that with one click the user can enter the music player option, play, rewind, fast forward, equalise, shuffle tracks and create playlists as with a standard standalone music player. To compliment Walkman 2.0 there is also another piece of software called Disc2phone which allows the user to transfer music tracks direct from a CD to the handset by 'dragging and dropping' the desired tracks on the screen of a PC directly into the phones memory.

Another feature to enhance the listening experience is MegaBass, this adds stereo widening and depth for a broader sound either through the handsets built-in speaker system or via headset and earphones.

Most MP3 players now feature a randomising function for random selection of tracks from a playlist, the W580i takes this one step further by encouraging the user to simply hold a dedicated button and shaking the handset, when the phone vibrates the software has selected and switched the track.

Following on with the musical theme the W580i also offers an FM Radio that will tune to local and national stations and features RDS technology displaying the name of the station as well as artist and track recognition.

One final music orientated feature is called TrackID, this is recognition software that will send a recording to the Gracenote Mobile MusicID database and within seconds send back the name of the artists and track to the handset. This is particularly useful if the user is out in bars and nightclubs, instead of having to ask the DJ which track they are playing they can simply record a couple of seconds of the music and find out themselves.

Away from the music features the W580i offers a 2.0 megapixel digital camera with zoom and flash plus support for video playback and record. there is also the facility for the user to keep a mobile blog by uploading their pictures, adding text and publishing their work in order to keep friends and family up to date with their life movements and thoughts.

The phone has Bluetooth technology installed for wireless connections to compatible devices such as other mobile phones, TVs, Laptops and PCs. Users can send and receive picture, video, music and software files without the need for cable connections.

As mentioned before the W580i features some very different software that will aid people who engage in sports and fitness, there is a pedometer for keeping track of the number of steps the user makes and a stopwatch for timing trials. Users can listen to their favourite music tracks whilst out jogging and keep an eye on their progress.

To store the numerous amounts of files that are generated from the camera and music player the W580i offers an expandable memory with the use of M2 Memory Stick memory cards taking the overall storage space up to 2GB.

The Sony Ericsson W580i Style White addition to the Walkman range is a clever move from the manufacturer as research shows that one of the most popular colours chosen by consumers for their MP3 Player is white and so will appeal to those who no longer wish to carry more than one gadget.

This is a sleek, slider phone and portable music device all in one and now with its new colour scheme is sure to attract attention.