Sony Unveils Android 4.1-Based Walkman F886

The weatherproof Xperia Z1 smartphone might be the start of Sony’s portable products at IFA, but it’s not the only device there. The company also announced the Walkman F886, an Android 4.1-based media player and a follow up to its Walkman F805.

The F886 features Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a 4-inch Sony Triluminos LCD screen, offering full access to the Google Play Store and making the media player Sony’s answer to the iPod touch.

While it can serve as a video player and a mini-tablet/offline smartphone, the F886 is focused primarily on high-resolution audio. The player supports playback of WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and Apple lossless formats at 192KHz/24bit, and sports a slew of audio-processing features like the Digital Sound Enhancement Engine HX that Sony claims improves the quality of compressed audio formats, Clear Audio+ that Sony claims produces more crisp, realistic sound, and digital noise cancelling that Sony claims can block out 98 percent of ambient noise when listening through headphones.

According to Sony, the F886 can play MP3 files for up to 35 hours or high-resolution audio formats for up to 26 hours. It features NFC for one-touch Bluetooth pairing with compatible devices, and its thin frame has playback buttons mounted on the side so you can control what you’re listening to without tapping the screen or relying on headphone controls.

Sony has not announced pricing or whether the F886 will be available in North America.