Sony Ericsson yesterday launched a Walkman-branded music phone with an iTrip-style FM radio transmitter built in to beam songs to nearby car stereos and hi-fi units. The snag: the stylish W525 is only available in Japan.

 
Sony Ericsson's W525: curvy

The W525 is a curvacious slider with 2GB of on-board memory, a two-megapixel camera and a Memory Stick Micro M2 card slot. The screen is a video-friendly widescreen 2.7in, 240 x 432 job with Sony's RealityMax image enhancement technology - a key component, the company claimed, of its Bravia LCD TV family.

The handset's dedicated music playback keys are on the side of the phone and illuminated for easy access. The W525's good for almost four hours' talk time, Sony Ericsson said.

We're not sure about the pink model, but the blue W525 looks rather smart and certainly more fun than the black and orange Walkman phones Sony Ericsson has lined up for Western consumers. Come on, folks, get this puppy over here too.