Wednesday, August 1, 2007

A new beginning...

So, my W42S gave up the ghost... well, not entirely; the sound had become erratic, and there is noticable slowdown on the menues. Neither of which is entirely fatal (answering calls still works fine with the headset, just no sound with the phone to my ear).

It will feel the wrath of my screwdriver.

On to bigger and better: the hot new W52S!!

As per the 42s blog, I will start with a lowdown on specs and features, what works out of the box and what doesn't, and the good, the bad, and the ugly.

In later posts, I will get into hacking on it, finding truth in the rumors, and tutorials on all that Japanese stuff that comes with it (and is required to use the phone for anything 'fun')


A low down on specs:
2 gigs internal storage
up to 2 gigs external
a bigger screen
plays video
gizmogadgetry.. yep

heh.. nice spec sheet huh? Ok, truth is, you can get a spec sheet anywhere... what you really want is first impressions and comparissons to the 42s:

Camera:
While the camera is essentially the same specs as the 42, I noticed it takes much better low light photos. Also, there is no manual macro switch. You access macro mode electronicly via the menu now. Sadly, the built in LED is actually DIMMER than the 42.

Overall shape:
To accomidate the larger screen, the shuttle controls we know and love from the 42 had to be moved to the side, in order to keep the phone the same length. Unfortunately the wheel type control ws dropped. Now its just buttons for forward and back. The play/stop/pause button is rather large, but still illuminated.
Due to how things were re-arranged, its a bit inconvienient. Especially the keylock switch. Rather than you thumb, its now index finger, opposite side, and ON TOP.. :/

Memory options:
The more expensive MemoryStickDuo of the 42 was droped in favor of more compact and overall cheaper MicroSD. Good point: its cheaper. Baaaad point: you just wasted cash on a MSDuo you cant use here. dahhhh..

Menu:
Very familiar, yet packed with all sorts of new features.... so, everything you remember from the 42 applies.

Drummmm roollll please... MUSIC features:
umm.. wow.. 2 gigs internal. NICE.. super nice. A lot of the initial problems with the 42s are fixed here. (dare I say, they might be fixed with the latest version of AMP or the old 42 as well). Songs still need to be converted to ATTRAC. Direct MP3 playback isnt going to work. So, everything you know about SonicStage should work. (I have not actually tried SS yet on this phone because......)
Using AMP, you can convert your music library and load songs directly to the phone memory. You DONT NEED EXTERNAL memory, and it will take any song from your library.
Also, indexing on the phone is a bit more logical, with view options for All, by Artist, or By Album.

Supposedly new features: (I.E. yet to be discovered how to do)
1: Play movies and video (have not figured out how to load to the phone in a 'free' manor. Requires Sony Image Converter 3... $20 on top of the $250 you already paid.) Where do the files get stored?

2: Somehow views MS documents such as .txt .doc .ppt and possibly .pdf but where do these documents need to be stored to be accessed?

25 comments:

Unknown said...

please help, i am in the navy and statiojned in yokosuka, japan and just got this phone and no matter how hard i try, i cant get music on it, i get an error message when attempting to start AMP and i cant read it cause its in japanese, any help would be greatly appreciated, i just want music on the phone!!! very nice phone tho.

Makami said...

OK,

I had no problem with mine, but you need to invest a little. If you don't speak Japanese (which i doubt you do considering your occupation), you need to go the easy route.

1. Buy the M2 memory stick. The SD WILL NOT WORK. Trust me on this.

2. Go to an electronics store and get a "Magic Gate" Memory Stick writer by sony. They will run you about 8000 yen for the set.

3. Load the software for the Magic Gate ((Sonic Stage)) and viola! Use it to put mps's onto the phone in the Atrac3 format. Simply load the card to the phone and you are golden.

If you have some skillz, just put AU Music Port on your computer, load the USB Driver and go for it. You need to switch the USB connection mode on the phone to do this (under my seletion menu).

MRE said...

Sorry guys, I was not getting alerts that new comments were comming in.. fixed now.

A: looks like the connectivity error message.. common problem. Check your user settings in AMP. The pass code is usually wrong, causing the error. It is either the 4 digit number they asked for when you signed up, or its 1234. I will make a photo to show you what to put where in the user settings. Also, check over the W42S blog, as a lot of this is covered there as well.

Mark:
That is certainly an option. On the 42 it was relly the only way to go (getting the memstick that is) but you dont need the card writer.
Anyway, the 52 is much better. In fact you dont need any of that gear.

Im using a standard micro SD card, (2 gig) and can load music, movies, and PDF files onto the phone or the mmc. No extra parts required.

I'll get a tutorial up asap. But, its important to note, the myth that the M2 card is the key to it all, is just wrong. Its Sony propaganda.

That being said, I had to really play to get it all working.. but now that it is, the method is super simple.

MRE said...

A:

Are you using the phone cradle, or a USB charge cable?

Many of the USB charge cables that connect directly to the phone, only charge it. They dont connect the data lines, so the phone wont communicate to the PC.

The_Ugly_Beast said...

I just found this site. I am having a problem putting music on the W52S. I understand (and checked with ringing up Sony) that having an English O/S, I can not load my MP3's on the phone. But I asked them that if I bought an M2 plus adapter and load music on, would it work. The Sony woman said maybe.
So I have bought the M2 and adapter but the phone doesn't connect to the uploaded song. I have also downloaded SonicStage but it doesn't work.
I have read the comments but still not fully understanding what to do.
So, can someone who has an English O/S please write step-by-step what I should do. Magic Gate?
Thank you.

MRE said...

Beast:
You have two primary options: 1)use sonic stage. 2)use AMP

For more info, check out the W42S blog for the solutions. More specifically:

Personal choice is AMP, since Sonic Stage will ONLY load onto an M2 memory card. AMP will load onto the phone, or to the a cheap MicroSD card. You wont need the card adaptor for the PC for EITHER method.

To install AMP on an English XP, you need Japanese language support installed and running. An amendment to the post: I have had pretty stable results leaving the language bar on, with the default on English.. I have had a few installations try to go Japanese, and I just uninstal, turn off language support, install the app, then turn it back on.

Linkie: http://w42s.blogspot.com/2007/06/font-toggleing-to-install-aumusicport.html

Useing Sonic Stage, you might have to locate your music on the phone slightly differently.. but anyway, how to get American version of Sonic Stage, how to get to see the phone, and how to use it:
http://w42s.blogspot.com/2007/01/using-american-version-of-sonicstage.html

Both guides apply to the 52S.. only slight file name differences on the Packaged CD...

Finally, A partially translated and often humorous version of AMP.. (install AMP from the CD, then copy these files over the existing setup. NOTICE: I have NOT tried my old translation with the NEW AMP, since I know where things are now, I dont really NEED translation.)
http://w42s.blogspot.com/2007/06/translation.html

lastly, I will be building up a tutorial of AMP with photos.. start to finish. Give me time. In the meantime, if the above links dont help.. then send a message with more info. I'll try to help.

MRE said...

Beast:
The reason your phone does not find the music is that it needs an INDEX file.. the phone makes its own when you load music properly...

You could TRY putting the songs onto the AUinout folder of the memory card. On the phone it appears as "external memory, PC folder" Then, copy those files to the phone or extrnal memory (a phone accessable folder). Select "File Corresponded" when it ask for location. This will assign it as music, and HOPEFULLY add it to the music index. I have tried this method with movies and documents, and it works great. Id imagine it will also work with music and photos.
Remember to convert those music files to ATTRAX format using Sonic Stage first.


And.. yeah.. techsupport at Sony and AU dont know shit about fuck. English OR Japanese.

The_Ugly_Beast said...

MRE:
I like your last comment of the day! I will try this but if you can, can you do a step-to-step instruction about AMP as I am pretty sure myself and "a" won't be the only ones stuck.
Thank you!

The_Ugly_Beast said...

MRE:
I actually did try putting the songs on AU_inout. And did all the things you mentioned. Even now I tried this again. However after pressing "File Corresponded", this came up.

"Can not copy Unknown data"

This is frustrating!

The_Ugly_Beast said...

Well, I figured I'm just stupid! AMP - WinAMP?
SonicStage (American Version) does put the songs on the phone and the songs do have the SonicStage emblem, but won't play. Anyway on SonicStage it says that the songs will only play under a Memory Stick PRO.

Makami said...

OK!

New method:

I got my computer loading music onto the phones memory with sonic stage!

The key was using an older version of Sonic Stage. 3.1 will recognize an "atrac device" under transfer settings. From there it was identical to sending files to the memory.

It appears as though the phone is partitioned. It only allowed about 512mb to load to the phone memory. It still holds about 160 songs this way, so I am happy.

I ate sushi in Hiroshima yesterday while watching a movie on the memory stick. I did buy the M2, and am quite happy with it. My computer is a vaio, and the proprietary software allows me greater freedom with it.

That being said, where do i store files on the phone to be pulled up by the phones software? I want to load pics directly from the computer, and cant figure it out. Also, it should be able to view word docs. Where can i store these for access?

Makami said...

One more thing!

Sony vaios have "vaio content exporter" on them from the factory. If you use this, you can send files to the memorystick no prob!

MRE said...

Beast and a:

I am working on a step by step, complete with pictures to load music via AMP (Au Music Port), with English help text on the photo next to the Japanese. I am almost done with the pics. Maby it will be up Tuesday or Wednesday?

Beast: The "file Corresponded" trick is for documents, movies, and photos. I dont think it works like that for music. Although, it may.... BUT the music would need to be in converted Atrak format... I have not tried it.
My experience with Sonic Stage is limited to the 42S.. I dont have an M2 card for the 52S, so my version of Sonic Stage cant find the phone. Im not sure why your songs wont play. Perhaps mark is more qualified to answer this one..? Are you trying to play the songs from the auMusic Menu or from the Data folder menu?

MARK:
Thanks for the Vio info.. nice to know..
That partition thing really baffles me. I dont know why they did it. It is the same on the MicroSD card. I *think* this is the backup area that is mentioned in the phone data folder menus, but I have not played with it.
Anyway, you should still be able to load and import music, documents, and movies into the larger partition using the methods I have outlined. Lemme know if any of these work or not on the M2 card.

MRE said...

Beast:
oooops.. I suppose I DID tell you to try putting your files in the IO folder and try "file corresponded." My appologies! But, thank you for doing the experiement!!!!! ;) I had not tried it with music that way yet.
anyway, tutorial is on its way.

In the meantime, if you have not read the Au Music Port (AMP) guide on the w42s site, do that now.. particualarly the part about enabling language support on your pc to install the sotware. The next guide (loading music) will assume you have the software loaded, and it recognizes the phone. (you may not be able to get past the first screen, but the software knows the phone is there.)

Unknown said...

I was wondering if the scandisk m2 card would work with SonicStage or does if have to be the sony stick?

MRE said...

M I dont think it matters much. I will have to check when I return home on Sunday, but I think my card my old phone is a Sandisk.

Unknown said...

WoooHOOO!!! I got AMP to work...windows firewall was stopping it.

Can you create folders on your phone for different albums or do you have to scroll in the music player to go to the beginning of that album?

Thank you for all your help

R


PS: Your blog Rocks!! I could'nt have done it without you... THX

MRE said...

R - Thanks for your thanks! heh.
Dont forget to check out the w52s blog as well.

Firewall... never thought of that! good tip!

Folders: nope. unfortunately ALL data sits in the same main folder. If you have a mem card as well, then your data is between those TWO main folders.

However, if you upload a complete album, with all the mp3 metatags properly entered, then you will be able to find them by album from the phone's music menu. I dont have my 42s with me (im still on vacation.) but on the 52S its the music menu option that looks like a spinning CD.

MRE said...

p.s. The picture of an orange man is for 'find by artist' and the music note is for 'song title'

Unknown said...

Thx I will try that...I have the W52s... I have read all of your blogs on the w42 and 52...it is all very useful....I would love to buy you a beer for all of your help...If your ever on okinawa let me know. :)

MRE said...

R - :) I may get there eventually... and I LOVE BEERS!

The_Ugly_Beast said...

It's Martin again.

Yes, I did "change" my PC to Japanese under Regional and Language. And it "did" work.

The question I have is, I have over 12,000 songs and my understanding is the songs have to be original. My problem is most of the songs that did come up and transfer through au Music Port were ones that people gave me and I burned them to my PC. What determines whether or not a song is orginal. I have over 12,000 song but only say 50 songs picked up on au Music Port.

UglyBeast

Anonymous said...

I bought w52s phone in Japan and unable to download CD because message comes that it did not understand the language. You have written that...
1: Download and install Sonic Stage from: http://sonicstage.connect.com/SS-US.zip
(unzip, run the install file. follow directions.. easy)
2: Insert your W52S CD.
I could not download Sonic Stage from aforesaid page also. Do i have to pay money to buy "Winzip" software to download sonic stage and unzip files ? because message coming my time has expired to use winzip evaluation version.
what to do now ?
if i cant pass first step, how to go to next step...?

Anonymous said...

Hello Mre, thanks for email. I checked as you told after downloading the software you told me. still message is coming in the end after extracting few lines . (Cant install with this windows language (20993))
please help me. I could never listen any choice music for what purpose I had spent money...
Vicky

guman said...

i need help
how use any music in the fone as a ringtone?
i have enough music 4 build a discotech!!!!