Sony Ericsson to unveil RAZR rival early ‘07

Sony Ericsson will unveil its rival to the RAZR, dubbed “Ai,” in March next year, the source said.

Inspired by Japanese tennis player Ai Sugiyama, the sleek candy bar-shaped phone will measure 9.4 millimeters in thickness, slimmer than the RAZR’s 14 millimeters. It is expected to be launched in black and silver. When contacted, a Sony Ericsson Asia Pacific spokeswoman said the company does not comment on new models that have not been announced.

Unconfirmed rumors about “Ai” and other new models from Sony Ericsson have also been circulating in various online blogs.

Sony Ericsson jumped back into fourth position — from fifth place — for the first time in two years in the second quarter, overtaking LG Electronics Inc., according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

It also became the world’s most profitable cellphone maker in the third quarter, pipping industry leader, Finland’s

Sony Ericsson, which suffered heavy losses four years ago, has benefited from strong demand for its high-end Walkman music and Cybershot digital camera phones.

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Sony Ericsson To Buy UIQ from Symbian

Sony Ericsson, the world’s fourth largest mobile-phone maker, has agreed to buy software company UIQ Technology, whose applications are used on many of Sony Ericsson’s high-end handsets.

“UIQ offers excellent technical flexibility, enabling us to provide compelling features such as push e-mail, Internet browsing, end-user personalization, and enhanced music applications,” Mats Lindoff, the company’s chief technology officer, said in a statement.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. However, Sony Ericsson expects the transaction to be completed over the next few months, pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

UIQ Technology will operate as a separate subsidiary under Sony Ericsson, and its products will be “openly available, licensed on equal terms to all its licensees,” according to the company.

Capabilities, Services

Sony Ericsson is already the largest licensee of UIQ’s software, with UIQ 3.0 being used in the recent P990, M600, and W950 handsets.

The buy is expected to strengthen the capabilities and services available for phones based on UIQ 3.0 and the popular Symbian OS while allowing the company to focus on core product development.

“By acquiring UIQ, we will further invest and exploit the full potential of UIQ on Symbian’s operating system for phone vendors, mobile operators, developers and consumers,” said Lindoff.

Linked Past

This latest deal is part of a long history of partnerships between all three companies. In 1998, Ericsson Mobile Communications set up Mobile Applications Lab, the company that went on to become UIQ. And in 1999, UIQ became part of Symbian.

The move comes just days after Sony Ericsson competitor Vodafone announced it is working with Microsoft to develop software in an effort to ramp up new smartphone services. According to Vodafone, the companies are working on software designed to speed up the development of new services and applications for Windows Mobile devices.

The first device to be built using the new Microsoft-Vodafone software will come from handset vendor Samsung and will be released in the first half of 2007.

Source: newsfactor.com

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Sony Ericsson K790a

Sony Ericsson K790a Features include a built-in 3.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot digital camera with 16x digital zoom, image stabilization, and flash, music and video player, 2″ 240×320 screen, FM radio, 64MB internal memory, Memory Stick Micro slot, 4.1-ounce weight, speakerphone, up to seven hours of talk time, and Bluetooth, USB, and PictBridge connectivity.

CNET reviews the Sony Ericsson K790a and writes “There’s a lot to tell about the K790a’s innards, but we’ll get the basics out of the way first. The phone book holds a respectable 1,000 contacts, with room in each entry for five phone numbers, Web and e-mail addresses, a work title and company name, work and home street addresses, a birth date, and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 names). You can organize contacts into groups and pair them with a photo for caller ID. You can pair contacts with a ring tone as well, but oddly only 16 72-chord polyphonic tones are included. Fortunately the K790a supports MP3 tones, and you can even use videos for caller ID as well. Other essential offerings include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a calendar, a task list, a timer, a stopwatch, a calculator, a notepad, and a voice memo recorder (space is limited by the available memory).”

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Sony Ericsson Z610i

The first thing that strikes you about the Z610i is its simple, clutter-free appearance. Much like the uniform glossy surface on the LG Chocolate, the seamless mirror-like surface on the cover of the Z610i exudes an elegant yet charming personality that will appeal to those who want an elegant and not too flashy-looking handset.

According to Eiji Shintani, Sony Ericsson’s art director at its Creative Design Center: “The unique design of the Z610i is inspired by nature. We have applied a mirror finish and used a hidden display for the first time to achieve the feel of a calm ocean surface.” The Z610i will be available in three attractive shades–black, pink and blue.

To complete the whole seamless experience, Sony Ericsson has thoughtfully built an OLED display just below the reflective cover. When the phone is in idle mode, the surface produces a sleek mirror-like effect. On activation, the OLED screen will illuminate to give the effect of a floating display on the surface.

Read full Preview on CNET

Sony Ericsson Z610i Specs:
- 3G handset
- 2 megapixel camera
- VGA camera
- Bluetooth with A2DP support
- video and MP3 playback
- WAP
- Email and messaging
- USB connection with included cable and data suite.

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Sony Ericsson W300i

CNET reviews the W300i and writes “Using the included Disc2Phone software and USB cable, which also charges the phone, we tried loading music onto our W300i. Transfer time was relatively slow at 30 seconds for a 5MG song, so you’ll have to be patient for a large transfer. On the whole, however, the software is easy to install and exhibited few of the quirks we found on previous models. What’s more, the phone didn’t turn off automatically when we disconnected the USB cable. Music quality was on a par with that of other Walkman phones: clear and crisp, though one transferred song had some very minor hiccups. The W300i won’t replace a stand-alone MP3 player, but it does the job admirably for short stints.

Our one real complaint was that the phone had a tendency to freeze during normal operation, such as when we were scrolling through a menu or when we were using the USB connection. On one occasion, we had to reboot, but more often, the phone unfroze after a couple seconds.

The W300i has a rated talk time of 9 hours and a promised standby time of 16.5 days. Our talk-time test result came in a bit short at 8 hours, but that’s still respectable. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sony Ericsson W300i has a digital SAR rating of 1.42 watts per kilogram.”

The good: Good call quality; top-notch MP3 player; generous set of features.

The bad: Poorly designed controls and keypad buttons; low-grade picture quality; tendency to freeze on occasion in our tests.

The bottom line: Though it has a few design and performance glitches, the Sony Ericsson W300i is a quality, basic MP3 cell phone.

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