Sony Ericsson takes digital imaging in camera phones to new heights with the launch of the K800 and K790 phones, the first handsets to carry the Cyber-shot™ brand, a true mark of imaging quality. Both are highly capable mobile phones with integrated 3.2 Megapixel digital cameras with Autofocus, Xenon flash and BestPic™ - Sony Ericsson’s unique imaging technology that allows you to capture exactly the moment you desire. K800 and K790 combine advanced image capture capabilities with high speed data transfer, making them perfect tools for shooting and sharing high quality pictures and videos. K800 is a dual-mode UMTS/GPRS phone and the K790 is a Tri Band EDGE phone. Both are available from Q2 2006.

“With the Cyber-shot™ phone we aim to create a new lifestyle of ‘imaging communication’ by combining Sony Ericsson’s unique mobile applications and Sony digital imaging technologies,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, Senior Vice President, Product and Application Planning, Sony Ericsson. “Our aim has always been to innovate and create new values for the mobile life, and with the Cyber-shot™ phone we will enable anyone to enjoy an entirely new level of communication –taking quality pictures of anything, anytime and anywhere, and sharing their precious moments with others.”

The handsets have a classic Sony Ericsson design, with a large screen and responsive, tactile keypad with a sleek and stylish dual front phone design. Turn the phones horizontally and there you have a digital still camera. Simply slide the active lens cover downwards and a user interface similar to that of a Cyber-shot™ camera automatically appears.

Full HTML browsing with RSS feeds and Google Search give you high-speed, graphic-rich Internet use. Support for standard push email and a connectivity suite comprising Bluetooth® 2.0, USB 2.0 and Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) means that keeping in touch is effortless. A complete entertainment package including music player (MP3, WMA, etc), 3D gaming and an RDS FM radio are also provided for business downtime or relaxation.

Read the full press release

W950 ultra-stylish UMTS WALKMAN® phone is a dream for mobile music lovers.

The W950 is an ultra-slim, ultra-stylish, UMTS-enabled device with 4GB of onboard storage complete with touch screen for simple navigation through music genres, playlists, individual songs or music albums.

More than a music phone, broadband-fast email and Web browsing plus a suite of high performance entertainment applications add to its capabilities, making it one of the most highly specified phones in the Sony Ericsson portfolio.

The W950’s design will turn the heads of the most avid style aficionados. Its thin, sleek and compact form is finished in Mystic Purple, fingerprint-proof matt with orange accents. The purity of its design is strengthened by the keypad being flush with the surface, and orange backlighting that brings the music keys to life in a stunning, practical way.

The music player within the W950 has the functionality and sound quality of an equivalent standalone device. Its 4GB storage can take up to 4,000 songs and the sound quality, delivered on high quality headphones, makes listening to music a real pleasure. A new graphic-rich interface on the Walkman® player makes it easy to navigate around the music library by song, artist or playlist and now it’s possible to search visually by browsing through album covers using the stylus and touch screen. The W950 has all the benefits of a combined phone and music player, enabling multitasking between listening to music, SMS texting, emailing and browsing the Internet.

Getting music into the W950 is fast and simple and can be done in a number of ways. The supplied Disc2Phone music management software is an intuitive package that handles transfer to the phone of music stored in the user’s PC. UMTS capability also makes the W950 ready for fast direct-to-phone transfers from available operators’ download services.

Beyond music, the W950 is a complete mobile entertainment centre that delivers great speed and exceptional quality sound and vision. Users can now enjoy the complete spectrum of mobile multimedia applications, from web browsing, push email and video streaming to 3D gaming and store-and-share of media files. Besides music, 4GB is enough storage for a wealth of photos, video’s or email attachments in the phone.

Stereo sound through wireless headphones is now possible as the W950 support Bluetooth streaming in stereo. The Bluetooth Stereo Headset HBH-DS970 also announced today and available as an accessory delivers high quality stereo sound through stylish, comfortable headphones.

W950 is the 3rd Sony Ericsson phone based on the new Symbian v9.1 and UIQ 3.0 platform, benefiting from a growing multitude of third party applications. All of these applications are available to download from the Sony Ericsson Application Shop, an online catalogue that is stocked directly by third party developers.

The Sony Ericsson W950 is a Dual Mode UMTS Walkman phone starts shipping during Q3 2006. Regional variations are:

W950i - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific,Middle East, Africa
W950c - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China (launch for mainland China dependent on availability of 3G services.)

For full technical specs check the Press Release

Tags: W950, W950i

Sony Ericsson announces the K610, a slim, lightweight and affordable UMTS imaging phone that opens up the world of 3G for a much wider population. Just 17mm thick and weighing 92 grams, the K610 is the size and weight of a typical 2G stick phone and will be one of the smallest and lightest 3G phones to come on the market. It packs into its slender frame a suite of advanced communications, business and entertainment applications plus a 2 Megapixel camera, Memory Stick removable storage and Bluetooth connectivity.

“The K610 is a classic Sony Ericsson design reminiscent of the iconic and much loved T610 with a balance of form and function that makes it pretty irresistible,” said Jan Wäreby, Corporate Executive Vice President, Head of Sales and Marketing

The K610’s pure lines combine with a solid, quality feel to make it a pleasure to hold and use. It is also incredibly practical and easy to use, with bright illumination plus large keypad and 262K colour display.

UMTS connectivity and a 2 Megapixel camera makes the K610 an ideal tool to shoot images and share them instantly – whether for business or pleasure. Creating a photoblog is easily done by just adding text to images and posting them to the Internet, or images can be quickly sent by email or MMS.

High speed email, web access and a range of business-friendly applications make the K610 the ideal partner for the productive mobile office. Standard push e-mail support (P-IMAP) sends messages direct to the phone without having to download them, and a flight mode allows users to work offline.

The phone’s practical use as a business tool is further strengthened by a comprehensive connectivity suite that keeps the user always in touch. UMTS is supplemented by Bluetooth, Infrared, USB 2.0 mass storage and Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support,. USB 2.0 can be used to synchronise with Microsoft Outlook to ensure calendar and contacts are always up-to-date the handset.

Browsing the Internet on the K610 is a graphic-rich experience that is very similar to using a PC, thanks to the NetFront™ browser. HTML pages are presented in full with photos, video, words and graphics adapted to fit the 1.9” colour display, making it easy to scroll, browse and follow links between sites. New support for RSS Feeds allows users to subscribe to news services to receive updates direct to the phone.

The K610’s integrated music player makes listening to music on the move simple. Music files can be stored on Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™), which can be expanded to 1GB, It is easy to create and manage playlists and supplied software handles transfer of music files between the user’s PC and the phone. The player delivers a top notch listening experience, helped along by the phone’s high quality stereo headphones and built-in equaliser.

The Sony Ericsson K610 is a Dual Mode UMTS handset commercially available in Evening Red and Urban Silver colours and starts shipping during Q2 2006.

K610i - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
K610c - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China. (Launch for mainland China dependent on availability of 3G services.)

Check the full press release for the full list of features.

Tags: K610, K610i, K610c

Sony Ericsson reveals new productivity, imaging and entertainment features for the P990 Smartphone

Sony Ericsson today revealed a host of unannounced applications and entertainment content features for its flagship Wi-Fi enabled UMTS smartphone, the P990, which was introduced to the Global Developers community in October 2005 They include:

The P990 is the next in a line of successful Sony Ericsson smartphones - the P800, P900 and P910 – and is based on the same proven concept and recognisable form factor. It is designed to be first and foremost a great mobile phone but offers all the benefits of UMTS including video calling, high-bandwidth multi-media downloads and the ability to browse the Internet with full HTML pages. These are viewed in landscape on the new Opera 8 browser.

Push Email

Secure, simple and fast access to email and the Internet are critical requirements for true office mobility, and this is an area where the P990 excels. The ability to access email and calendar while out of the office is critical for mobile executives as they no longer need to return to the office to perform this task. The P990 will support a range of push email services from different partners.

Security

Sony Ericsson has partnered with antivirus software giant McAfee to offer McAfee VirusScan and Firewall Mobile to further strengthen the P990’s email and web browsing security. This Try & Buy software provides scanning services on emails, attachments and web downloads for cellular communications, all to the same standard as its well known computer applications. Secure access to corporate networks completes the remote email story as Sony Ericsson offers a free VPN client powered by Certicom.

Read the complete Press Release

Tags: P990, P910, UMTS Smartphone

M600 slim, compact and stylish UMTS messaging phone puts secure e-mail and Internet at your fingertips

Sony Ericsson today announces the M600 phone and messaging device. This is a fully-specified email tool and mobile phone rolled into an extremely stylish, slim device featuring a touch screen and handwriting recognition. M600 is the second Symbian OS 9.1 and UIQ 3.0 enabled phone in the Sony Ericsson portfolio. New push email applications, remote synchronisation and expandable memory give owners a UMTS phone and email connectivity in a device that easily fits in their pocket - at just 15mm thick, it is one of the slimmest business UMTS devices of its kind available.

For such a slim device the M600 has an impressive 80MB onboard memory for storing email attachments and multimedia content. An additional 64MB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™), which is a new ultra-small recording media designed for highly compact mobile devices, is provided in the box. The M600 is the first Sony Ericsson product to feature this new memory card.

The software platform and user interface, make multitasking – for example browsing the Internet whilst making a voice call - a reality. M600 also takes full advantage of its UMTS capabilities with fast and easy email handling (even with large attachments) and high bandwidth multimedia downloads. Document handling offers and PowerPoint, Word and Excel editors and an Adobe PDF viewer.

The display is a 2.6-inch 262k with 320 x 240 resolution. USB 2.0 support allows for fast file transfers. The A2DP profile has been included; this gives users access to stream stereo audio to the M600. Reading emails and viewing high quality video and graphics content is made easy with the 3-way Jog Dial and each key on the QWERTY keyboard handles two letters, one is chosen depending on the angle that you tap it.

The Sony Ericsson M600 is available in Granite Black and Crystal White beginning Q2 2006 globally.

Read the full Press Release

Tags: Sony Ericsson, M600, UMTS Phone, M2

Sony Ericsson today adds its first UMTS handset to the Walkman range of music phones. The W900 is a high quality fully specified music player, phone and imaging device capable of super-fast downloads of all types of multimedia – music, video and graphics. It follows the highly successful global market launch of the W800.

As a music player, the W900 makes it easy to import, transfer, manage and play music from operators’ over-the-air (OTA) music download services, allowing tracks to be downloaded directly to the phone while on the move and, from a PC when tracks have been copied from the owner’s CD collection.

“In our first UMTS Walkman phone we have combined fast download speeds with superb sound quality and crystal clear 30 frames a second video recording and play-back in a really simple and easy to use device. The W900 will not only appeal as a music phone. The superb communications, multimedia and imaging functionality will appeal to all those wanting a true multi-media capable device.”

Music transfer and download
One of the most appealing features of the W900 is how easy it is to import, transfer, play and manage music files. Tracks can be imported from a variety of sources, either over-the-air direct to the phone if it supports an available operator music download service, or via a PC.

Transferring digital music files from a PC to the phone is a simple ‘drag and drop’ and the W900 is also fully compatible with user-copied content from all leading music management software packages. This is particularly useful for consumers already owning another type of digital music player who want to transfer tracks that originate from their CD collection on to the W900.

The supplied Disc2Phone PC software allows the user to easily transfer music to the phone from audio CDs and a PC music collection. Disc2Phone can transfer music based on playlists and has a fun and easy-to-use shuffle functionality. The W900’s large internal 470MB user free memory provides space for between 120 and 240 songs. The storage capacity is easily increased however by inserting a Memory Stick PRO Duo, currently available in retail outlets at up to 2GB, giving space for up to 1,000 tracks. Music files can be stored in all the key formats: MP3, AAC or AAC+, MIDI, WAV and XMF.

Functionality and design
The versatile swivel design makes it easy to multitask between the W900’s many functions, a feature which gives the phone an advantage over dedicated music players. The direct music buttons get the user swiftly into the Walkman player where it is possible to scroll through play lists, artists or individual songs. Users fed up with missing calls because they are listening to music will love the fact that the phone’s ringtone cuts into the audio and pauses the track while the user takes the call.

The phone swivels open automatically with the lightest of touches, revealing a large keypad. Virtually all functions can be performed with the phone closed, and users can read messages or search through their music library without opening the phone.

Imaging and multimedia
More than a fully featured music player, the W900 is a highly advanced imaging and multimedia device with broadband-fast download speeds, smooth, responsive browse capabilities and a large, 2.2 inch QVGA 262K TFT screen, one of the brightest ever seen on a mobile phone.

The 2 Megapixel, autofocus camera with LED flash- or picture-light is perfect for capturing priceless moments and, thanks to the Sony Ericsson dual fronted design, is operated with both hands in a horizontal position for maximum stability. The camera also shoots video at up to 30fps (frames per second), double the speed of most conventional imaging phones and the playback quality threshold for television.

With the supplied Adobe PC software, pictures and videos can be easily imported to a PC as soon as the phone is connected using the fast USB connection. They can then be edited, printed and shared using the easy-to-use and powerful Adobe software, and videos can be played back using Apple QuickTime Player.

As an entertainment device the W900 exploits the UMTS-delivered capabilities to the full, delivering fast and smooth download and browsing of video, games, sound and graphics. The high performance 3D Java gaming engine is put to the test with the embedded Asphalt Urban GT 3D from Gameloft, where users can experience the thrills of extreme racing at the wheel of the ultimate sports cars.

Accessories
The W900 is the first Sony Ericsson phone to be supplied with a Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-80 with remote control, that allows the user to operate the Walkman player without removing it from their pocket. A USB cable and Disc2Phone PC software for transfer and management of music files are also included in the box.

W900 Availability
The W900 UMTS Walkman phone is available in black or white and will be commercially available end Q4 2005. The variants will be:

• W900i - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
• W900c - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China. Launch for mainland China dependant on availability of 3G services

Tags: Sony Ericsson, W900, W900i, Walkman Phone

The GC99 UMTS/EDGE/WLAN PC Card is the ultimate connectivity tool for your data communication needs from Sony Ericsson. It supports several network services all in one card and is capable of the highest possible data transfer over each network or Wi-Fi Hotspots. What this means is the ability to download heavy e-mail attachments, video streaming, access corporate networks and so much more quickly. In addition, the GC99 enables you extensive global coverage. You will enjoy convenient high speed global online access with GC99.

Features:

• Flexible access via UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/WLAN networks
• True Global Coverage - Quad Band GSM EDGE/GPRS (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Local Support and Helpdesk around the globe

More details