When I saw these renders I knew I had to devote to them the first entry in CSE in a long time. If they are real it could be one of those products that mark a turning point which Sony Ericsson used to have us accustomed for years.

This is an ultra moderne design, with mysterious navigation keys in the front and sides, a beautiful color combination on what we assume is the cover of the keypad, and most strikingly a glass screen that makes the phone entirely see through in that area — useful for not bumping into anything walking down the street. The technology to display information on this screen may be similar to that used by “teleprompters”, as you can see in the picture below.

[Engadget via Mobil.nu]

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Four months after announcing they were acquiring UIQ, Sony Ericsson invited other phone vendors to become shareholders of the Symbian interface (press release), to ensure a strong alternative to the S60 platform for everybody and to improve its financial position. Software, telecom and IT consultant OVUM questions the need of this and suggests an alternative: opening its source. They point to several different advantages that make it sounds like a good advise, but probably so did the advise of opening to investors. There’s no “best” strategy, and we wish Sony Ericsson the best of luck with theirs. After all, by not open sourcing a tiny bit of code nor even basing it’s strategy on third party applications, we all know what Apple is going to achieve with the iPhone and succesive iPhone nano’s, micro’s, etc. Here are some extracts from the article:

It could be perceived that Sony Ericsson is trying to have its cake and eat it, by wanting the strategic advantage of owning its own smartphone platform but at the same time wanting other phone vendors to subsidise it. (…)

[Open sourcing] UIQ would also benefit from developments made by other phone vendors using the UIQ framework, lowering its operating costs. OEMs could then make use of these developments without sacrificing their own differentiation. A move to open source by UIQ would also put Nokia under pressure to re-evaluate S60 software licences and fees.

Read “UIQ: to open or to open source?”

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Riding on the success and momentum created by the shiny Z610, Sony Ericsson announced a 2nd mirror-finished clamshell model – the Z310.

The Z310 should be seen as a low-end phone targeted at the fashion concious and youth crowd. Besides the shiny finish, the phone is able to colour-code contacts. The front of the phone is polished to a perfect shine, with a screen (similar to the one found on the Z610) and new dedicated icons hidden discretely beneath the surface. Coloured light effects can also be assigned to contacts in the phonebook, allowing you to know who’s calling with a simple glance. To inject more fun into the phone, the Z310 also allows the user “…to set the look and feel of the menu and screen display to match the time of the day.” Other features include VGA camera, MP3 support, Bluetooth connectivity and Picture Blogging.

The Z310 is a Triple band/Edge/GPRS 900/1800/1900 handset and comes in Jet Set Black, Blush Bronze and Lush Pink. Expect to see it in stores from Q1 2007.

Read the Z310 Press Release
[Via Kauppalehti and Golem.de]

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Sony Ericsson is relying on user-generated content to promote their latest Walkman Phone, the W950i. Participants stand to win a chance perform with British radio DJ Zane Lowe live during his Tour, or a brand new phone.

Created by Iris Experience, the campaign calls for users to upload their own remixes of songs, as well as listen to the work of others, at Zane Lowe’s official website. The site’s users will then vote for the best remix and winner (who created the track) wins the chance to play (remix) with Zane himself on the final night of the Sony Ericsson sponsored event, DJ Zane Lowe’s Home Taping Tour. Runners up wouldn’t go ‘home’ empty handed, either: they’ll get a brand new W950i. What’s almost cooler, ringtones and other contents will be available to the users at the gigs via Bluetooth.

[Via BrandRepublic and Zane Lowe]

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“Nokia shamed by Sony Ericsson in battle for margins” is the title of a report of London-based consultant agency ARCchart in which the differences in philosophy of the eternal enemies Nokia and SE are summarized: while Nokia has veered towards share and shows a strong growth in low-end sales and moderate in high-end, Sony Ericsson has boomed high-end sales while keeping one of the best mid-range portfolios, thanks â€â€�in my opinionâ€â€� key points like the interface, power of the music and camera functions, and the appeal of the Walkman and Cybershot brands.

But aside from the cameraphone sales, what’s interesting is to see how many people actually take photos with them and therefore to see which phones give a better “digital camera” experience. The graphic above made with Flickr stats shows a competition among several Sony Ericssons and Nokias as the most used to take serious shots. We see the K750 as the stable king of cameraphones and the K800 rapidly gaining popularity along with the also relatively nwe Nokia N73.

Which brings us to Quesabesde.com’s comparative (in Spanish) of these two contenders to the K750’s throne, focusing on the cameras, of which I translate some interesting conclusions after the jump:

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In case you didn’t start youtubing all the Sony Ericsson videos after the last one, here’s one of the coolest we have found:

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Less than two weeks after the announcement by Sony Ericsson of the support of Sony’s Locationfree for UIQ, Sling Media shows off compatibility of their wireless personal video broadcasting gadget (the Slingbox) for our Symbian 3G or Wifi enabled smartphones. After the jump you will find a pretty cool video of a W950 playing the different TV channels and DVD’s of, and controlling, a remote setup.

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An industry source some hours ago told none other than Reuters that Sony Ericsson is working on a super slim high end Walkman model with camera (or Cybershot with MP3, if you will), whose codename is taken from Japaneese tennis player Ai Sugiyama (the original story says the phone itself is inspired by her, but we just don’t get that). Everybody seems to be calling it the Motorola RAZR-killer, but the more featured Sony Ericsson M600 already went that slim, at 15mm versus the RAZR’s 14, and the RAZR was a clamshell anyway. It is supposed to be unveiled in Q1 2007, and will be available in black and silver. Check inside this post for some suspiciously cardboard-looking spyshots. Anybody want to bet for any Swedish tennis player for the next rumour? [Via Reuters and Se-nse, thanks Bee87 for the pics]

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You have to love the music, in all Bravia style.

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The Spanish Television and Press Graphic Reporters Association (accronym banned) has awarded the K800 the distinction of the Best Cameraphone of 2006, as an outstanding product that helps the professional photographer optimize his job.

In the United Kingdom, Sony Ericsson has also been awarded by consumers with the Best Manufacturer Of The Year award, the Best Mobile Phone Of The Year award to the K800 â€â€�which also was voted the “Readers’ Dream Phone“â€â€�, and the Best Music Phone award to the W810.

Finally, the German edition of the Connect magazine granted, with readers’s votes, the awards of Best Cameraphone to the K800 (45,2% of the votes, and the apparently-not-so-old K750 being in third place), Best Music Phone to the W810 (with 59,9% of the votes), Best 3G Phone to the W900, and Best PDA Phone to the P990 (hmm…).

To summarize, Sony Ericsson nowadays seems to be losing the “best phone with wheels and facial hair” category only, or whatever. Unstoppable!

[Via Spanish Press Release]

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