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 —which also was voted the “Readers’ Dream Phone“—, 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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Sorry, third-parties, all JAVA-enabled Sony Ericssons now have official support from Microsoft to run their new Windows Live Messenger Mobile application. MSN/Windows Messenger site Mess.be found this goodie in a chineese MSN website. Well, actually, functionality may be a little below some other JAVA clients, but if you’re like me and only need your contact list and being able to chat with some few emoticons, you’ll take this Windows Live themed instant messenger over anything else. Apparently these download links (be careful to chose the version for your model) are completely legal and free to download, but after a couple of months they will stop working unless you pay a small unknown monthly fee. Hmm, let’s just enjoy it in the meantime and we’ll talk again in January. Check some screenshots of it running on K800 inside this entry. [Via Mess.be].

For Sony Ericsson J300, K300, K310, K500, K510, Z520 and Z530, Download Windows Live Messenger Mobile 380

For Sony Ericsson K610, K700, K750, W550, W600, W700, W710, W800, W810, W850, Z550 and Z710, Download Windows Live Messenger Mobile 382

For Sony Ericsson K790, K800, S700, W850 and W900 (it should also work for Symbian smartphones), Download Windows Live Messenger Mobile 384

If your exact model number isn’t listed here, make sure your phone supports JAVA and then download the version of models using the same screen pixel size.

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UPDATE: Download links working again

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Straight out from the French Riviera, Noreve offers a series of high quality leather cases for almost all current mid-high Sony Ericssons, for those who don’t mind losing some portability in favor of protecting the precious device inside while adding a touch of style and personalization with the many leather colors available. I say losing portability because after trying these with my P990, it just won’t fit any comfortably in trousers any tighter than 50 Cent’s. It shouldn’t be a big problem for smaller models’ users though —the P990 itself isn’t very pocket-friendly anyway—, but it’s fair to say that these cases add considerable bulk to your phone, not to mention if you even attach the huge belt clip. This belt clip led McCoy, reviewer of the black M600/W950 and red P990 cases, to find a funny problem with the back screw, which you can check in the video (in all Superhandz style) after the jump, along with photos of those and my black and white P990 cases.

Go to Noreve’s Sony Ericsson leather cases product page

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Tired of my K750’s remote control template for Media Player lacking a couple of functions, I have customized it a bit and thought I should share it with you. As you can see in the background image, it’s the same template but adding the Shuffle, Repeat, Full Screen and Mute functions of Windows Media Player. If your phone has a smaller screen resolution than 176x220 you can resample the image and edit the template with the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Remote Control application.

Download SuperMediaPlayer.hid

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I waited until I got it shipped because I wanted to see if it lived up to its promises, and it certainly does! If you need a 1 or 2gb USB pendrive, but already have that amount of storage in your Sony Ericsson, this is for you: it just turns your memory card into a USB 2.0 plug and play mass storage device! And the best way to load MP3’s, of course. Okay, maybe not a technology wonder, but it’s as small as it can get, sleek, really fast and it’s price is a joke. How else can you get a gigabyte flash drive for less than 3 dollars?

NOTE: I’m not the seller nor do I get commission or anything, I just LOVE it

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Still no press releases or photos available in Sony Ericsson’s websites, but along with the W810 announcement they emailed to UCSE, they presented these couple of cool speaker sets, one more portable-ish, one more desktop-ish, to go with the known MDS-70 (which, numbering-wise, should sound better?). The MPS-60 is really really small and pocketable, at 30x55x42 mm, while the MDS-60 measures 54x120x200 mm. They will be available in the first quarter of 2006 at unknown price and in colors Silver, White and Orange.

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Ready for a busy day of swiveling Walkman love?

Threegmobile’s W900 review is more of a preview after just a couple of hours of testing, but there is a video of the automatic opening mechanism and two sample photos featuring the girl on the right. They also have a W600 p/review.

Mobile-review’s W900 review, besides the usual funny translation bits, is the first one to include comprehensive comparison with the S700, especially of the screen, which is indeed a bit smaller (just by a milimeter or two) but a lot brighter; actually too much according to their opinion. Sample photos of the W900 and K750 show that they may be using the same hardware, but the firmware differences don’t make the photos turn out exactly the same. An good benchmark comparing these two phones shows the W900 (enabled with an nVidia GoForce 4800 chip) being a lot faster in 3D operations but slower in everything else. The speed of the menus is extremely slow, probably (and hopefuly) due to the unit being an unfinished-firmware prototype. Lots of videos at the end.

NOTE: Both W900 reviews mention something about the absence of RDS in the Radio FM, but it’s not clear if they’re referring to the phone or just the handsfree’s remote screen.

Mobiledia’s W600 “review”, not even having live photos or impressions at first-hand, is not really a review but an extended explanation of all the features and uses. Typical perfect read for anyone impatiently waiting to buy one/have it shipped.

Sefanatics’ W600 vs S700 review is a very recommended read, just what a good review should be: brief and straight to the point.

Infosyncworld’s W600 review is also short but has a couple of interesting facts like the battery life being great even playing MP3’s: 15 hours they say, but was it with the phone off or on?

Discuss this in the W900 Forum Thread
Discuss this in the W600 Forum Thread

Not one, not even two, but THREE pieces of software have I found that will let you synchronize your MP3s with iTunes, if you just sold your iPod to buy a W800 After the great success of that phone and the unveiling of the ROKR-killer W900i, this is the last boost to the fast comeback of the Walkman brand. But remember! If your SE isn’t Walkman branded, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the same features: all these iTunes add-ons will work with any mass-storage compliant phone (that’s every Sony Ericsson with Fast Port and Memory Stick slot). [Via Engadget, Pocket-lint and Tea Vui Huang]

iWalkman by The Office Maven
iTuneMyWalkman by Ilari Scheinin
Mass Storage Synchronizer by Tea Vui Huang

Which one is better overall or better for your needs? Do you know of any other software? Discuss this in the forum

The third product announced yesterday is another music accesory. The Walkman-branded MMR-60 is a music transmitter via FM, one of the most ready-to-go ways to connect portable music devices to bigger HiFi equipment like your home/car/party stereo, and one of the favourites of iPod users (isn’t it great to put iPod and Walkman in the same article and not feeling unfair competition anymore? Go SE Go!). If you’re not familiar with this, it’s as simple as choosing an FM band in your phone (in the menu that appears after connecting the MMR-60) and then selecting said FM band in your FM receiver, that must be within 10 metres of distance. Wireless music streaming at 43x27x11mm and a mere 9 grams, connecting to any Fast Port enabled Sony Ericsson, but leaving a replica of the port below if you want to use the charger. Despite being a basic device, Sony Ericsson has released even more official photos than they usually do with phones, and in some you can count up to 5 Walkman logos in the same photo. That’s what I call a comeback. By the way, the Press Release says it will be available in silver, white and black colors (to match your chosen W900) but the Official Product Page just mentions the silver and I haven’t found photos of the other two.
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And still no one is checking out if the flashlight is as powerful as rumoured. Do we really need 100 pictures of the front of each new phone? At least Se-community.net has a nice preview (Google translation) with sample photos taken with the phone and screenshots showing an Auto mode for the flashlight and an option to turn the Autofocus on/off, and has been inquisitive enough to shot a video showing some additions to the interface, like phone memory and external memory pictures accessible from different locations (no longer mixed) and a neat “Timeline Search” to select pictures taken on a specific day or month. NieweMobiel.nl has over 20 small photos of the exterior and Mobile-review.com has finally hired a good photographer for their W900 gallery. For your clicking time-saving convenience, I’ve collected the most relevant photos after the link below. And if this caught you by surprise, check out the official specs and photos of the W900.
Discuss this in the W900 Forum Thread

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With the help of Sony (who will be also selling the same product, Sony branded “Cradle Audio CPA-001″), Sony Ericsson has presented a set of speakers of an apparently high quality (RMS 25W output, S-master digital amplifier, neodymium magnet speaker units, shielded speakers and Surround mode) that you sit your Fast Port enabled Sony Ericsson on in order to listen to your Radio FM or MP3’s out loud while charging the battery. According to what I understand from the Press Release, it also has a standard “Line-In port” (3.5mm? RCA?) and Bass/Trebble controls, while the Product Page says something about a “Multi AC adaptor with subwoofer” which if it turns out to be an AC adaptor with an integrated subwoofer it will start to appeal to me seriously. There’s also a “Remote Control” but I can’t help putting it all between quotation marks if they don’t show it in photographs. So far I’ve only found high res pics of the main unit holding both black and white hot W900’s.
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-109 x 49 x 24 mm and 148 grams (versus the 107.5 x 49 x 24.5 mm and 137 grams of the S700)
- Black and White
- Swiveling keypad form factor with Automatic rotating effect (opens with “the lightest of touches”)
- Triband GSM 900/1800/1900 and UMTS
- 2.2″ 320x240 (QVGA) 262k color TFT screen
- 2megapixel camera with autofocus, flashlight and 8x digital zoom with video recording at 30fps
- Frontal VGA camera for videocalls
- Full screen video playback at 30fps
- Bluetooth, Infrared and Fast Port
- Memory Stick PRO Duo slot (with cards currently available up to 2gb, 4gb in the future)
- 470mb internal memory (for between 120 and 240 songs)
- Stereo Handsfree with remote control and 3.5mm headphone jack
- Radio FM with RDS
- Support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, MIDI, WAV and XMF
- 40-tone polyphonics
- Megabass
- Java2ME with high performance 3D gaming engine (Asphalt Urban GT 3D, PowerBall Arcade 3D and QuadraPop games included, some played horizontally)
- Macromedia Flash Lite
This toy will be commercially available in Q4 2004 (isn’t that like tomorrow?) as W900i for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and W900c for China mainland. Read the Press Release or go to the Official Product Page. Click below to see all the high resolution official pictures.
Discuss this in the W900 Forum Thread

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Almost confirming that the new Walkman phone is going to be officialy presented tomorrow, Planete-se.net has a bunch of photos of what we know as W850 or Sakura, but that now is said to be called W900. Apart from the S700 form factor, 2mpixel camera with autofocus, QVGA screen and MS PRO Duo support, the internal memory seems to be almost half a gigabyte, at 470mb; and it’s pretty serious about taking on the new iPod, with video playback at 30 frames per second. I better sleep for a while before all this bursts officially in some hours.
Discuss this in the S700 successor Forum Thread

UPDATE: And the big media keeps on spreading the rumour!
UPDATE: The W900 is official

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Apparently some major non-mobilephone related British newspaper is joining the freakommunity in the joy of rumour spreading. London-based “The Business” has an article titled “Sony Ericsson music phone to take on Apple” in which they seem pretty sure that on Monday, October 17th, Sony Ericsson is unveiling a “device that resembles a music player with a large screen when closed, with only music controls visible: when the user wants to make a call the phone keyboard will slide out from under the screen”, according to “Industry experts” (you mean us? ). They’re saying that it’s even going to compete with Sir new iPod by supporting video. Yeah right, like a mobile phone is going to store and play 20gb of .AVI’s in 2005… Exaggerations appart, the rumour is right there, and it looks a hell lot like the W850 (W700?).
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The rumour about the black version of the next Walkman just went real really fast, with some pictures watermarked by Mobilarena.hu popping up in forums. Setting it a little less iPod nano-style than we thought, the black version doesn’t look as glossy as the white one, but still matches the orange bits perfectly. One of the photos shows the Memory Stick DUO Pro slot being in almost the same place as the S700. Check them out.
[Via AS07@Mobile-review forums]
Discuss this in the Sakura/Ophira/W850 forum thread

UPDATE: Seems like the guy who’s got his hands on these phones is going to give us a candy almost every day. Now it’s the ¡external remote for MP3 and Radio FM, with a screen!