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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Several phtoos have been leaked in a now-locked Secentral.net forum thread of what seems to be a candybar mid-range (ok, downgraded) K800 with the same QVGA screen and Memory Stick Micro slot but with the 2.0 autofocus and two-led flashlight camera of the K750. Interesting where the FastPort connector appears to be located: at one of the sides. While the materials used seem to be on the cheaper side (it might be just the quality of the photos) and the back loses any resemblance to any Cybershot product, at least it looks like it’s pretty slim, maybe thinner than the M600 (which is 15mm) [Via Engadget and Newmobile.nl]

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To give some competition for the Adriana, Binsz, a member of our forum, has 3D modelled a couple of sleek futuristic concepts dubbed Zeus and Siren, whose looks are reminiscent of the Sony Ericsson Black Diamond (also made by a fan) that finally made it to production inependently without the Sony Ericsson branding. Both are slim and compact at 100x50mm and 100-120grams, and feature all-covering 95x45mm touchscreens in the same fashion of some Nokia and BenQ concepts seen lately, which pretty much tells us what some devices will actually look in some years.The Zeus (or P1000i) is a one-way slider with an integrated Qwerty keypad, while the Siren (or W1000i) has two sliding halves with speakers at the back and more touchscreen area on the front. Just look at the pictures, it would be perfect for a professional version of the Music DJ! Binsz is working on another waterproof iteration called Sparta/R1000i.

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Celebrating the 5th birthday of the joint-venture, and all the achievements that made it possible to become the 4th mobile phone manufacturer in the world (and one of the most appealing), SE has started a new campaign featuring the “liquid entity” logo replacing the heart in many “I ♥…” phrases; in what could represent the first tangible result of Sony Ericsson’s recent adoption of Saatchi & Saatchi as their new Global Advertising Agency. It’s not confirmed that the skyscraper-high and suburb ads will make their way from Photoshop phase to reality, but the rest of them will appear on magazines and probably on the walls of the new Sony Ericsson exclusive store in Kensington High Street, London.

Sony Ericsson will do a public live webcast on October 12th to announce Q3 financial results. The host will be Miles Flint, the president itself, so it’s not crazy to think they could announce something else too (certainly NOT the Adriana ).

Read the Press Release “Sony Ericsson celebrates first five years with strong market position and stunning product portfolio”
Read the Press Release “Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Q3 Financial Results to be announced October 12th 2006″

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It’s been a long and painful hiatus here at clubsonyericsson, but we’re officially back to reporting all Sony Ericsson news, starting with something that’s not so news, but pretty hot.

What you see on the photo could be Sony Ericsson’s first Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld enabled device, a feature they say will be on every model in the future. It could play videos and digital TV streamed wirelessly and even record them in its internal 10gb memory. That would allow for some live time-shifting too. It could be the first to be operated in landscape mode (except during calls, obviously) and to introduce an iPod-esque clickwheel for scrolling and fast-forwarding AS WELL as the traditional 5 or 9-way joystick it surrounds. It could have two additional softkeys to the right of the 3.5″ 800x600px screen that would replace the “back” and “C” buttons and make the interface even more flexible and powerful. It could also sport a Memory Stick Micro slot to support those 32gb cards that Sony claims will be available some day not soon.

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The image above shows a W850 in the Norwegian Dutch Sony Ericsson site, but it’s probably fake. The image on the right shows a whitened K790 that looks really nice, but it’s most probably fake. Other couple of photos inside this article show a K800 with slightly redesigned speaker and it’s box, but they are totally 100% fake. All these pics may be fake, but that doesn’t mean that the rumour of a Walkman branded model based on the K790 can be true. After all, the K790 has all the Walkman capabilities and it would be an inexpensive way for Sony Ericsson of selling the phone in music related stores in which otherwise wouldn’t make sense to display a Cybershot device. Call it the Nokia way, but you can’t deny it’s effective: if the K750/W800 platform would have been one only model, it wouldn’t have sold as much as the K750 and the W800 altogether. [Via Mobile-review and Mobil.cz, thanks F3nix for the info]

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As we just said, an internal SE source has confirmed that there will be two product presentations on days 11 and 18 of next month, the second one being “the sh**”. Now these spyshots of a 1.3 megapixel clamshell (-version of the K510?) with “SE123″ labels all over the place have appeared, and make total sense to go official on the 11th while the 18th could bring a… Sony Ericsson Handycam? Hey, spreading rumours dreaming is free. [Via somewhere in PConline.com.cn. Thanks Giancito for the tip!]

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May is going to be unexpectedly exciting with two Sony Ericsson product presentations on the 11th and 18th of that month, the second one being “the sh**”, an internal source confirmed (the Handycam?). In the meantime, you can print out this couple of PDF’s and make it your bathroom reading matter for some weeks [Thanks Djraven for the links]:

K800 Whitepaper (includes complete comparison table with K750):

Bluetooth PAN to connect the phone to Internet using Bluetooth.

Image formats
VGA (640x480 pixels)
1 MP (1280x960 pixels)
2 MP (1632x1224 pixels)
3 MP (2048x1536 pixels) or
3 MP (2000x1500 pixels) with image stabilizer on.

- Photo key (upper/right): Camera mode: Camera scenes or Video Night mode / Standby mode: Camera album.
- Photo key (lower/left): Camera mode Camera or Video shoot mode / Standby mode: The most recent taken picture showed in full view.

Support [amont known others] for WMA music files and WMV and RealVideo video files.

UIQ 3.0 Product Description:

[Transition effects] A menu that slides on to the screen, instead of simply appearing on the screen, is an example of a transition effect; an icon that gradually blends in to the background and then disappears is another example. (…) UIQ also supports semi-transparent windows, which enables UI elements, like menus and dialogs, for example, to have rounded corners or to let the screen area behind the window shine through. (…)

The Memory Manager handles low memory internally. It asks background applications to gracefully close down in order to free up memory. No data or settings are lost since all applications save data before closing. (…)

UIQ supports both bitmap fonts and Unicode True Type fonts. (…)

Categories to organize contacts; a contact can belong to one or several categories. (…) Backup and restore functions for all the entries [contacts] to and from external memory cards. (…) If the end user has installed an Instant Messaging (IM) application that use the Instant Messaging Integration API (…) the end user can see status and presence information in the Contacts application and use a direct navigation link to the IM application.

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Singapore-based industrial designer Jaren Goh has presented this rendering of an ultra stylish high-end Sony Ericsson, dubbed Black Diamond, from which the actual company could get some inspiration (dreaming is for free). Apart from a 4 megapixel camera without flash (Jaren, what were you thinking?) and no navigation buttons at all, the OLED screen is located behind a polycarbonate layer with “mirror cladding” so you see your face when you want to check mail, much like what is seen in Sony’s A3000/A1000 Mp3 players. [Via Sefanatics and Esato, thanks Teemu for the tip]

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The latest spyshots of the K750 successor are getting seriously convincing, but before that, take a look at the picture above. Supposedly it’s a family shot of the 2006 Sony Ericsson portfolio, and I have enlarged the ones that haven’t been unveiled yet. K800/K750 successor on top right, Mulan/the entry level clamshell Walkman in the middle and… WTF? Anyone knows what the other two on the left side are? Something in the current lineup with faceplates I don’t recognize? Original picture.

There seems to be a press event as soon as this Monday, February 28th, and Mobileburn has first-hand info that at least one of the models being unveiled is going to use the one form factor Sony Ericsson hasn’t touched yet, and we haven’t seen a single spyshot/rumour of: a slider!

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Despite the odd big clock and totally non-Sony Ericsson navigation buttons, Kiddy Boy’s interpretation of a possible “white dream” W1000 swiveler and his Photoshop skills earned him more than half your votes… and a W600. It would be the first of a kind of ultra wide display mobile phones, with a 2.8 inch, “GVGA” 240x400 pixel, 16 million color screen. Still positioned under the Walkman brand, it would also offer a 4 megapixel camera and the internal memory wouldn’t be below the gigabyte. Reminds me of that rumored second Ophira/Sakura focused on imaging more than on music. Our personal favourite? It was curiously the least voted, Immanuel’s “codename Helen”, and we loved that authentic “fake” feeling. Congratulations to the winner and the rest of the contestants, we look forward to see more of your work around forums worldwide from now on

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Some look like spy shots, some like renderings, but do they all look fake? It’s time to forget this was all a competition and select a winner from the point of view of the average rumour freaks we are. Thank you every one who submitted an entry and congratulations to the finalists, the W600 is waiting for one of you! The poll (after the link below) will be open until the 24th of December 23:59h Central European Time. Good luck!

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As pointed by Mobile-review some weeks ago, Sony Ericsson may be working on a reduced-size version of the P990 without the Qwerty keypad but same touchscreen, UIQ 3.0 interface and rest of features, and what you see above is a computer generated image of a possible design (perhaps based on the real deal?). UCSE forum member Raymondtly claims it won’t have 3G and Wi-Fi, and the word Walkman appears several times in the unreadable article he found the photo in, all of it making sense for a less business, more youth oriented smartphone. I dare to say it might sport a better camera, since a graphic chipset capable of dealing with a 3 megapixel camera is alredy present in the W900. Please SE, call it P200 once and for all!

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Pictures have appeared of what is going to be unveiled on monday: lowest end models with the old interface (last used in the K300) that will hit the shelves after Christmas. The one with confirmed name (by photos of the box) is the 150€ Z300i: a Z200 successor with no major improvements other than slightly better (still 128x128 pixel STN) screen and integrated antenna, and the lack of Infrared, MP3 support, JAVA. What seems to be a T290 sucessor, called “J220″ (unconfirmed) by Mobile-review, will probably offer the same features as the J200/J210/J300 for less than 100€ unlocked, and default shortcut icons on the D-pad. With orange elements, but certainly not a Walkman branded phone, the “J230″ (unconfirmed name) offers an FM Radio on top of the mentioned standard features, and an interesting design at the back, at about 120€. These phones are not even using the new Fast Port connector so consider them an excuse to have something in operator’s low end clamshell portfolio, targeted to people who won’t even customize the default wallpaper. Thank you SE for making the effort of putting color screens in these ones, but tell us, will they have built-in calculator? Yes? Ohh that’s cool [Thanks bengan_fbk for posting it fast]

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Sony Ericsson is sending invitations to websites and related media for a press conference that’s going to take place in Hong Kong as far as we know (but probably in other cities around the world). But it doesn’t look like it’s going to be the Mulan/W650/W700, our friends at Threegmobile are pretty sure it’s about a new J-series phone, something we hadn’t heard rumours about before. Remember that J phones are the candybar ones without camera (and therefore low end), a range which is pretty crowded in Sony Ericsson’s portfolio with the J200, J210 and topping J300. Perhaps there is a gap to fill between the J300 and K300, or even below J200!? Maybe some surprise? There’s plenty of room for guessing when rumours come without info!

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