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[luiscamino]

I’ve got the press releases since today morning (Sunday 12) but I haven’t been able to publish the news until now (It’s 2:00am GMT). The good part is that, of course, we have new phones! And Ellen has a pretty new name —S600— and really interesting specs, like 64mb internal memory, HTML browser, 176x220 pixels 262k color 1,8″ screen, integrated double stereo speakers, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, USB support and a bunch of 3D games that can be played holding the phone horizontally (with the support of two extra buttons at the right of the screen), conventionally, or in “L” shape, with the rotating keypad open. The bad part, for the moment, is that Sony Ericsson hasn’t uploaded the official photos to their website and we won’t know if it also looks good until 9:00 am or so (six hours to go).

Zoe, surprisingly, seems to be a nice little clamshell phone with decent features. Its official name becomes Z520 and excels the Z600 with a VGA camera, 16mb of internal memory, MP3 support, USB support, integrated handsfree speaker and a series of colorful leds all around the perimeter of the phone that flash in costumizable fashion (even synchronized with the melodies) when someone calls or an sms is received. The press release highlights the small size of the phone. The internal screen is the same of the Z600 (a TFD with 65k colors and 128x160 pixels), and the external is a 4k color 101x80. The Z520 gets the honour of being the first quadband Sony Ericsson: it supports the 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 GSM bands. This two phones use the new charger-data connectors.

The J200-based J210 and the K600-spec’d K608 won’t be any great surprise but we’ll have to wait for the photos to see if they’re any cooler than the phones they’re based in. The J210 upgrades the 128x128 pixel STN display from 4k to 65k colors while keeping the Infrared, 600kb internal memory and triband support. I’ve heard that the K608i will be an operator exclusive but I’d say it could be a sim-free version of the Vodafone V600.

By the way, new accesories have been also announced: the HBH-610 headset with Bluetooth 2.0 support, the HCB-700 car handsfree kit with a screen, the sporty HPS-60 wired stereo headphones and a new PC card that combines UMTS and WiFi access, the GC99. Nothing is said about the future 4gb Memory Stick DUO cards but this was confirmed to me by a Sony Ericsson representative.

S600i (Ellen)

Triband GSM 900/1800/1900
Exchangeable covers and 3 main body colors (Universal Blue, Orchid White, Radiant Yellow)
TFT 1,8″ 176x220 pixel 262k color screen
1.3 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and flashlight
Full screen video recording and viewing
Bluetooth
Infrared
USB
MP3/AAC Player
2 integrated stereo speakers with MegaBass and StereoWidening
Stereo headphones included
Radio FM with RDS
40-tone polyphonic ringtones
64mb internal memory
Java MIDP 2.0 and 3D games
OMA DRM phase 1
Preinstalled games: Worms Fronts, Ander Siege 3D, Extreme Air Snowboarding and Midway’s Gauntlet Multiplayer
Access Netfront HTML browser
GPRS class 10
Release date: Q3 2005
Price: 325€

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Z520i (Zoe)

Small size clamshell
Quadband GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Excahgeable covers
TFD 1,8″ 128x160 65k color internal screen
STN 1″ 101x80 4k color external screen
0.3 (VGA) megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom that can be used with phone closed
Bluetooth
Infrared
USB
Integrated handsfree speaker
Included stereo headphones
40-tone polyphonic ringtones
8 external led effects
MP3/ACC player
16mb internal memory
Java MIDP 2.0 and 3D games
OMA DRM phase 1
Release date: Q3 2005
Price: 225€

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K608i

Dual UMTS/GSM triband 900/1800/1900
TFT 1,8″ 176x220 pixel 262k color screen
1.3 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and flashlight
Full screen video recording and viewing
Videocall
Bluetooth
Infrared
USB
MP3/AAC Player
Radio FM with RDS
72-tone polyphonic ringtones
32mb internal memory
Java MIDP 2.0 and 3D games
Macromedia Flash Lite
GPRS class 10
Release date: Q3 2005
Price: 400€

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J210i

GSM triband 900/1800/1900
STN 128x128 pixel 65k color screen
Infrared
32-tone polyphonic ringtones
600kb internal memory
Mophun games
OMA DRM phase 1
GPRS 4+1
Release date: Q3 2005
Price: 95€

[Deluxe]

I'm really looking forward to the K608i and S600! The S i'm sure will be another hit, and the K will be one of those "stylishly cool" models. I'm all excited now! Can't wait till tomorrow!

[SharkyMark]

pictures

[Deluxe]

http://www.sonyericsson.com/communicasia/flash.html official product website.

[VIPER]

I can't seem to find the difference between K600 and K608. Usually the xxx8 models are for another market and the difference is mainly the frequency. Somebody help me out here?

[kukuxumusu]

So far there is K508....and this K608.....I don't think there is much meaning about it....

I like z520i really much, lights around the keyboard..sounds really cool to me^^

[bee87]

Too bad none of these phones support expandable memory. Why isn't SE lanching higher end flip phones?

[Bubble]

Too bad none of these phones support expandable memory. Why isn't SE lanching higher end flip phones?

I was thinking the same bee87? I've been waiting for high end flip phones for quite a bit! Now the only choices I've got are the Z800, which I like very much even if it isn't available here in the US, and probably never will, and the Motorola V1150. All these new SE models are very nice, but don't fit at all what I want. Too bad 4 me!

[SharkyMark]

I can't seem to find the difference between K600 and K608

The K608 is exclusivly for the provider Hutchinson 3G. Like the Vodafone phone it will have different software compared to the K600.

[elvis100]

More live pics Sony Ericsson Z520, J210, K608 and S600 (from www.mobilmania.cz):

http://www.mobilmania.cz/Files/Obrazky/Art18/SEnove/index.htm

[eyemas]

Where are the smart phones guys?

[luiscamino]

the smartphones are in q4 2005.

[eyemas]

Alright...that;s the right time for my next replacement...

[luiscamino]

ThreeGmobile also got the chance to meet the new phones in person and take some too small shots. At least we can now see the real size difference between the S600 and his old bro' S700.

[VIPER]

Funny, the size difference isn't that big, but the display difference is striking.

[bee87]

I've seen some pictures of the new phones around the net. However, I've seen something that I don't understand:

On some of the pictures showing the standby screen, the right soft button says "Menu," and not "More." Also, the small box that represents the "Main Menu" for the joystick is no longer at the center. Does this mean that the Main Menu is no longer accessed by the joystick middle button?

Or does the "Menu" there stands for the "More"?

Here are some links:
Z520 Standby
S600 Standby

[luiscamino]

the main menu is now accessed both by the joystick press AND the "menu" (ex-"more") softkey.

the "more" menu is now the shortcut key in the center between the two softkeys in k750 and w800 and the one below the "c" in the w600. this menu has many improvements: it can be accesed from within ANY other place in the interface, not just the standby mode. thus you can be reading an sms, press the shortcuts menu key and directly go to turn on/off bluetooth, the calendar, the alarm, contacts... whatever. it can be totally customized with the items you want. apart from this shortcuts, it has other two tabs: "[wap]bookmarks" and "new events" (calendar and tasks summary). and finally, it gives quick access to whatever application you have running in the background (like the radio, music player or a java game).

who wants the old "more" menu anymore? i don't

[bee87]

I see. But maybe they should have labelled it.. Also, I think having both keys to access the menu is kind of a waste.. But, the new shortcut key is a nice thing.

[luiscamino]

Also, I think having both keys to access the menu is kind of a waste..

that's totally true. i guess they added the "menu" softkey because many unexperienced people didn't know how to reach the menu; didn't know you could press the joystick (it's happened to me with almost every person i've let use my sony ericssons). but then again, the "press joystick" could have served for another thing, or maybe be customizable.

[bee87]

Yup.. I totally agree with you. And it's sometimes fun to see people pick up our phones and start pressing every single thing but the joystick and just can't get to the menu.

However, I don't think it's much of a problem, since Nokia's S60 phones also has a seperate menu button that's not properly labelled (just a small picture). Most people have no problems with those Nokias because they're more popular - more people know about them. I still think that they should have left one of the buttons for another function (at least one of them, like you said, customizable.)