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There’s no doubt that Sony Ericsson phones are the new in-thing. From being just another mobile manufacturer, it has risen to be a formidable competitor to Nokia and others. Perhaps the only problem with SE phones is that you can’t always trust them to be consistent. Take the K810i for instance. As an upgrade for the K800i, it’s a sorry attempt. But as a standalone device it’s brilliant, at least in certain aspects. Before anything else, let’s talk about the form factor.

Speaking of the design of the K810i, SE has taken big strides in making its phones look like no other. In many instances, they managed this by compromising on ergonomics. The K810i, for one, has tiny rounded keys that look uncomfortable. (I, however, liked them.) They are evenly spaced and are big enough to hit accurately with only one eye open. Having said that, I won’t deny the keys look rather ugly! At 106 x 48 x 17 mm, the phone is quite bulky and causes a rather alarming looking bulge in your pocket.

I feel the 3.2 MP camera is one of the reasons for this excess flab. So you need to decide what is it you really need before you pick up this handset. If you look closely, you will see two keys just above the 2-inch TFT screen on either side of the earpiece. These are camera shortcuts that enable direct access to the pictures clicked. For navigation the phone is equipped with a five-way joystick, which is quite responsive.

Sony Ericsson has launched the 8 GB touch screen W960i Walkman phone. With room for up to 8,000 songs and finger-touch navigation around playlists, the phone also has a 2.6″ display and a 3.2 megapixel camera. It can be hooked up to the Web using the 3G network or via a Wi-Fi access point. The W960i Walkman phone features a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus within its 16mm frame, and allows picture messaging, email or picture blogging.

It incorporates Sony Ericsson’s TrackID music recognition software, that lets users record a clip of a song on their phone and find out instantly the name of the artist, track and album. The W960i Walkman phone comes bundled with a stereo portable handsfree, is UMTS 2100-GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 and will be available in Vinyl Black for Rs. 28995

Finnish mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson is looking at introducing at least 25 new models this year as it begins 2008 with the introduction of two new handsets to the local market. Sony Ericsson and Smart Communications launched in Cebu City yesterday the Sony Ericsson K850i and K770i mobile phones. The two handset models are available for the first time through the Smart Gold postpaid plan.

Dino Romano, Sony Erics-son account manager for Smart, said the company hopes to be able to introduce this year about the same number of handsets it launched in 2007. “We introduced 25 last year. We’re looking at the same number this year covering all (handset) categories,” he said. While Sony Ericsson ranks fourth among the top five vendors worldwide, according to the research firm IDC, it is confident it would be able to come up with handsets equipped with features that cannot be found in other cellular phones. “We will be introducing new technology into the Walkman phones…such as the shake control and ‘sense me’ features,” he said in an interview.

He added that Sony Ericsson is also looking at mobile phones that enable the user to watch television shows. World number one mobile phone vendor, Nokia, introduced last year a handset with mobileTV features.

Orange announced the launch of its advanced new range of messaging services (MMS) with a further five Orange operations across Europe intending to launch similar services in the coming months. More than 12.8 million Orange customers in the UK will have the opportunity to access these advanced services that move messaging on from standard text, to messages that combine colour, photos, text and sound offering a greatly enriched messaging experience via a new range of Orange MMS handsets. They will also be able to receive update messages on news, sport and entertainment with the pictures to accompany the story. Innovative handsets such as the Sony Ericsson T68i - available with clip-on camera - will be used at launch. The Nokia 7650 is due to launch at the end of August with a broad range of handsets available in the run up to Christmas.

Orange believes that wirefree TM devices with this capability will be used by 40% of its customers by the end. This is further endorsed by Ovum’s prediction that MMS handset penetration will reach up to 50% at this time with MMS messages accounting for up to 30% of all person-to-person messaging in the same year. In the UK, Orange pay monthly customers will benefit from a simple, easy-to-understand pricing structure, where they will be charged 40p per photo message sent. Orange pay as you go customers will be able to access the services later in the year. 

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that the company will begin marketing two new models of i-shotTM compatible phones, the D251i and the mova F251i, beginning July 15, 2002.The company’s i-shot service, which allows users to transmit still images taken with compatible mobile phones that feature built-in digital cameras, was launched on June 1, 2002, and it quickly became popular among users. The mova D251i phone is compatible with Sony’s Memory Stick DuoTM and is capable of saving a total of 1,670* photos, 700 in the built-in memory and 970 in the removable memory stick. It is equipped with a CCD camera that includes 170,000-pixel resolution, 8x zoom, and a built-in flash. In addition, a 256 STN color sub-LCD on the back of the phone displays the time and information relating to the operating conditions of the handset, such as remaining battery life, and also works as a viewfinder. The main display is a 2.1-inch, 262,144-color TFD LCD. The mova F251i is capable of saving up to 1,000* pictures in its built-in memory and can display the pictures like a slide show, changing photos automatically every four seconds. It is equipped with a CCD camera that features 110,000-pixel resolution. The sub-LCD also works as a viewfinder. The main display is a 2.0-inch, 65,536-color TFT LCD. The F251i also includes an antenna which flashes when the phone rings or at a previously specified time, like an alarm clock.

A user can select the color of the light from among 12 choices. DoCoMo will sell the D251i and F251i through all of the company’s sales channels. The price for the mobile phone is open (not fixed), while a standard accessory kit, which includes a battery pack, an AC adapter, and a desktop holder, costs 7,700 yen for the D251i and 6,400 yen for the F251i. An 8-megabyte Memory Stick Duo and its adaptor will be included with the D251i handset at no extra charge.

In an industry-first, Ericsson today demonstrated cross-technology multimedia messaging services (MMS) over CDMA2000 and GPRS at the 3G World Congress in Hong Kong. MMS enables consumers to send and receive multimedia messages containing images, text and sound. “Ericsson is committed to the evolution of CDMA2000 and to helping operators supply the most innovative mobile Internet services to their customers,” said ke Persson, Head of Ericsson Mobile Systems CDMA.

“This MMS demonstration further solidifies Ericsson’s commitment as the only wireless vendor providing end-to-end support for all paths to 3G.”The cross-technology demonstration, using Ericsson’s market leading MMS solution, includes sending MMS from a CDMA2000-enabled PDA to a GPRS terminal. MMS offers a dramatic increase in mobile-to-mobile messaging capabilities by enabling color images, animations, audio and video clips to be sent along with text. This opens the door to content-rich applications and services such as multimedia presentations and enhanced email messages.

Ericsson announced its latest evolution in low-energy telecommunication solutions, a solar-driven and energy-efficient main-remote GSM base station deployed in conjunction with leading Indonesian operator PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel). The breakthrough deployment will provide macro coverage in the untapped areas of Sumatra and address the mobile communications needs in the rural areas in Indonesia. The Main-Remote GSM base station RBS 2111 is part of the Ericsson Communications Expander portfolio.

It has a smaller environmental footprint than a standard base station, consuming up to 60 percent less energy. The remote radio unit is placed at the top of the tower, reducing feeder loss and power use. The solution is also easy to deploy, with the heaviest component weighing only 35kg.The new site solution is ideal for deployment in rural areas with limited electricity supply. The site does not require diesel fuel and has maintenance-free batteries, providing wider coverage while reducing network operating expenses and total cost of ownership.Jan Signell, President at Ericsson South East Asia says: “This alternative-energy site solution helps Telkomsel address the challenge of bringing coverage to areas with limited access to the electricity grid.

It can reduce their operational expenses and bring connectivity to untapped areas in Sumatra, and reflects Ericsson’s commitment to bringing communications to all.”

Mobile handset vendor Sony Ericsson had some disappointing news to announce on Thursday, with profit for the third quarter dropping from Eur298m a year ago to Eur267m. Sales on the other hand, increased 7 per cent from Eur2.9bn a year ago to Eur3.1bn in the third quarter, Units shipped in the quarter reached approximately 26 million, a 31 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

Although the average sale price of a handset dropped from Eur147 in the third quarter last year to Eur127. “Low- and mid-tier priced models such as the W200 Walkman phone and simple ‘talk and text’ range of phones have been key volume drivers during the quarter, while the high-spec P1 smartphone and W580 slider Walkman phone have been well received and strengthen the portfolio at the higher-end,” said Miles Flint, outgoing president of Sony Ericsson. But Ovum analyst, Martin Garner, said after a very strong run of the last few quarters, “this is disappointing stuff from Sony Ericsson.”Now the company has flipped the concerns with margins improving but sales growth proving more challenging,” he said. Garner believes shipment growth has slowed because of two main factors. First there has been growing channel inventory in China as local vendors have priced aggressively during the last couple of quarters.

This is likely to affect several vendors. Second Sony Ericsson’s portfolio is ageing, especially at the high end. The effects of this have been felt mostly in Japan and Western Europe. “The launches it did during May and June of this year should fix that but those products are only just coming onto the market now,” Garner said.

With Ericsson as EDGE supplier and telecom services partner, T-Mobile Germany has completed the first part of its GSM network modernization in record time - a major step towards the operator’s goal of being the first operator in Germany to offer mobile broadband nationwide. Consuming about 30 percent less power, the new EDGE-compliant GSM radio network allows for the seamless use of mobile broadband applications.
The new network provides particular benefits for consumers and enterprise customers in sparsely populated areas, where neither DSL nor WCDMA/HSPA are yet available, by providing fast mobile-internet access with bandwidth four times that of ISDN.

Users also benefit from EDGE data capabilities and improved network quality.Over the past 24 months, Ericsson has upgraded more than half of T-Mobile’s radio network, replacing more than 10,000 base stations in seven federal states with the network operating commercially and without subscribers noticing any deterioration in service. Günther Ottendorfer, Chief Technology Officer at T-Mobile Deutschland GmbH, says: “A system swap during commercial operations is like open-heart surgery.

We appreciate the fact that, together with our partner Ericsson, we were able to finish the project three months ahead of the original schedule. For us this was uncharted territory. There has not been a similar project of this size before.”

The UK’s big five mobile phone firms have switched on a payment system that turns handsets into digital wallets. Called PayForIt, the scheme is designed for those buying goods and services with a value of up to £10. The industry hopes it will be used to pay for ringtones, train tickets, parking fees and eventually as a payment system on web shops and sites. Any cash spent via the scheme will automatically be added on to a customer’s phone bill. Cash crunch The scheme standardises the way phones can be used to make payments so the process is the same no matter which operator a customer has signed up for or which handset they are using.

Mike Short, chairman of the Mobile Data Association, said PayForIt had been developed as an alternative to other systems such as premium rate SMS. Many people, said Mr Short, were unhappy using that payment system because of past uncertainty about how much they would pay and who they turn to if things go wrong. “It’s for those customers who have not felt comfortable with mobile transactions or payments,” he said. Trust in mobile payments would be boosted, said Mr Short because shoppers will know who they are buying from and what they are spending.

Anyone paying for goods with PayForIt will see an information screen that lays out what they have bought, who it has been bought from and how much it will cost. “It’s about opening up the micro payment choices,” said Mr Short, “but it’s not a total cash replacement.” PayForIt will appear as a payment option on sites that people can get to via their handset and soon will also appear as a way to pay on websites too, said Mr Short. Companies such as I-play, Gameloft, EA, Multimap, SonyEricsson and Samsung have become the first to sign up and let people pay using the PayForIt system.

PayForIt was first announced in March 2006 and the official start date for the scheme was 1 September. “Most big brands would not use premium rate SMS to run their services, it’s not a good experience, it’s not consumer friendly,” said Anuj Khanna, a spokesman for Tanla Mobile which is one of the firms administering payments made via PayForIt.