Filed under: Games, Handsets, Sony Ericsson

As far as rumors go, this one is about as thin on the deets as they come, but Cnet Asia is reporting that Sony Ericsson senior VP of Product and Application Planning, Rikko Sakaguchi, actually alluded to plans for a game-playing phone at a recent press event in Sweden. During what was presumably the Q&A portion of a media conference in honor of the merged company’s fifth anniversary, Sakaguchi reportedly answered a question about a theoretical PSP phone (most decidedly NOT pictured above) by saying simply that Sony Ericsson “is working on something,” but that “the surprise must be kept for the future.” Yeah, we know, not too much meat here — Sakaguchi did mention that the objective was to integrate gaming and communications functions, not to create a dedicated gaming device (whatever that means) — however, after the relative success of its Walkman and Cybershot lineup of handsets, it certainly makes sense for the company to leverage the PlayStation brand in this market as well. Sony Ericsson would be wise, though, to learn from Nokia’s experience with the N-Gage, which is that, well, people don’t like the N-Gage. So, here’s to hoping that the Ericsson side of the equation can knock some sense into the Sony side of the equation, or else we may end up with a bulky, side-talkin’ handset which uses even more proprietary formats that no one is interested in.

[Via Maxconsole]

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Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Cingular, Symbian, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

We encourage everyone to take these tidbits with the usual boulder-sized grain of salt, but America’s favorite (read: only) HSDPA carrier has dropped their September launch grid, and on account of our friends’ slippery hands, it’s subsequently found its way over to Engadget HQ. Thanks to our own Boy Genius among countless other tipsters, nothing on the grid has really taken us by surprise — no UMTS 1900 N80s, for example — but we’re encouraged by Cingular’s (foolhardy?) optimism that the 8525 might yet see a release this month. Also allegedly along for the ride are the 3125, the oft-promised but rarely-delivered Nokia E62 (which turns out to be a lifetime exclusive for Cingular), the Samsung SGH-C417 that now appears to be on limited sale, and Sony Ericsson’s middling W300 Walkman flip. And, oh yeah, the Motorola L6 is in there, too. Don’t ask us.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

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Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, Cingular, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Perhaps trying to drown out the repeated cries of “give us our K790,” Cingular’s launched one for the Sony Ericsson fans: the entry-level W300i Walkman clamshell. To be fair, with a Memory Stick Micro slot, relatively generous 101 x 80 external display, Bluetooth, external music controls, and FM radio with RDS support, “entry-level” may not be doing the phone justice. Be that as it may, the handset’s only going to set you back $20 after all the discounts are said and done (provided you’re ready and willing to sign on the dotted line, of course).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Sony Ericsson, Cingular, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

We know this one’s been in the oven for a while, but according to the good folks at HowardForums, Cingular’s finally seen fit to release the Sony Ericsson W810i — and just in time, if we do say so ourselves — though availability seems to be initially limited to brick-and-mortar stores. As a refresher, the brightly-colored candybar does the Walkman thing in style, packing a 2-megapixel camera, that Memory Stick Duo slot we all love to hate, and the obligatory quad-band GSM radio with EDGE; better yet, its predecessors’ joystick is mercifully replaced with a more usable d-pad. Just add A2DP and you’ve got yourselves a winner, guys.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

At first glance, the new Sony Ericsson Z558 looks like nothing more than a rehash of the Z550 geared toward the Chinese market. By and large, that’s an accurate assessment, save for one critical detail: the new model packs a touch screen and stylus for handwriting recognition — a feature that seems like overkill for Latin characters, but thinking about Chinese puts things in an entirely different perspective. Much like the Nokia 6108 before it, the Z558 sports handwriting recognition for the sole purpose of making life a little easier on folks whose languages are composed of thousands of characters (though as you can see from the press photo, you can write in English too, if you’re into that sort of thing). Other features include a 1.3-megapixel cam, 18MB of internal memory expandable to 1GB via Memory Stick Micro cards, and a 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz GSM radio with EDGE; look for it in Z558c and Z558i variants for mainland China and the rest of the world, respectively.

[Via Slashphone]

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Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, GSM

Is there really room in Sony Ericsson’s lineup for another candybar wedged in between the diminutive K610 and the K790 / K800 3.2-megapixel monsters? These pictures (if real) seem to suggest that our favorite Euro-Asian manufacturer thinks there is. The rumored, unnamed device is emblazoned with the “Cyber-shot” brand, suggesting that the handset will be photo-centric — perhaps a bit of a stretch for a phone whose camera resolution tops out at 2 megapixels, regardless of the presence of autofocus. Other specs allegedly include a QVGA display and Memory Stick Micro slot; if we had to guess, we’d say that UMTS 2100 is in the cards, too. We’ll keep an eye on this one and confirm or debunk it just as soon as we’re able.

[Thanks, Shaliron]

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Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, Sony Ericsson, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Sony Ericsson’s Z710i is a bit of an ugly duckling. Maybe “ugly duckling” is the wrong phrase — after all, we found the phone to be just swell-looking in the flesh — perhaps “black sheep” is a better way of putting it. Stuffed squarely between the Walkman line and Symbian-based smartphones, a handful of perfectly respectable handsets like the Z710 virtually blend into the shadows of Sony Ericsson’s product range — but often offer all the functionality of their flashier brethren in a toned down (and sometimes cheaper) package.

Putting ourselves in the mindset (if only for a moment) of a corporate suit on the lookout for a capable midrange phone, the Z710i stacks up impressively on paper for a clamshell in its class: 2-megapixel camera, Memory Stick Micro expansion, extensive media support with external controls, and dimensions that make it all but disappear in a pocket. In practice, it’s just a solid device, and there’s just not a lot to say about it. Then again, Sony Ericsson would probably have it no other way for its low-key clamshell.

If you can get past the missing Send and End buttons, a paradigm that Sony Ericsson’s been fond of for some time, there’s not much here not to like. Menus were speedy and predictably organized (and animated, but not annoyingly so), camera picture quality was decent, and the inclusion of A2DP is (in our humblest of opinions) huge for a phone in this class. We found the keypad’s blue lighting to be a bit uneven, but the unit we were provided with was an engineering sample, so we’re inclined to Sony Ericsson a mulligan here. Sound quality over the handset was clear and loud but had a strange quality to it, like the phone was sitting in a can; again, we’re guessing (read: hoping) it’s a pre-production quirk.

We found the large monochrome external display to be surprisingly pleasing, to the point where we think we’d take it over most any color one. Why? At the end of the day, a clamshell’s outer screen should be all about presenting key information quickly and efficiently; if you need more, you can always flip ‘er open. With 128 x 128 pixels at its disposal, not only are we getting virtually everything we need on the Z710i without opening it, but we found it far more readable in typical outdoor conditions.

Added to a T-Mobile or Cingular store shelf, the Z710 could run the risk of disappearing in a sea of similarly-priced flips, but it’s saving grace could be its brand name. Samsung and LG typically lead this segment in the domestic GSM market, and Sony Ericsson brings a breath of fresh air with a different (arguably more refined) user interface and a feature list that could make even a power user crack a smile. That being said, we haven’t heard any announcements to make us think this thing’s going to make it onto our networks in an official capacity, but the quad-band GSM radio with EDGE make it a solid choice for our business exec alter-ego looking to try something a little different.

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Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson

While Sony’s been dealing with exploding batteries, PS3 craziness and now a recall for some Cyber-shot cams, the Japanese behemoth’s handset division is trying to expand into the mobile television sector by partnering with Ericsson. Already the two form a significant presence in cellphones with the Sony Ericsson brand, and they hope to continue that with television as well. Per Nordlof, Ericsson’s director of Product Strategy, said at a press conference in Stockholm on Thursday that a third of the world’s mobile phone users will be watching TV on their handsets on a regular basis by 2008 — something the folks at Qualcomm and others are thinking, too, with MediaFLO and the like. According to The Associated Press, the corporate duo is also working on a way to send clips from your living room’s TV directly to a handset. Of course, if you don’t want to wait until 2008, you could just buy a Slingbox or a Sony LVTV Box right now for the same effect.

Read – Reuters
Read – The Associated Press

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