Archive for February, 2009

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Media Go™ hands on

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

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Together with the W995, Sony Ericsson announced that its latest Walkman phone will be accompanied by a new media manager software called “Media Go™”. In cooperation with se-community.com, we have exclusively tested a pre-release version of the software. In order to give you the possibility to get a live impression of the tool, we will provide you with interactive screenshots where you can navigate through the different screens. You will find the link to this unique way of exploring Media Go™ at the end of this article.

The introduction of Media Go™ shows the intention of Sony (Ericsson) to participate in the growing market of online music platforms. Apple’s combination of iTunes and iPhone made a point – if you are familiar with Apple’s solution, Media Go™ will be an easy transition for you. Here is an overview on Sony’s new software functionality:

  • Media Management of Video, Audio, Photo and Podcast media on a Windows PC
  • Hassle-free synchronisation of above media files between PC and several mobile devices
  • Automatic conversion and optimization of media files to the destination device
  • Easy CD ripping
  • Integration of “PlayNow™” online music/game/ringtone store
  • Creation of SensMe™ playlists on the computer

Following formats can be processed by Media Go™:

  • Audio: AAC, FLAC, MP3, Wave, WMA
  • Video: AVI (DivX, XviD, MJPEG with necessary codecs installed), MPEG-4 AAC & AVC, QuickTime Movie, WMV
  • Photo: GIF, JPEG, PNG, Targa, TIFF, Windows Bitmap

All other formats will still be transferred to the mobile device, but without optimization (such as re-sizing, downsampling etc.)

When it comes to podcasts, the new tool offers the possibility to subscribe to a number of pre-defined podcast channels, or you can add your own list of podcasts. The synchronisation of all media files between your PC and your mobile phone(s) works just as in iTunes: for each device you can define which playlists, podcasts, photo albums and videos you want to sync. In addition, Media Go™ offers the possibility to automatically sync all the new files that are added to the PC’s library. Another nice feature: every media file in the library can be transfered from or to a mobile device via a right-click. Last but not least, if you are missing an album cover image, Media Go™ can get it for you from Gracenote.

Media Go entry

By clicking on above picture, you are able to access some interactive screenshots of Sony’s MediaGo™. You can follow the  navigational entries on the left hand side (marked by red arrows in above image) in order to see how the different screens look like. There are also some other links to e.g. preference screens inside of the application’s main window. We hope this will provide you with a better insight to the upcoming Media Go™ software!

Posted in entertainment, exclusive, hands-on, music, news, playnow, review, upcoming, walkman | 18 Comments »

Sony Ericsson W64S Now Available… To The World!

Friday, February 27th, 2009

design_im_01

Sony Ericsson’s W64S has been availabe under Japanese operator AU for a while now, but only to Japanese customers.  Previously, AU phones never worked outside of Japan unless you are a customer and subscriber of AU’s mobile phone service in Japan.  Well it looks like that is beginning to all change.  Rather new, a few tech geeks managed to create an unlock for the Sony Ericsson W64S, as shown above.  This unlock, still in the preliminary stages, does not require an external hypersim and is said to be “99.9% stable and perfect.”  A few business owners have managed to get a hold of this and are now beginning to sell unlocked Sony Ericsson W64S.

The Sony Ericsson W64S is available for an average $700 CDN, or appoximately $556 USD and €439 EURO.  The W64S is aviable in four colours, Snow x White, Diamond x Pink, Lattice x Black, and Mist x Blue.  The Lattice x Black, by the way, looks much darker and only purple in certain angles in reality than rather than the following renderings.

color_im_02-3color_im_01-2color_im_03-2color_im_04

Reviewing the specifications of the W64S, it has obviously a flip phone with a rotating/swivel screen.  This allows it to be used as a TV/Media Player or used as a 3.2 megapixel camera, located on the back of the phone.  The screen is a 16M colour WFVGA 2.8 inch screen.  On the front, there are hidden notification lights that glow when there are new text messages, missed calls, and ringing alarms.

For more information regarding the W64S with more specification, commercials, and media campaigns, visit Sony Ericsson’s W64S Product Website (Japanese).  I would highly recommend watching the W64S demo, even if you don’t understand Japanese.

There is a catch with this phone.  Well, there are catches with all Japanese keitais.  For one, one cannot use the internet browser or use anything that involves the internet, such as GPS and downloading of applications and games.  This is locked only to the AU by KDDI USIM.  TV is not an option either as the signals are only available in Japan.  But with all AU by KDDI phones, unfortunately and at the moment, text messaging does not work at all.  Nevertheless, this is a ground breaking discovery and spark more AU by KDDIs available.  You never know, you might be picking up a Walkman Monster Premier3, Cybershot Flagship S001, or the endless customization RE soon.

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Posted in exclusive, i-mode, japanese, news, operating-platform, operators, technology, w-series | 23 Comments »

Sony Ericsson updates Windows Mobile Panels SDK, adds OpenGL ES support

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

Just a few days ago, Sony Ericsson updated its Windows Mobile panels SDK to version 1.0.5 (still a beta, though). The updated version now adds support for the brilliant OpenGL ES, which means the XPERIA panels can now be hardware accelerated. The X1 has a very powerful graphics processor, and I can’t wait to see the results of this new release.

You can read a lot more about the new release over at Sony Ericsson’s Developer World, where you can also download it for free, so you can start developing panels for the X1. Alternatively, you can press this link, and we’ll hook you up the triple W-way!

Source: Sony Ericsson Developer World via: Xperiancers

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Posted in developer, windows-mobile, x-series, xperia, xperia-panels | 4 Comments »

Sony Ericsson to support JavaFX Mobile in upcoming feature phones

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

javafx

Sony Ericsson recently announced that it will support the brand new JavaFX Mobile platform in its upcoming phones. JavaFX makes it possible to extend the usability of Java ME.

“Sony Ericsson is committed to delivering innovative and energized user experiences to our consumers, working closely with partners who share the creativeness and vision,” says Rikko Sakaguchi, who is the Corporate Vice President and Head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson.

“We see JavaFX as a natural fit to our mobile software platform strategy to enable developers, both in-house and in our ecosystem, to create superior, innovative, expressive mobile applications and services. Sony Ericsson expects that JavaFX will have a great impact on the mobile content ecosystem and plan to bring JavaFX to a significant part of our product portfolio.”

You can read more about JavaFX Mobile right here.

Via: Sony Ericsson Developer World

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Posted in application, developer | 10 Comments »

Gallery: Sony Ericsson C901

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Here’s our photo gallery of the upcoming Sony Ericsson C901 in the black and pink variants. We’ve got close to fifty images in this gallery, so there should be quite a bit of stuff to look at :)

We’ll be putting some C901’s up for grabs when it gets released :)

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Posted in c-series, gallery | 16 Comments »

The C905 – now in 3D!

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

c905-3d

Sony Ericsson has recently put one of those 3D phone demos on some of their regional sites. In my opinion, it should have been available a bit earlier, but oh well, better late than never… Cool thing this time is that it also has small clips incorporated into it that demonstrate some of the phone’s features, but without using the 3D engine (unlike previous 3D demos). Have a  look:
C905 in 3D

Note: I couldn’t access it on the UK site, so the link directs to the Bulgarian site. The demo is still in English, though.

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Posted in c-series, cyber-shot | No Comments »

S0X01

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Just recently, Sony Ericsson Japan filed a report of their upcoming SOX01 phone for AU by KDDI.  What does the “X” mean?  I’ll let you guys interpret that.

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1070202&native_or_pdf=pdf

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Posted in exclusive, fcc, future, japanese | 2 Comments »

Video: Sony Ericsson W995 preview

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Here’s our 17-minute video preview of the Sony Ericsson W995, which was announced last Sunday. The video includes parts about the design, comparisons with other devices, including the C901 and C903, and of course a fairly thorough walk-through of the user interface and some of the features. Please keep in mind that the phones shown in the video are very early prototypes running very early software. The icons are messed up at the moment, the Walkman player seems to be going through some kind of restructuring, and several features are missing.

The video was a pretty quick job. Didn’t have much time to edit it (not that it would have been much better, but still…), so you’ll have to live with me dropping the phones, etc., now and then.

You might also want to check out our large gallery of the W995, which was posted right here, in case you haven’t done so already.

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Posted in preview, prototype, videos, w-series, walkman | 22 Comments »

HUGE Gallery: Sony Ericsson W995

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Here’s our huge gallery of the Sony Ericsson W995 with a total of 82 pictures. We’ll publish a long video look at the W995 later tonight. Hope you’ll like the gallery! :)

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Posted in gallery, w-series, walkman | 18 Comments »

Sony Ericsson ignores solar panel gimmick in future handsets

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Sony Ericsson are not following the flock when it comes to making a green phone, according to an interview with Head of Sustainability Mats Pellbäck-Scharp up on Omio.Greenheart Tree

Rather than going down the solar panel route on a single handset like Samsung with the Blue Earth or LG’s newest planet-saving device, Sony Ericsson are pushing the GreenHeart initiative which showcases innovative methods such as e-manuals and energy saving phone chargers.

He in fact says that the effort and energy consumed adding solar panels to a handset in production is not actually offset by it’s usage, actually doing more harm than good!

Instead Sony Ericsson has been making great steps over the last ten years including using not using hazardous materials such as bromine and PVC in all their phones, making a much bigger difference to the world than a single eco-conscious device.

GreenHeart will be launched by a single handset in the first half of 2009, with a view to rolling out these environmentally aware changes across the entire portfolio in the future.

Posted in news | 9 Comments »

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