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Our man in London is now inside the Sony Ericsson event ready to snap away and report back on today’s announcements. He’s just arrived at the venue so we’re waiting to hear back from him on what Sony Ericsson are going to announce today. We’ll keep you updated as we get the information and of course post the pictures as soon as we get them! Stay tuned …
(16 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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Another day, another handset. That phrase largely sums up the S312. Cynical? Read on and find out …
Let’s start with the good. It’s a basic wee handset that will appeal to those looking for a no frills, no nonsense handset. The 2 MP camera isn’t rock bottom spec and should be fine for random Facebook photography fun. There’s a couple of additional photo features, such as photo blogging, and a photo fix feature to enhance shots. There is also a dedicated video camera key, which is a nice touch I suppose. A photo light is also a nice addition although probably of little use for anything more than basic photography. An M2 memory card slot is also nice to have, whether for pictures/videos or music.
The fact that the handset supports EDGE is good too although realistically you probably won’t be doing much browsing on the small screen.
It is nice to see TrackID featured though. This is a great wee feature that I’ve long sung the praises of and it’s especially nice to see Sony Ericsson include it in their low-end handsets. A2DP support is also a welcome inclusion. Kudos chaps!
Ok let’s turn our attention to the bad. Generic. That one word sums this handset up in its entirety. I’m not being overly harsh when I say that because in all honesty the S312 doesn’t offer anything that we haven’t seen before. What can they include in a low-end handset I hear you ask? It’s not so much the feature set, although that is part of it, but rather the relatively unimagintive design; it’s basically a cookie cutter handset that we’ve seen countless times before from various manufacturers.
If Sony Ericsson are sensible they will price this handset very cheaply although given their track record I have feeling that probably won’t happen. A low price would be the S312’s saving grace because if it were very cheap then its feature set could really compete with the products from other manufacturers in the generic low-end category.
Also announced today is the VH300 - a small and simple Bluetooth headset.
In short it isn’t a bad handset, but it’s nothing to get excited about either. Those who want a basic handset with the odd extra might like it, but for the rest of us it’s not much more than a quick mention in a blog. Move along people, nothing to see here.
Filed under: Announcement, New phone, S series
(8 votes, average: 4.13 out of 5) Loading ...UIQ’s entire 270 staff have been put on notice of dismissal. With both Sony Ericsson and Motorola no longer using UIQ in their products the company’s future is dubious. Sony Ericsson has agreed to fund the company on a monthly basis to allow UIQ to explore its options, in other words until someone buys the company or the staff can be found other jobs. The staff themselves are a valuable asset given their experience.
All About Symbian reports that both Sony Ericsson and Motorola has dropped a number of UIQ handsets planned for launch.
Source: All About Symbian
Filed under: UIQ (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Sam over at Xperiancers has posted a new video of the X1 in action after receiving a C&J model. Until the retail model hits the shops next week this is the closest version of the handset to the end customer model that we can see.
Via: Xperiancers
Filed under: Hands on, Preview, Videos, X series, XPERIA (6 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5) Loading ...Mats Lindoff, Sony Ericsson’s Chief Technology Officer, has perhaps been taking lessons from Steve Ballmer as he has been dropping sound bites galore this past week. Let’s start with the over-diversification …
As any self-respecting Sony Ericsson fan will know Sony Ericsson have been announcing and cancelling handsets like it’s going out fashion over the past year. Some have been wee gems like the G900 or the C902, others have been … well less than stellar. There have been a lot of handsets and to be blunt some of them have been either unnecessary given the existence of other handsets in SE’s portfolio or just haven’t added much to the market that previous handset’s didn’t already offer. It seems that Sony Ericsson is finally confirming what the rest of us already knew, namely that they over-diversified.
The admission started last week when Sony Ericsson President Hideki Komiyama said that he is aware that Sony Ericsson has problems and that they are working on innovative products. Now we have Mr Lindoff, speaking at the launch of PlayNow Plus, saying that Sony Ericsson over-diversified in Q3:
There were probably too many devices in the portfolio in Q3. We developed products that have not been ranged by operators. It makes no sense to develop it if we are not damn sure it’s ranged.
It’s good to see Sony Ericsson recognising this issue because hopefully it signals the start of a turn around for the company that sees them release great handsets again like they did in their early days with the likes of the T68i, the T610, the P800, and the K750.
Mr Lindoff had more to say though as he also talked about Sony Ericsson’s smart phone plans. He made the claim that the X1 is primarily aimed at the U.S. market, which seems a little strange given that it will be released there after being released in European markets:
Operators have demanded a Windows Mobile device for the past five years so it’s driven by them for enterprise customers. Yes, you could say it is primarily for the US market.
The claim isn’t so strange when taken in this context given that Windows Mobile has arguably a stronger presence, or at least a stronger image, in the American market than it does in European markets where Symbian rules the roost.
Mr Lindoff wasn’t one for stopping and he continued his comments by talking about smart phone platforms. Android, Google’s open source mobile platform, is something that Sony Ericsson are apparently interested in at least, but Lindoff was cautious in commiting to it. He commented that Sony Ericsson might develop an Android handset, presumably as part of the Xperia line given previous comments by Sony Ericsson to the effect that Xperia isn’t tied to WinMo. However, he cited a lack of resources as preventing Sony Ericsson from realising this any time soon.
Symbian Foundation appears to be more important to Sony Ericsson though as Sony Ericsson already have Symbian Foundation handsets in development, with the first coming next year as part of the Xperia line. The good news for mobile geeks is that it is promised to be very high-end! Lindoff is quoted as saying:
We will launch a Symbian Foundation handset in the next year. There will be really high-end Xperia devices.
Sony Ericsson should allow Mats Lindoff to speak more often!
Source: Mobile News
Filed under: Future, News, Operating platform, Symbian, Technology, Upcoming, Windows Mobile, X series, XPERIA (7 votes, average: 3.29 out of 5) Loading ...