Posts Tagged Sony Ericsson phones
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Brings Solid Hardware, Multimedia
Posted by admin in Sony Ericsson on March 31, 2010
Sony Ericsson may have faltered in recent years, but their first Android smartphone, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, is a serious effort worth looking into. Armed with top-flight hardware, excellent UI and generous feature set, it’s certainly a solid offering.
Physically, it’s quite big. While it can cram into your jeans pocket, to call it uncomfortable will be an understatement. The overall look is great, punctuated by sturdy construction and a good feel in hand (thanks, according to Sony, to the curved face design). Because of the size, it fits in a huge display – a whopping 4-inch touchscreen with 854×480 resolution. Images look gorgeous and the touch interface is very responsive, easily making it one of the best touchscreens we’ve used among the Android set.
As a phone, call quality is decent. It’s far from being the best, but everything sounds clear on both ends. At higher volumes, though, you can find a noticeable distortion. The speakerphone performed similarly, with plenty of loudness to go. Battery life is rated at 8 hours and we’ve been able to take it for almost two days of moderate use without fully draining yet.
Armed with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, the X10 runs very fast. Apps opened quickly and navigation is smooth. It supports both 3G and WiFi so expect fast browsing. Do note that the phone uses a proprietary UI called UXP, which is the main reason why it’s still running Android 1.6. The main draw is a Motoblur-like application called Timescape, which would have been great, but, for some reason, tends to miss updates every now and then. Whether it’s an issue with spotty connection or a bug isn’t clear to us.
It comes with all of Android’s vaunted strengths, including messaging, Google integration and all that jazz. Outlook support isn’t built in, but is easy enough with the bundled Moxier app. Sony Ericsson threw in an excellent onscreen QWERTY keyboard for emails, but made it inaccessible for SMS, which just sucks. There are a number of useful preinstalled apps too, such as the OfficeSuite file manager and Wisepilot.
Like many of their higher-end devices, the company equipped the X10 with a high-res optics module. The 8.1 megapixel camera takes good photos, although it’s still not as great as the best we’ve seen from the Cybershot line. We love the music and video player (Mediascape), which is truly a notch above the media experience from other Android phones. The interface is attractive and it offers a slew of add-on features.
Overall, we love the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. While sticking with Android 1.6 is a bit of a disappointment, the positive UI experience and additional integrated features (i.e. Timescape, Mediascape) somewhat makes up for it. Expensive, though, at around $700 or higher unlocked.
Sony Ericsson Yari Packs Itself Full Of Features To Mixed Results
Posted by admin in Sony Ericsson on February 17, 2010
Sony Ericsson was among the first manufacturers to try and take advantage of the gaming potential in cellphones. Unfortunately for them, the iPhone ended up being the platform that showed everyone how to do it right. The Sony Ericsson Yari is the company’s latest gaming-centric handset, integrating features such as gesture controls and other innovative ideas. Of course, novel implementations never guarantee a good game. So how does it fare?
Physically, it looks like a standard candybar slider. Look closer, though, and you’ll find two odd buttons on top, which are supposed to serve as extra controls that you can use when playing games. Overall build seems solid, the sliding mechanism feels sturdy and it’s got relatively sexy looks too.
For a gaming phone, the Yari’s screen is considerably small at only 2.4. inches. While resolution is good (320 x 240) and colors are bright, the size seriously limits you enjoyment of even the most basic games. Both the navigation buttons and keypad are flat, but they are responsive.
As a phone, it manages below-average calls. Main culprit is a serious lack of volume, even at the highest loudness settings, although signal reception also wasn’t the best. Speakerphone was much better with plenty of loudness, but it suffers from the same reception problems. Expect to charge the battery every night, as you should clean it out in a day and a half at most.
The Yari’s biggest selling point are the gesture-based games, which uses the second camera to approximate the user’s body in relation to the phone. You’ll have to prop it up in the included stand and perform motions ala Microsoft’s Project Natal. Unfortunately, the two titles pre-installed with support for the feature (Tennis and Fitness) are just downright plain. There’s iPhone-style motion gaming here too (Bowling and LocoRoco), which proved much more entertaining. A few other more conventional games are on board, although we do wonder why none of them use the two “gaming” buttons that Sony added on the front panel. Overall, the games are decent but nowhere near the experience you can get from an iPhone (especially considering that this phone isn’t running a very fast processor) – a serious blow to the Yari’s potential for success.
Despite the obvious lack of an actual shot at dominating the mobile gaming landscape, it does come with a smattering of good features: there’s aGPS, a veritable kitchen sink of preloaded apps (from Facebook to Flickr to a pedometer to a torch app with SOS capabilities to a whole lot more), an FM tuner and 3G support (no Wi-Fi, though). Surfing the web, however, isn’t the best with the small screen and a sub-par browser on board. Most pages loaded accurately, though.
It comes with a 5.0 megapixel camera module that offers an overwhelming amount of editing options (which is a good thing). Unfortunately, no amount of tinkering can help with the fact that it only manages average-looking stills (and I’m being generous here). Audio quality, on the other hand, is top notch, making this a great substitute for an actual Walkman phone. The stereo speakers sound great.
Overall, the Sony Ericsson Yari is packed to the brim with features. Unfortunately, throwing in the kitchen sink doesn’t necessarily make a great phone. If the feature set is a good match for what you’re looking for, you may like it, though.
Sony Ericsson announced Aspen is a E-Series Treehuggers
Posted by admin in Sony Ericsson on February 5, 2010
Described as a “business partner with a conscience,” the Sony Ericsson Aspen received its introduction yesterday. What’s up with that “conscience” thing? Well, the business-oriented smartphone comes in as a part of Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart line, which primps environmentally-conscious features on top of your regular productivity package.
Taking a page right out of the S60-based E-Series, the handset bears all-too-obvious physical similarities with the Finnish company’s popular business handheld, the Nokia E72. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – especially when executed this well (in the looks department, at least).
The Sony Ericsson Aspen boasts both a QWERTY keyboard and a resistive touchscreen atop its candybar frame. Display measures 2.4 inches, with 240 x 320 resolution. It uses a similar panels-based UI as the Xperia X2 (with plenty of preinstalled choices), allowing you to change the look and presentation of the homepage on the fly.
Details of the device include a 3.2-megapixel camera, aGPS, stereo Bluetooth, FM radio, support for both 3G and Wi_Fi, microSD card expansion (4GB included), a boatload of apps (Google apps, social messaging and more) and the usual Windows Mobile niceties (Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, IE, Office Mobile). It also comes with Sony Ericsson’s Media Browser and Play Now features. Being a GreenHeart phone, there’s a good amount of eco-conscious fares too, including the GreenHeart panel, power-saving mode, Eco-mate app and power-saving accessories.
The Sony Ericsson Aspen is slated for availability in select markets beginning in the 2nd quarter. It comes with a choice of two colors – iconic black or white silver.
Sony Ericsson entfesselt Lively, Full Touch Screen Smartphone
Posted by admin in Sony Ericsson on January 24, 2010
Sony Ericssson has just unveiled a new smartphone with full touch screen features – the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. This phone is officially the second unit to be released under Sony Ericsson’s new family of communication entertainment phones, with the Xperia series as the first model. To be released anytime this first quarter, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz features high quality HD video playback.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is a full featured smartphone with great features such as a high resolution camera that lets you capture video in HD quality. It has a dedicated video key that lets you shoot video quickly with continous auto focus.
This phone also lets you review video content in standby panel or online via Wi-Fi on its 3.2 inch touch enabled widescreen display. You can also upload your videos to YouTube and Picasa directly over Wi-Fi. And since uploading takes time, you can let the uploading run in the background and use the phone for other purposes.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is also an open platform handset so you can personalize it with entertainment content and other applications that you can find from PlayNow and Symbian Developer Community.
Design-wise, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz boasts of a design that can be attributed to what Sony calls as human curvature. The design was made to mirror the shape of the human body while at the same deliver a precise and compeling phone interaction.
Here’s a quick rundown of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz’ features and specs:
easy access to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter
8.1 megapixel camera with face and smile detection
Sony Ericsson Media Player
3.2-inch touch enabled widescreen display
aGPS
supports UMTS HSPA 900/2100 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz will be available in Moon Silver, Cosmic Black, Galaxy Blue and Venus Ruby designs.No words on pricing yet.
720p-Capable Sony Ericsson Vivaz
Posted by admin in Sony Ericsson on January 22, 2010
Talk about horrible naming. Sony Ericsson once had a phone rumored to be called Kurara. Well, it’s official now and, fortunately, has received a new moniker. It’s now called the Sony Ericsson Vivaz (which is a slight upgrade) and it comes with enough video capture prowess to make you question why you bought a Flip in the first place.
A full-fledged smartphone, the device runs Symbian S60 at the helm, which should ensure top-of-the-line messaging (IMAP, POP3, SMTP, Microsoft Exchange) and PIM tools. Its biggest selling point, though, is the 8.1 megapixel camera module, which can shoot 720p videos for direct uploading to YouTube and Picasa, apart from offering image stabilization, smile recognition, continuous autofocus and geotagging. It also adds a TV out so you can watch your library directly on a larger display.
Physically, it appears to foster similar lines to the Android-toting Xperia X10, measuring 4.21 x 2.04 x 0.49 inches. Details include a 3.2 inch touchscreen display (360 x 640 resolution), aGPS, FM radio, stereo Bluetooth, microSD card expansion and a 1200 mAh battery. It comes with both EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA 7.2 Mbit/s/HSUPA support and Wi-Fi connectivity, along with a full HTML browser. For multimedia, it offers H.264 compatibility, among a laundry list of formats.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz will come with the same custom theme as found on the Sony Ericsson Satio. It’s slated for a Q1 international release (selected markets), with unofficial pricing being pegged anywhere between $670 to $750. It will come in four differently-colored variants – Silver Moon, Cosmic Black, Galaxy Blue and Venus Ruby.
