SE's timid reply - New launches

[IceFusion]

Some New phone from SE,

The Sony Ericsson K320 is a new compact budget-oriented member of the K-series. It would feature a 1.8" (128x160 pixels) 65K UBC display, a VGA camera, an Infrared port, as well as USB and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. The Bluetooth capabilities of the device are enhanced by a proprietary Sony Ericsson technology called Automatic Bluetooth Pairing which basically means that the mobile would pair with a compatible Bluetooth headset automatically without the need of entering a passcode. The device would support tri-band GSM/GPRS networks. It will be available on selected markets in Misty Silver, Graphite Grey and Light Brown color combinations from October 2006 onwards.

The Sony Ericsson Z558 is the first non-smartphone of the manufacturer that comes equipped with a touchscreen. The clamshell would offer a 1.3 megapixel camera, FM radio and a Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot. The 1.9" 262K color TFT touchscreen display with a 220x176 pixels resolution would allow for English handwriting recognition. Sony Ericsson Z558 also has an external color STN display with a resolution of 128x36 pixels. Connectivity features of the device include support for tri-band GSM/GPRS networks along with Bluetooth functionality. Besides the regular Z558i version it would have a Z558c one, designed for the Mainland China. The latter would have support for Chinese characters input. Sony Ericsson Z558 would be publicly available in ‘Espresso Black’ from October 2006.

The Walkman-branded W830 is an EDGE version of the W850 and would be targeted at the Asian market. The mobile comes with a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo card in the package and the music playing experience is enhanced by the stereo FM radio with RDS, the Walkman 2.0 music player and the PlayNow 3.0 direct music download service featuring Sony BMG artists. Besides all that, the device would have a 2.0" 262K colors TFT display with a QVGA resolution and a 2 megapixel camera. When it comes to connectivity the choice is also rather rich - W830c would have tri-band GSM networks support with EDGE, USB 2.0, and Bluetooth 2.0 with support for the A2DP profile meaning that you could listen to music on a stereo Bluetooth headset.

Something Intresting though..

And finally, another interesting gadget has come up as a result of the joint efforts of Sony Ericsson and Fossil, the famous watch manufacturer. The product Sony Ericsson MBW-100 is a regular analog wrist watch but it comes enabled with Bluetooth functionality. It can connect to your mobile phone and show you discreetly on a small OLED display who is calling you. Further on, you can even cancel or mute any call with the help of a dedicated key. But the fun doesn’t end here - you can easily command your phone’s music player straight from your wrist - you can play, pause, or skip to the next track. Best of all, it would be almost impossible to loose your phone incidentally since the water-resistant wrist watch MBW-100 would warn you with an out-of-range alarm.

The arrival of such a device comes as a no surprise since Fossil has a history with clever wrist watches in their Tech Watches series. The range includes watches such as the Wrist Net one which supports the MSN Direct service and the Wrist PDA one which works with the PALM OS and comes with 8MB of memory. The Sony Ericsson MBW-100 will go on sale globally during Q4 of 2006 with a guideline retail price of approximately EUR 300.

All in All, as of now.. SE has got Nothing to compete against Nokia’s new announceemnts made earlier this week..
SO seems like Nokia may be getting back to the top position again..

Source : GSMArena.com - GSM reviews, opinions, votes, manuals, ringtones and more…

[aka911]

SO seems like Nokia may be getting back to the top position again..

Nokia is already in top position! SE lingers in the 5th position!

seriously W850i/830i looks very very lame…

It is sad that sony is running out of ideas so soon!

what was really needed was a playstation phone with Nvidia go and based on S700i legend!

or maybe a handycam phone..

[IceFusion]

well, what i meant abt Nokia getting back at top was in Indian context..

As for SE going out of ideas, i wouldn;t bet on it…

In the March conference it was announced that by the end of 2k6 there would be a number of cybershot phones available/announced, and so far we only have the K790.. so what i beleive is that SE should be making a major announcement around November…

[aka911]

even if SE sell K790i at 15k, they are not going to be a success in India…at the max they will do well in metros…

NOkia in some queer way has got Interwined in the DNA of general Indian consciousness, which he is not prepared to get rid off…

atleast fr the next 5 years, I dont see a future fr them atleast in the lower range( ala 1100) and in the higher range (ala Nseries)

’

The only area they can hope to do well is middle range, but with the upcoming models as bad as z710i and W830i, I seriously doubt it..

[x86]

W830i rather looks prettty cool to me…

[thexfactor]

The phones look lame too me as well, except the watch thing … looks cool, but can’t imagine the price…still am hoping SE have a few more models to announce in the coming months.

[Vandal]

@x86

W830i rather looks prettty cool to me…

looks stopgap to me…ya need to get out more often

Nokia rules for now !

[sydras]

The problem with Sony Ericsson is that they make simple looking phones. They may be featuristic but frankly, when you have to shell out 20K for a phone, it betterr look like it’s worth 20K. (eg. the w800i which was featuristic but once you reach the showroom and actually see the piece, you don’t feel like it’s worth it. It looks no different than the 2-3K phones that SE or Nokia makes.)
Nokia is better in the looks dept. but don’t seem to realize that they have to work on their issues of horrid displays and software bugs that seem to plague the majority of their phones.

[Nikhil]

I have always favoured Nokia phones And I am happy that it looks like they have got their act together

And as aka rightly said, people in India have some special preference for Nokai

[Gr1M]

I need that watch.

[Vandal]

@sydras

The problem with Sony Ericsson is that they make simple looking phones. They may be featuristic but frankly, when you have to shell out 20K for a phone, it betterr look like it’s worth 20K. (eg. the w800i which was featuristic but once you reach the showroom and actually see the piece, you don’t feel like it’s worth it. It looks no different than the 2-3K phones that SE or Nokia makes.)
Nokia is better in the looks dept. but don’t seem to realize that they have to work on their issues of horrid displays and software bugs that seem to plague the majority of their phones.

horrible software bugs??? Sez who mayte?? out of a 100 nokia’s in India 90 are bought by idiots (well nokia does sell 20 phones in India for every SE) who dunno how to use em properly… another thing I’ve moved from SE to Nokia (pretty much reverse) and will never look back, well maybe at UIQ SE’s but that’s it…

AFA displays go nokia sticks to the recommended res of 176x208 for pretty much all their smartphones…SE tends to up the res therefore the screen looks sharper. I don’t think display quality is what sells a phone, and the S60 nokia’s are as stable as the earth’s axis pal

[spyral]

Nokia was one of the earliest (if not the first?) cell phone maker to hit the Indian market. Theyre interface was always very intuitive and user friendly and alot of people got used to it. For young people like most of us, switching around isnt a problem but for alot of older people, they like to stick with the product they know. So now Nokia has a HUGE part of the market cornered and with newer offerings like the N95, theyre even catching the enthusiasts eye. I have to say I was very intrigued by that phone even though I thought Id never switch back to Nokia from Windows Mobile. Really wish Nokia had a Windows based offering.

Sony, on the other hand is going down in alot of their retail end businesses. As a phone maker they were failing and teamed up with Ericsson (also in trouble at the time) and they came out with some trend setting phones but were very quickly outclassed. Their TV’s are no longer considered the best, theyre nowehere in the portable audio market which to a large extent they built, theyve just about exited the PC market bar a couple of hybrid PC/TV offerings that basically just look good on your desk, their notebooks are a potent combination of garbage quality and premium prices, theyre out of the PDA market and I feel the PS3 at best, is looking iffy. Only positive IMO is their cameras. Hence the CyberShot phone, which is actually pretty interesting, and Nokia still trumps them with the N95. Sony better come out with something huge.

BTW that watch is interesting.

[aka911]

SE has always been at the helm of innovation…

Just like this fossil watch, a few years ago they had introduced a bluetooth controlled car(toy) !

also I vividly remember hem producing a “gamepad” fr now extinct Z600..

also SE is very small company , for them having reached so far is already an achievement… ofcourse they are not goin anywhere frm here… i mean that they will be stuck with that 5% marketshare…

I have to admit I love SE, more then any other phone, guess it goes with “sony” attitude… (see my sig)… sony may have failed in numbers game, but they have an enviable fan base which shows no signs of depletion…

[chic_magnet]

yeah you would always have peeps supporting the underdog… always!!

SE is at the helm of innovation .. yeah i agree… was the first to intro a bluetooth enabled phone.. i had it.. awesome piece..

with sony’s marketing capabilities and ericsson’s engg capabilities they can go places …which they are obviously..

and dont forget.. nokia’s primary goal is to make phones.. not so for other companies like SE, motorola, samsung etc etc..

[aka911]

comeon! SE is also existing solely fr making phones!

SE is not sony!

[Geekhead83]

the w830 looks neat… i mean 1gb card…2mp cam…more than sufficient reasons to vouch for it…

[spyral]

Theres more versions of the watch. Theyre very similar from the looks of it and the Fossil version is rumored to be priced at $250.

Only compatible with SE phones currently and will soon work with other Series 60 based phones.

[Emperor]

Nokia is Top in indian market becuse easy to use, loud and variety of rintons and better RE-SALE value. It think last one is one of the most IMP point in success of Nolkia in India.

[IceFusion]

well yes… You forgot one more thing… lack of Info…