The Four-eyed Journal » Sony-Ericsson

Android powered Sony Ericsson XPeria X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro

jhay — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:25:54 +0000

Sony Ericsson has just announced the release of two new phones the XPeria X10 Mini and the X10 Mini Pro, little brothers of the upcoming Xperia X10. These two new phones are powered by the Android 1.6 with a custom UI from Sony Ericsson layered on top called TimeScape.

Here are the specs:
2.55? touch screen @ 240×320 pixels
Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz
128MB internal memory
up to 16GB via microSD card
3G/HSDPA
WiFi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1
5MP autofocus camera w/ LED flash
GPS w/ aGPS support
Android OS 1.6 w/ TimeScape UI

Prices have yet to be announced and master Yuga hints that these two phones would hit the country along with the Xperia X10 at the same time. So watch out iPhone and BlackBerry.

Vivaz – Sony Ericsson’s new smartphone with 720 P HD video recording

jhay — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:07:46 +0000

Sony Ericsson has come up with a new phone that could be at par with other smartphones from BlackBerry, LG, Nokia and Apple; the SE Vivaz Symbian smartphone is touted as mix-up of its Walkman, Cybershot and messaging phones.

It sports the following specs:

107.0 x 52.0 x 12.5 mm size
Symbian (S60, 5th Edition) OS device
weighs 97 g
720P HD video recording capability
16 million color, 3.2 inch Intuitive touchscreen (16:9, 640×360)
8.1 megapixel sensor, 4x digital zoom camera with auto focus and continuous auto focus for video, and face detection for photos.
75MB of phone memory (up to 16 GB of extendable memory with MicroSD Card)
Has apps for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google Maps and 3D games
GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, TV out and FM radio

It will be available this Q1 of 2010 and comes in in 4 colors: Cosmic Black, Moon Silver, Galaxy Blue, Venus Ruby. Doesn’t the look and shape remind you of a BlackBerry? Prices would soon be announced. Now I have another gadget to add on my wishlist.

Sony Ericsson’s MH907 – world’s first “Motion Activated” headphones

jhay — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:05:08 +0000

I’ve been waiting for new phone offerings from Sony Ericsson now since the Christmas season is fast approaching. Its rivals have already started to roll out new models that are indeed attractive and price competitive, so Sony Ericsson must really come out with the good stuff real soon otherwise they could be in trouble again.

It seems we have to wait a little longer but in the meantime, we SE fanboys could marvel at their latest headphone offering, the MH907 which is touted as the first “motion activated” headphones in the world.

InformationWeek reports:

The MH907 utilizes a technology called “SensMe” for its motion controls, and plugging the headphones in your ear will automatically start music playback. Users can pause the music track by taking out one earbud, and taking out both will stop the playback entirely. Answering and ending calls work in a similar manner, Sony Ericsson said.

Nifty isn’t it? I wonder if Apple would follow suit and release something similar that way, its new line of iPods would become more awesome. Going back, here’s a video ad for the new MH907.

Funky music and animation right? The new MH907 retails around €39 or about Php 2 ,700 by today’s exchange rate. Either way, I’d like to view this as a sign that good things will be coming from Sony Ericsson come this Christmas season.

Problems with Sony Ericsson Update Service software + Vista

jhay — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:17:22 +0000

For now I’m giving up on fixing the corrupted Java games on my Sony Ericsson K800i phone because of time constraints (I have a lot of more important things to do for today). It’s all because Sony Ericsson’s Update Service Software is having problems running on my Vista laptop. Trying this step first because I don’t want to do a master reset on my phone.

Tried this workaround from Esato forums by running the Update Service as an administrator.

Right Click on the Sony Ercisson Update Service shortcut on the desktop and under Compatibility tab, goto Show settings for all users, and tick “run this program as an administrator” under privilege level.

This finally got the Update Service software running and downloading the latest updated firmware for my K800i. I thought it would take only less than half an hour just like on my PC running XP, but not this time. I was already done preparing my school uniform and all the things I’ll be bringing with me to school but lo and behold, the darn Update Service software is still taking time out after I chose English as my preferred language.

My hunch is that it really does take that too long a time and I’ll try again when I have more over this weekend. The same issue first appeared when I installed the PC Suite for the K800i on my laptop which took almost 45 minutes! Again things went a lot faster on my PC running on XP.

Another crappy thing about Vista I guess, or the Sony Ericsson guys need to improve their support softwares.

Be back with updates and how I fixed my main problem of corrupted Java games on my phone this weekend. That is if I could fix it without the need to do a master reset. Oh dear God!

PlayStation + Sony Ericsson = PlayStation Phone

jhay — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:00:03 +0000

Too good to be true? Well it’s not yet a real gadget but I just read from Game News that an executive from Sony Computer Entertainment has strongly hinted that SCE will team with Sony Ericsson to create a PlayStation Phone.

Speaking to the Economic Times, Sony Computer Entertainment co-chief operating officer Jim Ryan hinted that a PlayStation Phone could be on the way.

“The PlayStation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson. Convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible,” he said. “What has been done is finding a match between a camera and a mobile phone, and that has been done wherein the mobile phone features are not reasonably inhibited and the camera is also a reasonably competitive product. It is hugely intellectually seductive to have a console-oriented phone.”

Unlike camera phones, however, where the camera is sort of an add-on onto the phone – something that doesn’t provide great picture quality – the idea for a PlayStation Phone may be more rooted in the console side than in the phone. According to the report, the phone would be “superimposed on the console.” Could this be the new PSP in a few years?

Would this be the real ‘iPhone killer’ or something totally new and awesome in its own right? Or has SCE and Sony Ericsson has finally learned enough from the tragedy of Nokia’s N-gage that they feel and think they could prove that this concept can be a real success story.

They succeeded in combining the Walkman and Cyber-shot brands with phones so it’s much closer to reality than if other companies would take a shot at it.

What would it looke like? Would you get one?

And I wonder what’s next, camera phones + photo printers? (WTF?!)

All in all, it would be something definitely to watch out for.

Update:

CVG has been told that Sony is not working on a PlayStation Phone. (bummer!) And again I quote:

“Jim Ryan was in fact misquoted by the Economic Times of India about this issue,” a Sony UK spokesperson told us moments ago, adding, “We do have talks with other arms of the Sony family about various topics but I can confirm we are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone.”

The power of the rumors being spread over the internet.