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Announced in April 2008 is Sony Ericsson Z780. This smartphone emerged from the Z770, retaining the clamshell design with enhanced specifications. One of the greatest promised of the Z780 is the seamless web browsing, with the inclusion of tri-band, high speed networks, 3G and HSDPA, on its features.

Sony Ericsson Z780 has a dimension of 3.6 x 1.9 x 0.6 inches and weight of 3.5 ounces. It boasts a 2.2-inch, 240 x 320-pixel internal TFT display that runs 262, 144 colors. A 1.1-inch, 126 x 35-pixel monochrome external LCD is also included to display time. Unlike the most recent Sony Ericsson phone models, the Z780 features an alphanumeric keypad instead of the QWERTY keyboard. Available internal memory storage in Z780 is 35MB and it supports Sony M2 memory cards for additional space.

Z780 introduces the Advanced GPS or aGPS – that allows users to find addresses – and the latest version of Google maps – which offers direct access high quality maps as well as satellite images and supplies users with turn-by-turn directions.

It is also equipped with a 2.0-Megapixel camera, Bluetooth stereo support, FM radio and music player, and email setup wizard. It supports POP/IMAP based systems, Microsoft Exchange servers, direct push technology, over the air synchronization of email, contacts, and calendar appointments.

It doesn’t include Wi-Fi although it may not matter this time. Going back to the emergence of the 3G and HSDPA, surfing the net has even become four times faster. Web experience in the phone equalizes that of the PC. Browsing can be made with a mouse pointer and history checks, Google search and downloading are easier. Users can also build up their own blog sites using the phone. This means that photos and video clips can be shot and stores in the phone in a few clicks only. Setting up an e-mail is easy, and synchronizing it with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync can be done in a breeze. Another bonus: it also supplies pre-loaded weather forecast application.

The Grand Onyx or Amethyst Silver Sony Ericsson Z780 UMTS / HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 and GSM / GPRS / EDGE 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 cell phone. It supports MMS and SMS. Productivity tools include alarm, calendar, to-do list, calculator and voice memo. The music player supports supports the following file formats: MP4, MP3, M4A, 3GPP, AMR, AMR, WAV, RealAudio 8, WMA, WMA Pro. It also supports video streaming.

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Critics have hailed the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 as the closest rival to Apple’s iPhone, as far as design and features are concerned. Nevertheless, the Xperia X1 has a lot of features that are previously unseen in earlier Sony Ericsson models making this model a perfect product of sheer innovation.

The Experia X1 has a dimension of 53 x 110 x 16.7 millimeters and a weight of 146 grams. This is the first phone in Sony Ericsson history that has been employed with a 3.5mm plug for earphones, a feature which is also unique for a Windows Mobile phone. It also includes navigation cross with central button which is very much emphasized in the mobile phone’s facade. It also features a QWERTY keyboard which is comfortable to press. This keyboard will be revealed when the 3-inch WVGA (800 by 480 pixel) touch screen is slid aside.

Atop the Xperia X is the 85mm stylus holder, the 3.5mm headset and the Power/Standby Button. On the left side is the miniUSB sync/charge connector, and one of the back release clips while the volume up/down rocker, camera button and the second back release clip are on the right side. On the back side is the 3.2-Megapixel camera and LED flash.

The graphical user interface in Xperia X1 is called the X-Panel which consists of a number of different start screens divided into grids. All of the screens are customizable except for the main Today screen. Sample applications include a media file drawer, calendar screen, Google search and radio. An interesting screen is an adaptation of the SPB Mobile Shell, which appears as a regular Windows interface, only that the size is enough for the screen to be controlled by the index finger instead of the stylus.

A major problem associated with the X-Panel is speed. A few seconds are allotted to open the X-Panel and media library separately. Most of the screens will start out in low resolution before kicking into high-resolution. There are also a number of glitches in the graphics which are at least, bearable to casual users.

The multimedia aspect of the Xperia is commendable as it maintained the music player that has always been associated with the Walkman phones, although the mobile version of the Windows Media Player is still up for use for formats that cannot be recognized to the former. The 3.2-Megapixel camera has also retained in the Xperia, although the picture quality has remained in the mobile phone level, so nothing bigger should be expected in this area.

Xperia runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 professional and it contains programs like Google maps, messenger, windows live, eJava, QuickGPS, Adobe reader LE and Handango In Hand. The transfer to the Opera 9.5 from Internet Explorer is also an improvement. Other highlights of the Xperia X1 include 512MB ROM and 256RAM, support for HSDPA,

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Sony Ericsson’s P990i is a monumental piece in the line of smartphones in Sony Ericsson as it managed to pack 3G and Wi-Fi support in a single phone. The unit measures 4.4 x 2.2 x 1.0 inches and weighs 5.3 ounces, a little smaller and lighter than the Palm Treo 700p. This silver-colored smartphone is comfortable in the hand and even in the ears when making a call.

The QWERTY keyboard is a big improvement as it features more tactile slightly rubberized keys and wider spacing. The front panel also includes standard navigation keys which consist of two soft keys, a five-way navigation toggle, a back button, and a clear button. Text entries can also be done with the stylus since the phone has handwriting recognition. P990i features a 2.8-inch screen that runs 262,144-colors. It displays bright and sharp text and images which are readable even in direct sunlight. Being a flip down phone, the P990i’s screen transforms depending on its state. When flipped down, the display becomes a touch screen and applications like the Web browser and the RSS feed reader become available.

The top left is where the VGA camera is positioned, where it is strategically positioned in making video phone calls. The left spine is where the media player button, jog dial, a back button, and a key lock slide are located. The jog dial served as a one-handed navigation.

On the right spine are the camera button, a Memory Stick Duo slot, and a Internet button. On the back side are the camera lens, self-portrait mirror, a flash, and a small speaker. The P990i runs on Symbian 9.1 OS and UIQ 3 software platform which includes the QuickOffice application for viewing, editing, and creating Word and Excel documents and a viewer for PDF and PowerPoint documents. Other productivity tools include calendar, a task list, a notepad, a calculator, an alarm clock, a voice recorder, a vibrate mode, a business card scanner, a stopwatch, and RSS feed reader.

Standard phone features includes the phone book and the 60MB of internal memory, plus a 64MB Memory Stick Duo. Additional phone feature is the video call which made video conferencing also possible. It retains capabilities for SMS, MMS and speakerphone.

As mentioned above, the inclusion of the WiFi and 3G/UMTS support, making the phone well-connected. Browsing the Internet can be done via the Opera Web Browser. The phone can also be utilized as a Bluetooth modem with your Bluetooth-enabled laptop. E-mail support remains the same as earlier Ericsson smartphone models.

Multimedia features in P990i includes the 2-megapixel camera that showcases excellent picture quality which can also be a video camera, and the integrated music player that supports various music files such as MP3, AAC, AAC+, and WAV. The video player supports 3GPP, MP4, and RealMedia video streaming.

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Derived from the Sony Ericsson P990i and M600i, the Sony Ericsson P1i features more memory, enhanced features and better camera. It retained the touch screen, e-mail solutions, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi although it lacked the 3G. Despite this issue, the P1i is still a phone for recommendation.

The candy-bar design of the Sony Ericsson P1i resembles the M600i. This black and silver smartphone measures 4.1 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches and weighs 4.4 ounces. The unit is comfortable to use as a phone and it is easy to grip as well, thanks to the nice soft-touch finish on the back. It retained the 2.6-inch display that runs 262,144 colors at a 320×240 pixel resolution. This result to texts and images displayed bright and sharp.

The touch screen made entering data, navigation and application launching as convenient tasks to do. It features the rocker-style keyboard which looks like the normal QWERTY keyboard only that there are two letters per key. This keyboard carries the same issue raised from Sony Ericsson P1. Navigation toggle is absent in the P1i and is replaced by a scroll wheel on the left spine.

The right side is where the proprietary Sony Memory Stick Micro expansion slot, camera activation key and the customizable shortcut button are located. On the back side is the camera lens and flash; on the bottom are the AC adapter and headset.

Sony Ericsson P1i runs on Symbian OS 9, UIQ 3 interface, like the P1. One of its productivity tools is the DataViz QuickOffice suite for creating, viewing, and editing Word and Excel documents. A PDF viewer, a business card scanner, calendar, a tasks list, a notepad, a voice recorder, a calculator, a stopwatch are also included. It also offers an internal memory of 160MB aside from the Memory Stick.

Call features in the P1i are the same with other units. It has the phonebook, caller ID, speakerphone, call waiting, speed dial, a vibrate mode, and text and multimedia messaging. Connectivity options include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The Bluetooth has support for hands-free kits, wireless headsets, stereo Bluetooth headsets, and dial-up networking. Web surfing can be done with the Opera browser.

Multimedia capabilities of the P1i are impressive. It has a built-in music and video player that supports AAC, MP3, MP4, and 3GP files. Other entertainment options include FM radio, RealPlayer, MusicDJ app for ring tones, and games. It also retained the 3.2-Megapixel camera which displays an excellent picture quality. It can also record video.

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Following the release of the P990 is the Sony Ericsson P1 on May 2007. This smartphone is a conglomerate of P990’s hardware features and M600’s design and form with some notable enhancements. The phone runs on Symbian 9.1 OS and features a QWERTY keyboard and 3.2-megapixel camera with auto focus.

The Ericsson P1 measures 106 x 55 x 17 millimeters and weighs 124 grams. The P1 boasts a huge 2.6-inch touch screen display, which deals well under direct sunlight, with the VGA video camera and the in-call speaker grill above it. The QWERTY keyboard shows a Sony Ericsson trademark design whereas three or four characters share a single key. The design appears to be appealing but its user-friendliness has been in question. The P1 is easy to grip and comfortable to the ears.

The left side view of the P1 features a strip eyelet, Jog Dial wheel and Back Key. The Jog Dial is a navigation solution that allows the user to scroll up and down and to press for selecting. The bottom portion is where the microphone and Fast Port are located while the right side locates the camera shutter key, memory stick micro card slot and a customizable short cut key.

On the top are the Infrared port and the On/Off key. Below the On/Off key is the slot for the stylus. The 3.2-Megapixel camera lens is on the backside and a silver line that covers the loud speaker. Phone capabilities of the Sony Ericsson P1 need not put into question. Signal reception strength is consistently nice and calls have no problems. Moving to P1’s interface, the UIQ 3.0 is a customizable stylus-based UI for Symbian 9.1 OS-based phones which displays the clock, date, signal strength and battery meter. It also consists of shortcut keys which are by default are allotted to the Calendar, the phonebook, the web browser, the message inbox and the main menu.

Another important feature of the P1 is its call management system, particularly the mechanism that sends an SMS to the person whose call the user is rejecting. Messaging in the P1 is also amazing, with support to SMS, EMS, MMS, and RSS feeds. E-mails have their separate inboxes. P1 supports POP3, IMAP and SMTP protocols and writing an e-mail is as easy as writing a SMS message. Adding attachments is an easy task as well.

File management is also breezy with the P1. Aside from the 166MB of flash memory and 128MB RAM, it also includes an expandable storage memory. The file manager’s interface features two tabs – one for folders in the phone’s memory and one on the memory card. Browsing pictures is also much easier with the P1.

Multimedia capabilities of the P1 include the music player just like the Walkman-branded Sony Ericsson phones and the Video player. There is also an FM radio which can store up to 20 radio stations. The 3.2-Megapixel camera produces astounding pictures of good resolution.

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Sony Ericsson M600i breaks away from the trend of trying hard to combine business and pleasure by focusing strongly on applications for business use. This could be considered as Sony Ericsson’s attack on Blackberry’s popularity among businessmen. The M600i is like a slimmer and lighter blackberry, measuring 107 x 57 x 55 mm and weighing 112 grams.

Obviously, it is a lot more comfortable in the hand and a lot less like talking to a calculator when used as a phone. And with its unique 2 letter per key keypad, typing is easier and faster than with Blackberry’s full QWERTY keyboard. The fusion of the traditional keypad and the QWERTY keyboard, which uses opposite edges of the key for each letter, makes way for bigger and fewer keys to cover the alphabet. Sure, it takes time getting used to, but once you get the knack of it, you’ll feel the difference and ingenuity of the design. What’s more, M600i also has on-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition features.

One major eye-catching feature of the smartphone is its 2.6” QVGA TFT touchscreen with 262,000 colors and 420 x 320 pixel resolution.
It is almost as dazzling as the iPod Nano. The touch sensitive screen makes emailing simpler and easier as you can just tap the screen to open, read and reply to emails. And a finger would do just fine if you happen to lose your stylus. Also, an old feature from the Sony mobile makes a comeback in this smartphone—the 3 way jog key, making navigation around your phone applications a breeze.

M600i operates on Symbian 9.1 system and UIQ 3.0 platform. It is also equipped with 3G and GSM Tri band features, allowing you to travel almost anywhere and access faster data of 3G where it is available.

Doing away with funky multimedia features and focusing on data and emails, Sony Ericsson enabled this smartphone to work with several proprietary push email services. These include, Altexia, Blackberry connect, Intellisync, MS exchange active sync, Seven and Ericsson’s mobile office. Emailing through a phone has never been as easy as text messaging, and it even comes with an alert option to let you know you’ve got mail. So, you don’t have to look at your phone from time to time to check if you received an email.

Another form of connectivity included in this smartphone is Bluetooth with additional support for the audio gateway, allowing played back audio tracks to be transmitted to a headset. The M600i also has a USB 2.0 port for faster PC connection. You can also set up an email inbox in your PC, letting you sync emails from a PC email client like Outlook. However, Sony Ericsson did not give this device Wi-Fi capability, which could be considered a major setback by people on the go.

True to its commitment to focus on business applications, M600i comes without a camera. Come on, who really uses the phone as a serious camera? But the device does have an impressive multimedia support, including MP3, AAC, and AAC+ for music; 3GP and MP4 for video; and Media player for web streams.

For data storage, M600i comes with 80mb internal memory and a 64mb micro memory stick. And where most smartphones have failed, M600i succeeds with a good battery life. It promises 7 hours talk time and 14 days on standby on ordinary GSM signal usage and half of those times on 3G signal. And that is still much better than other smartphones.

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Another camera phone – or phone camera (thanks to its whopping camera resolution) – hits the market, the Sony Ericsson C905 sporting an 8-megapixel camera. This slider phone, weighing at 136 grams, weirdly looks and feels heavier because of its girth, but we need not jump to a conclusion of hate here, we’re just starting.

The Sony Ericsson C905 measures 18 x 49 x 104 mm with the slide closed, with its length shoots to about 135 mm when the slide is opened. The large slide space has been sensibly used for the number pad which is well-backlit and very easy to use. The button arrangement is a little point of contention though.

The D-pad has the camera controls: flash/redeye; auto/macro/face detection/infinite focus; exposure settings; and the timer. Beside the D-pad are two columns of three buttons. The left column houses the soft menu and Call buttons atop the Activity Menu that offers access to reminders, running applications, shortcuts and Internet services. The right column houses another soft menu and End buttons top the Clear key.

The shortcut buttons, D-pad centre button, side-mounted buttons and other two buttons (for various shooting modes and scene modes) are blue backlit when the phone is in camera mode. The last two buttons can also be used as gaming keys, although there ae only three games available in the C905: chess, tennis and racing.

As the C905 is well, a camera pretending to be a phone, much this part of the commentary is devoted on its wonderful camera. Bearing the Cybershot brand, it has a solidly made lens cover that activates the camera’s software simply by sliding it away. It employs a Xenon flash, 16x digital zoom and image stabilization. The images have its blog quality embedded on it, and you can actually upload it directly from the handset. There is also the BestPic multi-shooting system. Geo-tag images through the built-in GPS. The shortcut buttons make it very easy for users to comprehend and te best part is, it takes wonderful pictures.

This quad-band GSM phone has 3G, HSDPA and Wi-Fi. The GPS, aside form geotagging photos, can be used with the pre-installed Google Maps for turn-by-turn routing and the NearMe software that provides information on the nearest entertainment venues and business establishments on your current location.

Other features of the C905 include a music player, a built-in memory of 160MB that can be expanded to 2GB. Bluetooth remote control, sound recorder, mobile email and IM, RSS reader, TV-out (no cables provided), FM radio, five alarms, calendar, task manager, notes taker, timer, stopwatch, calculator, code memo, TrackID, VideoDJ, PhotoDJ and MusicDJ. It also boasts an impressive battery life.

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