Photo: Sony Ericsson

There was a time not too long ago when Sony Ericsson, as a company, was teetering. Many thought the mobile phones manufacturer may have to transform radically if it kept haemorrhaging cash the way it has been. Well, in a Rocky-esque moment, Sony Ericsson has risen yet again to deliver better-than-expected profits.

Go, Adrian! Adrian!

While historic competitors like the powerful Nokia slash their forecasted earnings, Sony Ericsson has been sitting on costs as well as revising its product mix to favour smartphones over feature phones. This Sony Ericsson smartphone strategy has worked out, as Reuters reports, with the average selling price across devices being €160 as opposed to Sony Ericsson’s forecast of €134. This 26 euros per handset difference pushed Q2 pretax profit all the way up to 31 million euros. This is a €334 million difference over the €283 million Sony Ericsson lost in the same quarter last year. Literally, like Rocky, the company seemed down and out, and found something extra somewhere, posting a profit two quarters running now.

Great hands, too

Photo: Sony Ericsson

And to be fair to the quality of Sony Ericsson smartphones, this improved financial performance is well deserved. Q1 saw the company release its Vivaz smartphones and Xperia X10, but it wasn’t until the Q2 shipping of the Xperia X10 Mini and the Xperia X10 Mini Pro that Sony Ericsson began flexing its muscle. We liked the Xperia X10 Mini Pro so much it made our list of the top three mobile phones released in 2010. Sony Ericsson has once again began showing what made this joint venture a threat for other mobile phones makers.

All in all, Sony Ericsson expect growth in 2010 to trump that of 2009, and these surprising results over the disappointment of Nokia’s forecast revision and RIM’s disappointing first quarter may give this ‘rank outsider’ a chance. Cue ‘Eye of the Tiger’, please.

Have you any Sony Ericsson smartphones or would you consider purchasing any?

Photo: Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson, in conjunction with carrier 3, has a peculiar promotion to show their new Xperia X10 mobile phone comes with two free months premium access to Spotify.

Traveling artists

The promotion sees artists putting together playlists for the music service, based on their recent travels. These artists include some of Britain’s biggest stars, such as Keane, The Stereophonics and Ellie Goulding.

Photo: Spotify

The peculiarity of this promotion is Sony Ericsson’s assumption that people care for these playlists. Sure, playlists created by your favourite artists are more interesting than those by your friends, but this has been an iTunes feature – if one can even call it that – for years. Where the various companies involved will succeed with this promotion is if people actually care what certain musicians listen to, if it sells more Xperia X10 handsets and if Spotify can convert these free users to premium members.

Inch by inch, Spotify gains

Spotify, who have been on a tear recently in terms of getting premium subscribers, who pay £9.99 for the unlimited service, to sign up for the service, is quickly becoming Europe’s dominant streaming music service. While in North America, Rhapsody and Pandora are legitimate contenders, until Spotify arrives out there in full, the company intends on solidifying its lead in Britain and throughout Europe.

Inch by inch, Sony Ericsson slides

Even though the Xperia X10 is one of Sony Ericsson’s best handsets in a long while, the improvements aren’t enough to close the gap Apple and HTC are opening up on other Smartphones.

What is a big deal is that Sony Ericsson is profitable again, and though it’s been a while since this handset manufacturer was the ‘it’ company, profitability is definitely the first step to complete recovery. And if Sony Ericsson can’t get the mojo back on their lonesome, there’s nothing to lose by sharing the light shining on current golden boys (and girls) Spotify.

Photo: Sony Ericsson

It’s taken a few weeks to actually settle in, but Sony Ericsson’s last quarter was a profitable one, the first such result in nearly two years thanks partly to aggressive cost cutting and Xperia X10 sales.

Back again, almost

Photo: Sony Ericsson

The company posted Q1 profits of €21 million (£18 million), a far cry from analysts’ anticipated losses of €128 million (£110 million). What makes these results particularly notable is that the same time last year saw losses totaling €370 million.

Trickery does the job

So, considering those sickening losses, how exactly did Sony come back? Well, firstly, the company slashed its head count, with Sony Ericsson losing 2,000 employees and shutting down four facilities, which is always a viable short-term solution for satisfying Wall Street. In addition, Sony Ericsson managed to up the average price of its mobile phones from €120 the year prior to €134 now. But accompanying that average handset price increase is a sales plummet, where at the same time last year the company moved 14.5 million units, this time round they only managed to move 10.5 million units. In other words, they sold one-third fewer handsets than they did this time last year.

Slite of hand stuff this, not necessarily indicative of a healthy business.

What’s next?

Photo: Apple

The bulk of this success (and average price increased) comes on the back of the so-so received Xperia X10. While that handset has been riddled with less bugs than Sony’s recent products and would, in another period, be considered a truly remarkable handset, it had the unenviable task of squaring up with HTC and Apple, who are the clear leaders in the smartphone race.

Sony, a shareholder in Sony Ericsson, is rumoured to be working on iPhone and iPad competitors, which, if executed properly given the company’s PSP and Playstation lineage, could be the killer products the Xperia X10 just falls short of.

Photo: Sony Ericsson

Sony has introduced a new phone into their range – the Xperia X10. It has a smart, sleek and rather original design, but what’s pretty impressive is the big 4-inch LED screen. The full colour touch screen displays all the important widgets like Timescape which gives you automatic updates of Facebook, My Space and Twitter sites, and a quick scroll up menu. The Xperia X10 has 3G connectivity and uploads to websites quickly, and the change from vertical to horizontal is done very smoothly with no delays.

What’s it got?

The Xperia X10 uses a 1GHz Snapdragon core processor, making it a powerful and effective phone. The logs are kept on a system called ‘Spline’ which allows you to scroll up and down to check messages, social networking updates and phone calls. The Spline may be quite slow when loading all the items, but speeds up once the process gets going. The Sony Ericsson X10 runs on Android version 1.6, not the highest, but seeing that Google keeps on installing new versions, it’s difficult to keep up. The mobile phone is compact and a bit bulky at 13 mm thick, but is still light enough to carry around.

Photo: Sony Ericsson

The new Sony Ericsson mobile phone has fully integrated sites like YouTube, Google Maps and Gmail. The X10 has an 8.1 mega pixel camera, giving it the highest res count among all Android phones. The camera has loads of customisable options like white balance control, smile detection, autofocus modes, multiple metering and more. The only photo feature it struggles with is macro capturing, and can only shoot images up to 4 inches away. The Xperia X10 has excellent sound quality, especially while on a phone call, almost no distracting noise can be heard, and sound is very clear and precise. The speakerphone also works well, and is ideal for conference calls.

Encountering a few problems

The X10 has great quality for both video and audio displays, but may be a bit slow once all your applications and websites have been calibrated onto the phone. The keypad has a few problems and freezes then starts again which is rather bizarre, but on the bright side the keypad can be changed because of the Android technology. There is no .com button which may throw some people off, and the X10 goes retro with zoom buttons in place of the now popular pinch to zoom feature.

Already released

With a powerful processor, cool widgets and designs, the X10 has potential, but it seems that Sony Ericsson just tried to do too much in one phone, and that makes it slow. The camera is a huge bonus, and photo enthusiasts will enjoy the options and clear picture of a regular point-and- shoot camera. The audio application is also really cool and displays all the album art you could wish for. Sony has tried and tried again with their X1 and X2 Android phones and hasn’t yet succeeded. But the Xperia X10 has been improved and comes close to a great phone; it just needs a few changes here and there. The Sony Ericsson X10 was released in March 2010 and costs £500.

Photo: Sony Ericsson

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the latest offering in mobile phones from the Japanese-Swedish mobile phone maker. Considered by some to be a continuation of the Sony Ericsson Satio, the new mobile’s main selling point is in its ability to capture video in full HD.

Design

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz feels great to hold thanks to the phone’s hand moulding ergonomic design. And weighing only 97 grams, it feels rather light, but hasn’t lost any capabilities. The mobile device is not the widest, measuring in at 12.5mm at its widest point. The removable plastic cover at the back is rather disappointing and not expected on what is considered to be a flagship phone.

Features

The Vivaz has a rather unresponsive 3.2-inch 640×360 touch screen, although the picture quality is very high. It runs on Symbian S60 5^th Edition, which is rather basic and the only added thrill being integrated social networking. The Sony Ericsson phone is powered by a Texas Interments OMAP3630 720 MHz ARM Cortex A8 chip, which seems underused with such a basic UI.

Photo: Sony Ericsson

With a small internal memory of 75MB, the HD video camera mobile also comes with an 8GB microSD card providing more than adequate space to save all those HD videos. However, if the storage card does run out space, data can be transferred onto a PC using the microUSB port, which also charges the device when connected. The phone also has a 3.5mm audio jack and comes with in-ear headphones with microphone for use as a hands-free kit.

The selling point – HD video capture

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz comes with an 8.1megapixel camera which is not out of the ordinary, but the catch is its HD video recording capability. The Sony Ericsson phone takes good still pictures, but even more amazing videos thanks to its HD capabilities. The phone captures video at 24 frames per second, with a resolution of 1280×720p which puts the camera phone in a class of its own for now. Video recording is however quite slow, but for the end result the lag is worth it. Recording in HD does take its toll on the phone’s battery life and frequent recharging is needed for HD video capture.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz currently retails at £334.95 and with the Vivaz Pro’s release already in the works, we’ll have to wait and see how well it does against it’s the new Vivaz and other touchscreen phones like the iPhone.

One of the best touch screen mobile phones ever produced by Sony has been recently launched. The device runs on a Symbian platform which is known as Sony Ericsson Vivaz. This device was previously rumoured to be known as Kurara but it has been officially launched as Sony Ericsson Vivaz. The device is equipped with a very powerful platform which enhances the performance. This device is equipped in a number of colours and you can choose accordingly. The best feature of this mobile phone is the 8 megapixel autofocus camera which offers superior quality moving and still images that will simply take your breath away.

HD video recording

Most other mobile phones are not installed with such high definition camera which makes Sony Ericsson Vivaz a unique product. The device is very compact and sleek, with a different look than most Sony Ericsson phones. This device is capable of recording video at 720 p which is much better than most other mobile phones available in the market. It is fitted with a spectacular 3.2 inch screen which offers a fantastic clarity. The resolution of the main display is around 640 X 360 pixels which is better than most other mobile phones. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the only mobile phone which supports 16 million colours.

WiFi enabled

This mobile phone also provides a number of connectivity options. It is fitted with a standard micro USB jack that allows you to connect various other USB enabled devices with it. On the other hand, Sony Ericsson Vivaz is also equipped with Wi-Fi which enables you to enjoy unlimited internet in a Wi-Fi enabled region. Like most other music phones this device is also equipped with 3.5 mm audio jack which enables you to connect all sorts of headphones with it. The Vivaz phone is also equipped with FM radio so that you can turn to the FM mode whenever you are bored of listening to stored songs.

Internal and microSD storage

The internal memory of the device is 75 MB which can only store limited items but you can increase the memory up to 8 GB by installing a memory card. It supports microSD format of memory card which is easily available at various mobile accessories store. If you want to buy Sony Ericsson Vivaz then you should visit the nearest Sony Ericson dealer and if you are unable to find it at a store then you should search it through a search engine. There are various online stores offering the Sony Ericsson mobile at a reasonable price.

Sony Ericsson w995 packs many features. It is fully loaded with connectivity options, the biggest screen on a Sony Ericsson feature phone, GPS, Wi-Fi and a great user interface. A balanced combination of music and imaging, the phone has a 8.1 mega pixel camera with auto focus, LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection. Wi-Fi with DLNA support and Bluetooth (with A2DP) and USB v2.0 are other helpful features of this phone. The phone has a Walkman 4.0 music player with Shake control and SensMe and an Accelerometer sensor. The phone has brushed metal body parts and offers quad-band GSM and dual-band HSDPA.

It has a 2.6 inch screen with 256K-colour TFT display of QVGA resolution. It offers WQVGA video recording at 30fps and has built-in GPS with A-GPS functionality. It has 118MB of internal memory and M2 memory expansion (8GB card included). As for audio, the Sony Ericsson w995 has stereo speakers and a 3.5 mm audio jack along with a kickstand. It also offers FM radio with RDS and multi-tasking support. Smart dialling, a comfortable keypad and nice sliding mechanism are other features of the phone. TrackID music recognition, picture editor/blogging, YouTube mode, organizer and a voice memo/dial are other features of the phone. However, the phone does not have an infrared port and its video recording limited to WQVGA. It does not have lens protection, no DivX/XviD video support and no office document viewer. All in all, an attractive phone, Sony Ericsson w995 packs many features and is a delight to use.

Sony Ericsson has recently announced its new smartphone called Idou. This one is more like a converged device because it combines the power of a CyberShot camera with the functionality of a smartphone. The most amazing feature of the Idou is its 12 megapixel auto focus camera that can give you stunning images at an unprecedented resolution of 4000 x 3000 pixels. Now there is no need to buy and carry a Cybershot separately if you crave for high quality images on the move. The Idou itself can do the task.

Apart from being the first smartphone with 12MP camera the Idou is the first one to run on the brand new open source Symbian user interface that is still in its development phase at the Symbian Foundation. The Sony-Ericsson Idou is not the actual name of the phone. It is the code name of the device and is still being developed by Sony Ericsson. According to the company the Idou will be finalised by the second half of 2009 and will hit the consumer market that time only. The Sony-Ericsson Idou is expected to offer unique user interface with all the necessary functions built into it. Below are the main tech specs of the Idou:

• Supports both 2G and 3G networks
• 3.5 inches (360 x 640 pixels) touchscreen display
• GPRS, EDGE, WLAN, Bluetooth, USB, HSCSD enabled
• Geo-tagging
• 12 MP (4000 x 3000) pixels autofocus camera with xenon flash and face and smile detection technology
• Secondary VGA camera for video call
• RSS reader, web browser, MMS, SMS, e-mail and instant messaging
• Audio/Video player and stereo FM radio with RDS

Xperia X1 is one of the heavyweight phones made by Sony Ericsson. It’s the ‘big daddy’ of all the Sony-Ericsson smartphones and this handset introduced the concept of ‘living different lives’ within different virtual environments for the first time. These environments can be used to change the workspace completely, depending on your current mood or needs. The Xperia X1 offers various built-in panels that can be used to deeply customize the phone and get instant access to various options relevant to that panel.

The company has now launched 4 new panels that extend the functional capacity of the phone. These are CNN panel, Skype panel, Mytopia panel and On the Road panel. The CNN panel aims at offering quick access to regular updates for the news, sports events and weather forecasts. It will also provide CNN content and the users can also access the CNN’s popular citizen journalism tool, ‘i-Report’. The CNN panel offers category wise content browsing and lots of updates to the users. So you always remain connected with your Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1 smartphone irrespective of the location. The Skype panel can be used to access Skype at the touch of a button. You can use it to access your friends list and place Internet calls on the move.

The Mytopia panel is developed for bingo and poker players. Using it you can play bingo and poker games with people around the world. It’s a very interactive panel. You can earn virtual coins and compete with other players. The last one is the On the Road panel that offers instant access to music, playlists and navigation tools to drivers. This one is targeted at assisting drivers on the move and it doest that quite well.

Tags for this article: smartphone, sony ericsson

Telcel, one of the leading mobile operators, is now offering the Sony Ericsson W760i with the Zeemote JS1 Controller. The W760i is a nice walkman mobile phone from Sony Ericsson that has got awesome features and astonishing acoustics. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera, built-in GPS receiver, 3G (HSDPA) connectivity, stereo Bluetooth support and 2.2-inch QVGA screen that delivers high resolution graphics and vibrant colours. The Zeemote JS1 Wireless Controller is an easy to use handheld device that can be used to enjoy exceptional gaming on a mobile device. It has a thumb stick and four different trigger buttons that can be used to assign different functions.

This new combo of Sony Ericsson W760i and Zeemote JS1 Controller will offer mobile gamers a whole new exciting way to control their device while playing. The Zeemote JS1 Controller will make the game play on the Sony-Ericsson W760i more enjoyable and easy, and the best thing is that it gets connected to the phone via Bluetooth. So there are no wiring restrictions. You can just put the Sony Ericsson W760i in front and concentrate on handling the wireless remote.

According to a Sony Ericsson official, “The Sony Ericsson W760i coupled with the Zeemote JS1 controller provides more control and more fun for a powerful 3D and full mobile gaming experience on the gorgeous 2.2 inch display of the W760i. The W760i combined with the Zeemote JS1 controller offers our users the best gaming experience in the market.”