Sony Ericsson and the nine handsets

Sony Ericsson launched two new Cyber-shot cameraphones, and two new Walkman handsets at a London event this morning.

The mobile phone creating the most buzz, the slimline Sony Ericsson W880 Walkman, is, at 9.4mm, thinner than a CD case. It comes with a 1GB Memory Stick Micro card which can hold 900 full-length tracks.

The Sony Ericsson W880 Walkman has a 2-megapixel camera lens, and features applications such as TrackID, which can record bits of unknown music and send them to the Gracenote music database for identification by artist, song name, and album. The featured Walkman Player 2.0 displays album art and connects to an online music store for purchasing tunes.

The Sony Ericsson W880 Walkman is in production now and will start shipping later this month.

The Sony Ericsson W610 Walkman and the Sony Ericsson W200 are both lower-end versions of the W880. With room for 470 and 37 tracks respectively (512MB and 128MB Memory Stick Micro supplied), both models also feature built-in FM radios. The W610 adds a built-in camera, and also includes TrackID.

New Cyber-shot models

Sony Ericsson also unveiled two new Cyber-shot camera phone models; the Sony Ericsson K550 , and the Sony Ericsson K810 . Both have photo blogging capabilities, powered by Google's Blogger, a dual-front interface with the camera at the back of the device. The K550 has a 2 megapixel resolution; The K810 has a 3.2 megapixel resolution.

The aim of the Sony Ericsson K550 is to 'broaden the appeal' of the Cyber-shot phones. It is 14mm thick and is available in jet black or pearl white.

The Sony Ericsson K810 is the more advanced cameraphone launched today. With 3.2 megapixels and Xenon flash, it features a BestPic mode which takes nine photos with one click. The user can then pick the best one and delete the rest.

The K810 also features photo editing application PhotoFix which retouches lowlight pictures directly in the camera, without the need for a computer. Both the K550 and the K810 will start shipping in the second quarter of 2007.

'Phones for everyone'

Steve Walker, head of product marketing at Sony Ericsson, said the company now had 'a phone for everyone, at every price point'.

Asked what he thought the impact of the forthcoming Apple iPhone would be, Walker diplomatically said that rather than wait until a possible Christmas launch in the UK, customers could buy a high-end music Sony Ericsson phone 'here and now'.

Walker revealed Sony Ericsson were developing many new products due for release this year, but couldn't confirm any particulars. He said it was 'likely' that megapixel counts would increase a little but not my much.

"The race for more megapixels isn't that important to us - good picture quality has more to do with the quality of lenses, image sensors and lots of mathematical calculations," Walker said.

Walker added he was 'excited' about the emergence of mobile TV and the hook-up with Sony's Bravia LCD TV technology to make the mobile TV experience better as the medium starts to take off in European markets.

Entry-level

Sony Ericsson also launched a number of entry-level camera and music phones this morning. The Sony Ericsson K200 is an entry-level cameraphone, and the Sony Ericsson K220 and the Sony Ericsson J120 are FM radio equipped lower-end models. These, along with the Sony Ericsson J110 talk and text phone, are all aimed at developing markets and will be available in the second quarter of 2007.

No pricing details or information about network operator deals were available for any of the mentioned models.

Sony Ericsson also said that it has sold some 20 million Walkman phones since the first model (the W800) made its debut in March year. Cumulative Cyber-shot cameraphone sales are now 4.5 million.