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Sony Ericsson emphasised its continued commitment to Symbian OS today with the announcement of its next generation smartphone to the global development community. The P990 will be the first commercially available smartphone to adopt the enhanced Symbian OS version 9.1 and UIQ 3 software platform. This flagship UMTS smartphone is Wi-Fi enabled, has a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus and features a new hardware keyboard beneath the flip-down keypad. The phone will start shipping during Q1 of 2006.

The P990 is the next in a line of successful Sony Ericsson smartphones - the P800, P900 and P910 - and is based on the same proven concept and recognisable form factor. All have been popular with users, operators and software developers thanks to their powerful productivity features. Operator feedback and download statistics from the Sony Ericsson Application Shop have shown that consumers, both business and personal, are interested in using their smartphones to the fullest potential. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) can be as high as 4 to 5 times that of more traditional voice-centric mobiles.

To ensure a large proportion of applications are available on the new Symbian and UIQ software platform when the P990 goes on sale, Sony Ericsson has decided to announce the smartphone well in advance of availability so that developers have time to create and certify as many applications as possible.

"The technical prowess of the P990 will be brought to full life by applications from the third party developer community," said Jan Wareby, Executive Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing. "Demand for applications on the P800, P900 and P910 has been very high. Our smartphones have been recognised as the most advanced and useful on the market, and we want to maintain this reputation with the P990 by ensuring there’s a rich supply of top applications for enterprise, productivity, leisure and gaming when users make their first visit to the Sony Ericsson Application Shop."

As with its predecessors, the P990 is designed to be first and foremost a great mobile phone. It also offers all the benefits of UMTS including video calling, high-bandwidth multi-media downloads and the ability to browse the Internet with full HTML pages. These are viewed in landscape on the new Opera 8 browser. In addition, the P990 is prepared for all major push e-mail clients enabling full e-mail access with attachments, anywhere, anytime.

The P990 has multiple text input methods enabling it to support all users’ needs and preferences. Writing e-mails is made easier by the new hardware keyboard positioned beneath the flip-down keypad on the main body of the phone. Reading them is made simpler on the large 2.8 inch QVGA touch screen. Multi tasking - being able to browse the Internet, send and receive files at the same time as talking - is now possible due to the enhanced capabilities of the new software platform.

Memory has been extended in order to handle all multi-media downloads and e-mail attachments. Memory Stick PRO Duo up to 4GB will be available in the market at launch and the P990 now has up to 80 MB user free memory. A 64 MB Memory Stick PRO Duo is included in the box, preloaded with a VPN client and trial version of a virus scan package.

The combination of UMTS and WLAN features will also significantly improve the efficiency and flexibility of applications such as e-mail, browsing the Internet/Intranet and video telephony. WLAN, available in hot spots all over the world, acts as a complement to high speed 3G services, enabling widespread access to corporate network services.

Other new features include automatic time zone change to the Calendar diary and updated PC sync software with extended synchronization possibilities. Additionally the 2 Megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom, photo light plus the bright TFT screen and video recording provide a high quality imaging experience.

In a separate announcement today, Sony Ericsson Developer World and UIQ Technology outlined their plans to support UIQ 3 developers.

Developers can program in C++ or Java to create powerful professional and personal productivity tools for the P990. The smartphone is based on Java Platform 3 (JP-3). It supports four new Java Specification Requests (JSR’s) including Web Services (JSR-172) and is the twentieth phone from Sony Ericsson supporting Mobile Java 3D, demonstrating the company’s leadership in this new technology. Standard Java applications can be run with either the flip-down keypad open or closed.

The P990 will be commercially available in Q1 2006. The variants will be:

- P990i Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa

- P990c Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China. Launch for mainland China dependant on availability of 3G services.

- The P990 will be available in 4 hardware keyboard variants: QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY and Russian

The P990 will be demonstrated in booth # 124 at The Smartphone Show 2005 in the ExCeL Centre in London on October 11-12, where Sony Ericsson is headline sponsor. Rikko Sakaguchi, Senior Vice President and Head of Product & Application Planning, gives a keynote presentation.

Technical specifications

- Operating system - Symbian OS v9.1

- Software platform - UIQ v3.0

- Size - 114 x 57 x 25

- Weight - 155g with battery and flip keyboard

- Screen - Large 2.8 inch QVGA (240 x 320) touch screen with 262 k colours that supports landscape view for camera, video imaging and browsing

- Interaction - Using touch screen, 3 way Jog Dial and dedicated buttons

- WLAN - 802.11b compliant

- Bluetooth - Includes car handsfree profile

- Infrared - Yes

- USB - Yes and charging via USB

- UMTS - E-GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900 and UMTS 2100

- Application memory - Up to 80 MB user free memory

- Camera - Integrated 2 megapixel CommuniCorder 24 bit colour depth, autofocus for still pictures, video clip recording and video calls

- Video telephony - Application included which allows video calls and video conferencing via the built-in dual cameras

- Media player - Supports playback, streaming and playlists

- Activity menu - Customizable top level menu

- Upgradeable - Via Sony Ericsson Update Service

- FM/RDS radio - Yes

- Browser - Opera browser version 8 supporting frames and javascript

- Push email - Prepared for all major e-mail solutions including Research in Motion (Blackberry)

- Messaging - SMS, MMS and email

- PIM applications - Contacts, Calendar, To Do, Jotter for notes and sketches, Voice memo and - Calculator, Converter, Stop Watch and Timer

- Viewers - Microsoft Excel. Word, Powerpoint and Adobe PDF

- Editors - Microsoft Word and Excel

- Themes - Easy personalisation of animated icons, screensavers, wallpapers and skins

- Speaker phone - Yes

- Memory Stick - Memory Stick PRO Duo slot for up to 4 GB removable memory. 64 MB supplied

- Flight mode - Includes option to turn Wi-Fi on

- Local and remote synchronisation - via SyncML

- Business telephony - Yes

- Java ME platform support - Both CDC and CLDC environments supported:

- JTWI 1.0 (JSR-185) consisting of Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) 1.1 HI (JSR-139), - MIDP 2.0 (JSR-118), WMA 1.1 (JSR-120). - PDA Optional Packages (JSR-75), Bluetooth (JSR-82), Wireless Messaging API 2.0 (JSR-205), Web Services (JSR-172), Mobile Media API (JSR-135), Mobile 3D Graphics (JSR-184), Nokia UI API 1.1

- Connected Device Configuration (CDC) 1.0 (JSR-36) - Foundation Profile 1.0 (JSR-46), Personal Profile 1.0 (JSR-62),PDA Optional Packages (JSR-75)

- Sony Ericsson P990 Photo 1

- Sony Ericsson P990 Photo 2

- Sony Ericsson P990 Photo 3

Links to photos may appear to be broken due to hotlink prevention. Please load the image from the page.

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The PPC-6700 is a PDA/phone that might give the Treo 650 a run for its money (better late than never). It has a fast processor (416Mhz), a larger keyboard, Windows Mobile 5.0. and EV-DO connectivity. It’s not without weaknesses: thick, so-so reception, soft speaker are points that might annoy the user would spent about $600 to get this Gizmo. Make sure that you look at how much Sprint will charge you to use their data access.

[Full review at mobiletechreview]

Photos of what could be the EV-DO version of the Motorola Q are popping on the web. We've mentionned this EV-DO version on September 1st. The screen seems to indicate that it is working on the Verizon Networkm which leaves hope for EV-DO. Given that the Treo 700w is coming out in Q1 2006 with support for EV-DO, we certainly hope that Motorola will not fall behind.

[Via smartphonethoughts]

The N901iS cellphone from NEC features a 2.5” screen that can display colors as well as a desktop monitor (manufacturer's claim). Usually mobile color displays use a lesser precision color encoding and have a lower level of brightness/contrast. These limitations are a trade-offs for memory, battery life and cost. I would be curious to see if NEC has pulled this one off.

[Via portablegadgets]

Looks like HTC is extremely efficient when it comes to churning out variants of their Wizard line. T-Mobile will be offering the MDA Vario that comes with:

• 200MHz TI OMAP 850 CPU,
• 64MB RAM,
• 128MB ROM,
• quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Bluetooth
• 802.11b/g WiFi
• Infrared
• 1.3MP camera
• 2.8" QVGA (240 x 320) screen
•  Windows Mobile 5.0.

It will be going for €469 in Europe sometime in early October, leaving US customers to play the catch-up game again.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

Cooperation between Bang & Olufsen and Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Business has resulted in a unique mobile phone concept that breaks with conventional assumptions.

The phone is pure, simple, and of the highest quality, and the name ‘Serene’ reflects this. The idea behind Serene was to create a mobile phone that is dedicated to one prime purpose: to enable comfortable and convenient communication.

Since early 2004, the two companies have cooperated closely to realize this idea and the result is a truly unique product. In every aspect of the design and technology there is a carefully thought through relationship between form and function that makes both the minimalist design and the use of the phone elegantly simple and straightforward. The name of the phone, Serene, reflects the core concepts of elegant simplicity and refined minimalism.

The intention is to provide an alternative for those customers who demand the highest quality, for whom simplicity and quality are important factors, and for whom less can be more. It is a phone you want to keep. It is timeless in use, in design, and in technology, freed from unnecessary functions and instructions.

By combining Bang & Olufsen’s concept development and design skills with Samsung’s leadership in mobile phone technology, engineering and quality, both companies saw an opportunity to realize a totally different mobile phone concept.

"Serene is the result of our vision to constantly push the boundaries of mobile phone development and bring to our customers unique and exciting products," says Kitae Lee, President of the Telecommunications Business in Samsung Electronics.

"We wanted Serene to become a precious item, an item that is a personal expression of quality and convenience. The coherence to other Bang & Olufsen products is experienced through the design and a very simple user operation," says Torben Ballegaard Sorensen, CEO of Bang & Olufsen.

Serene consists of two equal parts that are tied together by a beautifully crafted aluminum hinge. The display and microphone are placed in the lower shell in a landscape orientation and the circular keyboard and loudspeaker is placed in the upper shell with an elegant thumb operated wheel in the middle taking care of all primary operations.

Accordingly, the colors, fonts, screen format and size have been specially selected with logical operation in mind. The relatively large, wide format display makes reading and writing on the screen even more pleasant. At the same time, restricting the number of features on the handset makes it possible to limit the number of menus, which in turn makes the experience of using Serene both logical and intuitive.

Serene comes with a triangular charger / docking station made in polished anodized aluminum with a cut-out for the phone. If the phone is placed in the docking station or the phone is used in a table mode it can be used as a mini-laptop as the display can turn 180 degrees for convenient use in this position as well.

As a special feature for Bang & Olufsen customers, a special DECT docking station is available which enables Serene to synchronize its phonebook with the domestic cordless system of telephones from Bang & Olufsen.

Serene will be launched in Europe, Russia and Ukraine during the 4th quarter of this year. It will be distributed through Bang & Olufsen stores and in select high-end Samsung distribution partners. It will retail in Bang & Olufsen stores for approximately $1300 USD (1100 Euros) inclusive of a special Bang & Olufsen DECT accessory and in Samsung retailer partners for approximately $1200 USD (1000 Euros) without the DECT accessory.

- Serene Photo 1

- Serene Photo 2

- Serene Photo 3

- Serene Photo 4

- Serene Photo 5

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