Sony Ericsson Announces Two Phones, Service

Sony Ericsson Announces Two Phones, Service

Techtree News Staff, Feb 16, 2009 1335 hrs IST

Announces Idou, W995 and a new service called 'Entertainment Now'

Sony Ericsson seems to be desperate to get back to what it is best at -- make some classy, high end phones that makes users drool.

It is with the same intentions that the company announced a new concept phone the 12 mega pixel Idou and the very-much alive, soon to be released 8 megapixel Walkman phone, the W995. Let's now delve in to detail what the Idou and the W995 are all about. And more importantly, will this turn around Sony Ericsson's fledgling fortunes?

The Idou

Now, that's a strange name for a phone and we believe some of you might not want to be caught dead with a phone with such a name. No worries! The Idou is just a code name and the phone will be christened something more presentable once the device is expected sometime in 2010!

What?! 2010? That's correct. As mentioned earlier, the Idou is in its early stages of development and hence, is considered a concept - but one that is almost certain to see production. The device is expected to be powered by the new Symbian Foundation OS that will make its debut in 2010.

The Idou will of course sport a massive 12 megapixel camera and not to mention, Xenon flash. The screen is a massive 3.5 incher with 16:9 aspect ratio. These are the only official specs that we know of. But the phone is expected to be (obviously) WiFi and GPS capable and will also sport a microSD card slot. The OS will be Symbian Series 60 Fifth edition successor, the foundation OS from Symbian that will see its first version ousted later this year. The final version is expected in 2010. Sony Ericsson has also readied a website dedicated to the Idou which an be accessed here.

The W995

Enough about the concepts! Lets now look what's in store for users who are on the lookout for a phone right now. Say hello to the Sony Ericsson W995, Walkman. Slated to be the flagship Walkman phone after its launch -- which we expect to happen very soon, by the second quarter of this year, the phone features an 8.1 megapixel camera, A-GPS, Google Maps, WiFi, DLNA certification, 118MB of built-in memory, an 8GB M2 card and a 2.6-inch QVGA scratch-resistant display. While that might sound nothing - after hearing stuff about the Idou, that just happens to be the most feature packed Walkman phone ever. The W995 also comes with Sony's MediaGo software that will allow you to share content over wifi if you are a lucky chap who happens to own a PS3 and the W995 - both. And yes, there's a 3.5 mm jack as well.

The Service

On the sidelines of the Idou announcement, Sony Ericsson also announced the new service it calls 'Entertainment Now'. The idea is to integrate all co-brands into one unit. Will this see the end of separately branded Walkman and Cybershot phones? We can't just say right now. The aim is to connect the phones to the Internet, TV, PC and more devices more seamlessly. No further information is available now. More about this will be heard by the second half of 2009.