Sony Ericsson announces the S500

Well, it's about time! Sony Ericsson's backroom must have been full to bursting with new and conceptual handsets and this morning the S500 somehow snuck out. This winsome slider is a bit of an oddity in that it has most of the features expected in a Walkman-branded handset, but is not -- instead it's said to be inspired by "the materials and colors found in the natural world." Featuring quadband GSM plus EDGE (no HSDPA to be found here), a 2 megapixel cam, Memory Stick Micro expandability, nine hours talk and 370 hours standby, the goodness finds itself piled in non-traditional colored "Mysterious Green" or "Spring Yellow" housings. Unique to this handset is theme and external lighting effects that can be set to change with the season, as day turns to night or even at the beginning of the weekend; this seems like a fun idea, as long as the blinky lights aren't too bright. No word on carrier or pricing, but we can expect it to hit in Q3 this year.

[Sushi @ May 8th 2007 11:43AM]

Sweet!

[3rdsun @ May 8th 2007 12:09PM]

I though SE was finished with the S series since every thing was going Walkman. Maybe now S can stand for swivel and slider. Anyways looks good.

[wungo @ May 8th 2007 12:15PM]

um... isn't the Nokia L'Amour range also "inspired with colours and textures from mother nature" .... ?? SE finally caught on...

[Dah Cheet @ May 8th 2007 12:44PM]

Chocolate much?

Without the annoying touch controls.

[James @ May 8th 2007 12:59PM]

While iSheep wet their knickers more and more over the Apple Phone, Sony just keep pushing out their fine products for the real consumer. Awesome range keeps getting better.

[mike @ May 8th 2007 1:26PM]

While iSheep wet their knickers more and more over the Apple Phone, Sony just keep pushing out their fine products for the real consumer. Awesome range keeps getting better.
--

Thanks for the free advertising, but this Sony phone isn't in the same category as iPhone. See the tactile keys? They're not directly competing products whatsoever. iPhone only competes with iPhone knock-offs. Like the Prada phone. Which costs $800.

[Jay @ May 9th 2007 7:24AM]

Mikey Mikey Mikey, you clearly missed the point - totally. I see no attempt whatsoever to compare this to that, but a statement that SE produce good phones for real people rather than expensive gimmicks for the few people with a very large wad of folding burning a hole in their pocket. The Apple Phone is an overpriced Fisher-Price entertainment centre for "adults" (sic).

As for your LG/Prada barb, ALL the evidence points to Apple being the ones doing a bit of copying (unless they have invented a time machine, that is). Prada launched in December. Apple's similar phone was just announced a month later and will not be on sale until months and months after the Korean. What evidence do you have of LG's guilt?

And Apple copying a competitor? Where have we heard that one before? (Take your pick from regular occurrences ever since people like you thought they invented the PMP.)

[fearless_fx @ May 8th 2007 8:06PM]

The designer loved gold so much that he lost his genitalia in an unfortunate smelting accident.

[joe @ May 9th 2007 12:09AM]

WOW WHAT A RIP OFF! CALL 911!

WHAT DA HELL HAPPEN TO YOU, SONY!!