In a move meant to, uh, distract investors from its announced 48% profit downturn (compared to Q1 of the previous year), Sony Ericsson just announced a pair of mid-range handsets. The Z780 clamshell -- now
official -- is the global sister to the announced
Z770 for Europe. As such, she comes packing UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100 and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radios. While it comes loaded with Google Maps for Mobile and aGPS navigation, you won't get much use from it on that itty bitty 128 x 160 pixel display of unknown dimensions. Hell, that bezel chews up an equivalent amount of real estate. The G502 candybar also features Maps but lacks aGPS. No worries for US Americans though as it's likely to stay put in Europe with UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 radios. Both will feature M2 memory expansion, Bluetooth, and 2 megapixel cameras when they launch in "selected markets" come Q2. Sorry Sony Ericsson, but we're not seeing a lot here to distract investors (or consumers) for very long.
Xperia X1 please?
Update: Sony Ericsson has published conflicting information about the Z780's resolution. It's 2.2-inches and 320 x 240 pixels in the
press release but 128 x 160 pixels on the
product page.
Read -- Profits
Read -- Phones
posted Apr 23rd 2008 3:43AM
Hello Moto.
er.. obviously alone on that one.
I'd rather N-GAGE.
Come on, PSP Phone!!!
no
if 'affordable' means free w/ contract, maybe
These phones are unlikely to even go on a contract, you'll be able to pick them up for $99/$149 on a pre-paid plan. I think they're just refreshing the mid-budget series of phones.
My K750i still going strong, 3 years on..!
P5 please!
It's hardly surprising that they're so down in profits - they've been releasing the same phone in a different shell for the past 4 years.
Literally they'll replace the numeric pad and call it a new model.
Well the inner screen of the Z780 is 2.2" (or just 2.0") 240x320 px.
It's 2.2"
The external one is 36x128pix.
Although Z780 does look nice, 128x160 does seem like a small resolution for a phone that size. I have a W710i and it has 220x167 resolution... or maybe that phone will be smaller than the typical clamshell
They got it wrong, it's 240x320.
HTC has a new hot phone up their sleeves. Bring on the XPERIA!!
It's interesting, I read an article on a study a while ago that suggested that if you are a mac user, you're statistically more likely to own a Sony Ericsson handset. It appeared that both Apple and SE share a kind of underdog status, Apple with Microsoft and Sony Ericsson with Nokia. People who identified with Apple's positioning were more likely to make similar decisions when it came to their handset choices. I've tried to find references online, but this was a good few years ago now so I'm struggling to track it down. Anyway...
Is it possible that Sony Ericsson, occupying a similar emotional niche as Apple, are now suffering in the sales department, due to legacy SE users switching to the iPhone? The time lines would seam to tally up.
Thoughts?
You know something is up when a company gets in bed with Microsoft. It's usually the last act of desperation (see: Palm).
The problem with SE is they've failed to innovate. At one time they were pumping out revolutionary phones on a regular basis (P800, P900, K750). They were making a lot of smart moves and punching well above their weight. But now their flagship multimedia phones are embarrassed by the likes of Nokia and Apple.
Something has gone wrong at SE and I don't know what.
I kinda agree with Rich in that the last year's worth of SE phones have been mostly minor cosmetic updates to phones that they've previously released.
In a way they've fallen into the trap that Nokia's got itself into; they've got so many handsets out that they're sticking to variations on their old designs because they've been previously popular with consumers. How long before SE get so lost for ideas that they start releasing phones as "classic editions".
SE supported Apple users. You could easily pair an SE bluetooth phone to any Apple computer and get it it's own IP address on the local network. It was very simple and slick. Most cell phone companies avoided Apple for the larger Microsoft crowd.
Companies like SE suffer sometimes because they produce actually stellar products!
Hard it as may seem to believe,there is adequate reason for it.
but they do not cripple their devices, do not tie you to one carrier ( and get a share of revenues) and do not issue minor updates for $20!
Not only does this cut incremental revenue from one device it also causes less people to upgrade, specially if your product is pretty comprehensive as it is!
I have a W800i which has completed more than 20 months with me, It has nearly everything i need from a phone...well actually everything!
Since it has been such a complete product I have not even thought of a new phone, even though i love some of their new products.
I have an SE W810i.
This phone is tied to Cingular (AT&T) and crippled with all sorts of unwanted software designed to direct me to AT&T's wireless store to buy ring tones. The unlocked version of this phone (non-crippled) can use any song as a ring tone. It's a freakin' music phone so it should be able to do this. My Corporate Blackberry POS can do this.
I really like using the phone, though. The UI is simple and nice. The messaging system is easy to use even on a standard 10-key pad.
What I really want is a small-screen candybar SE phone with a 3G radio that I can tether my Nokia N810 to. :-D That way I get a small, convenient phone without the iPhone bulk and can carry the internet tablet whenever I don't care about the bulk.
BTW: the reason Apple people liked the SE phone was because it was easy to connect via bluetooth to the network. SE supported Apple users, which other companies, especially WM companies, did not.
thats cool mobile yar.....
if i like to buy the mobile i will befinatly i will buy that
US Americans
miss teen south carolina anyone?
Huh?
Seems like SE's problem is that what few phones they release with US network capable specs aren't being picked up by the major carriers. Look at the K850, for example. It was bounced at the last minute by AT&T for the cheap Z750. I like some of their phones, but not enough to pay full price for the unlocked models on ebay.
On a side note, whatever happened to those damn bluetooth watches they announced a year ago? Are we ever going to see those things or what?