Sony Ericsson goes clamshell crazy

 

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By Steve Malone

Posted on 19 May 2006 at 11:05

Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone spin-off, has released a group of new handsets including clamshell models and a new variation of the Walkman phone.

The clamshell models are aimed at the style conscious business user. They are equipped with push e-mail support and RSS feeds for news updates and traffic reports direct to your phone. PC tools include synchronisation of your phone book and calendar as well as USB 2.0 support. It is bundled with a 64Mb Memory Stick expandable to 1Gb.

The Z710 (pictured) also features the Access NetFront full HTML browser. It makes web access on the move as simple as on a PC and EDGE speed means pages download rapidly. It also has the latest Bluetooth 2.0 for connections for accessories such as wireless headsets and hands free car kits, and supports Bluetooth streaming in stereo (A2DP).

The Z710 has a 2 megapixel camera while the Z550 has a 1.3 megapixel camera. Images can be downloaded via MMS, Bluetooth, stored on the Memory Stick or transferred to a PC via USB.

For the more sporty, the W710 is not so much a phone with an MP3 capability, more a music player with a phone attached. It contains the Mega Bass technology featured in the dedicated Sony Walkmans. It supports search and sort by artist, album, track and playlist. There is also an FM Radio with RDS and up to 20 radio stations can be stored with the preset function. The FM Radio can also be used as an alarm clock. Finally, there is a so-called Flight Mode which means you can turn the phone off completely and just listen to the music player.

In case they should be considered a slob for listening to music all day, owners can point to the phone's motion sensor plus new fitness applications that measure running speed, distance and time, or simply count the steps when walking.

The phone also includes a nifty tune identification service. Known as TrackID developed by Gracenote the function allows the player to record a few seconds of a song either from the microphone or the built-in FM radio. With one click you can send the clip to the Gracenote worldwide music database, which will identify the track and relay the information back to the W710 phone. Presumably somewhere along the line, someone will offer to sell you the track as well.

The W710 is also fitted with a 2 megapixel camera with digital zoom. Included is a 512MB Memory Stick Micro memory card. If you are Paula Radcliffe and need a bit more capacity to keep you going during the practice session, it is possible to upgrade to a 1GB M2(TM) card.

Sony says that transferring music from a PC to the phone is done via the Sony Disc2Phone Music Management Software, which allows you to easily rip your CDs and transfer tracks from your PC to your phone. All of which is very interesting when you consider the lengths Sony went last year to prevent people from copying their CDs.

Sony Ericsson user guides, FAQs and downloads at Know Your Mobile