Sony Ericsson announce the W508 and W715 Walkman duo

Sony Ericsson are making a big announcement today. The Sony Ericsson W715 is a Wi-Fi/GPS-enabled slider made exclusively for Vodafone, while the Sony Ericsson W508 is a Walkman clamshell with 3 megapixel snapper plus Shake and Gesture control.

The Sony Ericsson W715 Walkman phone is practically identical to the Sony Ericsson G705 that we already reviewed. Wi-Fi (with DLNA), GPS receiver, a 3 megapixel snapper with geotagging and an accelerometer that allows for auto screen rotation and motion gaming are its main selling points.

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Additionally, the W715 is loaded with Walkman goodies such as the latest Walkman music player, TrackID, SenseMe and Shake control. Threaded SMS/MMS (conversation style messaging) is among the latest Sony Ericsson features that's also on board the W715.

As we already said, the Sony Ericsson W715 is made exclusively for Vodafone and uses their turn-by-turn navigation solution called Vodafone Find&Go (as well as Google Maps).

The Sony Ericsson W715 has quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support plus dual-band UMTS/HSPA 9100/1200 connectivity.

The Vodafone exclusive Sony Ericsson W715 will be available in Galactic Black and Luxury Silver. Country availability is yet to be announced.

The Sony Ericsson W508 is a Walkman clamshell that comes with eight interchangeable StyleUp covers (one extra cover included in the retail pack) plus the well-known Walkman features such as external music keys, Shake control, SenseMe and TrackID. The built-in accelerometer also allows for screen auto rotation and motion gaming.

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Additionally, the nice looking W508 comes with Gesture control much like the Sony Ericsson W380. Gesture control allows you to mute calls or silence the wake-up alarm with a wave of your hand.

The Sony Ericsson W508 has a 2.2-inch QVGA main display plus a monochromatic scratch-resistant 1.1-inch external OLED one with a resolution of 128 x 36 pixels. The device is also supposed to offer 24 hours of constant music playback. Threaded SMS/MMS (conversation style messaging) is also included as with all other Sony Ericsson phones announced today.

A 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera, quad-band GSM support, HSDPA, FM radio with RDS and 1GB M2 card completes the Sony Ericsson W508 spec sheet.

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The Sony Ericsson W508 is expected to hit the market from Q2 2009 in both Metal Grey and Poetic White color versions. In either version it will have one extra Style-Up cover in one of eight the available colors: Sunny Orange, Forest Green, Architectural Purple, Mysterious Graffiti, Midnight Summer, Splashed Art, Radial Blue or Street Hip-hop.

Nokia E63 surfaces, brings little surprises

After several leaks the Nokia E63 finally got its official announcement today. Much like the rumor had it the handset is a slightly downgraded and more budget friendly version of the E71. Most of the business functionality is still there so the lower price tag might actually be enough to make it quite a success amidst the global financial crisis.

The Nokia E63 has got a full hardware QWERTY keypad and comes with a slim waistline of 13mm. Its body is lacking the metal finish of the E71 and is entirely made of plastic instead. Most surprisingly however it will have touch sensitive Navi wheel functionality that lacks in the E71.

The phone has a 2.36" 16M color QVGA display and up to 110 MB of internal memory, which can be expanded through the microSD card slot. According to the press release the Nokia E63 users will also have 1GB of online storage at their disposal though the latest Nokia service called Files on Ovi.

Nokia E63 is going to be available in red and blue colors

The Nokia E63 packs quad-band GSM and dual-band UMTS connectivity (which comes in three different flavors) but unlike the E71 has no HSDPA support. The other methods of data transfer on-board are microUSB port, and Bluetooth (A2DP and EDR) and Wi-Fi.

The Nokia E63 also lacks GPS and replaces the 3.2 MP autofocus camera of its elder brother with a 2 MP fixed focus snapper. The handset will start shipping in the coming weeks with an estimated retail price of 200 euro (250 US dollars) before taxes or subsides.

Nokia 2008-2009 smartphone roadmap surfaces

A dozen of Nokia smartphones leaked online with most of their major specifications, codenames and most importantly, their planned product announcement. Do not just get too excited though as there are no photos of the rumored devices so far. Still, there's some quite interesting pieces of specs information.

Before we go to details, we can sum up that Wi-Fi, built-in GPS and 5 MP autofocus camera will become common features for the planned Nokia smartphones. The large displays, FM radio and MP3 players will also be on.

There is one phone that stands out of the crowd. This is a device codenamed Corolla that will boast an 8 MP AF camera, 3-inch VGA 16M color TFT display, and a QW-ER-TY keyboard. GPS, Wi-Fi with UPnP, FM transmitter, HSDPA, 128MB RAM, and 8GB ROM are among the other features of the device, mentioned in the leak.

The other two monstrous devices are dubbed Ivalo and Eitri, featuring 3.5" touchscreen displays, 5 MP AF cameras and FM transmitters. The other ammo in the spec sheet of Ivalo includes 32GB ROM, aGPS, Wi-Fi, TV-out, and Bluetooth. Jumping over to Eitri, pay attention to the 8GB ROM, microSD, pressure sensitive touch UI with tactile feedback and gestures support plus accelerometer and a proximity sensor.

We won't be covering all phones in detail, so here's a table that summarizes the important stuff about Nokia soon-to-be smartphones.

Product code	Codename	OS Version	Product availability	Notes
Unknown	Athlon	3.2	2008 wk 40	N85 refresh. Quadband GSM, HSDPA, 5MP camera with xenon flash, 8-16GB ROM, analog joystick, integrated compass, stereo speakers, GPS, WiFi
RM-331	IP08	5.0	2008 wk 46	Widescreen touch, Naviscroll, QWERTY, AGPS, FM radio and transmitter, 5MP AF camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, TV-out
RM-431	Shakira	3.2	2008 wk 46	Candybar, WiFi
RM-469	Stella	3.2.3	2008 wk 48	Candybar - successor to E51. AGPS with integrated compass, 3MP camera with LED flash, WiFi
RM-482	Terra	3.2.3	2008 wk 48	Version of Stella with hybrid QWERTY keypad
RM-424	Gwen	3.2	2008 wk 51	Candybar, AGPS, 5MP AF camera with LED flash
Unknown	Ivalo	5.0	2008 wk 52	Follow-on to IP08. 3.5-inch wide touchscreen, 32GB ROM, AGPS, FM transmitter and receiver, 5MP camera, WiFi, TV-out, Bluetooth
Unknown	Corolla	5.0.1	2009 wk 11	3.0-inch VGA display, non-touch, 8MP camera, half QWERTY keyboard, 128MB RAM, 8GB ROM, WiFI, UPnP, HSPA, AGPS, FM transmitter
P3838	Madeleine	3.2.3	2009 wk 13	Side-sliding QWERTY, WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, VoIP, GPS, 3.2MP camera, N-Gage support with gaming keys
Unknown	Jig	3.2	2009 wk 17	Landscape slider for AT&T using 6650's guts. Quadband GSM, HSDPA, 2MP camera, 2.4-inch display
RM-453	Eitri	5.0.1	2009 wk 17	Landscape candybar with QWERTY, 3.5-inch 640x350 display, minimum 8GB ROM, microSD, pressure sensitive touch UI with tactile feedback and gestures, charging via USB, 5MP AF camera with dual LED flash, integrated compass and accelerometer, proximity sensor, FM transmitter

LG KC560 surfaces - did someone say tacky or what?

The LG KC560 handset leaked today with a supposed release date just in time for the holidays. Having multimedia as its key element the LG KC560 does have some… okay let's call them interesting design solutions.

For one, the phone has a golden D-pad and back panel. There are also several LEDs at the bottom of the front panel of the slider that blink when there is an incoming call. Is it us or the Samsung M7500 Emprio Armani may as well start trembling with fear?

Anyway, putting the imposing looks aside, the LG KC560 has quite a decent package of extras on board. There is a 3 megapixel autofocus snapper and a 2.4" 262K color QVGA display. Some of the other features include tri-band GSM support, FM radio, USB, Bluetooth and a microSD card slot.

LG KC560

The LG KC560 is expected to cost between 300 and 350 US dollars (230-270 euro) when it eventually becomes available.

Meanwhile three new versions of already announced LG handsets appeared in what seems to be the week of bad taste over at the Korean manufacturer.

The LG KF300, KF510 and KF750 are all receiving their own gold-plated carbon copies. Save for the looks nothing has been changed in those new versions.

Windows Mobile 6.5 confirmed, WinMo 7 still quite far away

Following the rumors that have been going around, the CEO of Microsoft Corporation Steve Ballmer "mentioned" that the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS for mobile phones will hit the market in 2009, without revealing any details about the improvements in the OS itself or its availability in end-user devices.

While everyone's expecting something of WinMo 7, Ballmer said that it's on their roadmap, but didn't mention its expected release, which means that it won't come out until 2010.

We are still yet to see the official announcement if Windows Mobile 6.5, as an accidental mentioning at a press conference doesn't really count.

It seems quite probable that the new WM 6.5 will be revealed in details on the forthcoming Mobile World Congress 2008 that's to be held in Barcelona at February 2009.

T-Mobile releases Samsung Behold and Gravity

Today, T-Mobile officially released the rumored Samsung Behold and Samsung Gravity. The Behold has a large touchscreen display while the Gravity has a sliding QWERTY keyboard.

Touchscreen Samsung T919 Behold looks like the Samsung F480 but on steroids. On top of the touchscreen TouchWiz interface, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, 3G support, full HTML browser the new Behold scores higher with its built-in GPS. Unfortunately, even the Behold does not feature the highly desirable Wi-Fi feature.

Samsung Behold

Samsung Behold can be yours starting from November 10 for $149.99 on a 2 year contract in light rose color.

The Samsung Gravity is actually the first phone by Samsung with such form factor. In its essence the Samsung Gravity is pretty much like some other phones as HTC S730 and S710. Only those run on Windows Mobile, while the Samsung Behold doesn't.

Samsung Gravity

Leaving aside the design, Samsung Gravity, so far known as Samsung T459/T450, is a quad-band phone with GPRS/EDGE but no 3G support. Its display is relatively small measuring 2.1" 256K colors and 176 x 220 pixels resolution. Other features include microSD card slot, Bluetooth with A2DP profile, a modest fixed-focus 1.3 MP camera. Its processor and built-in memory is still unknown.

Samsung Gravity will be released on November 17 for $49.99 on a 2 year contract in lime and aqua colors.

HTC Touch HD hits Asia too, America still on the waiting list

We have received word on the next wave of countries to get the Windows Mobile uber device - HTC Touch HD. Only a few days after its European premiere HTC brought joyful news to all its fans in Asia by announcing that the HD will be available on the World's most populated continent as soon as the beginning of next month. Unfortunately for our American friends, there is still no word of when will the phone become available there.

The first two countries from the Asian tour of the HTC Touch HD will be Malaysia and Singapore. The prices of the multimedia powerhouse in those countries will be respectively 730 euro (930 US dollars) and 750 euro (950 US dollars). The twenty euro difference can easily be explained by the 8GB microSD card that will be included in the retail package in Singapore.

Equipped with a large 3.8" WVGA screen the HTC Touch HD is surely one of the most interesting devices to hit the market this year. Even though multimedia isn't normally one of Windows Mobile devices' elements the Touch HD has a specs sheet that can put much of the competition to shame. The large display, the 5 MP snapper and the 3.5mm audio jack are just some of the niceties it brings.

The connectivity includes all contemporary means of data transfers - 3G, Wi-Fi and of course the microSD card slot. There is also a built-in GPS to make the specs sheet on the HD almost as complete as it can be.