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http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/troedsangberg/its-not-about-smartphones/

Dude what? This is HTC copying what Sony Ericsson did months ago:

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

They even went further and released an ICS alpha build to the dev community before christmas!

http://developer.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/12/15/ice-cream-sandwich-alpha-rom-available-for-unlocked-xperia-phones/

Dude what? This is HTC copying what Sony Ericsson did months ago:

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

They even went further and released an ICS alpha build to the dev community before christmas!

http://developer.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/12/15/ice-cream-sandwich-alpha-rom-available-for-unlocked-xperia-phones/

I"ve been saying for years that if Android really wants to take the gaming world, what they really need is some kind of standard controller with a simple d-pad and 4-6 buttons.

You mean like the Xperia PLAY?

If Sony ever gets their act together, they have the means to easily dominate the handhelds...

http://developer.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/12/15/ice-cream-sandwich-alpha-rom-available-for-unlocked-xperia-phones/#more-4706

was followed by

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1393738

You're welcome.

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

Or just OEMs that care:

http://developer.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/11/17/camera-libraries-available-for-sony-ericsson-phones/

Like say a SE (or just Sony now?) Liveview?

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/accessories/overview/liveviewmicrodisplay

Xperia Play Not good enough for ye?

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/xperia-play?cc=gb&lc=en

Heathen!

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

Just look at these threads and see how Sony is pissing off its customers:

http://talk.sonyericsson.com/thread/23778

http://talk.sonyericsson.com/thread/22121

Just look at these threads and see how Sony is pissing off its customers:

http://talk.sonyericsson.com/thread/23778

http://talk.sonyericsson.com/thread/22121

We have put an open boot loader in our new models. Feel free to visit our unlock site: http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

Except this doesn't apply to CDMA models of the SonyEricsson phones. Largely because big, bad VZW doesn't want to let them be unlocked. People have figured out a few ways around it using commercial tools, or even temporary exploits. However, just because we are Americans and use Verizon and CDMA technology, we are locked out from the same features that our GSM-toting brethren enjoy. It is _JUST_ as easy to unlock the bootloader (I've done it), but they specifically do not allow for it.

http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/03/29/unlocking-the-boot-loader-in-the-new-xperia%E2%84%A2-smartphones/

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/03/29/unlocking-the-boot-loader-in-the-new-xperia%E2%84%A2-smartphones/

http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

We have put an open boot loader in our new models. Feel free to visit our unlock site: http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

Yes - the two companies have a joint venture that produces mobile phones, but they haven't merged.

I can't say I've ever had any trouble fitting even relatively big smart phones (Nexus S) into my pocket, but perhaps OP would like to take a look at the Xperia Mini?

Worthless for anything that requires typing because typing on an on-screen keyboard is a nightmare.

Beats the hell out of using thumbs on a screen a quarter of the size, though, don't it? Or for that matter, why not use voice recognition? If you haven't looked at it lately, you really really should. Google's voice recognition is simply worlds better than that old dragon was, and without spending 6 hours training it to recognize an individual's voice, either. Sit down with it for half an hour and actually train it, and it supposedly gets better... but I didn't bother because it works so well "out of the box".

Terrible web browsing experience.

Not as terrible as trying to use a laptop or netbook while standing up on a moving bus.

Rubbish for gaming because of the lack of physical controls.

Pocket Legends has over a million users. There are literally millions of downloads of console emulators. EVE Online is also coming to the mobile space. StarCraft looks like it was MADE for a touchscreen interface. Last but not anywhere near least, the Xperia Play - and if you go over my comment history, you will see that I absolutely hate Sony, so I'm the last guy anyone would expect to be pimping their products.

Useless for watching videos because who wants to hold their display while watching a film.

Try looking for protective cases that have kickstands built in, or just go low-tech and use a document holder. Duh.

Can't be used for any RealWork such as programming, graphic design, stock trading or anything else.

I'll grant some of this point. With typing being more difficult due to a lack of keyboard, coding would be a pain... assuming you don't change the interface. But I'm going to have to call "citation needed" on your "graphic design", your "stock trading", and with 4.5 billion app downloads last month just on the official android market and over 100,000 apps specifically for iPads released in the past 16 months, your "anything else".

I can't really think what else they could be used for.

There's really only a few things that PCs are better at, and that's a combination of sheer horsepower and input hardware. Toss a bluetooth keyboard into the mix, add a kickstand to the back, and 90% of the PC market will evaporate as people realize they don't need a $1200 monster to check their email and surf the web. Admittedly, that's just replacing a PC with a different piece of hardware... but I will point out that hospitals and law firms figured out that tablets roxor their soxors years ago.

In other words, Tablet + WiFi + content server = It's not the tablet that's useless for most people, it's the PC. With the advent of streaming media and wireless connec

Well, Ericsson seems to be either helfull or bowed to some pressure but they offer to unlock the bootloader for some (newest I presume) phones: Unlocking the bootlader. Thus, unlocked bootloader does not seems to prevent the adoption of Linux/Android. Locking migt be simply seens as a needed step from childhoot to maturity. :)

And quoting LWN's Android, forking, and control:

The Android developers, beyond forking the kernel, also took the position that the GPL is bad for business. The project's original goal was to avoid GPL-licensed code altogether; the plan was to write a new kernel as well. In the end, a certain amount of reason prevailed, and the (GPL-licensed) Linux kernel was adopted; there are a few other GPL-licensed components as well. So, James said, we can thank Andy Rubin - from whom the dislike of the GPL originates - for conclusively demonstrating that a handset containing GPL-licensed code can be successful in the market. It turns out that downstream vendors really don't care about the licensing of the code in their devices; they only care that it's clear and compliant.

it seems that also the GPL is not that great block to the Linux/Android adoption either. Again, companies simply needs some time to understand it properly, get comfortable and than move along to doing the actual business instead of fighting petty wars.

IMHO

Games on my phone are now good enough that it's not worth carrying around a second device just for games. If Sony wants to sell this thing they should make it capable of making phone calls and running standard android apps. Either that or make it wafer thin and close to weightless.

You mean like the Xperia play they are putting out?

- Makes calls
- Runs Gingerbread (with Android Marketplace)
- Runs PlayStation games

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/xperia-play?cc=gb&lc=en

They are working through their Mobile phone arm to create a PlayStation platform in phones.

Who wants to look at some little 4" (or even 7-10") screen

Everyone who's ever played a GameBoy or Nintendo DS?

use wierdo controls

What wierdo controls?

Apart from a throwaway line at the end of the article, this has absolutely nothing to do with cloud computing, or distributed computing - at least not any more than current-gen consoles are "Cloud Computing". It's not even eliminating the commodity PC - it's wondering if it can eventually be miniaturized enough to fit it in your pocket instead of on your desk.

Personally, I think iOS and Android are going to eat the DS' lunch. All they're missing is the interface, and things like this show they're working on it. After that it gets harder. The small form-factor means that it's going to be hard to compete against games designed for large screens, but it could be done eventually - possibly as the article suggests, by having a mobile device act as a game server, to which other mobile devices and a smart TV could connect.

Surprising as it may be, Sony Ericsson even put up a site with step-by-step instructions to unlock the boot loader on their new Xperia phones (well, and having you check off a box that you acknowledge that this might void your warranty) and also put up instructions how to build a kernel and flash it to your phone:

http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/wp/2011/05/06/how-to-build-a-linux-kernel/

np: Shackleton - Deadman (Fabric 55)

Interestingly enough Sony-Ericson will also allow you to unlock the bootloader on many of their phones. This naturally voids the warranty and they say in the process some DRM features will be removed from the phone, but this is quite surprising given they are the biggest arseholes in the current technological world. It's a complete opposite approach to Motorola.

The opposite of Motorola? The Motorola Xoom bootloader is unlockable in the same way. On the other hand, the Atrix bootloader is not easily unlockable. So, I think Motorola is kind of weird about this.

Interestingly enough Sony-Ericson will also allow you to unlock the bootloader on many of their phones. This naturally voids the warranty and they say in the process some DRM features will be removed from the phone, but this is quite surprising given they are the biggest arseholes in the current technological world. It's a complete opposite approach to Motorola.

Mind you there's enough skepticism on the internet that thinks this is a grand scheme to build a database of phones with voided warranties. After all the way phone hacking is going these days with other handsets like Samsung, it's possible to unlock, jailbreak, heck even install Cyanogen mod (a port of Google's vanilla Android OS) and yet magically flash the stock firmware back on if the phone is marginally functional and return it for a warranty claim.

Well they do have a website for it... http://unlockbootloader.sonyericsson.com/

If you have an original X10 (Donut) there's already an Eclair update available for it and Gingerbread is coming this summer.

http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products/2011/03/25/update-on-xperia%E2%84%A2-x10/

With an unlockable bootloader, the device isn't looking too bad.

8 megapixels is nothing special....

And it looks like there still won't be an optical zoom since the Xperia-Pro only has digital zoom

And don't tell me they can't put an optical zoom in an iPhone: the Sony DSC-T7 was only 14.8mm and had a 3x optical zoom way back in 2005 while the iPhone 4 is 9.3mm. I'll gladly sacrifice 5.5mm for a 3x optical zoom (assuming technology hasn't advanced since 2005)

Digital zoom is a joke, I'd don't care if they sell a 50 megapixel iPhone I'd trade it all for a good 3 megapixel with a 3x optical zoom.

Here is one that doesn't run Android, but which does pairs with Android phones via Bluetooth and integrates with apps running on them (API available for use to third-party apps, apparently). OLED screen as well.

Sony did a good job with a "justaphone" they recently released, the Naite.
I bought one a few months ago for around $120. No contracts, basic phone, no sliding, good screen, some free games that are good, bluetooth, a decent camera, small form factor, and really good battery life. It even accepts standard microSD cards, if you need it.

The free Sony management software is really pretty good, too. It offers phone backups, you can send/receive text messages through your machine while it's plugged in, and it didn't come with a lot of BS carrier lock-in stuff.

Check it out, it's been perfect for me.

Well, sony already make phones and some of them run android.

That having been said, this new iPhone - if it indeed is an iPhone - reminds me more of Sony's designs from the early 1980's. Which isn't a bad thing - that's the period during which Sony reached its design peak, and influenced the rest of the consumer electronics industry.

You don't have to go back to the 80s. It's actually somewhat similar to the just-a-few-years-old Sony Ericsson M600 smartphone.

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/m600i

Like Samsung and Sony Ericsson already have on the market.

It's not from Nokia, but almost:

Thus, a new category of devices has been born. They’re not smartphones, they’re something else. And we love them.

http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/troedsangberg/its-not-about-smartphones/

I agree that Apple gets the marketing right, but I think that's not what Apple really gets right. What Apple really gets right is making products that are simple and not annoying to use for the masses. Compare the original iPod to its mp3 playing peers. Until Apple made the iPhone and the iPod Touch, no other player came close. That and the iTunes store tie up, and Apple really got it right. It makes marketing the damn product easy. How memorable are the iPhone ads. In fact, how many ads do you know where all someone is doing is showing you what the device can do, easily? Imagine such an ad for the Sony Ericsson W960i http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/w960i. The phone has many of the features on an iPhone, but even Sony Ericsson would not be caught dead demonstrating it on TV.

The technology is important, but isn't everything. Making it work for people is more important than any ingenuity that went into making the product

"these new devices to have shifted the primary use case from being phones to being windows to the Internet"

http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/troedsangberg/its-not-about-smartphones/

It seems like there are some decent camera phones on some symbian phones from nokia, samsung and sony ericson. like this one: http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/satio?lc=en&cc=gb android does seem to lack some megapixels. I think that most of the people here are right that the lack of optical zoom makes for shity pictures in most instances accept portrait photos, but for a phone that's all you need to snap a quick picture and post it on flicker or facebook for family and friends. Nobody is printing them out at poster size. Even my 2MP photos from my 3 year old sony ericson phone are only seen at a quarter of the original size most of the time.

Look at the N900 feature list - "Phone" is fourth down.

Maemo may power Nokia's high-end devices, but this is no reason to sound the death knell for Symbian. With regard to Nokia, they make a lot of phones that are not the N900, and do not cost 500 euro. There are also dozens of other companies supporting the Symbian Foundation, including many other manufacturers like Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Symbian^4 will use Qt as its UI layer, and Maemo is moving into a similar direction (that's why Nokia bought Trolltech!) - targeting both platforms should be quite simple.

I'm an avid fan of Nokia and Symbian phones from Philippines, and I'd like to share my interest in exploring new features in mobile technology particularly this new device and its Maemo platform for mobile communicators.

I'd like to witness how it performs well as a device, mobile communicator, and internet tablet, and be able to know what lies behind this new mobile OS.

I also want to know how worthy to have this device over the other existing and upcoming competitors and rivals in its level, and chat and meet people with the same interest.

I hope we can share each and everyone's knowledge on this stuff among all of electronic gadgets we've had. http://www.Nokia-N900.org is nice place to hangout.

I have never used an N97 personally, but I'm sorry to hear that you're having so much trouble with it. It is not the only Symbian-powered device in the world!

Bugs get fixed. Technology improves. It looks like Nokia will use Symbian as their smartphone OS, and have their MID class use Maemo. They are easily big enough to support both. Other Symbian Foundation member companies will improve the OS and use it on whatever devices they want to do. The Samsung i8910HD and Sony Ericsson Satio are another couple of current Symbian S60v5 phones, and as the platform moves forward as open-source software, anything could happen. Android's Dalvik VM could be ported to Symbian. That could be interesting!

As for the SDK, I think that it's built on Eclipse, and there's a GCC toolchain - maybe not with S60 5th Edition, but with Symbian^1 or Symbian^2 (the OSS releases). It takes time for a commercial product to adjust to a new open source life. Give a while. No harm.

Look at the N900 feature list - "Phone" is fourth down.

Maemo may power Nokia's high-end devices, but this is no reason to sound the death knell for Symbian. With regard to Nokia, they make a lot of phones that are not the N900, and do not cost 500 euro. There are also dozens of other companies supporting the Symbian Foundation, including many other manufacturers like Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Symbian^4 will use Qt as its UI layer, and Maemo is moving into a similar direction (that's why Nokia bought Trolltech!) - targeting both platforms should be quite simple.

From the Handango website:: Androidâ, BlackBerry®, Palm®, Windows Mobileâ, Symbian OSâ - I don't see Windows CE in the list. In fact: theses are all the smart phone operating systems which are currently available (Apart from iPhone OS X that is).

I agree with you that future is bleak for Symbian. But still:

http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n97
http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/satio
http://omniahd.samsungmobile.com/

None of which are older then 6 month. The reason that I think Symbian is on a demise is not that there are no new devices - it is that the available new devices are missing the "wow - cool" factor.

And last not least: How do you define SmartPhone OS so that the N97 is not included? My definitions is Keyboard and/or Touchscreen and native user installable applications. The N97 qualifies for all three points.

Martin

My X1 came with PDF support

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/x1?lc=en&cc=us

It's a great device really.

Maybe, some (I haven't seen any, ever). Those two I mentioned came with CST-60: http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/accessories/overview/cst-60?lc=en&cc=us (ignore the US plug). I can imagine what you're talking about but if you look at the plug you see this can't work the way you're claiming to work (well maybe if you "use the force"). Actually there are three accessories coming with the phone (stereo headset, charger and USB cable). None have this feature you're taking about, although I've seen some probably useful adapters on ebay. But again simply mentioning ADAPTERS makes me right as my point was that they just don't work in a specific case. Having to use adapters is the whole point, if they would be working you won't be needing adaptors.

Though you may have to hunt around for the software to transcode mp3s into the DRM package your maker uses, it's generally fairly easy to make your own ringtones.

For example, right here on their own website, the DRM packager for sony ericsson phones: http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/docstools/misc/p_misc.jsp

no phone in the history of the universe has had a front facing video camera

False.

Sony Ericsson phones (that are distributed in countries other than the US) do video chat. Just google "sony ericsson video call" and it brings up:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP19WoVBeU4
• http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/phones/detailed/makevideocall?cc=us&lc=en

I've googled and found some information on the W902: When you attach the USB cable to the phone, the phone will prompt you to choose between Phone mode, Media transfer, Print, and Mass storage. ... With the USB cable, you can use your phone as an USB memory.

I am not sure whether the USB drive corresponds to the phone or the memory card. However, the T500 comes with Memory Stick slot, so you just need to remember to bring along the M2-to-memorystick adapter for the W902's M2 memory card.

Please see this page for more info.

What we're talking about here is a $500 camera, which is a bit different from the cheap cameras they bundle with phones.

Though this 8.1 Megapixel Sony Ericsson Cybershot camera phone is a step in that direction. Though it probably needs a better lens and a better CCD to rival even $200 cameras.

I'd love it if the Sony Ericsson watches actually showed text messages rather than just notifying you when one had arrived. They could be really cool devices but as it is they look like a bit of a missed opportunity.