The All New Sony Ericsson Portfolio for 2008

Posted by jayce
So 2008 was pretty much a wipeout if you were expecting a new UIQ based phone that pushed the envelope on technology (and I don't mean the G700 and G900 phones).

It's such a shame to see

fall so far like this

Posted by Tigershark42
Well, I came very very close to getting a G900, but did not because it looks and feels extremely cheap IMO (high end SE, WTF?), but more than that because of all the software bugs you get on UIQ, the general lack of speed and usability. I'm sure the X1 will come with its share of bugs too, but the difference is that you always have xda developers who are keen to solve all the problems. its just a shame the X1 is so pricey. Abit of a smaller screen, a regular keypad, for me these things would be a good trade off for a good camera (well, better than the bog standard 3.2 MPx module, anyway) and an accelerometer. WM will always have its users and support. UIQ lacked so much...but S60 is undoubtedly way better, touch or not. The figures speak for themselves. But hopefully it will get an SE UI and SE flavour to it, then alot of people will be happy

Posted by makbil
@Tigershark42, you are describing the Touch Pro. It does have a few advantages over the X1.
I'm wondering if the X1 will have the same availability of different ROMs as the HTC or will it be stuck with a WM version while other WM devices keep getting upgrades... This should be a legitimate concern given SE's track record.

Posted by Muhammad-Oli
I have received a few hints from a trustworthy source, and this is my interpretation of them:

We can see from these code-names for 'clone' phones that there are similarities in their names:

Bella --> Becky = Z780i --> Z770i = Both start with the letter B.

Charlotte --> Carina = W710i --> Z710i = Both start with the letter C.

Lindsay --> Laura = S500i --> W580i = Both start with the letter L.

Carola --> Clara = W800i --> K750i = Both start with the letter C.

The hint given to me was:

ying --> yue --> yao

Now we know that Ying is the F305, right?
And we know that Yao is a Walkman phone based on the F305 right?
Well if my interpretation of these hints is correct, then Yue must be similar. I was also told that what we have been told of Yue's specs isn't quite true.

Another thing I was told was that Frances is very nice.

Posted by razec
Nice analysis there Oli

Posted by the-flash
What about Kumiko and Rika? G705 and W705.

Posted by c96sthl

On 2008-10-22 09:45:48, the-flash wrote:
What about Kumiko and Rika? G705 and W705.

well but I agreed there's a trend.... not necessary this is correct all the time.
only time will tell right?

Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah, obviously this trend won't happen with the naming of all clone phones, but it happens too often in SE's portfolio to ignore this naming trend.

Posted by doministry
Symbian Foundation:
"symbian foundation products from sony Ericsson in second half of 2009. These will be S60 (compatible)."
So all of you see what is going' on about UIQ/SE...
Story's over..

Posted by Ricky D
Sofia -> Shiho

Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Nah, they're not clone phones buddy. Shiho is Sofia's successor.

Posted by Ricky D
Apologies, mis-read the post, I thought we were talking about successors.

A code name selection structure would be more interesting as we'd then know which phones are going to be the ones to look out for. Although saying that, a process of elimination would say which aren't the clone phones.

Posted by Tigershark42

On 2008-10-22 02:43:37, makbil wrote:
@Tigershark42, you are describing the Touch Pro. It does have a few advantages over the X1.
I'm wondering if the X1 will have the same availability of different ROMs as the HTC or will it be stuck with a WM version while other WM devices keep getting upgrades... This should be a legitimate concern given SE's track record.

Well, I gave havinga keypad instead as an example of how it couldve been cheaper. I like the Touch Pro alot, but I can't justify spending Ł500 on a phone. I dont NEED the PDA functions, Id just find them very useful at times. Some features (like the internet connectivity) are important to me though. If they could make one Ł150 cheaper then I could more or less justify it. I was talking about these changes purely from a price perspective. Besides, X1 and Touch Pro cost almost exactly the same, so might aswell go for the X1 in that case. Its just too expensive for what it is IMO. This is why I think the G900 is a better solution overall compared to the X1. The idea is to make your life easier. I see having WM6.1 as just complicating it lol.

Posted by ares

symbian foundation products from sony Ericsson in second half of 2009. These will be S60 (compatible).
@ 10:49 - Wednesday 22nd October

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/live/

Posted by Solos
That's quite long. I'd like to change my mobile in Q12009. Hope Nokia will present touch high-end NSeries device soon.

Posted by ares
even if they will, those n series devices won´t be out before SE´s, i think...

right now they´re betting on the 5800

Posted by Maximys

ying --> yue --> yao

You are right!

Posted by doministry

On 2008-10-22 13:09:14, ares wrote:
even if they will, those n series devices won´t be out before SE´s, i think...

right now they´re betting on the 5800

So it's a question how much S60 from SE will resemble SE/UIQ and will be different from Nokia..

On 2008-10-22 12:42:06, Tigershark42 wrote:

That's what I exactly advised to my friend.
_________________
a w a r e

[ This Message was edited by: doministry on 2008-10-22 12:40 ]

Posted by Solos
@ares - I hope You're wrong:

http://symbianworld.org/990-i[....]-killer-by-nokia-in-the-works/

Posted by sunrise_

On 2008-10-22 13:17:50, Maximys wrote:

ying --> yue --> yao

Well if my interpretation of these hints is correct, then Yue must be similar. I was also told that what we have been told of Yue's specs isn't quite true.

You are right!

So Yue is 2mpx slider and not 3.2mpx candybar? Is it still Cyber-shot? C305?

Posted by Muhammad-Oli
I don't know details, but I know that it has been said to be a Cyber-shot, though I get the feeling they might put it in the 'S' line for Snapshot, because I've been made aware that the specs aren't quite as good as we're expecting them to be.

Also, SE themselves have stated that they don't want to be making Cyber-shot phones with small cameras anymore. I don't know what the cut off point for a small camera is, but I assume it's 3.2MP and up, or after Kate is released it might be 5MP and up. So if Yue's camera specs are similar to the F305's, then I'm gonna assume it's not Cyber-shot.

Posted by xell

On 2008-10-22 15:36:40, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
I don't know what the cut off point for a small camera is, but I assume it's 3.2MP and up, or after Kate is released it might be 5MP and up. So if Yue's camera specs are similar to the F305's, then I'm gonna assume it's not Cyber-shot.

3 & 5 series are Snapshot, 7 & 9 Cybershot.

Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Ok, but surely the 'S' or the 'C' denotes what it is. Seems weird to have a letter and a number. But then, obviously there aren't going to be any low end Cyber-shots.

Posted by Maximys
Yue is Cyber-shot slider with 3.2-Mp.

Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Even if it is very similar to Yao and the F305, a 3.2MP Cyber-shot slider sounds very cool, and it is definitely something new for SE's range.

Posted by Maximys
And price of the Yue will be less than 100€.

Posted by goldenface
Sounds good, there isn't enough Cyber-sliders on sale at the moment, plenty of Walkmans sliders but only one Cyber-shot.

Posted by SilveR.
price below 100euro.. A budget Cybershot phone..

Posted by xell

On 2008-10-22 17:20:08, SilveR. wrote:
price below 100euro.. A budget Cybershot phone..

And now that's the point I totally doubt it will be C. According to that logic, the S302 Snapshot would've been the C300 Cyber-shot. Which it is obviously not.

Posted by goldenface
Just to let you know guys that the final announcement of 2008 will be sometime during the 1st 2 weeks of November.

After then, our mate Muhammad-Oli will be taking over for the 2009 rumours.

Posted by vilde
So has anyone given any hints about hicaru yet?

Posted by goldenface
Why are you gonna drop some?

[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2008-10-22 17:36 ]

Posted by Pop Lover
http://www.gsmarena.com/uiq_i[....]_are_done_with_it-news-640.php

is that confirm that UIQ IS DEAD From now on!

Posted by goldenface
@prudent

There have been quite a few hints regarding Hicaru however, it was so long ago people have forgotten them. I kept a record of them in the 1st post however.

8MP, 8GB internal etc.

Posted by rustam07

On 2008-10-22 18:30:32, Pop Lover wrote:
http://www.gsmarena.com/uiq_i[....]_are_done_with_it-news-640.php

is that confirm that UIQ IS DEAD From now on!

Not good news! ((

Posted by Legen
we expected Hicaru to be UIQ, but UIQ is dead. wat os will it run then guys?
culd the death of UIQ be the reason we have not seen any smartphones released?

[ This Message was edited by: Legen on 2008-10-22 19:05 ]

Posted by chombos1

On 2008-10-22 19:49:29, Legen wrote:
we expected Hicaru to be UIQ, but UIQ is dead. wat os will it run then guys?
...

or does it mean the complete termination of Hicaru...???

Posted by Legen
http://semcblog.com/2008/10/22/hikaru-8-8/

check this out

[ This Message was edited by: Legen on 2008-10-22 19:01 ]

Posted by Mizzle
Max, what's up with all those old news??

Posted by xell
While we're at old news: S302 was approved by FCC yesterday.

Posted by moogoo

On 2008-10-22 20:04:30, Mizzle wrote:
Max, what's up with all those old news??

its not old news if he's confirming that it is COMING and not just a rumor ...

look forward to finding out more specs

Posted by Mizzle

On 2008-10-22 20:12:00, moogoo wrote:

On 2008-10-22 20:04:30, Mizzle wrote:
Max, what's up with all those old news??

its not old news if he's confirming that it is COMING and not just a rumor ...

look forward to finding out more specs

Oh yes it is

Posted by JD4341

On 2008-10-22 18:40:00, goldenface wrote:
@prudent

There have been quite a few hints regarding Hicaru however, it was so long ago people have forgotten them. I kept a record of them in the 1st post however.

8MP, 8GB internal etc.

Is it expected that it will be a smart phone?

Is the only real option for SE to go with the WM platform for the time being for smart phones?

If yes to both the above is Hikaru the X2?

Posted by chombos1

On 2008-10-22 20:00:26, Legen wrote:
http://semcblog.com/2008/10/22/hikaru-8-8/

check this out

[ This Message was edited by: Legen on 2008-10-22 19:01 ]

mmm....

when i last checked semcblog 1hour ago, it wasn't there...!

Posted by Santa_Claus
Hi guys.

I have 5+ yeas experience working in the mobile phone industry. I am not SE employee or beta tester! With my post, I did not wanted to impress anybody but just to make a statement what to expect in the future from SE. I can say again, that I think it would be great year for SE (2009).

Well after posting that UIQ is not dead some of you pm-ed me saying that is real. Therefore, I took time to verify and it seems that you are true. UIQ from SE is dead (well that info is now everywhere).

Well how can I be so wrong? Really simple.

The device that I had chance to play with, is S60 - Symbian 9.5 device. Since I did not drill down in the setting menu, I thought that it was UIQ. The GIU of the device looks like the next logical step of development of the UIQ. Actually, my friend just told me that since UIQ now is in Symbian foundation, SE will develop own GUI for the smartphones to differentiate little bit from Nokia and Samsung devices. That GUI is different from Nokia Tube. That’s why I could not recognize the difference. That device that I am talking was running on TI OMAP 3430 with 256 Ram.

Sorry for my mistake. I was not my intention to create confusion.

What else you can expect:

Bigger screens, better resolution, more mineral glass implementation, new (or enhanced) camera interface, new (or enhanced) media gallery, Walkman 4…

Once again, the info provided from me might not be true. It should be considered as a rumor. Only time will show if I have the right info or not.

Cheers.

Posted by Mizzle

On 2008-10-22 20:43:23, Santa_Claus wrote:
What else you can expect:

Bigger screens, better resolution, more mineral glass implementation, new (or enhanced) camera interface, new (or enhanced) media gallery, Walkman 4…

True, true, true, true, true and true.

Posted by Legen
AWESOME!!!!! o.k back to reality. wen approx in 2009 are we talking here?

Posted by Legen
nt pushing or anything. jus wanna knw for how long i shud keep my W960 around

Posted by chombos1

On 2008-10-22 21:20:41, Legen wrote:
nt pushing or anything. jus wanna knw for how long i shud keep my W960 around

hehe...

same here...

but hey man... i have had my P990 since 2 years and i have no complains...

Posted by moogoo
seems like i'll be sticking with my z710 for awhile longer... had purchased this phone as a "temp" while I waited for the next big thing... guess i'll be waiting a little longer.

Probably not a bad thing. I would get the X1, but it seems too pricey for me AND it will be available on a US carrier. I like having an imported phone even though I pay a premium for it.

Look forward to what Hikaru has to offer.