advertisement

Ask CNET Asia

Find Products

  • Brand
  • Price
  • Operating system
  • Phone type
  • Connectivity options
  • Touchscreen
  • Built-in digital camera?
  • Filter »

Buying Advice

Editors' Top 5s

CNET Features

 
 Print    Email     Bookmark     Share

How to select the right Sony Ericsson phone

By Damian Koh
Nov 18, 2008

Established in October 2001, Sony Ericsson is a 50-50 joint venture between Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony Corporation and Swedish telecommunications group Ericsson. Prior to the partnership, both companies had their own mobile phone business and one of the main reasons for the joint venture was to leverage on each other's strengths--Sony for its consumer electronics background and design savvy and Ericsson for its telecommunications expertise.

To get itself off the ground, its first product, the T68i (March 2002), was a slightly redesigned Ericsson T68. One of the most successful models in the early days was the T610 which had a built-in camera, color display, Bluetooth connectivity and joystick for navigation. By August 2005, Sony Ericsson's product lines became clear. The company introduced its first Walkman-branded phone, the W800i, and subsequently, the K800i Cyber-shot. Today, there are at least 13 letters that are used to index its mobile phones globally. These are classified into four macro categories: Music, Imaging, Mobile Web and Lifestyle.

On the software side, in February 2007, Sony Ericsson acquired the UIQ technology--a platform based on the Symbian OS--which was predominantly used in handsets such as the M600i, W960i and G900. Eight months later, Motorola bought a 50-percent stake in UIQ from Sony Ericsson. Since the establishment of the Symbian Foundation this year, software assets of UIQ, together with Symbian OS, S60 and MOAP(S), will be contributed to the foundation to create one open mobile software platform. Besides UIQ, Sony Ericsson has also moved onto the Windows Mobile platform with the launch of the Xperia X1 this year.

Branding Series In a nutshell
Music
W
 Music-centric phones with Walkman branding
R
 Basic AM/FM radio phones
Imaging
C
 Camera-centric phones with Cyber-shot branding
S
 Used to index swivel phones, now represents the Snapshot category
K
 Previously used to index Cyber-shot phones
Mobile Web
M
 Messaging-centric phones with QWERTY
P
 Professional series of smart phones
G
 Regular phones with touchscreens and PIM features
X
 Premium series of "converged" smart phones
Lifestyle
F
 Gaming-centric fun phones
T
 Phone that are focused on design
J
 Entry-level and basic phones
Z
 Clamshell, design-centric phones


Select a category:


Tags: Symbian Inc., Cell Phone, Imaging, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, consumer electronics
 

 
Music »

    Talkback
Guwahati says...
X1 is a great product but minus a 3.5 plus size screen and 5 mp camera.

Nov 18, 2008 18:49
 
 
Guwahati says...
Just bought the Cybershot T77 so will wait for C905 for its next upgrade. I guess we will see a 12mp camera phone from Sony next year. The Sony 12mp chip is already ready if i am not wrong.

Nov 18, 2008 18:54
 
 
Guwahati says...
I am not much into music but do use FM at times, so R306i Radio with speakers does attract me.

Nov 18, 2008 18:55
 
 
Guwahati says...
In the lifestyle segment T700 was great but they should have given a 5mp camera atlest. Have been using T250i for quiet some time and loved it for its compact yet catchy design.

Nov 18, 2008 18:57
 
 
GolaYing says...
I like the sony Ericsson w800, but it has stop production.
Now I use Nokia N70, it's a great mobile phone.
And I got Best Nokia 3GP Converter for it www.convert-video-dvd.com...

Nov 19, 2008 16:16
 
 
sevenich says...
just as there are apple fanboys everywhere, cnet asia does not lack people who are sony-ericsson fanboys! next time, you might want to at least indicate "this is a paid advertisement."

Nov 24, 2008 07:59
 
 
scsa316 says...
i am using x1 and if it had a 3.5inch screen and 5mp camera it would have been just perfect.. though i stil find the phone awesome and i reaally love it..

Apr 28, 2009 04:04
 
 
keyboardman says...
Im Sony Erricsson fans and my phone is W960i Walkman... Recently, i got a DVD/Video tool which can easily extract playback music from video clips or DVD Movies to my W960i Walkman ... It's amazing !
www.convert-video-dvd.com...

Nov 18, 2009 17:49
 
 
To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
advertisement