Sony W660i Walkman Phone Has Been FCC Approved

Sony brings a new solution for high quality music experience. Sony W660i has not been released yet, but it is not far from becoming available, as it has just been FCC approved.Sony W660i has several interesting aspects that might make it appealing for many of those that are passionate when it comes to music. This phone model comes equipped with TrackID, which makes it possible to easily identify a melody that the user doesn't recognize at first. All that the user has to do is record a few seconds of the track over the microphone. TrackID automatically sends the clip to Gracenote Mobile MusicID database, which later returns information on the album and artist that are associated with the song.

The phone is incredibly slim, at only 14.5 mm thick and comes in two colors, of Rose Red and Record Black. Moreover, it has a TFT screen that is capable of supporting a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels. The phone's design makes it easy to use, being equipped with fast access buttons.

Sony W660i comes with an integrated memory of 16 MB, but it also features support for Memory Stick Micro, which considerably increases its storing capacity up to 1GB. Actually, this phone can store an average number of 1000 songs, with the maximum space available after memory expansion.

Connectivity is available for this Sony W660i through Bluetooth and USB port. Moreover, it supports a wide range of sound file types that make this cellular fully deserve the Walkman phone title.

As for Internet access, Sony W660i comes with a reliable Web browser, has RSS feeds enabled and is also capable of supporting video calls and video transfers.

Sony Ericsson has not revealed any details on the price that this phone model will be available for, but it did promise a release soon.[via]

Samsung to Release the Thin E210

Thin is nice, Samsung Mobile keeps on saying with the continuous releasing of ultra-slim cell phones. And we agree, thin is indeed nice. E210 is the latest member of the Samsung Ultra Edition II family and it's an affordable entry-level clamshell phone. It's the first low-to-mid-range handset to benefit from the high-end D830's sophisticated technology. This new E210 has an attractive design (it would have been weird not to) and it's a bit like Motorola KRZR K1, but it doesn't have as many features as the KRZR.

E210 is less than 0.7 inches thick (1.65 cm) and weighs 82 grams, which is not much at all for a clamshell, everyone must agree on this. The flip phone comes in two colors, blue and black, both with chrome lining. It features a 65K color screen with a 120x160 pixels resolution, a 1.3 MP camera (with video recording ability of 15 frames per second), Bluetooth connectivity, USB, microSD memory card slot and MP3 playback. E210 has an internal memory of 10 MB and supports GSM 900/1800/1900.

It's not the first time that Samsung creates an affordable cell phone using technology from a high-end handset. For example, the E200's design and technology were "taken" from the ultra-thin X820 candybar.

Samsung E210's release date is not known yet. But it will probably be available in Europe pretty soon (and then in the US), for a decent price of about 200 dollars (150 Euro).

Considering its features and costs, it's clear that E210 is for those who want an affordable good looking phone that doesn't have extravagant characteristics. The demand for such affordable handsets is not at all negligible, and big manufacturers like Samsung know it, that's why they'll keep on releasing these entry-level cell phones.[via]

Sony Ericsson Promote Their Walkman Devices

Sony Ericsson has signed a deal with Emap2 in order to properly advertise their new Walkman phone series.The contract between advertising company Emap2 and Sony Ericsson will be valid over a period of one year. By this time, three separate campaigns will run, emphasizing the advantages brought by Sony's mobile phones, capable of rendering music at high qualities. "Following the success of last year’s campaign with Emap2, we were committed to working together again and to look at the creative possibilities for Sony Ericsson this year. This new campaign will take us to the next level in terms of exposure to music fans, a level of exposure made a lot easier to achieve thanks to Emap’s fantastic media brands that will carry the great campaign ideas to the audience", said David Hilton, head of marketing at Sony Ericsson UK and Ireland.

Emap2 will include advertisements in radio, print, TV and online offerings in order to make the names of Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones stand out as the most efficient devices for mobile music listening.

The campaigns will be called "My Music Mate", "Greatest Unheard Artists" and "Kiss My Mix", each with a different strategy. They are all suggestive names that promise highly creative executions of the concept that the advertising company and Sony Ericsson both wish to deploy.

All advertisements, and especially the online ones, are meant to direct people to microsites where they can find further information on the campaign. Moreover, those that actually access these sites can enter competitions that might bring them Sony Ericsson mobile phones and many other prizes.

Emap Advertising is an advertising company that seeks solutions based on the understanding of online consumer behavior. It mostly uses the way that people feel while browsing the Internet in order to find better solutions to respond to their needs.[via]

Dopod International Launches BlackBerry Connect v4.0 in Asia

Dopod International and Research in Motion announced the availability of the BlackBerry Connect software v4.0 on the 838Pro PDA (HTC Hermes 100). Through an existing licensing relationship between HTC and Research in Motion, Dopod International is providing BlackBerry Connect software on its Microsoft Windows Mobile-based 838Pro to support push-based wireless email services, in conjunction with both BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service. Dopod International is the first to offer BlackBerry Connect v4.0 in Asia. "BlackBerry Connect on Dopod International devices provides an innovative and powerful solution that meets the distinct needs of our mobile users on the go," said Jack Tong, CEO of Dopod International. "We are very excited to work with RIM to provide the new BlackBerry Connect software on 838Pro for customers in Hong Kong, Australia and South East Asia."

BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Internet Service support wireless email access, wireless email reconciliation and attachment viewing. Additional features supported through BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Connect v4.0 include two-way wireless synchronization of email, calendar, address book, task and memo pad information, enhanced attachment handling capabilities, enabling users to view images, footnotes and tracked changes, remote look-up of corporate email address directory, triple DES or AES wireless encryption, Internet and corporate intranet access via the BlackBerry Mobile Data System, remote control of email settings to allow users to wirelessly configure out-of-office replies, email filters, auto-signatures directly from their device and wireless IT policy enforcement and commands.


For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data. For individuals, BlackBerry Internet Service allows users to access multiple supported email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts) from a single device.[via]