Sony Ericsson Expands Phone Line At CES

Sony Ericsson this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas rolled out two new Walkman music phones and a clamshell phone enhanced with a diamond design for a luxurious appearance.

The first in the bunch, the Sony Ericsson W350, is a Walkman phone with a flip design that lets users control music functions, such as "play," "pause," and "scroll" when the phone's flip cover is closed. This makes the phone appear like a standalone MP3 player when it's not open, according to Sony Ericsson.

The W350 is 10 millimeters thick -- small enough to comfortably fit in a pocket -- but comes with many features, including an application called TrackID, which tracks down the title and artist of a song recorded using the phone's microphone or tagged through the built-in radio.

Other features include stereo Bluetooth, 1.3-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, messaging capabilities (e-mail, text, and picture), Media Manager software for transferring favorite tracks from a computer to the phone, and the ability to store up to 470 songs.

The phone comes in two versions: W350i uses EDGE 900/1800/1900 and will be available in some markets in the second quarter of this year; the W350a uses EGDE 850/1800/1900 and will be available in the Americas around the same time.

The second Walkman phone unveiled by Sony Ericsson, the W760, has tri-band HSDPA capabilities for global roaming and high-speed data access. HSDPA stands for High Speed Downlink Packet Access, a 3G cellular technology that is capable of achieving speeds of between 8 Mbps and 10 Mbps.

Besides being a music phone, the W760 is a personal navigator with built-in GPS and mapping applications: Wayfinder Navigator and Google Maps. It also stores a lot more music than the W350 -- up to 950 songs. Additionally, the W760 can identify songs through its TrackID application and the phone's functions, such as skipping tracks or adjusting the volume, can be changed by shaking the phone through the Shake Control application.

The Shake Control is available on several Sony Ericsson Walkman phone models. The feature was first introduced last summer and allows a user to change a music track by shaking the phone. Here's how it works: Once the Shake Control is activated, a user presses and holds the Walkman key, then flicks their wrist. A vibration lets the user know that the track has been changed and a new song from the current playlist is selected to play randomly.

The phone has a 3.2-megapixel camera with 2.5x digital zoom, messaging capabilities (e-mail, text, and picture), FM radio, and a Media User Interface that rotates depending on whether the phone is positioned vertically or horizontally.

The W760 uses both UMTS/HSDPA 850/19002100 and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, and will be available in select markets in the second quarter of this year.

The last of the three new phones introduced at CES is the Sony Ericsson Z555, a stylish feature-packed clamshell phone with a diamond finish.

The Z555 comes with a Gesture Control feature for managing calls with the wave of a hand. For example, users can mute the phone when it rings by waving their hand back and forth over the phone.

Without flipping the phone open, users can see who is calling on the outside display. The phone even consults the calendar to adjust the appearance of the home screen to specific seasons. It's all part of Sony Ericsson's effort to create more stylish and personalized cell phones, the company said.

Sony Ericsson will offer two versions: the Z555i using EDGE/GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 and the Z555a using EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/1800/1900. Both will be available in the first quarter of this year.

Sony Ericsson didn't provide pricing information.