Anyone who remembers my coverage of the Mobile World Congress last year will know I got a teeny little bit breathless when I saw what Sony Ericsson were planning for the tail end of 2008 (i.e. the Sony Ericsson X1). I may as well warn you now, there’s every chance that this year, I may go from ‘breathless’ to ‘dead from asphyxia’.
Y’see they’ve announced two new mobile phones, and these two are about as high-end as it gets, especially the ‘Idou’. More on that mind-blowing beast of a phone in a sec, however…
First up is a phone that we can expect to see before then, the Sony Ericsson W995, aka/ the phone formerly known as Hikaru. The name alone should give away that it’s pretty high spec, but what you’re looking at here (and I can sum it up really easily) is a C905 with a Walkman badge on. Basically, they’ve taken the body and 8 megapixel camera of the C905, given it an LED instead of xenon flash (to decrease the thickness), and installed the absolute latest Walkman 4.0 music player. Oh, and shoehorned in stereo speakers. The Sony Ericsson W995 also includes all the WiFi, HSDPA, and GPS connectivity of its Cyber-Shot sister-phone, as well. Also, in a first for the Walkman series, it actually features a 3.5mm headphone jack, which people have been crying out for ages.
In other words, what we’ve got here is the most advanced and powerful Walkman phone ever made.
However… the W995 isn’t the star of the show, no matter high spec it is, because Sony Ericsson announced another phone. Many people have said that SE need to take back the top-end, take back the high ground of mobile phones, where they’ve lost market share to people like Nokia, HTC and Apple.
However, I don’t think anyone expected them to take it back in as much style as they just have done. Put it this way, when they said they had something special planned for this year, they weren’t effin’ kidding, because the Sony Ericsson Idou (which will get a proper name by the time it’s released) is just mind-blowingly, reality-alteringly awesome in every way; it’s so impressive that I damn near soiled myself when I saw it…
First up is the camera… all TWELVE MEGAPIXELS of it. Yup, the Idou is the first phone to break into double figures, becoming the UK’s first 12MP camera phone (well, first announced, anyway, someone else might beat them to release). But that’s not the only reason why it’s so stunning. Nor is it the 3.5 inch screen, or the keyboard-less, ultra-slim, iPhone-slaughtering design. All of those things count, but what’s really important is what’s inside…
Two words: Symbian Foundation…
Well, ok, it’s not fully Symbian Foundation, yet, what it is is the Symbian S60 Touch interface, with Sony Ericsson’s bespoke, damn gorgeous UI on top of it. Yep, in other words, the Idou uses the completely slick and bleedin’ fabulous operating system that’s going to evolve fully into an open-source, world-conquering product. We finally get our first glimpse of what Symbian Foundation is going to be like, and frankly, despite my extreme enthusiasm for it, and saying it would both change and rule the world, the fact is… I wasn’t enthusiastic enough! Essentially, what I’m saying is, think Nokia 5800 but SO very much nicer…
Check out this hands-on video of it, it genuinely, flat-out rocks:
Make no mistake, what we’re seeing here is the future of mobile phones. And that’s why the Sony Ericsson Idou is without doubt the star of MWC 09.
Put it this way, never mind the Palm Pre, I reckon I’ve just found my phone for next year…
UPDATE: This is the first phone that SE are calling an ‘Entertainment Unlimited’ phone. Or, to put it another way, they’re merging the Cyber-Shot and Walkman brands, to make one all conquering media phone brand that has the best cameras AND the best music players. Gonna rule the world, I’m telling you right now!
Next up: Samsung! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the Mobile World Congress 2009!