Interesting story, this, as you may remember me banging on about this particular phone for some considerable time, just before it got cancelled and sank into oblivion. It was the Sony Ericsson Paris, and it was going to be my next mobile phone. And then they cancelled it. And I was bitter.
Well, according to Engadget Mobile, it seems there might be an outside slim possibility of a chance that the Sony Ericsson Paris is about to be brought back from the dead.
There’s not much to go on, but images have started appearing of the Sony Ericsson Paris in the wild, showing its UIQ operating system in the flesh, and showing off the built-in GPS. The rumour was that this supposed super-powered mobile phone was going to be released only in Asia, but no further word ever turned up about that.
So, the real question is, now… is this a prototype phone someone’s dug up, or are we actually going to see the Sony Ericsson Paris in the flesh? Is there even a space in the market for this handset, with mobile phones like the Sony Ericsson X1 having taken its crown, and stolen any thunder it might have had, and the Sony Ericsson G900 sitting pretty in the Symbian smartphone class.
It would seem like the Sony Ericsson Paris is a mid-range handset in the modern pantheon of mobile phones, and this is where it gets interesting, because there are two pertinent rumours that apply here. First, it was heavily rumoured that the Paris was pulled to get its specs massively beefed up and redesigned, so that it could be released as a proper top-end mobile phone. Second, rumours persist that either this month or next month, Sony Ericsson have an announcement planned that they’re keeping very, very tight-lipped about.
Then, of course, let’s not forget that Sony Ericsson did more or less promise us we’d see the mobile phone hinted at during the JavaOne conference, and also, that UIQ have some rather incredibly nice interface concepts on their website, and that they promise they also having something new coming up. And, on top of that, today is the start of the Symbian Smartphone Show. If Sony Ericsson and UIQ are going to announce something, now would be the time!
So, my guess is… no, we’re not going to see the Sony Ericsson Paris released in the UK, at least not as a top-end mobile phone. We may, at an outside chance (although I wouldn’t bet on it), see it as a mid-range phone, but I reckon we are going to see another Sony Ericsson soon, and this new one, not the Paris, will be the world-beater.
Don’t want UIQ, or don’t want to wait? Grab yourself the mind-blowingly powerful Sony Ericsson X1 today!
