Mobile Phone Blog:

Well, we knew it was going to happen, but now, it finally has happened; the joint venture between Sony and Ericsson (that would be Sony Ericsson, keep up at the back) is no more. Only it’s not a case of it shuffling off this mortal coil, ‘cos they’re not dead. Well, okay, the Sony Ericsson brand is effectively dead, according to Ericsson’s press release, but the company’s not.

Yup, the deal has finally gone through, and the manufacturer formerly known as Sony Ericsson is now wholly owned by Sony. Naturally, that means that the old name is no longer accurate, what with Ericsson being bought out, and gently showed the door, so the manufacturer will, in future, go by the name of Sony Mobile Communications…  (more…)

Gawd bless Acer. They recently won an award, y’see, for a the design of a phone that’s not been unveiled yet; it’s apparently called the Acer CloudMobile, and it’s won the iF design award for 2012. Pretty big achievement, right? Well, I like to think that everyone Acer went out on the lash after that win, thus making them completely forget that they’ve not actually unveiled the phone to the public, yet.

Yes, according to Pocket-Lint, they’ve only gone and leaked a pic of the phone, in the press release where they announced the win. Still, that’s kinda good for us punters, because now, we get to see the phone early. And I’m glad that we do, because gawd blimey, just look at it… (more…)

Well, there’s a disappointing bit of news, even if it’s something that is, overall, a good thing. Yes, according to IntoMobile, the biggest mobile event of the year, the Mobile World Congress, is happening this month, but it turns out that the Samsung Galaxy S III won’t be there. Nope, it turns out that Samsung will actually be unveiling it at a separate event, some time in the first half of the year.

While that’s undoubtedly disappointing news for people who’re looking forward to seeing the successor to the Samsung Galaxy S II, it’s actually probably the smartest move Samsung could make, and there’s a very simple reason why.

That reason is the iPhone 5… (more…)

Yeah, I sort of have to ask that question, ‘cos it’s weighing on my mind, right now. I mean don’t get me wrong, I like the sound of that new feature, which got mentioned on Sony Ericsson’s Facebook page, it’s just that I’m ever so slightly baffled as to why, precisely, it would be needed. Y’see, on that source link, it says that the Sony Xperia S (they still seem to not be using the Sony Ericsson name, so neither am I) comes complete with an anti-stain shell.

Okay, it also has the ability to fast-charge the battery, but that’s not the bit that’s grabbed hold of my attention. No, that bit is the anti-stain shell, ‘cos I honestly can’t work out what stains would end up on your phone… (more…)

Now then, here’s a thing. A potential future Sony phone has been outed, by the trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution, of all things. Here have a look for yourself (you can see it around the 10 second mark, during a sequence that I can’t make any sense of… more on that in a bit).

Hmm, yep, that looks exactly like a Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S, minus the “Ericsson” bit. I mean, it was always going to be one of their phones in the trailer, what with the film being made by Sony Pictures, I’m just surprised they’d leak a phone that’s not out yet. Still, it’s got people talking, so as far as marketing goes, it worked, I suppose. I do have a big problem with the trailer, though… (more…)

A leaked image of what is said to be of the rumoured Sony Ericsson ST25i Kumquat surfaced over the weekend.

The image resembles the recently announced Sony Xperia S which showcased at this year’s CES. However the Sony Ericsson ST25i Kumquat won’t have as high end specs as the Xperia S but instead will feature a 1GHz dual-core CPU, a five megapixel camera and a 3.5 inch FWVGA resolution display.

The handset is likely to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress next month and probably under the Sony branding rather than Sony Ericsson.

Right then, second rumour of the day, and this one is about Sony Ericsson. Or Sony, as they’re soon to be known, I suppose. But since the phone in question says Sony Ericsson on it, I’m going to go with that. Anyway, enough with the preamble, what’s the crack?

Well, apparently, pics of the very first Sony Ericsson Windows phone have surfaced online. Or rather, I should say, purported pics of the very first Sony Ericsson Windows phone have surfaced online. They come courtesy of NokiaWP.net (lol, Sony Ericsson phone leaked on a site dedicated to Nokia), but as with any rumour, we need to think about these pics sceptically. And so, once again, we must ask: genuine or cobblers? (more…)

Now then, if you’ve been reading the blog today, you’ll notice that Krissy did a post about the new Sony Xperia S, and usually, I wouldn’t bother doing a second post on one phone. However, the Sony Xperia S is a bit of a special case, for a very good reason (well, it’s a good reason to me, anyway). Well, two good reasons. Oh alright, three reasons…

I’ll go into more detail on these in a minute, but for now… reason one: it’s nicely powerful. Reason two: it’s utterly smurfing gorgeous. And reason three: look, no Ericsson in the name. It’s going to be released as a Sony phone, not a Sony Ericsson phone. So, basically, I’m excited. You could probably tell, right? Anyway, I’d best break down those reason and say why I’m so excited… (more…)

Sony Ericsson has announced a new Xperia smartphone at CES 2012.

Released alongside three other handsets, which won’t see the UK market, the Xperia S is the first to come out of the latest NXT series of devices, this being the next generation of smartphones from Sony Ericsson.

The Xperia S will feature a 4.3 inch display of HD resolution (that’s 720×1280 pixels), for a stunning viewing experience, a MSM8260 chipset with a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. It offers 16GB or 32GB of internal storage and there is no expansion option.

A huge 12 megapixel camera, with Sony’s Exmor R backlit sensor, will capture beautiful photographs, while a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera is perfect for video-calling.

The device will initially come with Android Gingerbread however it will be getting the Ice Cream Sandwich update in the second half of the year.

Available in silver or black, the handset is due to be available at the end of the first quarter.

Woohoo! Yes! Score! After seeing how Ice Cream Sandwich would look on other manufacturers’ phones (namely Samsung and Sony Ericsson phones), and after I got excited about the fact they’d removed the Google search bar from the top, I was very open about my hopes that HTC would do the same thing.

And today, we find out whether they have, thanks to the XDA Developers forums. Y’see, a new ROM has appeared on there, and it’s based on the official test build of ICS, that HTC have been working on. And basically (and this should surprise no-one), Sense on Ice Cream Sandwich looks like, well, Sense. Which is cool and all, but it’s not the best bit… (more…)