Sony Ericsson W995 and Idou

Mobile World Congress 09 - Sony Ericsson W995 and ‘Idou’

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…

Yep, this is the very first phone to use the brand new, 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 the SE teaser video for it, it 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…

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HTC Magic gets manhandled

HTC Magic gets manhandled, is really quite sexy, I argued, when the T-Mobile G1 was launched, that it wasn’t the perfect phone. You may well remember. The design was a bit… well, not that pretty, and despite the Android operating system, I wasn’t a massive fan of the phone. However, you may also remember that I said the G1 wasn’t a make-or-break device for Google Android, and that it was future phones that were actually the exciting ones to look out for.

Phones like the second HTC Android phone, the HTC Magic.

Well, thanks to Engadget Mobile, we now have some more pictures of it being manhandled, and my incredibly accurate prophecy is coming true, ’cause the HTC Magic is really quite lovely. The main reason for it looking so much better than the G1 has to be the fact it’s keyboard-less, being more akin to the HTC Touch HD in design. And that means it’s thinner. However, they’ve also changed the surface texture, giving it a glossy finish, instead of that ever-so-slightly odd matte finish on the G1.

Overall, the reason I like it so much is because… well, it feels like a modern phone design, whereas the G1 always felt a tiny little bit like an old design they’d taken out of the ‘not used’ bin, and applied to the first Google Android phone.

Oh, and that sliding screen on the G1, the way it used to kind of swing out, not slide in a straight line, always got on my nerves for some reason…

Of course, in terms of software between the two, they’re both functionally identical, except for one big difference, in that the HTC Magic runs a new development called ‘Cupcake’. Or, to us mere mortals, it has an onscreen keyboard, with the makers having realised that a phone without any way to enter text and numbers is a bit rubbish, since the G1 didn’t have a software keyboard, and neither did ‘pre-Cupcake Android’.

All in all, then, I reckon the HTC Magic (and you just know the one in the pic is begging to be called the Black Magic… now that’s a cool name…) is a much more enticing phone than the G1. I’m not quite as excited about it as I am about the Palm Pre, and I’m nowhere near as excited as I am about the Sony Ericsson Idou, but this is definitely one to keep an eye on!

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The top five reasons why the Nokia N97 will rock

The top five reasons why the Nokia N97 will rock :
You’ve probably noticed this in the past (and trust me, you’ll continue to notice it in the future), but here at Mobileshop, when we see an upcoming mobile phone that we really like the look of, we want to shout about it to the whole world. Especially me. Seriously, I have co-workers here, who’ve considered gaffer taping my mouth shut.

Well, if you’ve seen this blog recently, you’ll know there’s one phone in particular, due out later in the year, that I reckon looks raaaaather nice. So nice, in fact, that I seem to remember using the phrase ‘the canine’s conkers’ to describe it, since that was the only phrase that seemed to do it justice. It is, of course, the Nokia N97.

It seems I’m not the only one who’s excited about the Nokia N97, due to a post on The Nokia Blog, where the writer lays out very simply why it’ll be brilliant (well, and the 5 things that could make it not be good, but that’s by the by). And you know what? I agree with his main argument, which is very simple (despite the name of the post - ‘5 reason not to buy the Nokia N97′ - and the fact he points out reasons it could fail):

The Nokia N97 is one flagship phone. It’s five flagship mobile phones, all in one. So, if you want the top 5 reasons why the Nokia N97 will rock the kasbah (and it will):

1. Nseries-esque hardware (incredible camera, GPS, super-fast web).
2. It’s the new touchscreen flagship, picking up the baton from the Nokia 5800.
3. It’s taking over as the new Ovi Portal flagship.
4. It’s picking up and going with the N-Gage baton, making it a top-end handheld games console as well…

…and since I want to be different, for my 5th reason…

5. Just look at it. Honestly, if this thing were a car, then to quote a Mr J. Clarkson, it’ll snap knicker-elastic at 50 paces…

One thing I do have to do, though, is refute the list of reasons why you wouldn’t buy it (not just because I’m argumentative… well, ok, a bit because I’m argumentative). Sure, there all valid concerns, about things like whether the battery life on the Nokia N97 is up to the task, whether it will have an iPhone-esque App Store, and whether it’ll let you use one login for all parts of the Ovi and N-Gage portals, without continuously logging in… but I’m going to share my thoughts on it, which I can sum up in one sentence…

No-one will care, they’ll buy it on the name, and the looks, and the hardware/touchscreen.

None of those 5 reasons not to buy the phone will stop people actually buying it, I predict, least of all Nokia fans. And if I’m wrong, well, you can dip me in sulphur and call me Susan…

Oh, and my thanks go to The Nokia Blog for writing such a good blog post, and getting me all inspired in the first place!

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Compulab exeda combines

Compulab exeda combines Google Android & Windows Mobile, is massive :
When the T-Mobile G1 came out, everyone raved about Google Android and quite rightly noted that it’s a game-changer, with Android itself doing things differently to other mobile phones on the market. And on the other side of the coin, when the HTC Touch HD came out, everyone raved about it, and shouting about how powerful Windows Mobile is. Both operating systems do different their own things brilliantly, but when you look at some of the key areas of the two, it’s always been a case of never the twain shall meet.


Just imagine, though, if there was a mobile phone that could both, that could do the whole open source thing and do the whole power user thing. In fact, imagine a phone that’s got both Google Android and Windows Mobile on it, and you’ve got there a spot on description of what the new Compulab exeda is.

Yep, what we have here is a mobile phone that uses both of those two top-end operating systems, making the exeda the phone equivalent of a PC that’ll dual-boot from either Windows or Linux. As it happens, that’s not a bad description since you just have to look at it to see it’s angling to be a handheld-PC-smartphone-type beastie, designed to give you the best of both worlds, depending on the situation.

As ideas go, it’s really rather clever, and although it’s been done in the ol’ PC arena for a while, I’ve never seen any mobile phones that could dual-boot before. Oh, and picking from what are possibly the two most powerful OSes out there has to be a smart move, as well. Add in a touchpad, like you get on laptops, and a proper Ethernet port (and no, I’ve never seen one of those on a mobile phone before) to link the phone into a LAN network, and it’s pretty apparent that this is designed to be the enterprise solution for the world.

As always, though, whenever you see one of these out-of-leftfield mobile phones, there are a few issues. By this point, I’d be surprised if any new, not-big-name phones didn’t have a few issues, but there you go…

First, is the sheer size of the thing. Sure, at 126mm long, it’s not that much bigger than its smartphone rivals like the Touch HD, but it’s also 96mm wide. And that’s just huge. Don’t believe me, here’s a rough comparison shot between the sizes of the HTC Touch HD, the T-Mobile G1 (neither of them what you’d call small phones) and the Compulab exeda:



Big boy, isn’t he. Imagine carrying that round all day with you, you’ll put your back out. Oh, and let’s not forget something else about it.

It’s hideous, too. Like properly ‘poke your own eyes out’ bad.

The other big issue, and you just know this is going to affect its sales, is the name. Compulab. No-one’s ever heard of them. Can anyone actually see it taking no the Nokias and Sony Ericssons of the world.

Although, having said that, didn’t we used to say that about HTC…? More importantly, though, this shows that it is possible to stick both operating systems on one device, and that, my friends, is something you may very well see pop up on mobile phones from the big names in future

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Budget Phones The Future

Samsung ignoring mid-range handsets, high-end and budget phones the future :

Samsung are going to be changing their product line-up in 2009, according to TelecomTV; what’s surprising is that they’ve decided to dump the middle ground completely, and focus on making mobile phones that fall into one of two categories:

1. Super-top-end smartphones

2. Dirt-cheap phones

So, in the future, we’ll see many more mobile phones like the Samsung Pixon, the INNOV8, and the budget C300, and less phones like the mid-range U800. It’s going to be a shame to see those mid-rangers go, but it does make a certain amount of sense, when you think about it. Tight and/or skint people go for the budget mobile phones, while gadget nuts and, increasingly, general phone users, will go for something top-end like the Pixon.

In that model, there’s no room for the mid-range. They’re too expensive for the budgety types and not flashy enough for the gadgety types. So, no point making them, if no-one’s gonna buy ‘em, eh! Maybe a lesson there for Sony Ericsson, who’ve been concentrating on the mid-range for ages, and let the top-end slide (apart from the X1, of course).

Probably not a good business decision, that.

I always reckon a mobile phone manufacturer should make phones for everyone, because if they make the perfect phone for everyone, everyone will buy them. However, as it turns out, it seems that ‘everyone’ doesn’t want mid-range phones, which is why they don’t sell as well as the big top-enders, or the cheap as chips ones.

Still, it’ll be a shame to see the not-quite-smartphones disappear forever.

Will you miss the mid-range mobile phones Samsung makes? Or are you a gadget nut/budgety-type? Leave us a comment and share your views!

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Future Motorola Phones

Future Motorola phones announced ahead of CES 2009

Well, it seems that Motorola have started their big comeback tour, according to their press release from yesterday. Coming up are two brand new mobile phones from the American manufacturer, which they predict will set the world alight. So, let’s have a look and see how accurate that claim is, shall we?

First up is the big daddy of the two mobile phones, the new Motorola MotoSurf A3100 which isn’t, despite what I thought when I first saw the name, the MotoSmurf. As you can see, it’s going to be another Windows Mobile phone, but this time, fully keyboard-less, lending it more of an iPhone-esque air. Or so Motorola would have us believe, anyway. Well, actually, they’re billing the MotoSurf as a true social smartphone, putting things like RSS feeds, Facebook access, and quick links to messaging and all your communication tools on the home screen, so that staying in touch is just one finger-touch away. So, kudos to Motorola for shouting about a completely new innovation in the world of mobile phones, that HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have already been doing for a while…


I cite the example of the HTC Touch HD, there…

However, that’s not to say that the Motorola MotoSurf is without merit, because it is a nice looking mobile phone, if a bit cutesy for my tastes. The trackball’s a neat addition, and with the touchscreen, it should make for a phone that’s easy to navigate round. What I don’t like, so much, is the fact that the screen’s only 2.8 inches across, and is a much lower resolution than something like the HTC Touch HD, and so, won’t look half as good. The really annoying thing, though, is that Motorola should have released a mobile phone like this 6 months ago, and should, right now, be releasing something much more spectacular.

You know, since if it gets released in the UK and America, its release date will be around a similar time to (and hence, it’s going to have to take it on) the Nokia N97, which, as a smartphone, completely mullers it…

Meanwhile, in the world of non-smart mobile phones, Motorola have something else to shout about, and this one’s a bit more impressive, since it’s said to be the word’s first ever carbon-neutral mobile phone: the Motorola Renew W223. Made from plastic recycled from old water bottles (and one site is cynically suggesting they should’ve stayed as plastic bottles…), and delivered in a box made from purely recycled paper (toilet roll tubes, anyone?), the manufacturing process is also efficient, using much lower energy, and therefore saving the baby pandas. It even hammers the point home by being painted green!

Ok, I may sneer, but the Renew could steal a much bigger market share than its big brother, the MotoSmurf… sorry, MotoSurf. Y’see, the MotoSurf’s going to have some stiff competition from mobile phones like the aforementioned Nokia 5800, but the Renew… well, if it’s going for the cheap and easy market, it only needs to be cheap and easy to compete, and you know some people will buy it just for the whole eco-save-the-baby-pandas thing. Which isn’t a bad thing, since it’s got just about zero competition for that little prize, and the only other one I can think of, off the top of my head, is the Baby Panda Phone (oh ok, the Bamboo phone) that I’m convinced will take root if you leave it in a cupboard overnight.

Basically, as long as the Renew doesn't fall to bits the first time you look at it, Motorola could be onto a winner! There’s no word, yet, on whether either of these mobile phones will even reach British shores, but if and when they do, we shall have them on site for all to see!

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