Vivaz Pro now shipping!

All those who've been waiting for the qwerty version of the HD video star - the Vivaz, need to wait no more. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro is now shipping, and in large volumes too, according to the nice folks at the Product Blog.

The Vivaz Pro is almost identical specs and design-wise to the original Sony Ericsson Vivaz except that it sports a QWERTY keyboard and a 5 megapixel camera instead of the 8mp snapper on the Vivaz. The 720p HD video recording is still there though.

SE files for Nexus UI Trademark

Sony Ericsson has filed an application with the Trademarks and Design Registration Office of the European Union to trademark the word 'Nexus'.

The move is interesting, considering that Sony Ericsson had claimed at its MWC press conference in February that it had been approached by Google to create a device in the Nexus series Android smartphone but Sony Ericsson passed the offer considering that they were not an OEM company and would always launch a phone under its own brand.

The filing was made in both the US and Europe, and has so far been initially blocked in the States. The reason being an existing trademark for “Visual Nexus,” which is similar in more than just the name. It, too, is a trademark for graphical user interface software.


The 'Nexus UI' is the UI seen on Sony Ericsson's lates Xperia devices, which include mainly Timescape and Mediascape.

XPERIA X10 now available in India

Sony Ericson launched a new portfolio of high-end mobile handsets in India, and aims to garner a considerable market share in the smartphone segment. The key device among the five handsets launched is the XPERIA X10.  Other handsets include the Vivaz, Vivaz Pro, Xperia X10 mini, Xperia X10 mini Pro.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is powered by the Android 1.6 OS and it runs on 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. It comes with 8 megapixel camera, 4 inch capacitive touchscreen display, Bluetooth, 1GB internal memory, 16GB expandable memory, Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, A-GPS, 3.5 mm audio jack, 1500 mAh battery and so on. This handset comes with a price tag of Rs. 35,795.

The Vivaz is already available for a price of Rs 23400.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini is powered by the Android 1.6 OS and it runs on a 600MHz Qualcomm processor. It comes with a 5 megapixel camera, 2.55 inch capacitive touchscreen display, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, A-GPS, 128 MB internal memory, 16GB expandable memory, 3.5 mm audio jack, Stereo FM radio with RDS and so on. This handset will be available in India within 3 months. It comes with a price tag of Rs.25,695.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro is powered by the Android 1.6 OS and it runs on a 600MHz Qualcomm processor. It comes with a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 5 megapixel camera, 2.55 inch capacitive touchscreen display, 3G connectivity, A-GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 128 MB internal memory, 16GB expandable memory, 3.5 mm audio jack, Stereo FM radio with RDS and much more. This handset will be available in India within 6 months. It comes with a price tag of Rs.25,695.

Besides, the handset maker has roped in actor Kareena Kapoor as the brand ambassador for the company.

XPERIA X10 now available in India.

“The new portfolio will take communication entertainment to the next level. Beside the five devices that we have launched today, we will launch devices in the low-end sub-Rs 5,000 handsets as well,” Sony Ericsson Corporate Vice- President and Head of Asia Pacific region Hirokazu Ishizuka said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Hirokazu Ishizuka, Corporate Vice President & Head of Asia Pacific region said, “Being one of the most widely-followed youth-icons, Kareena matches the level of energy, vibrancy, passion and fun associated with Sony Ericsson, and thereby elevates the aspiration value of the brand. We are also extremely excited about re-energizing the digital space with Kareena, as we debut her social networking that will allow her to engage with the rapidly growing digitally-evolved fan-base over various social networking platforms.”

Kareena Kapoor said, “I am very happy to be associated with Sony Ericsson. I believe that Sony Ericsson truly represents the fusion of communication and entertainment in mobile device. I love my new feature rich Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 that allows me to easily keep in touch with my family and friends, while keeping myself entertained on the go.”



With the launch, Sony Ericsson plans to corner a considerable market share in the high-end mobile market segment which is currently dominated by Nokia, Blackberry and Apple, he added.

Besides, on the content side, Sony Ericsson has partnered with regional and local content and application providers such as MTV India, UTV, Shemaroo, Electronics Art, Indiagames and Disney among others to deliver entertainment content.

With the new brand ambassador, Sony Ericsson will roll out its marketing campaign, which will be focussed on digital and social networks.

“The proliferation of social and digital media is changing the consumer experience with mobile phones. Social media will play an important role in how we engage with our consumers here in India.”

“We recognise the critical need to maintain consumer touch points and will leverage all digital and social media platforms to engage with consumers,” he added.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz goes Pro!

I always knew that Sony Ericsson was going to surprise us all, and my what a surprise everyone got! Refreshing and unique was what I felt after I was through watching their MWC webcast. I'll keep my thoughts for a bit later ( Watch out for that writeup!) and give you all a lowdown on what Sony Ericsson is going to be outing in Q2.

First up is the Sony Ericsson Vivaz's QWERTY brother, the Vivaz Pro (previously known as the Kanna).

Basically, both devices are pretty similar but the Vivaz Pro is a slider and has an extremely inviting QWERTY-keyboard. The phone sizes 109 x 52 x 15 mm and weights 117 grams. it's pretty impressive SE managed to fit in a qwerty keyboard with just an additional 2mm thickness as compared to Vivaz.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro packs the defining feature of the Vivaz - the HD (720p) video recording, though the camera has been downgraded as is now a 5-megapixel module as compared to 8mp on the Vivaz..Other features remain the same with the camera offering auto focus for still images and continuous focus for videos, face and smile detection, image stabilization, geo-tagging and touch capture. 

The screen is a 3.2” scratch-resistant touchscreen and sports nHD resolution ( 640x360). With the Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro you still get the generous 8GB microSD card in the package, the speedy 720MHz CPU, the Sony Ericsson's fine UI on top of Symbian S60 5th edition. That's a pretty sweet deal! 

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro packs quad-band GSM/EDGE and tri-band HSDPA/HSUPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS with Wisepilot navigation software preinstalled, Quickoffice, Twitter and Facebook integration.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro will be available in two colors - Black and White - and is expected to hit the market in the second quarter of this year (Q2). The Vivaz is coming in March, so the Vivaz Pro will be next in line.
Official Press Release

Sony Ericsson MWC 2010 Lineup

As you all know, Sony Ericsson will be showing off quite a few devices at Mobile World Congress,2010 at Barcelona starting February 15th.

I thought I'll give you a glimpse of what all one can expect from Sony Ericsson at MWC 2010. So here's Sony Ericsson's fresh batch of handsets for 2010.

As of what I know currently, besides the XPERIA X10, Sony Ericsson will show the Vivaz (Kurara), Aspen (Faith), Kanna ,and Recall( Robyn).

So let's get into the details shall we? 

XPERIA X10

The XPERIA X10 is Sony Ericsson's flagship device for 2010. It's slated to launch with Android 1.6 which'll later be updated to Android 2.1.It sports a gorgeous 4.0 inch capacitive touch screen with a class-leading resolution of 480 x 854 pixels. It’s scratch-resistant and can display up to 262.144 colours.The device has a heavily customized UI with brilliant apps such as Timescape and Mediascape. 

Timescape is a user interface that brings all your communications together. It is meant for people using web 2.0 services, such as Facebook. MediaScape is the new media browser and player, featuring photo, music and video functionality. It looks really good and I am sure Sony Ericsson will eventually go on to implement it across all platforms.

The camera is an 8 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash. It supports advanced face recognition with built-in tagging functionality of your friends. Smile shutter and geotagging is of course also available and so is high definition video recording.It’s also got a 3.5 mm audio jack, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, aGPS, Micro USB connector, WiFi, triband HSPA and quadband GSM. It measures 119 x 63 x 13 millimetres and weighs 135 grams. The hardware chipset is the Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 running at a clock frequency of 1 GHz. It will run on the (BST-41) Li-Po 1500 mAh battery.

Vivaz

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz runs on the Symbian S60 platform and packs a 8 megapixel autofocus camera capable of recording 720p video. The 3.2" display sports a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels and is capable of showing up to 16M colors. The CPU inside clocks at 720 MHz ( the Satio has a 600 MHz processor).Other interesting notables are a 3.5mm audio jack, the FM radio and a built-in microSD card slot that allows expanding the 75MB of internal memory. There will be an 8GB microSD card included in the retail package.

Aspen

Sony Ericsson Aspen is a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 handset, that was previously known by its codename Faith.The device packs a 2.4" touchscreen of 320x240 (QVGA) resolution, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, a 3.5mm audio jack and a 3.2 megapixel fixed-focus camera.There is a built-in GPS receiver and a microSD card slot and there is a 4GB microSD memory card included in the retail package. 

Kanna

Kanna is Kurara's qwerty sister, also known as the U8.It's specifications  are - 3.2 inch TFT display at 640 x 360 pixels, a 8 megapixel camera with 720p HD-recording, WiFi, 3.5 mm jack port, Symbian S60 5th edition and a 720mhz processor.

Recall ( Robyn)

The Sony Ericsson Recall (previously known as 'Robyn') looks exactly like the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, but its twice as small. This device also packs a touchscreen and is powered by the Android OS. It should be available in atleast 4 colors, as seen from the pic.Other specs include a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, 3.5 mm audio jack, 3G and Wi-Fi.


Rest assured that MWC 2010 will be chock full of news and updates! Stay tuned and watch this space for more!

Kurara set for April UK release

Sony Ericsson's Kurara - the Satio's little sister - will be debuting in the UK in April.

Sources have stated that the phone will have a strong focus on HD video rather than photography, giving it a different angle to the Satio.

Another interesting bit of news is that not only will Sony Ericsson be announcing the Kurara at MWC in Barcelona on Feb 14th but it will be joined by the QWERTY-keyboard version - the Kanna.

It will also feature 720p video recording, an 8.1MP camera and have a smaller 3.2-inch display, according to GSM Arena.

Another question is whether these Symbian phones will be getting the UX overlay, first seen on the Xperia X10.It would make sense as Sony Ericsson is looking to push the platform out to more handsets beyond the X10.

Say hello to the Sony Ericsson Kanna

The first leak of 2010. It's Kurara's qwerty sister, Kanna or the U8. It's more or less similar to the Kurara, the only difference being the slide out qwerty keyboard.

Here are the specifications - 3.2 inch TFT display at 640 x 360 pixels, a 8 megapixel camera with 720p HD-recording, WiFi, 3.5 mm jack port, Symbian S60 5th edition and a 720mhz processor.

It should be officially announced on 14 February at the MWC 2010.