Hasta La Gadget!

Remember that geometrically-inspired Bao handset we peeked back in July? Turns out Sony Ericsson has another name for it: Jalou. Announced today in both boring and limited edition Dolce&Gabbana versions, the compact-esque clamshell is definitely designed to put “style” first and substance last. Reportedly shorter than “your favorite lipstick,” the cellie is actually marketed more as an accessory and less of a phone, boasting a diamond shape design, two-inch display, 3.2 megapixel geotagging camera, video recording, built-in mirror (seriously), an FM tuner, Bluetooth 2.0, multimedia player, step counter, antediluvian web browser and quad-band GSM / tri-band HSPA connectivity. The “normal” version is expected in Q4 in Deep Amethyst, Aquamarine Blue and Onyx Black, while the 24k gold-plated D&G edition will ship in Sparkling Rose along with a matching Bluetooth headset and fanciful packaging. No prices are mentioned for either, naturally.

Read – Standard Jalou
Read – Dolce&Gabbana Jalou
Read – Hands-on with standard Jalou

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson eyes fashionistas with Dolce&Gabbana Jalou clamshell originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Details are exceedingly light (almost dangerously light, in fact), but the Modula color therapy lamp is simply too soothing to overlook. The three-ringed lamp is built with a slew of multi-color lights (LEDs, we’re guessing), all wired up to be controlled via Bluetooth. The video demonstration shows a Sony Ericsson W880i doing the dirty work, but there’s no indication of how exactly end users are supposed to accomplish the color changing once it arrives. Those in the camp of “buy now, ask questions later” can get their pre-order in through the read link, but considering that only an EU-friendly 230V version is currently available, those on this side of the pond will need to invest in some serious converters to make it all compatible. The pain? Just €199 ($281) for hours upon hours of endless entertainment.

Filed under: Cellphones, Household

Bluetooth-enabled Modula therapy lamp changes color via cellphone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve yet to see a Satio or XPERIA X2 or X3 at retail, but it looks like Sony Ericsson have yet another full touch phone in the works as it tries to revitalize and reinvent itself with a renewed focus on Android, Symbian Foundation, and Windows Mobile for its smartphone lineup. What we’re looking at here is claimed to be a spy shot of the Jalou — that’s a retail name, not a codename, by the way — which is said to run S60 5th Edition (just like the Satio) with WiFi, GPS, and some form of HSDPA on board. The Sony Ericsson fan base is pretty notorious for crafting beautiful, very believable concept devices using nothing more than Illustrator and an overactive imagination, so we’d urge caution here — but other than a display that seems to have been blacked out, it all seems believable enough. The bigger question might be whether the world’s ready for two Symbian-based touchscreen smartphones from Sony Ericsson in the next few months.

Update: Yep, sure enough, that “notorious fan base” we just mentioned came out swinging with this one, a heavily-modified concept based on the W995. In other words, if the Jalou exists, this isn’t it. Thanks, synn!

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson ‘Jalou’ next in company’s Symbian lineup? (Update: maybe, but this isn’t it) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know what frustrates us? Someone with their hands on a totally sweet piece of gadgetry who clearly doesn’t know what to do with it. Such is the case in the video below, which seems to depict a gentlemen fondling Sony Ericsson’s next XPERIA installment, the X2. While there’s not much to see of the device itself, the phone is apparently running a fairly recent version of Windows Mobile 6.5, and the company has clearly taken its skinning team to parts of the OS, as the user in the video manages to stumble past some pretty magnificent looking UI trickery. It doesn’t seem as dressed up as the X1’s Panel interface does, though this likely isn’t the final product. Truck on after the break to see the X2 in action, and try to quell your anger as the phone is repeatedly put to sleep during the demo.

[Thanks, David]

Continue reading Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X2 demoed on video

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X2 demoed on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t take the word of just any retailer at face value, but when a big player like eXpansys decides that it’s time to list a new phone in its inventory, that usually means something’s afoot. The company’s British outpost has now listed full details for a phone it’s identifying simply as “Xperia” in its headline, but if you read further in, you’ll see that the product code is “SEMXP3_BLK_UK”, suggesting X3 is the likely moniker for Rachael. For your hard-earned (but yet-to-be-determined) money, you’ll get pretty much everything you could possibly want, spec-wise: 10Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA, 8 megapixel cam with image stabilization and LED flash, 3.5mm headphone jack, a 4-inch 800 x 400 display (a first at this resolution for a production Android device), AGPS, and microSDHC expansion. Sadly, it’s listed as 900 / 2100 only for the 3G radio, so we’ll need to rely on the telecommunication gods (and Sony Ericsson, we suppose) to deliver a North American version as well.

[Via Slashgear and the::unwired]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson’s Android-powered XPERIA X3 sorta confirmed by way of retailer originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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