The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged sony ericsson
Sony Ericsson: Xperia X10 versus Satio
Nov 3rd
Sony Ericsson unveiled its first Android-based handset today – the Xperia X10. Due out in the first quarter of 2010, analysts will be closely watching the sales performance and market response. But with Sony Ericsson’s other brand new handset – the Satio – in stores before Christmas, is it worth the wait til after the festive period for the Xperia?
Let’s compare the two side by side. Operating system aside, here’s a quick run-down of the key features.
Physical:
Satio: dimensions 112 x 55 x 13mm, 126g weight
Xperia: dimensions 110.5 x 52.6 x 17mm, 145g weight
Winner: The Satio – whilst it’s slightly bigger than the Xperia it weighs less and is nearly half a centimetre slimmer.
Battery life:
Satio: Standard battery (Li-Po 1000 mAh) gives up to 360 hours (2G) up to 340 hours (3G) standby, and up to 11 hours (2G) and up to 4 hours 50 minutes (3G) talktime.
Xperia: Standard battery (Li-Po 1500 mAh) gives up to 833 hours (2G) up to 640 hours (3G) standby, and up to 10 hours (2G) and up to 6 hours (3G) talktime.
Winner: The Xperia – although it has a battery 1.5x the capacity of the Satio, it gives considerably longer standby time and 3G talktime – although 2G talktime is less.
Camera:
Satio: 12 megapixels, 4000×3000 pixel resolution. Autofocus, xenon flash, LED lighting for video
Xperia:3.15 megapixels, 2048×1536 pixel resolution. Autofocus, LED flash.
Winner: The Satio – not just based on the resolution, but a xenon flash is a lot better for taking pictures in low-light situations than a LED flash.
Data:
Both handsets have GPRS, EDGE, 7.2Mbit/s HSDPA and 3.6Mbit/s HSUPA for 2G/3G data, plus 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. However the Satio can also do HSCSD for slightly faster data on traditional 2G non-EDGE networks and is DLNA certified allowing easier sharing of media with other home entertainment devices on your local network.
Winner: Not much in it, but if you want to share media easily on the phone’s Wi-Fi connection and might occasionally be in an area with only a 2G non-EDGE network available, the Satio edges (no pun intended!) ahead.
Display:
Satio: TFT touchscreen, 16M colours, 3.5 inch size, 360×640 pixel resolution.
Xperia: TFT resistive touchscreen, 65K colours, 3.0 inch size, 800×480 pixel resolution.
Winner: Whilst the Xperia has a higher resolution screen, the Satio wins with a larger screen and higher colour depth.
Available apps:
Satio: Running the Symbian Series 60, 5th edition operating system the Satio also gives you access to the Sony Ericsson PlayNow Arena app store.
Xperia: As with all Android phones, the Android Marketplace is the first stop for applications for your Xperia.
Winner: It’s close, although initial thoughts are the Xperia has the lead with access to Android applications.
The overall result:
If you’re a non-tech user, and want a phone that’s not only reliable for everyday phone calls, texts and the like, but also comes with a great camera and half-decent features like GPS, go for the Satio. However if you’re seriously into smartphones, want to be with the ‘cool crowd’ by carrying an Android handset, but don’t mind having a frankly terrible camera, the Xperia is probably right at the top of your shopping list. You’ll just need to be patient, as it’s not due out until Q1 2010, whilst the Satio is in stores now.
Sony Ericsson unveil new ‘green’ handsets and headset
Jun 4th
Sony Ericsson have unveiled three new products as part of their ‘GreenHeart’ environmental sustainability programme – the C901 and Naite handsets, plus the MH300 headset.
Sony Ericsson C901 GreenHeart
First up, the C901 GreenHeart handset (pictured right) – and a quick run-down on its environmental credentials. The traditional paper manual is gone – being replaced by an on-handset help system. The casing is made from a minimum of 50% recycled plastic, and the backlight is controlled by a ‘optimised display light sensor’ that the company claims uses less energy. The paint job on the handset is also coloured with waterborne paint that ‘lowers exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)” – so it says here.
The C901 comes bundled with the MH300 GreenHeart headset, which Sony Ericsson claims is ‘one of the greenest headsets available’. mainly due to it containing 100% recycled plastics in 4 out of 5 hard plastic parts of the unit. There’s also a pre-installed application called ‘WalkMate’, which apparently lets you compare the environmental damage of a car journey versus walking instead. Good for a wander down to the corner shop, not so great for that eight hour epic motorway jaunt.
So down to the nitty-gritty – and a quick glance through the specs reveals the C901 is a 3G/GSM handset with a 2.2 inch, 262,144 colour 240 x 320 pixel TFT screen, a 5.0 megapixel camera, the usual messaging features (SMS, MMS) plus built-in Exchange ActiveSync. Whilst it hasn’t got built-in GPS, it does support geo-tagging of photos by cell ID, and does come with Google Maps installed.
Talk time is a rather respectable ‘up to’ 9.5 hours, with standby time of ‘up to’ 430 hours. Bear in mind these figures are for GSM/GPRS usage, so expect these to plummet when you fire up the 3G radio or flip between the two constantly.
The C901 is 105 x 45 x 13 mm, comes in a choice of any colour you want – as long as it’s ocean white, and weighs in at 107 grams.
Release date is Q2 2009, which is kind of now.
Sony Ericsson Naite
Next up is the Naite (pictured left) – which as well as inheriting most of the C901′s ‘green’ credentials will also come with a new lower power consumption charger – aptly titled the EP300 GreenHeart charger. At 108 x 47 x 12.6mm the Naite is slightly bigger overall than the C901, but comes in ‘vapour silver’ or ‘ginger red’ to make up for the little extra bulk – and shaves off a few grams from the C901′s figure, weighing in at 84 grams.
The rest of the specs are quite similar to the C901 – the main difference being the 5.0 megapixel camera is swapped for a 2.0 megapixel version. The screen size, colour count and resolution is identical. One other big difference is memory card support – the Naite can take a microSD card, whereas the C901 is stuck with Sony Ericsson’s propriertory Memory Stick Micro (M2) format card.
Expected release date for the Naite is Q3 2009.
Mobile phone sales plummet in 2009, but Apple bucks the trend
Apr 30th
With the recent gloomy financial results from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, the news that phone sales have plummeted by 13% in the first quarter of 2009 was to be expected. However, Apple has continued to buck the trend with strong sales of it’s iPhone handset.
Research firm Strategy Analytics have reported all five of the biggest mobile phone manufacturers had seen drops in sales, with the number of phones shipped worldwide in the first three months of this year dropping to 245 million units.
The only positive gain in the sector was unsurprisingly the iPhone, with Apple gaining 123% rise in sales. That compared to Nokia sales dropping 19%, Sony Ericsson 40%, and Motorola a whopping 46%.
Motorola’s sales fell 46% to 14.7 million units, and Sony Ericsson shipped 14.5 million handsets, down 40% from the first quarter of 2008. Samsung and LG faired a little better, with sales falling 1% and 7% respectively.
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