Sony Ericsson's quartet

Sony Ericsson has delivered a quartet of new mobiles aimed at very different market segments. With under 25s in mind the company has unveiled the S600, a kind of distant cousin of the S700, which majors on multimedia features. It has a superb screen, which can go widescreen for image viewing and more importantly gaming. It also features a 1.3 mega pixel camera and an MP3 player.

Also unveiled this week was Sony Ericsson's latest 3G handset. The K608 sports an upright design that the company claims is roughly the same size and weight as GPRS phones. It has a 1.3 mega pixel camera, a large 1.8inch 262k colour screen and push email facilities.

Sony Ericsson also debuted the Z520, a compact clamshell aimed at young women (you can read more about this on Shiny) and the entry-level J210.

Mobiles with SIM cards at special prices

CONSOLIDATED Gulf Company, Nokia's biggest retailer in Qatar, has joined hands with Qtel on a promotion of "SIM card + mobile phone" at special prices. Under the promotion, which is being launched today, four bundle offers are available, starting from QR249 for a Hala (pre-paid mobile) connection with a Nokia 1110i mobile phone.

CGC head (Business Development) Anil Mahajan said the normal price for this would have been QR400.

Similar offers, he said, are available with three other Nokia models: Nokia 1600 and Hala SIM card (QR309), Nokia 2310 and Hala connection (QR369) and Nokia 6030 and Hala connection (QR329).

Mahajan said though no timeframe had been set for the duration of the promotion, it could go up to the Asian Games.

"But it depends on the availability of the handsets and the response in the initial days," he said.

Dialed In: Nokia Brings the Keyboard Back

Every now and then, Nokia launches a phone that flies under the radar and develops a small but loyal following. Such was the case with the company's 6800 series of phones, which included both the 6820 and 6822. Launched a few years back, these compact phones were ideal for text messaging and e-mail, thanks in large part to their flip-out keyboards--a novel concept at the time. Sure, the phones looked dorky with the keyboard flipped out (as this picture indicates), but the design was very handy.

Unfortunately, 6800 series phones are no longer available from Nokia or from carriers. But now Nokia has upgraded the series with the similarly styled, business-centric Nokia E70.