Slew of Phones from Sony Ericsson

Yesterday, Sony Ericsson announced a slew of mobile phones, including four 'candy bar' phones (K200, K220, J110, J120); two Cyber-shot phones (K810/K818, K550/K550im); and two music/Walkman phones (W880/W888, W610).

The K200 is a 'candy bar' phone featuring VGA camera and photo album that are accessible with just one click on the dedicated button. With slideshow view, and the ability to store up to 40 images, the phone makes it easy for users to view and share pictures with friends. Navigation is made easy with a menu set to a series of simple, single icons.

Sony Ericsson Unveils 8 Phones

Sony Ericsson unveiled eight phones Tuesday aimed at helping the world's fourth-biggest mobile phone maker boost its market share in emerging and developed markets.

The company, a joint venture between Stockholm-based LM Ericsson and Japan's Sony Corp., is already well known for its high-end line of phones, including the music-playing Walkman, as well as its camera phones.

While four of the new models the company unveiled in London had fewer features, it said they still packed enough features to lure customers.

Sony Ericsson also unveiled its W880 and W888 third-generation phones, products designed to take on Finnish rival Nokia Corp. and U.S.-based Motorola Inc. in the high-end market.

The phones, which are just over a third of an inch thick, can store as many as 900 songs on a 1-gigabyte memory stick and sport a 2-megapixel camera.

WLANs, Bluetooth, FM radio will become part of low-end cell phones, TI says

Texas Instruments, which this week announced an integrated chip that will offer wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, and FM transmitter/receiver technology on a single chip, says its goal is to get the capabilities to the mass market. That means people with lower-end cell phones could take advantage of the latest wireless technologies, not only those using expensive smartphones.

TI's announcement came a week after Broadcom announced a similar triple-threat chip.

TI's new offerings include two products. WiLink 6.0 combines WLAN, Bluetooth, and FM, and supports the IEEE draft 802.11n standard to improve wireless coverage and reception. Once embedded into cell phones, the chip will enable people to share large files such as video and photos between cell phones and other WLAN-enabled devices, including laptops, digital cameras, and gaming consoles.

Nokia's E61i and E65

The E61i is a QWERTY smartphone in the now-ubiquitous Treo format, packing lots of grunt and the airs of a business phone for those who don't want to sell a lung for the E90 Communicator. The E65 is a slider model with similar specifications but a more casual design, with a standard dial pad.

Though it's kind of arse-faced, close inspection of the E61i's keyboard appears to reveal a simplicity that's often not in evidence on the more fashionable counterparts like SamSung's BlackJack. It looks easy to type on, is what I mean.

Both handsets offer a 2 megapixel camera; the E65 is rolling out now, and the E61i will appear this summer. Pictured is the E61i.