Sony Ericsson releases alpha ROM for developers

With Android Ice Cream Sandwich only officially available on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, there are sure to be plenty of Android fans who want to get a glimpse of the new version running on a different phone. Sony Ericsson has come to the rescue with this demonstration video, showing an early build running on an Xperia Arc S.

The company recently announced they would be releasing an Ice Cream Sandwich update for their 2011 range of Xperia-branded devices, however it’s a lengthy and complex process and with the source code only a few weeks old, owners still have to wait before it officially arrives.

Rather than work away without input from users, Sony Ericsson has released an “alpha build” ICS ROM to accompany the video. It’s compatible with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S, the Xperia Ray and the Xperia Neo V, and provided they have an unlocked bootloader the ROM can be installed.

But before downloading it, one should know that the ROM is designed for developmental testing, and not for everyday use. Sony Ericsson wants to get as much feedback as possible, and has therefore disabled the modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, the FM radio and the antenna inside the ROM.

Yes, they’re spoilsports, but the alpha ROM still does a great job of showing how Ice Cream Sandwich looks and performs on devices other than the Galaxy Nexus. If you’re confident to start messing around with your Xperia phone, Sony Ericsson provides full instructions on how to apply the ROM on their developer site, and even recommends to join the XDA community afterwards to converse with like-minded hackers.

Sony Ericsson eyes Android market, launches two new phones

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson has unveiled two new Android models in a bid to grab more of the burgeoning smartphone market.

The company, a joint venture between L.M. Ericsson and Sony Corp., plans to launch the Xperia ray and Xperia active models during the third quarter, said Chief Marketing Officer Steve Walker in Singapore.

The new models should help the company expand its 11 percent market share of the Android segment, Walker said.

"Android smartphones is a rapidly growing part of the market, and we see our share within that market growing," added Walker.

London-based Sony Ericsson, which saw its phone unit sales drop 23 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, is moving away from cheaper phone models and seeking to take on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry and Nokia Corp.'s N9 in the higher-priced smartphone market.

By 2015, about 60 percent of mobile phones sold in the Asia-Pacific region will likely be smartphones, up from 20 percent in 2010, Walker said.

"We made quite a fundamental shift in strategy and decided to focus a large part of our efforts into smartphones, to focus on the mid- and high-end part of the business," Walker said. "In many markets, we see a dramatic shift from feature phones to smartphones."

The company said in April that smartphones accounted for more than 60 percent of its sales during the first quarter.

Sony Ericsson's latest models that run on Goggle Inc.'s Android platform, the Xperia ray and active, will likely be priced below the high-end Xperia arc.

Xperia active is water resistant and works if fingers are wet or sweaty, while the Xperia ray seeks to combine a sleek design with a device that is 9.4 millimeters thick.

Sony Ericsson also plans to introduce a less expensive model that highlights texting service and is aimed at teenagers.

Sony Ericsson to launch smartphone for China Mobile

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson has announced that it would introduce its first smartphone for the Chinese market that runs on the network of China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile carrier.

Sony Ericsson, owned by Ericsson and Sony Corp, said it had developed the A8i with China Mobile to operate on its TD-SCDMA network.

"China is a hugely important market for Sony Ericsson and we are committed to maintaining our strong position and driving growth by continually introducing new and exciting products into this market," Sony Ericsson Chief Executive Berg Nordberg said. Smartphones have been garnering a bigger share of the handset market as users look for functions like gaming and video on their mobiles.

Sony Ericsson's strategy is to grab a bigger slice of the higher-priced smartphone market to boost profitability.

Rachael - Sony Ericsson's Google Android Phone Leaked

For quite some time, it is known that Sony Ericsson is working on a Google Android-based mobile phone, but the company has been keeping mum on details. However, pictures leaked by a Danish site appear to reveal Sony Ericsson's upcoming Android phone.
According to the Danish Mobil magazine, Sony Ericsson's Android phone will be code-named Rachael and will bw announced later this year. The phone will be part of SE's XPERIA series, which so far includes the Windows Mobile-based X1 model.

Mobil says that the Android-loving Sony Ericsson Rachel is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform (QSD8250), which would give the phone processor speeds of up to 1GHz and 7.2Mbit per second HSPA downlink speeds.

The leaked pictures also show the Sony Ericsson’s upcoming Android Phone featuring an 8.1-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. At the top of the phone a 3.5mm headphone jack and a miniUSB port are also present. No specific details on the phone's display size or resolution were released, but the Dutch magazine says it has a pressure-sensitive touchscreen.

Some of the specifications of Sony Ericsson's Android phone are looking very good in comparison to other smartphones present in the market today. An 8.1-megapixel camera would be most powerful on an Android handset yet, and remarkably better than the 3-megapixel camera on the latest iPhone 3GS. On the Android realm, the HTC Hero and the Samsung Galaxy have only a 5-megapixel camera.

It's highly expected that Sony Ericsson Rachel will run on the upcoming 2.0 version of Google Android operating system, which is also expected to be released toward the end of this year. As for Adobe Flash, it is yet unclear whether this phone will feature this capability.

Sony Ericsson unveils greener phones: C901 GreenHeart and Naite

Cellphone maker Sony Ericsson has unveiled two handset models, which are said to be more eco-friendly, adding that the company will push greener features across its product line in the next two years.

The new models, C901 GreenHeart and Naite, will be sold in smaller packages and have user manuals that are electronic. The devices use more recycled materials and consume less energy.

"Today we are announcing a commitment to roll out these innovations across the broader portfolio in 2010 and 2011," Sony Ericsson Chief Executive Hideki Komiyama said in a statement.

The role of greener products is increasing rapidly in the cellphone industry, with a recent ABI Research survey saying nearly half of U.S. consumers are likely to be influenced by suppliers' green credentials when purchasing devices.

Sony Ericsson said on Thursday it targets a cut of 20 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions by 2015.

The handset industry is closely followed by environmental organizations around the world due to its large scale. More than 1 billion phones are sold globally each year, which requires the use of sales boxes, add-ons and tons of rare raw materials.

The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia, started to renew its packaging in 2006, and has said it saved 100 million euros ($142.9 million) in less than a year.

Sony Ericsson said its new models will use at least 50 percent recycled plastics, similar to Nokia's 3110 Evolve model, which the Finnish firm introduced last year.

Last year Nokia's chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, showed a prototype of a phone made fully of recycled materials at the Mobile World Congress trade show, but the model has not reached production.

Sony Ericsson, the world's fifth-biggest handset maker, is in need of new models to renew its offering since the appeal of the years-old Sony-branded Cybershot cameraphones and Walkman music phones has faded.

Sony Ericsson launches W995 Walkman Phone

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson has unveiled an 8 megapixel camera phone and unlimited movie download service for mobile phones.

The W995 Walkman phone is an 8-megapixel sliding cameraphone with an additional sliding-lens cover for its camera.

The W995 has a 2.6-inch screen, a full Web browser, email, and a high-quality camera with face detection and an image stabilizer. It comes in three colors: red, silver and black.

The company also said it would bring to the market in the second half of the year a 12.1 megapixel camera phone codenamed –Idou (just a concept name).

According to Sony Ericsson, the Idou is a 12.1-megapixel cameraphone running a future version of the Symbian OS that doesn't even have a name yet. It has a 3.5-inch, 16:9 ratio 640x480 resistive touch screen, music and video players.

Sony Ericsson will give the Idou a real model name and release more details about it before it launches in the second half of 2009.