Sony Ericsson launching something at ComunicAsia this week -- XPERIA X2, maybe?

Nokia certainly took its launch lineup seriously ahead of CommunicAsia's grand opening in Singapore this week with the launch of the 5530 XpressMusic and E72, and considering that, we're willing to bet that Sony ericsson would want to make a similarly big splash when it holds its press conference on Wednesday -- but what could it be? The Satio and Aino are already out there, so it seems like the odds-on favorite for announcement here would have to be the well-leaked XPERIA X2. If the leaks turn out to be spot-on accurate, we're definitely not sold that the phone's any better-looking than the X1 it replaces, but then again, it'd be awfully hard to argue with an 8.1 megapixel cam and OLED display running Windows Mobile 6.5, even if you're not a WinMo kinda person. The action kicks off at 4:30PM Singapore time, which works out to a torturous 4:30AM for you New Yorkers -- so just how badly do you want to see it possibly unveiled, eh? And more importantly, how peeved will you be if it isn't?

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Sony Ericsson Idou, now in silver?

So far, we've only seen the Idou in black, but Sony Ericsson does like to play with the palette -- and sure enough, we're now seeing a shot of a silver model for the first time. SEMC Blog doesn't know whether this is a canceled or to-be-announced version, but like everyone, we're hoping it's the latter.

Sony Ericsson Idou hands-on and video walkthrough

Sony ericsson launched its 12.1 megapixel Idou at Mobile World Congress yesterday evening, and while not a finished device, we checked it out anyway. The Idou will eventually roll with the Symbian Foundation's OS, but the version we're seeing here is somewhere in between. The resistive touchscreen (essentially the same as found on the XpressMusic 5800) is immense, glossy, and already brilliant. The transitions and sweeping gestures (check them in the vid) are really responsive and quick, with no real lag. We checked it against its nearest neighbor in the C905 and it is slim in comparison. Top notch stuff, we are anxiously waiting for more. Video and gallery follow.

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Sony Ericsson's Cyber-shot C903 spotted in all three colors

Sony Ericsson's no longer playing hide-and-seek with its Cyber-shot C903, but we're still pretty stoked to see a few in the wild shots prior to mobile World Congress. pictured above (and in the read link) are all three flavors of SE's forthcoming slider, though it should be noted that these are likely pre-production units. Still, aside from a few minor changes on the real deal (the omission of a front camera, for instance), everything else is there. Is that mouth of yours watering yet?

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Sony Ericsson mulling production of TD-SCDMA handsets?

Take this one for what it's worth (which ain't much at the moment), but DigiTimes has it that Sony Ericsson is considering producing TD-SCDMA handsets for entry into Chinese markets. Granted, you can already find yourself a few SE knockoffs in that section of the globe, but we're guessing the company is looking to actually profit off of the phones sold in the aforementioned nation. We're told that Carl-Henric Svanberg, president and CEO of Ericsson, has indicated that T3G technology could be tapped to provide the TD-SCDMA solutions, and given that China will soon have gobs of 3G capabilities, the timing here makes sense. Potentially more interesting would be SE's choice of handset for the Chinese market -- will we finally see the company work some low-end magic now that the economy is strained? Give it a shot, SE, it's not like you've really got anything else left to lose.

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Sony Ericsson's W395 Walkman and C903 Cybershot bring more of the same

In the run-up to Mobile World Congress we've been treated to a windfall of hot new phones and technologies. Then there's Sony Ericsson's W395 Walkman and C903 Cyber-shot. The W395 is a new Walkman slider with built-in stereo speakers meant for the "youth" market, a market that seemingly hates 3G or storage since the quad-band GSM/EDGE device ships with a measly 1GB memory card. It will, however, be affordable and feature a 2 megapixel camera when it ships in Q1. The C903 Cyber-shot slider already spotted around here a few times brings a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with sliding lens cover as we've seen -- give the cover a slide and this cameraphone's ready for duty. The camera features face detection and a Smile Shutter mode that automatically snaps the shutter when a happy face is detected. It also packs a 2.4-inch display, Memory Stick Micro (M2) expansion slot and, get this... it'll even make phone calls. This worldphone rides quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE for 10 hours of talk or 400 hours of standby with UMTS/HSPA 900/2100 (or 850/1900/2100 in the C903a configuration) frequencies bringing the 3G sometime in Q2. Beautiful devices for what they are -- guess we're just spoiled by all the MWC goods expected in Barcelona from RIM, LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Acer, Android, Palm, Microsoft... you get the idea.
Update: Details on a 5 megapixel C901 candybar were also released sans the Cyber-shot branding and any fanfare even though it's similarly spec'd to the C903.

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Evil WAP Push messages can reboot some Sony Ericsson handsets?

Some modern phones do a pretty good job of rebooting at random on their own without additional assistance from miscreants, but unfortunately, the real world is filled with people who'd like to make your gadgets just a little bit buggier than they already are. Enter this nifty little vulnerability recently discovered to affect a good number of sony Ericsson models, involving a specially crafted WAP Push message carried via SMS that'll instantly restart the phone. That's not the best part, though -- in theory, an attacker could send you a string of these bad boys that would get queued up by your carrier, so the second the phone comes back online, it gets the next message and restarts once again -- potentially leading to a long, painful spell without a usable handset. Apparently, there isn't any known fix for this, so if you're carrying one of the affected models, just stay on the good side of any evil-doers you happen to know for now, okay? Follow the break for a video of the restarts in action (we understand the outgoing calls are just to demonstrate that the attack can be initiated at any time, though we can't say for sure).

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Sony Ericsson's BST-33 Li-Polymer batteries swelling into a lawsuit?

We've seen plenty of swollen and exploding batteries 'round here, but this is the first Li-Polymer battery (a technology generally assumed to be more stable and less prone to swelling and fire than Li-Ion) that we can recall ballooning into such a possible danger. Reader Christian sent us these pics of what's normally a 4-mm thick battery (pictured right) inside his W880i handset now swollen to a full 7-mm. The BST-33 sits at the heart of a long list of SE phones, a list we've included after the break along with one more picture. Do let us know if you're seeing similar issues.
List of compatible sony ericsson phones: C702, G502, K530i, K550im, K800i, K810i, M600i, P1i, P990i, W300i, W302, W595, W610i, W660i, W705, W850i, W880i, W950i, W960i, Z320i, Z530i, Z610i, Z750i

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Sony Ericsson's F305 gets mauled by Hello Kitty

It's actually tough to tell whether or not this Hello Kitty "inspired" handset is real or fake, but at least Mobile-Review is claiming that the HK-adorned F305 will go on sale in Russia this March. From what we can gather, this is a rather standard F305 outside of the flamboyant exterior, boasting a two megapixel camera, M2 card slot, Motion Gaming and a ringer that only knows how to meow. We've no clue how costly this little beauty will be, but you can go ahead and bank on the fact that you'll be buying one for the Cosmo Girl in your life.

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Sony Ericsson's T700 gets dressed in two exciting new colors

The T700 is one of those handsets we wish sony ericsson had bothered to launch in North America, and now they're just rubbing it in. Well, maybe not with that red and gold abomination, but the all black setup really suits the ultra-thin candybar well -- granted, it strays from the T610 heritage the phone was designed to carry forward, but let's not get hung up on the past, alright? No word on when or where you'll find these, but if you guessed the US, go ahead and dock yourself five points. Actually, on second thought, go read a couple years' worth of Sony ericsson history and come back to us when you're good and ready.

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Sony Ericsson gets real with PlayNow Kiosk mobile entertainment service

Sony ericsson is trying just about anything to garner revenue during these less-than-stable economic times, but we just can't imagine this one gaining any sort of traction worth gloating about. Nearly a year to the day after PlayNow Arena broke cover, SE is officially rolling out PlayNow Kiosk in the Asia Pacific region. Put as simply as possible, these kiosks will be situated in over 80 sony ericsson stores in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia (during the first wave of rollouts), and users wielding SE handsets can plug in to browse / download TV shows, games, ringtones and music. Details around exact content choices and pricing are still being kept under wraps, but so long as our favorite EMF tracks is on there, you'll see nothing but smiles from us.

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Sony's NWZ-1000 Walkman PMP handled on video

It looks like if you want to get a hands-on with Sony's latest Walkman, the touchscreen NWZ-X1000, you've got to do two things: travel to Japan, and seriously glad-hand the product. Despite our efforts in Vegas, the sony crew wouldn't let us snag the player from under its glass housing, but the Stuff team gets to toy with the OLED-faced PMP in this video. From the looks of things, sony is at pains to recreate something akin to Cover Flow, but the rest of the UI looks sadly like a whole bunch of Windows CE-based devices we see coming out of Asia on a daily basis. Of course, this might be an early iteration of the interface, so we'll hold our final judgments till we get a thorough hands-on with the PMP. The player is set to come in 16GB and 32GB iterations, and will launch sometime this Summer. For now, enjoy the video after the break.

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Sony Ericsson's W715 Walkman is all -- and only -- about Vodafone

Sony Ericsson and Vodafone's W715 Walkman arrived a bit late to the CES party, but we're always happy to talk about a new Sony Ericsson set. The W715 looks to be the twin of the previously announced W705, but with a color change, and a bit of frequency shuffling. Lifting up the hood we see that this new and exclusive to Vodafone slider boasts a 3.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, aGPS, WiFi, DLNA certified, 120MB memory, quad-band GSM, and 900 / 2100 HSDPA. Shipping seems set for Q1 2009 and we expect we'll hear something on pricing real soon now.

HTC said to be dipping into Ericsson's silicon for 3.5G chipsets

Digitimes claims that HTC intends to launch a 10-strong mix of WinMo and Android handsets in 2009 -- sounds about right, if we had to guess -- and not all of 'em will be Qualcomm powered. Apparently, HTC's HSPA devices will employ guts from Ericsson's Mobile Platforms group, and as lucrative contracts go, the HTC's chipset contract going into a serious Android year has to be at or near the top. Funny how HTC makes the X1 for Sony Ericsson and Ericsson makes chips for HTC, but business is business, eh?

Sony Ericsson C510 Cyber-shot hands-on

Sony Ericsson, while dwarfed by big brother Sony's launches at the show this year, did at least show a couple sets today. The Cyber-shot C510 will be released in a triple-band GSM single band HSDPA version for Europe, a quad-band GSM triple-band HSDPA, and a triple-band GSM version for China. Feature list includes a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, Smile Shutter technology that detects a smile a immediately grabs the shot, Snapfish, and YouTube for quick video uploads. The C510 has a seriously sturdy feel to it, button feedback is good, and it balances in-hand comfortably. We'll do our level best to hunt down some info on pricing and release date, but, no promises.

Sony Ericsson C905 gets reviewed -- all 8.1 megapixels of it

When you're reviewing a phone dominated by an unusually weighty image sensor that dominates the spec sheet, you can bet that cam is going to get an extra-thorough rundown. MobileBurn put Sony Ericsson's beastly C905 slider through its paces, and as you might expect, it produced some pretty awesome pictures -- as cellphones go, at least -- with a full-featured camera interface that seems to throw some validity behind the handset's Cyber-shot branding. There was some weirdness with vivid colors that seemed to be a fault of the review unit, and the geotagging functionality didn't really work, but if you just want to produce decent images that you can blow up and plaster to a dorm wall, this sucker should do the trick. A xenon flash, HSDPA, and serviceable signal and sound quality all conspire to make it a workable choice dubbed "Highly Recomended" by the site. Alright, yeah, count us in.

Sony Ericsson's C510 Kate caught lookin' fly on camera

Pardon us a second while we fan away some of this sweat, but Sony Ericsson's C510 Kate is looking mighty, mighty fine. DailyMobile has graciously hosted up a gaggle of hands-on images, and we're not sure if it's the brushed aluminum or the brushed aluminum, but something about this thing definitely has a hold on us. Swoon over the images yourself -- they're waiting for ya right there in the read link.

Sony Ericsson W595 headed to Europe in Sandy Gold hue

If you're looking to sprinkle just a pinch of Mr. T into your life, there's hardly a better way than to pick up Sony Ericsson's forthcoming Sandy Gold W595. Reportedly, the only thing changing is the color, and Europeans enamored by that can get their jollies next February.

Keepin' it real fake, part CXLII: Sony Ericsson's T700 gets a twin (sans Ericsson)

We've always wondered when we'd see a KIRF that was actually more desirable than the original, and while this ripped T700 isn't quite as succulent at SE's own T700, it's closer than most... on the outside. This touchscreen-based cellphone (which is obviously masquerading as a camera) supposedly sports a Carl Zeiss lens, a 5x optical zoom (seriously?), 8-megapixel sensor, a microSD slot and easily one of the nastiest user interfaces we've ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on. Hit the read link if you're into that type of sick stuff , and jump on past the break for a front side shot.

XPERIA X1 gets demoed in Sony Ericsson webcast

Those following the XPERIA X1's every move no doubt caught this as it happened earlier today, but for those that missed it, the Inexperia website has now posted most of Sony Ericsson's latest webcast, in which the X1's interface gets shown off to a far greater extent than we've seen previously. That includes a look at the phone's much talked about panel system and a glimpse of its video-playing abilities, plus some expected gushing about the phone's design, which is described as feeling like a well-tailored suit. Head on past the break for the video courtesy of Inexperia, and look for the whole thing to be available direct from Sony Ericsson on September 17th.