Unlimited long distance $24.99/moSony Ericsson to do first Windows phone
Update: 10:25 p.m. with photo, more details
Handset maker Sony Ericsson is announcing plans for its first Windows Mobile device, a move aimed at boosting the company's presence in the North American smartphone market.
The first product is a business-oriented phone with a QWERTY keyboard, but a family of devices is expected. Over time, Microsoft hopes Sony Ericsson will leverage its camera and music expertise to help build more consumer-oriented devices.
Xperia X1 has an unusual arc slider that reveals the QWERTY keyboard.
(Credit: Sony Ericsson)"They've really got some great consumer brands that we'd love to partner with and bring to Windows Mobile," Microsoft Vice President Pieter Knook said in an interview.
The company is expected to have more to say about Windows Mobile in general at its press conference Monday, but Microsoft isn't announcing any details on its future operating systems. There have been rumors aplenty about both a modest update to Windows Mobile 6 and a future version that would have much more touch-screen capabilities a la the iPhone.
Knook acknowledged that Apple has included some nice features with the iPhone, particularly in the Web browser, but declined to talk about when Microsoft might incorporate some of those advances.
"We are certainly investing in the browser," Knook said. "We are certainly investing in entertainment scenarios."
Photo handling is another area he identified as important. The most recent version of Windows Mobile allows for photos to be uploaded to Windows Live Spaces, but Knook said there's more work to do on that front.
"That's still an area where the user experience is more cumbersome than it needs to be," Knook said. As for music, Knook noted the company's recent purchase of Musiwave, as well as the work being done by Microsoft's Zune team.
"We do envisage that some of those experiences will come to the Windows Mobile platform in the future," Knook said.
Update: The device will be known as the Xperia X1, featuring a 3-inch VGA display with an "arc slider" to slide out the keyboard. The device will support HSDPA and HSUPA networks, as well as Wi-Fi.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.
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system that is getting trounced? good plan guys!
will they install netscape on it too?
Even though they are direct competitors on so many other levels, phones arent one of them.
RIM (Cr/Blackberries), which are build only for that specific product series.
OSX, built for exactly one product: The iPhone.
Windows Mobile comes in at #3 (and not a pretty #3 at that).
Symbian, which globally is #1, is a distant #4 in North America (not exactly sure why, though IIRC it may have to do with not working near as well with EDGE networks).
So you get a choice - 'doze mobile (which sucks globally, but works well enough with EDGE), or Symbian (which does well globally, but sucks WRT EDGE, IIRC).
Hobson's choice, I suspect...
/P
/P
IMHO, companies make decisions based on a lot more facts than what you can muster for purposes of writing an anonymous comment. WinMobile isn't perfect, but it sure beats Palm or Symbian in the U.S. market. When it comes to phones, the hardware is as important as the software and Win CE is good enough otherwise Sony wouldn't be using it and MS wouldn't be making money selling it.
I ended up trading it up to a T-Mobile Wing and Windows Mobile 6 is even worse. You have to dig through so many menus to get to speed dial and the dialing buttons are so much smaller than they were in previous versions. THE WINDOWS INTERFACE DOES NOT WORK WELL ON A MOBILE PHONE. I hope Microsoft is listening...
All my friends have recently purchased iPhones and love them. After playing around with one, I plan to get rid of my windows phone and purchase an iPhone myself. The iPhone may run OS X but it doesn't look like it (hint, hint)
oh and you can also set any function to any button you wish.
oh by the way there is free software to make your wing os look pretty much like iphone's interface
Best phone I ever had.
Speed dial is voice activated. "Call Home." It does. "Call work." It does.
Blue tooth is a snap.
WiFi is delicious.
Syncs with my Exchange/Outlook.
WHere am I supposed to be, and what's their phone number?
The ability to run MS Remote Desktop seals the whole thing.
I can run support calls from my fishing boat.
for a device I've ever used. It requires more steps to do simple
things than any other phone I've ever used.