Omio News Blog

Sony Ericsson W995 Takes To Streets, Tourists Impressed

Sony Ericsson have just released their W995 Walkman handset on SIM-free tariffs, and are getting real people on the streets of Central London involved to show off just how good it is.

8 megapixel camera:

Multimedia quality:

Noise cancelling headphones:

Thanks to Sony Ericsson for managing to use tourists, and not portraying London folk as the rude, selfish and uncool people we really are!

Get Lost In London’s Hotspots With W715 ‘Find And Go’ Service

The Sony Ericsson W715 is a slick little Walkman phone, a Vodafone exclusive and despite still not having a darned headphone jack, is set to be the choice for trend-setting technophiles across the land.

Well, as of today the W715 gets a whole lot cooler and more useful, as an online map service is launched to make the fair city of London come alive through your handset.

The Inside Tracks is a new website constructed by Sony and Vodafone, offering bespoke audio tours and customised routes carving a path through the less trodden streets of London.

Three of the capital’s bleeding-edge musical artistes narrate as the W715′s ‘Find and Go’ service uses a 3D GPS map to direct you with turn-by-turn directions, calling out street names whilst they regale you with tales of their favourite haunts.

The trio of talents are colourful crooner Zarif, outspoken grrl-rocker Amy Studt and fictional female protagonist of George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play Pygmalion and, by extension the musical My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle.

Simply download their audio maps from the Inside Tracks site for free, and get a delicious insight into your favourite singer’s (soon to be very public) private places to play.

Dave Hilton, Marketing Director Sony Ericsson UK and Ireland: “The Inside Tracks is an exciting initiative which will give consumers the chance to really engage with the innovative personal satellite navigation system available on the W715 Walkman phone. By working with three breakthrough music artists, we offer people a glimpse of their side of the Capital and via Vodafone UK’s Find & Go service, allow them to discover London for themselves.”

The scope for such a service is amazing, as more celebrities could be signed up to narrate their stomping grounds. Imagine an audio tour from Pixie Geldof, directing you to all of the envelope-opening ceremonies she attends whilst trying to explain her existence!

The site is due to go live later today, whilst the Sony Ericsson W715 is available now from Vodafone. Sign up to Omio to find out when the handset is released, and see you on the Amy Studt tour!

UPDATE: Check out Electric Pig for Sony Ericsson W715 unboxing shots!

Sony Ericsson Idou First Post-MWC Snaps

It’s been a while since the Mobile World Conference and our first taste of the Idou goodness in Barcelona. We still have a while to wait before the feature-packed Sony Ericsson Idou is available to buy but here’s a little something to take the edge off.

Feast your eyes upon the glory:

Pictures courtesy of gsmarena.com

Skype On Xperia X1, Dedicated Panel Revealed!

It seems that Nokia weren’t the only ones to benefit from Skype on their mobiles, Sony Ericsson is soon to receive free voice calls over wi-fi and instant messaging via the unique Panels interface on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1!

Due to be released on the 31st of March 2009, the Xperia panel offers a unique ‘balloon’ interface on a skyline, where each of your contacts is represented by a floating icon. Online, and they will be vibrant and in the air. Offline, they will be greyed out and fall into the background.

A quick demo of some of the other Panels on the Xperia X1 followed, and it is safe to say they are leaps and bounds ahad of the stuff available at launch. Check out the new CNN.com Panel, complete with geographically relevant news!

Great to see the Panels interface coming into it’s own, and the power of the Xperia X1 being applied in new ways.

Who Wants To See Sony Ericsson’s New Phone? Idou!!!

Vultures. You’d think they’d never seen a decent high-end convergent multimedia device from Sony Ericsson before… You normally only see media scrums like this around the Pink Panther diamond!

All you need now is a guy with a flashbulb camera and a hat with a ‘press’ tag out of the top to shout “It’s a scoop!” and you’d have a complete scene.

Sony Ericsson “Idou” = 12MP Cybershot x Walkman Multimedia Monster!

I’ve only just managed to get into Omio’s Barcelona HQ, and I’m already getting reports from Sony Ericsson’s launch event. Matt has come back with word of the “Idou,” S-E’s full touch, 12 megapixel snapping, all-in-one multimedia device!

Running on Symbian Foundation software, and maybe sporting a more palatable name on release, the Sony Ericsson Idou seems like exactly what they need to get back on top form!

Pics and video from Matt on the scene when we get them!

Japanese James Bond Phone Is 007 Gadget Done Right

Whilst we got some decidedly lacklustre handsets to commemorate the launch of Quantum of Solace (vanilla Sony Ericsson C902 with James Bond screensaver anyone? No?), Japanese network Okinawa Cellular has managed to wheel out a special edition of the Sony W63S handset which is suitably sexy.

At a cost of around 13,100 Japanese yen (£105) and limited to only 3,000 units, this phone will be harder to get than a 21st Century Bond movie that isn’t a Jason Bourne love letter.

Actually, that W6XS series handset might be familiar to fans of gruff spies on a one man crusade to save the world…

Source: CrunchGear

Carphone Warehouse To Pip 3 For Cheapest UK Mobile Phone Deal?

Only a couple of weeks after everyone cheered 3 for coming up with the nation’s first single digit tariff at £9 per month, Carphone Warehouse has decided to throw their hat into the ring, undercutting the network by a single penny.

For the princely sum of £8.99, Mobile Today says the retailer will offer a 18-month T-Mobile contract of 100 minutes and 100 texts. Details regarding handsets and availability have not yet been announced…

Don’t forget that 3 are chucking a free Sony Ericsson K660i into the bargain, that extra penny is still looking worth it at the moment!

T-Mobile January Sales: Even Cheaper G1 Deals Coming!

T-Mobile UK are planning to reduce the cost of the T-Mobile G1 for the second time since the Android-powered handset’s October release.

T-Mobile’s January sale (the first of its kind, credit crunch maybe?) will see the G1′s Combi 30 monthly charge reduced from £35 month to just £31.50.

That’s a free G1 with an 8GB memory card, 700 cross network minutes and unlimited texts for only £31.50, pretty impressive!

Only last month T-Mobile announced their first set of G1 price cuts and freebies, and this new reduction must be a last ditch effort to drive sales before the new batch of Android handsets from Sony Ericsson, HTC and Australian entrepeneurs come along…

The G1 isn’t the only handset to reach bargain status on T-Mobile, there are other mobile phone deals coming our way in January:

• Samsung i900 Omnia – down from £90 to FREE on Combi 30 tariff
• Samsung U900 Soul – down from £69.99 to FREE ON Combi 30 tariff
• Sony Ericsson C902 – down from £107.65 to FREE ON Combi 20 tariff

Source: IntoMobile

BBC iPlayer For Samsung Omnia, Sony Ericsson C905 And Xperia X1 Coming Soon!

The roaring success of the BBC’s online portal continues unabated as they announce the expansion of the iPlayer to even more mobile devices.

Now the Samsung Omnia and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 can be expected to receive the iPlayer, which will now also offer live television and radio broadcasts alongside the original ‘catch-up’ service.

The Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot phone will also be added to the roster of supported handsets by the end of the week. Of cource, the current service offered to the Apple iPhone and the Nokia N96 will continue, with the N85 also getting its first taste of TV On Demand action.

Jon Billings, head of the BBC’s mobile technology, said of the development of the iPlayer to cater for the Xperia et al:

“These phones have been selected as they hit our requirements of Wi-Fi and 3G support with great browsing and media playback experience, and its also great to broaden our platform support out to Windows Mobile smartphones as well as our first feature phone offering on the C905″.

All of this is amidst the one year anniversary of BBC’s iPlayer service on 12th December, where the festivities will be huge Q&A sessions will all those involved in its development and success, as well as some kind of Flickr party! Sounds nice.

All this leaves ITV’s clunkier Catch Up service playing, well, catch up! A brand change to ‘ITV Player’ is on the cards…wonder why?

Source: Pocket Lint