Sony Ericsson Launch: "Rational and Emotional" Phones

Sony Ericsson are proudly touting their new range of phones, targeting what they're calling the "rational" and "emotional" markets. Kat and Alex were at the launch to learn more, and shoot some short videos letting you glimpse them.

The emotional side of things is embodied in a range of phones inspired by "colour" (such as the S500's "Mysterious Green", (shown in the above pic), the mystery being that the phone appears black until you slide it open) and "light". This range claims to marry designer form with a range of functions. Styling is key, starting with Alex's favourite, the slimline, entry-level T250, which uses premium design materials such as brushed aluminium and mineral glass screens for a phone that also carries a VGA camera and FM radio. As with most of the new launches, this will be available from Q3, and we have it from the product manager himself, Sten Lindquist, that the price will be kept to between 100-150EUR.

Kat's eyes settled most favourably on the '70s avocado bathroom suite coloured T650. Also available in midnight blue, these mid-to-high range phones feature dancing lights across the keypad as Sony Ericsson get lyrical about marrying the hardware to the software. A 3.2 megapixel camera and media player also feature in this 3G phone.

For "rational" business users the P1 is taking the smartphone on a step, with a new 3.2 megapixel camera, smoother, curvier styling and familar features from its predecessors such as an alphanumeric keypad, touchscreen with side-mounted scrollwheel and business card scanner (which was deftly demonstrated to us).

The third and final model was the lovely S500, a 14mm slider. As aforementioned, the phones are inspired by nature, with this model's external light effects changing either with the seasons, or as day turns to night. Available in 'Mysterious Green' and 'Spring Yellow', it was meant to be released sometime in the first half of 2007 - whoopsies. A 2-megapixel camera more than compensates though, as does the gorgeous leaf patterns on the back of the slider as you can see from the photo above.

Sony Ericsson