Sony Ericsson unveil a phone with a Wii style gaming interface: Say hi to the Yari

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Hot on the heels of Ericsson’s interesting release of the Zeemote ( a remote control that works wirelessly with your phone to allow you to play games) is news of the latest kid on the block- the child friendly Yari.

They’ve mentioned this is the first time they’ve brought this kind of tech across from Japan, and one can only assume that a nation of Manga loving Harajuku emulators are already au fait with this kind of gesture technology.

The Yari looks fairly innocuous to start with, but behind the plasticky looking veneer lies a wealth of gaming expertise and interesting options. The Yari is a slider phone that contains all the usual bells and whistles, from a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, to Bluetooth, FM radio and assisted GPS. You Also get HSDPA and HSUPA and a 2.4 inch screen. This isn’t the selling point however, as whet they’re uber excited about is the Gesture technology.

What this essentially means is that you load up a compatible game on your phone and then utilize the acceloremeter to play along with the game- so if you’re boxing you’ll shake the phone, if you’re driving you’ll turn it to steer, and so on.

Whilst I’m glad we get this option, it does seem like it might be more hyperbole than a function that will get used a lot.

It will be available in a black or cranberry finish in Q4 this year.

Sony Ericsson

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Zara Rabinowicz