3GSM: Sony Ericsson debuts its first 3G handset

By Junko Yoshida
EE Times
(02/18/03, 01:30:42 PM EDT)

CANNES, France - After being just around the corner for several suspense-packed years, the first commercial 3G mobile telephony from Sony Ericsson finally arrived at the 3GSM conference here.

Called Z1010, the new phone based on a silicon platform originally devised by Ericsson Mobile Platform - an Ericsson spin-off - is a dual-mode UMTS/GSM-GPRS mobile handset. Expected to fall into a similar price range of Sony Ericsson's smart phone such as P800 - around 750 euro, the Z1010 will be commercially available to 3G service operators in the second half of 2003. The model is expected to complete interoperability testing during the second quarter this year.

The Z1010, although considered to be Sony Ericsson's top of the line model designed for the 3G network, is not based on Symbian's operating system, but rather, using Ericsson's "in-house operating system," according to Philip Vanhoutte, corporate vice president, marketing, at Sony Ericsson. "You shouldn't be reading too much into it," cautioned Vanhoutte. He said, "The Symbian OS-based solution could be also a perfect candidate" for Sony Ericsson's other 3G handsets, when the company gets ready with a full 3G line-up.

The Z1010 takes advantage of "a collection of well-proven software internally developed by Ericsson, including modem software, user interface, database software, to reduce the complexity" of the software components that must go into the new phone, Vanhoutte said.

The dual-mode UMTS/GSM-GPRS mobile phone features two displays and two cameras positioned at the back and the front of the phone.

The main display offers a full graphic 65K color display, while a gray scale status display, located on the front panel of the phone, provides easy access to information, such as call information and multimedia player, when the phone is closed.

In addition to the integrated camera designed for capturing still images and video, the Z1010 also comes with a dedicated camera, designed for real-time video calls, placed below the main display, allowing a user watch the other party while the camera films the user.

The new mobile phone provides VGA for still images and QCIF for video.

As for connectivity, Z1010 comes with a long-range Bluetooth capability, offering connectivity of about 100 meters in range, in addition to USB true connector. It also incorporates a Sony Memory stick Duo with 16Mbytes card included.

But for instant access to more informationabout the issues, products and technologies mentioned in this story, click on the flashing icon in the upper right hand column on any page on this site. It will take you to an alternate view of iApplianceWeb based on an associatively-linked XML/Java Web map that can be used to search for any topic published here over the last 12 months.

This map allows any story on the site to be accessed by date, by category, by title, or by keyword, with results displayed within seconds either as a list of possible hits or with specific Web pages displayed below the map, which is adjustable depending on the number of hits and the number of links.

For technical article coverage, go to the  iAppliance Web Views  page and access the EETimes In Focus maps there to browse or quickly search for all articles on a particular topic since the beginning of 1999.