The K660 is a new launch from Sony Ericsson that hasn’t yet made it officially into the Indian market. But being who I am and knowing the people I do, I managed to get my paws on a prototype test piece. Of course it didn’t come with the full kit, so I can give you only a preview. Here’s what I can let you in on for now. The K660 is a good-looking candybar phone that’s available in some cool colors. It has a certain good-to-hold feeling, so it’s not like other Sony Ericssons. Thankfully there’s no sticky joystick but a very easy-to-maneuver 5 way nav-pad. The buttons and keys are very well placed and easily accessible.

The phone is lightweight and the 2-inch display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels is really crisp. The K660 doesn’t have any features that will make it stand out amidst other Sony Ericsson phones. It comes with regular business features like calendar, notes, schedules, stopwatch, timer etc. As for connectivity, it’s 3G-enabled with HSDPA and has a VGA camera in front for video calls. Also available are EDGE and Bluetooth with A2DP compatibility. It comes with Google Maps preinstalled.

Cell phone snatching – or in other words, street crime – has become a headache for the average citizens of Karachi as most of them are scared to use their phones on the street on the off chance that the next person they encounter is a bandit. While reviewing the statistics of the year 2007, it was found that about 90,000 cell phones had been snatched and stolen from various parts of the city. It is noted that the highest risk zone vis-à-vis stealing of phones is the east zone.

The graph shows 15 per cent criminal activity with 14,309 phones snatched and stolen from various jurisdictions of the police stations located in that zone. While in the south zone the activity was of 13 per cent, in the central zone, 12 per cent, 11 per cent from the Malir zone and the lowest was at the west zone, where the crime reported was 7 per cent. In the respective zones, the risk areas were Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Korangi, Preedy, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Ferozeabad, while the towns which were on top inlcude, Saddar town, Gulshan town, Jamshed town, Clifton town, Liaquatabad-North Nazimabad and respectively other towns. The most snatched phone brand was Nokia at 61 per cent, Sony Ericsson at 16 per cent, Samsung at 10 per cent, while Motorola was on the fourth position with 8 per cent.

While commenting on this particular crime situation a senior officer said, “I think this trend started in 2005 where the issue was highlighted, as mobile phones are now more easily available than ever; and obviously Karachi being a major city of the country, there is more usage here and for the same reason, snatching and theft of these devices started this year. To combat this crime we have started working with the stake holders and cell phone companies.” As there was no system laid down previously, the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) has now started working on collecting the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) through which cell phones can get blocked and invalid since the phone becomes unusable. Initially in 2005, this crime was reported to be hardly 5 per cent; today, however, about 400 to 500 cell phones were stolen. Now the people are encouraged to report this crime, and according to a data, about 130,000 cell phones have been blocked through the process of the IMEI.

She’s turning 21 in April this year, loves Snickers bars and was in Singapore recently for an exhibition match with Anna Chakvetadze. She’s none other than Russian tennis star, Maria Sharapova. The highly profiled player today pledged her allegiance to Sony Ericsson. Besides undertaking a series of new consumer-brand campaigns off the court, Sharapova will also be working with the Japanese-Swedish company’s designers on “a range of products and accessories,” according to the press release.

Guess what phone she’s using now? The Sony Ericsson W350i! What did you expect? Correction: We were just alerted to the press release dated 8 January that Canon USA has extended its global marketing relationship with Maria Sharapova until 2010. Changes have been made to the original article.

The buzz after CES about mobile phones proves “What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.” The Consumer Electronic Show 2008 estimates that 130,000 attendees viewed the latest technology along over 4,000 journalists. Motorola, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony and Neonode all showed their wares with Motorola getting a lot of attention sneaking past most reviewers except Wireless and Mobile News.

The most lauded launch which won CNET’s people choice award was the with a morphing touch screen keyboard that changes for phone and music player use.  The however had a lot more capabilities than most reports, a demonstrator at the MOTO booth showed us how film clips could be edited and cross faded all on the phone which was very impressive.

The most overlooked phone which was the most interesting and practical for a writer/editor to use was the When we asked at the LG booth what we should try we were directed towards the phone. The camera with stabilization was lovely but the real hocus pocus on this phone is the handwriting recognition.  With the top of pen cap the phone recognized letters quickly and effectively. Nokia’s N95 is slightly thicker than previous version and was popular the booth.  The price tag of close to $700 makes it a tougher sell. Which uses a touch screen with finger swiping capabilities was launched for the U.S. market at CES, although it looks like the iPhone is much smaller and been called “cute.”

Nova media announced the immediate availability. The plug-ins enhances iSync by adding support for additional cell phones. The new version added support for Nokia’s 3500 Classic, 7900, E51, N82 and N95 8 Gigabyte phones. iSync phone plugins is compatible with Mac OS X 10.4.9 and higher as well as Mac OS X 10.5 and higher.

The plug-ins support over 125 cell phones from BenQ Siemens, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.  Apple did not include that with iSync for sharing data with iCal and Address Book. iSync phone plugins 5.1 is priced at €9.95 (about US$14.64) and is available for download at the nova media. Updates are free for one year from the date of purchase.

Ericsson and T-Mobile International signed a general agreement for the delivery and integration of MMS technology for the T-Mobile group. Ericsson is selected by T-Mobile to supply and install Multimedia Messaging technology in their GSM/GPRS/UMTS-network. After the successful launch of MMS by Westel in Hungary (an affiliate of T-Mobile International), T-Mobile plans to roll out MMS in Germany, Austria and the UK this summer with more countries to follow.

Core of the network MMS ability is the Multimedia Messaging Service center (MMS-C). The MMS-C is the essential part of the network to administer, store, transmit and transform the multimedia messages and create billing data. MMS offers an increase in mobile-to-mobile messaging capabilities by enabling colour pictures, animations, audio and video clips to be sent along with text. This opens the door to content-rich applications and services such as electronic postcards, animated cartoons and multimedia presentations.

Ericsson announced that its U360 mobile platform has been selected by Taiwanese mobile device manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer for its recently launched T500 PC card. Ericsson’s U360 platform is an EDGE/WCDMA/HSPA platform with quad-band EDGE as well as triple-band HSPA capabilities on the downlink. It represents one of the smallest, yet most powerful and stable commercially available multimedia platforms. Ericsson’s U360 solution also offers high levels of silicon integration and low power consumption, providing greater cost-effectiveness. The T500 PC card provides users with high-speed mobile broadband and offers special phone communication functions for the desktop or notebook.HC Hung, President of Digital Mobile at ASUSTeK, says: “Ericsson’s U360 platform offers high performance in a small, stable and cost-effective package. It’s an essential ingredient in the creation of our cutting-edge PC card and will ensure we can offer a first-rate experience for end users.”Robert Puskaric, Head of Ericsson Mobile Platforms, says: “We are proud to continue our longstanding relationship with ASUSTeK and support them with the launch of their T500 PC card. The move is a significant milestone and reflects Ericsson’s expertise in offering strong platforms that generate cost-competitive and feature-rich mobile solutions.”

Ericsson and AT&T Wireless completed the first WCDMA/UMTS call in a live network environment in the Americas. With initial packet data speeds up to 384 kbps, the call demonstrates true 3G capabilities, which include quick downloads of such bandwidth-demanding applications as E-mail with attachments and streaming audio and video.The joint effort is part of a trial of the first 1900 MHz UMTS/WCDMA system in the Americas, which will have more than 100 cell sites in the Dallas area by the end of the year.

Ericsson is providing the complete WCDMA/UMTS network — the core network, the radio access network and mobile terminals. The small-sized Sony Ericsson test units used are based on technology developed by Ericsson Mobile Platforms.“We will continue moving forward in our quest to provide customers with the most advanced wireless services in the world,” said Rod Nelson, chief technology officer for AT&T Wireless. “There is a tremendous level of support by vendors, carriers and developers in bringing true 3G service to the United States.”“It’s really exciting to take what we’ve learned from our laboratory trials and apply those lessons to a live network environment,” said Angel Ruiz, president and chief executive officer, Ericsson Inc. “In other parts of the world, we’ve seen live tests before in the 2 GHz band.

But this is a landmark in the development of UMTS/WCDMA in the 1900 MHz frequencies and its progress in the Americas.”

Ericsson Technology Licensing announced that it has signed a licensing agreement to provide its latest Blue tooth radio core, the K-D1, to National Semiconductor, a premier analog company focused on the market for wireless handsets. National plans to introduce products incorporating Ericsson’s radio next year.The Bluetooth radio core K-D1 from Ericsson gives National Semiconductor a Bluetooth design solution that can be completely ported into its manufacturing process.

This enables National Semiconductor to differentiate products for different manufacturing processes and different market segments.“National’s broad portfolio of Bluetooth products, from chip sets to modules to accessories, will be enhanced by our licensing agreement with Ericsson,” said Jean-Louis Bories, Executive Vice President of National Semiconductor’s IA and Wireless Division. “We are strong believers in Bluetooth and the added value Bluetooth solutions provide customers in applications such as mobile handsets and PDAs. ““By signing a licensing agreement with National Semiconductor, one of the world’s top semiconductor companies, we have taken a big step toward reaching our goal of integrating our Bluetooth solution into mass market consumer products,” says Maria Khorsand, President of Ericsson Technology Licensing. “This puts new fuel into the Bluetooth market - where the demand for chips is expected to grow more than 300 percent next year.”

The fourth generation radio is the latest in Bluetooth radio design and features complete on-chip integration of the radio front end using a 0.18-micron RFCMOS process with some key features as lowest external components count and no radio sensitive external components. The package includes evaluation hardware and design database, as well as simulation results and schematics. Furthermore, qualified samples manufactured in the foundry mother process are also included. This has been proven to accelerate the process of porting and to minimize engineering efforts.

Cellular One from Dobson Cellular Systems, a subsidiary of Dobson Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:DCEL) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), the world’s leading telecommunications supplier, today announced they have signed two contracts for hosted multimedia services: AnswerTunes, a ringback tones service and content downloads.

The new service AnswerTunes allows Dobson customers in more than 70 wireless markets to choose from a catalog of thousands of songs to replace the traditional ring heard by callers when they dial a number. On top of that they will also have access to a huge catalogue of content, including ringtones, games, images and video clips to download to their phones. The contracts are the third and fourth managed services hosting contracts Ericsson has been awarded by Dobson Cellular Systems since 2006.

Ericsson also provides Dobson with a hosted prepaid real time charging service including content and game downloads as well as Napster Mobile. The ringback tones service will be hosted on Ericsson’s innovative Service Delivery Platform (SDP). Thomas K. Roberts, Chief Marketing Officer for Cellular One, says: “We are pleased to partner with Ericsson to deliver AnswerTunes and downloadable content to our customer base.

Offering subscribers a wide array of value-added services has been a key differentiator for Cellular One.”Ericsson is providing an end-to-end ringback service, which includes systems integration, hosting and managing the day-to-day operations of the service.