Sony Ericsson Yari – gesture-controlled gaming for a bargain price cool !!

comments (0)

In this Sony Ericsson Yari review, I’m going to highlight the features that really make Sony Ericsson’s mid-range gaming phone stand out from the crowd. Normally this is quite difficult for a mid-range phone as the price tends to keep the features and novelties down to a minimum, but with the Yari, Sony Ericsson have achieved it.

In particular, they’ve made the Yari a gaming phone – and not just any gaming phone, but one that thinks it’s a Nintendo Wii!

The question is though, is the gaming functionality of the Yari any good, and does the phone work as a phone?

In short, is the Yari a phone you’d want to buy?

Read our full Sony Ericsson Yari review to find out.

Sony Ericsson Yari overview

At first glance, the Yari is quite a looker, particularly in some of the more extreme colour variants you can buy it in. It’s a standard slider phone with a 2.4″ screen and slide out keypad. Although there’s no touchscreen (the Yari is not meant to be a smartphone), it’s by no means under-featured.

For example it’s got a 5 megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 30 frames per second video camera, GPS and a gorgeous screen capable of displaying 16 million colours.

Every feature you’d want and each with the quality you’d expect from Sony Ericsson.

But the Yari has a little trick up its sleeve – or, to be more precise, at the top of its screen.

A true Sony Ericsson gaming phone

At the top of the screen on the Sony Ericsson Yari are two little buttons and an unusual looking sensor. The buttons are the dedicated gaming keys, which, when the Yari is turned on its side, let you control the movements of your character in the games that you play.

So it’s not just that Sony Ericsson are claiming the Yari is a gaming phone – it really is one, and has been designed as such from the start.

Better still, though, is the sensor – it’s a Nintendo Wii-like sensor that supports gesture control, letting you play a game just by waving your hand in front of it. That’s not all, though. As if playing games using your hand as a controller wasn’t enough, the Yari itself can be a complete controller, in a way similar to the Wii’s Wiimote.

Using the Yari’s accelerometer and camera, you can control your player by moving the phone itself.


Take tennis, for example. You position your player, and then swing the Yari as if it was a tennis racket. The Yari recognizes your movement by using the camera to detect how fast it’s been swung, which is an extremely inventive use of a phone’s camera.

If tennis doesn’t float your boat, don’t worry – there are over 200 available for download from Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow Arena store.

Nokia C5 – the game changing budget phone

comments (0)



The Nokia C5 has just been announced by Nokia, heralding the dawn of a new age in mobile phones, and a new range to go with it – the C-Series.

At first glance, the C5 doesn’t seem like it’s the dawn of anything particularly exciting. Its features are average, with a 3.2 megapixel camera, aGPS, 2.2″ display, Symbian S60 and Ovi Maps.

So far so dull.

What is new, though, is that the C5 is a budget phone – just 135 Euros unlocked will get you all that, plus a range of social media apps as well.

It’s therefore the first time that high-end features such as Symbian S60, GPS and social media apps have reached their way to the lower reaches of the mobile phone food chain, pushing the functionality of budget phones up to the levels of Nokia’s N-Series just a few short years ago.

Hmmm, that certainly seems like the dawn of something!

More details and pictures of the Nokia C5 after the jump

Nokia C5 Overview

The C5 is a simple candy bar phone with 2.2″ screen, no touchscreen, and the usual keys you’d expect to find. It’s 12mm thin and looks surprisingly good for a budget phone.

The social media apps aren’t exactly as good as a smartphone’s, but they add a new twist to a budget phone’s design nonetheless. You can see pictures of the top 3 most phoned people on the homescreen, and get all the latest status updates from Facebook.

Why the C5 is a game changer

With the C5 and the rest of the C-Series, Nokia has brought the power of the N-Series down to the budget level, finally ensuring that aGPS and social media are now embedded in every phone, whatever its cost.

Budget phones have always been light on features, only containing the bare essentials. A VGA camera and MP3 player were considered fancy!

But when you list the features of the C5, they’re not too far removed from Nokia’s flagship phone of 2007, the N95. To find these features in a phone that costs just 135 Euros is staggering!

So Nokia might be struggling at the top-end, but when it comes to budget phones, it’s proved it’s still a game changer. After the C5, all budget phones will need aGPS and social media if they’re to compete. Cameras and MP3 players simply won’t cut it any more.

Now if only Nokia could remember how to innovate with high-end phones!

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review – the best featured smartphone on the market

comments (0)


It’s been a long time coming, but here finally is our Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review. Sony Ericsson have taken an age to get the Xperia X10 out the door, which is why the X10 review has taken so long. But it’s here now and ready to buy on loads of different networks.

Yes, that’s right – demand for the X10 has proven so strong that nearly every network out there, including Three and Virgin Mobile, have signed it up and are now competing to offer it you for the best price.

The big question is, though – is the demand well placed? Is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 as good as we all want it to be (and as good as its features suggest it should be)?

Read our full Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review to find out.best price

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10’s Unique Features

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is the first Android phone released by the company, and has been designed to put Sony Ericsson back on the map as the best smartphone manufacturer on the market.

That’s a tall order, not least because as well as the iPhone, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile smartphones that are already out there, there’s also a never-ending array of existing Android devices from the likes of HTC and Motorola, each of which is also aiming to be the best smartphone on the market!

So how are Sony Ericsson hoping to compete? In two ways:

  • Killer features – the Xperia X10 comes with the best range of features of any smartphone. Not only is the specification high (8 megapixel camera, qidescreen DVD quality video recording, 4″ screen, 1GHz processor, et.c, etc.!), but the quality of the features is also first rate
  • Brand new user interface and social media apps – Sony Ericsson have taken the time to create their own software for Android, and have come up with Timescape and Mediascape – two apps that together provide a brand new user interface that collects all your social media info into one place, and makes your tunes, music, photos and videos accessible from one app, whether they’re on the phone or on the Web.

So, superb features and tight integration with the mobile Web. Sounds like a promising start!

If you’re looking to see how the Xperia X10 compares to its rivals, though, then read

14 Things you’ll love about the Xperia X10


Sony Ericsson have put everything they’ve got into the Xperia X10, and have ended up making it one of the most well-specced – no, make that the most well-specced – Android phone on the market.

Just check out some of these features:

  • the fastest mobile Web browsing of any phone around, with 10.2Mbps downloads(HSDPA) and 2mbps uploads (HSUPA) – that’s faster than most people’s home broadband connection!
  • watch videos, browse the Web and browse through your pictures on the Xperia X10’sstunning 4″ capacitive touchscreen display with 16 million colours and a resolution of 854 x 480 – seriously, you couldn’t get a better looking display
  • Take superb photos with the best in class 8 megapixel camera
  • Fantastic widescreen video quality lets you shoot widescreen videos at 30fps that look like they’re shot from a camcorder
  • Never lose your photos again – the Xperia X10 supports geo tagging and automatic face tagging
  • See what your friends are doing across the Web all in one place, with the newTimescape social media interface
  • Seamlessly browse your online and offline pics, videos and tunes from the same app – MediaScape – whether they’re stored on your phone or on Web sites like Picasa and YouTube
  • Get access to related info wherever you are thanks to the X10’s contextual Infinity button
  • run all your apps without even a hint of slowdown, thanks to the super-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz CPU
  • fantastic 3D games thanks to OpenGL graphics acceleration
  • store your entire media library on the phone, with 1GB storage built-in, expandable to 32GB thanks to the standard microSD card slot. You even get an 8GB card bundled with the X10
  • huge range of expandability potential, thanks to Sony Ericsson finally using standardized components – as well as microSD, there’s also a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, letting you use whatever headphones you want.
  • don’t worry about running out of power – the X10 comes with a 1500mAh battery, which is bigger than most smartphones, and good for up to 10 hours of solid talking
  • all the usual Android loveliness you’d expect – WiFi, aGPS, accelerometer, compass, proximity sensor, Gmail, Google calendar, search, Maps, etc., etc.!

  • That’s a long list of compelling features, and easily puts the Xperia X10 towards the top of the smartphone charts. Indeed, if there’s one thing that sets the X10 apart form its rivals, it’s the quality of its features. You don’t just get a large camera, for example, you get a large camera capable of taking pics as well as a dedicated camera phone.

    The X10, then, is the real deal, with quality to match its features. So what else have Sony Ericsson added to the X10’s mix?


Samsung Mythic Review

comments (0)


Samsung Mythic has been named aptly as it could only exist in myths a few years ago. The phone boasts all the latest technologies packaged in a smart bundle. The phone, although of block form factor, is indeed quite a looker. It sports a large screen of 3.3 inch, which is fully touchscreen. It has a host of widgets making online life on the move a breeze. As of now, the phone is available bundled with AT&T network only. Not only does it have internet capabilities, it also serves as a decent mobile TV. At present, AT&T offers Comedy Central, CBS, MTV, ESPN, FOX, NBC and many other channels.

The navigation between apps and websites is quick and easy thanks to Samsung's Touch Wiz user interface. It comes preloaded with software apps like AT&T navigator, AT&T Social Net etc. The home screen scrolls left and right to for accessing additional phone application using touch navigation. One of the most important features is that it comes with AT&T's modified Opera browser. It gives you three windows to surf the internet. You can view the World Wide Web in one window; get information about places of interest nearby, maps, traffic alerts, driving directions on the other; and headlines from popular news, sports and entertainment websites on the third.

The Mythic is a good addition to the Samsung's enviable lineup of smart phones. The block form factor is targeted towards the people who dislike the clamshell ones. Among technical features, it has a full bag. The screen is TFT with 262K colors. It has an mp3 player and an expandable memory using microSD or TransFlash memory cards. The PC Sync is available with USB 2.0 specifications. The default web browser is Opera 2.0 and also has GPS navigation provided by AT&T Navigator. As with all the mid and high end phones, it has a speaker phone.

The touch screen user interface might need a little getting used to for people habituated to using actual keyboards. The touch screen keyboard is the only option for typing on the Mythic as it does not have a real keyboard. But once you get used to it, you start to find it much more convenient to use than the normal keyboards. The Samsung Touch Wiz user interface, also seen on some other Samsung phones gives a quick access to your favorite websites such as YouTube and Facebook. If it were not for the Samsung Touch Wiz user interface, the phone could have tuned out to be a drab, but the user interface makes it a really competent phone.

Because of the rich colors, watching web TV is a lot of fun on the Mythic. It can store many video clips, pictures and games due to the expandable memory. This makes the phone very useful not only to business professionals who want to keep abreast of stock updates etc, but also for those who want a smart phone just for entertainment. The Samsung Mythic operates on GSM and UTMS networks.

Alcatel Launches One Touch XTRA

comments (0)


Alcatel has released the One Touch XTRA that will be available exclusively via Orange UK for £49.99 with a PAYG contract. The phone features a 2-megapixel camera with video and webcam capabilities, an MP3 player, an FM radio, EDGE Internet connectivity, a 2.4-inch touchscreen display and a microSD card expansion. Sadly, there is no 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity. [Pocket-lint]

Sony Ericsson Aino with Remote Play

comments (0)





Sony Ericsson Aino is the first cell phone in the world that comes with ‘Remote Play with PlayStation 3’ feature that will help you to remotely control all your Sony PlayStation 3 and watch videos from it over Wi-Fi or anywhere through the internet. Other cool features include a 3-inch display screen with 16 million colors, a 8MP digital camera with flash, A2DP Bluetooth, stereo speakers, an FM tuner, and Sony’s Clear Bass and Clear Stereo technologies. The Sony Ericsson Aino will be released sometime in the fourth quarter of this year in Obsidian Black and Luminous White.

Meizu M9 Specs Unveiled

comments (0)



Meizu CEO J. Wong has unveiled the specifications of their upcoming M9 smartphone. According to him, this new handset will feature a 3.6-inch 720 x 480 touchscreen display, a 1GHz Cortex A8-based Samsung S5PC110 CPU, a 5MP camera, a 512MB RAM, a 512MB ROM, a microSD card slot, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, a USB port, TV-out and support WCDMA/CDMA/TD-SCDMA connectivity. The Meizu M9 will hit China soon for a price tag of 2,500 Yuan (about $366). [Cellaz]

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)