Market Update Week 9

It's time for the next episode of our Market Update series. This week there are several interesting handsets appearing in stores and we present you our Market Update 2008 - Week 9.

First off in our market update this week is the high-end Sony Ericsson W890 Walkman, the successor of the overwhelmingly popular Slim Shady, or otherwise known as Sony Ericsson W880.

Packing the Walkman music player 3.0 and a 3 megapixel camera W890 stands at only 9.9 mm thickness. Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE plus HSDPA complement its slim figure.

Software-wise the W890 flaunts support for Flash Lite themes and the multimedia content is organized via the same Media Center application seen in Sony Ericsson K850. Sony Ericsson W890 which we've already reviewed, has a 2" 262K color display with QVGA resolution, FM radio and SensMe technology support.

The W890 currently can be found online for around EUR 310 (USD 470).

Sony Ericsson W890

Sony Ericsson K660 is the next mid-range stylish phone that is already available and also reviewed. K660 features UMTS/HSDPA with video call, 2 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, FM radio and M2 memory card slot.

The Sony Ericsson K660 also flaunts quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support and an improved display with QVGA resolution. Other goodies include Google Maps application and the Music player features the otherwise Walkmans-only MegaBass equalizer preset.

Sony Ericsson K660 is a web optimized phone, we've reviewed not so long ago, with four hardware keys for web browsing.

The K660 currently can be found online for around EUR 220 (USD 330).

Sony Ericsson K660

The last two offers for this week come from Samsung - i780 and J700. The Samsung i780 PocketPC based on Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional OS is obviously made to impress. It features a square 65K TFT touchscreen display with the unusual resolution of 320 x 320 pixels, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps and built-in GPS receiver with A2DP support.

The 2 megapixel camera mounted on the handset unfortunately lacks autofocus and LED flash but the i780 also sports Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, and slot for microSD card.

Among the highly interesting features of the i780 is the ingenious navigation solution - a Finger Mouse pad which allows users to navigate a mouse cursor throughout the interface. Packing such a massive functionality, the mere thickness of 13.3 mm makes the Samsung i780 a true engineering feat. Expect our full review of Samsung i780 within the next week.

The i780 currently can be found online for around EUR 460 (USD 700).

Samsung i780

Samsung J700 saw its official announcement at the WMC 2008 held in Barcelona. The classic slider J700 will cater to the style sensitive budget-minded users. The modest, yet attractive slider offers a 2-inch display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. It also packs a 1.3 megapixel snapper onboard.

HSDPA support is missing in the tri-band J700 - it only provides EDGE for wireless network transfers. Besides Bluetooth and USB, the J700 also has a FM radio.

The J700 currently can be found online for around EUR 130 (USD 200).

Samsung J700