Sony Ericsson P990
- b
- bunty
- iiV
- 12 Jul 2006
After what feels like forever for a mobile phone launch date, Sony has penciled in a launch date for the UK version of the P990i smartphone.
Not quite yet, but August 2006 is the month to mark in your calendar if you have been waiting for the P990i.
The handset (which is the successor to the P910i) has numerous upgrades and now sports tri-band GSM and UTMS. It also features WiFi, Bluetooth, a 2MP Camera and QWERTY keyboard which slightly covers a bright 262k Colour QVGA touchscreen display. Pricing should be around £100-£150 with a contract and £450 SIM free. Orange UK have mentioned it will be available on their network from September.
- b
- bunty
- iiV
- 12 Jul 2006
interview of oskar lampel, senior product manager of sony ericsson.
Unfortunately every silver lining has a cloud, and the cloud in this instance is a delay in the shipping of the P990. "The P990 remains an important flagship product for Sony Ericsson," explained Oskar. "But we are getting strong operator interest in the M600. As a result we have accelerated development of the M600 and changed the timing of the P990's introduction, to ensure both phones get to market as early as possible. One of the strengths of the UIQ platform is that it has allowed us to engineer this new phone quickly to respond to operator enthusiasm."
The later release of the P990 does however have compensations in the form of several improved and new features. Video streaming and playback will now be capable of 30fps in full screen mode, the audio recorder adds support for ACC+ as well as the ability to record from the in-built FM radio. There is also a 3D golf game to showcase the 3D graphics accelerator included in the P990's hardware. "The hardware accelerator gives a whole new dimension to mobile gaming," says Oskar. "This new game really shows the advantages of this technology and what can be achieved on the P990. These changes also position the P990 as an exceedingly competent multimedia device, not just a great business tool." Support for developing 3D graphics will be available to C++ and Java developers, with Java support provided by JSR-184.
A business card scanning application has been added too. This allows business cards to captured directly into the contacts application on the P990, using the camera. This application is also an example of co-operation with a third party developer.
The announcement of the P990 at last year's Smartphone Show was partially to provide developers with the opportunity to create applications for the P990 ahead of its launch. This move has started to bear fruit with the selection of the first set of try and buy applications for the P990. Some twelve applications covering business, entertainment, translation and navigation have already been confirmed for preload with the phone, although which applications make it to which markets will depending on the application, languages supported, and legal constraints. Oskar indicated that Sony Ericsson expect more applications will follow, eventually taking up 32MB of the standard 64MB Memory Stick to be shipped with the phone. Many of the applications are already well known, from versions for Sony Ericsson's previous UIQ phones, such as WorldMate, Handy Day, Mobipocket, and Advanced Call Manager. One of the new applications is Abaskus from SymbianWare, an advanced scientific and financial calculator. All of the applications, except Appello WISEPILOT have been written in C++.
All these try and buy applications will give users the option to buy the full version using a link from the application itself. This link will take the user directly to the Sony Ericsson Application Shop, using the P990's browser. "Our research has shown that providing a direct link to buy an application significantly increases the rate of conversion," says Oskar. "By implementing this link in the try and buy applications we hope to improve application sales further."
The changes in Symbian OS v9, which underpins UIQ3, mean that developers had to do more work to prepare their applications for the P990 than with previous P series phones. However, to add to the challenge, Sony Ericsson is pushing to have each application available in as many of the P990's 20 plus supported languages as possible. (The minimum requirement Sony Ericsson has for applications distributed with the P990 is EFIGS [English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish] language support.) This goal is driven both by a desire to provide P990 users with applications in their native language, improving usability and consequently the sales of the applications, but also by legal requirements, such as those imposed by the French government that requires all applications shipped on phones in France to be in French. "We have been working hard with developers to ensure they understand the localization requirements and providing development tips," says Oskar. "In addition we have put together a special arrangement with Cap Gemini to ensure the applications are Symbian Signed in a timely manner."
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- Anonymous
- Pv9
- 12 Jul 2006
confirmed Q3 2006 a year later...
- b
- bunty
- iiV
- 12 Jul 2006
Sony Ericsson are delaying the launch of the P990 to focus more resources on the M600i due to 'operator interest' in the M600i announced today. Read on...
"The P990 remains an important flagship product" says Oskar Lampel, SE Production Manager in an interview on Symbian One. "...[we have] changed the timing of the P990's introduction to ensure both phones get to market as early as possible."
While practically this might be a good idea, the continued non-appearance of any UIQ3 devices after having the software announced over two years ago could come back to bite SE in any 3GSM press coverage.
Categories: Hardware, Industry
Platforms: UIQ
- b
- bunty
- iiV
- 12 Jul 2006
another link but this story is somethin else i dont believe it i dont know whether u guys will believe it or not.lemme know what u guys think abt it.
http://www.mobileguerilla.com/articles/2006/01/15/sony-ericsson-p990-lite.php
- b
- bunty
- iiV
- 12 Jul 2006
hey was surfing the net and checked this site out where it says se p990 will launch in Q2 2006.u guys can see the link
http://www.mobilewhack.com/reviews/sony_ericsson_p990_cell_phone_-_the_ooomph_factor.html
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- Vsiahl K
- 2WY
- 12 Jul 2006
This is the end of mobile phone... If anybody could gift me 1 ....
OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH
- S
- Soundman
- mjp
- 12 Jul 2006
Look guys. Stop ranting on about specs all the time! The specs for this phone are fantastic, albeit potentially superseded by rivals, but don't forgot the software that is going to run on this beauty! UIQ 3 beats everything else around, and thats whats essentially going to give you the enjoyment that we're all anticipating!
- Q
- Qazi
- y@3
- 12 Jul 2006
to shahrooz. the pre-order price of P990 is 1065 $
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- Anonymous
- mXb
- 12 Jul 2006
As everyone has mentioned this device is being launched some 6 months later now we have devices like the MDA Vario II ala HTC TYTN that simply out spec the P990i what can P990 do that say this device cant do??
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- Anonymous
- F4p
- 12 Jul 2006
Hi every body ! I suggest to people who can't wait for this phone to go to Nokia E70. The specification slightly better than SE P990 and the price had gone down tremendously. The software also quit firm after a few time upgraded in firmware.
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- dgpatel
- U2H
- 12 Jul 2006
now its too much, we can`t wait any more. we all should claim to sony erocsson for this much late.
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- E-South Africa
- Nxs
- 12 Jul 2006
Hi everyone
Relax and be openminded.
just do yourself a favour and read the reviews and look at some pics of the i-mate pda's.
Have a look at either the i-mate JAMin or K-Jam.
JAMin: Thinner!!!!! than P910 and massive screen!!!, crystal clear and vivid colours!!, 2MP camera.
128meg memory, 64 left after the software uses about 64meg.
Amazing stylish, before you touch the screen there's 13 odd buttons to go through functions and menus.
I got a 1gig card (SD- which is cheaper than a SonyMemorystickProDuo) for 399 South African Rand. (Exchange rate is about $1=R6.
Thus, for $66 you get a 1gig card
or K-Jam(with full slide out keyboard)note it is thicker than the JAMin, because of the keyboard.
Both run on Windows software, an have Mediaplayer etc...Sometimes like on any pc, you click and it takes about 2seconds before the program opens, thus not instantanious, but neither is the P910.
Check it out...from an old SE fan.
- d
- dr pg
- Pxx
- 12 Jul 2006
hei e70 hasnot 2.76 inch screen and touchscreen. N93 will be very slow like n90. Wait a little for p990i
- Q
- Qazi
- y@3
- 12 Jul 2006
Tarantula E70 definitely supports RIM technology, plus it supports a lot of other Email Clients. also it has EDGE which is missing in P990.
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- Tarantula
- P9n
- 12 Jul 2006
@NH
nokias N93 and SE P990 have few things in common, N93 is a great camera phone and for me is in the same level of usability with N80. This means short battery life and slow operation with outstanding camera results (photo and video).
N80 is an average smartphone and i disagree with batt life in this device and a lot of bugs, it were long awaited and now is a deception for me.
P990 is more business device with a lot of functions and features, and UiQ is a real advantage if it is compared with S60 devices.
The real contender is E70, share almost the same features (2MP camera, WLAN, QWERTY) but in some sites i read that it doesnt support RIM Blackberry tech, its a important failure in a business device.
P990 has it and is a better choice in this segment... thumbs up P990!!
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- Anonymous
- PFM
- 12 Jul 2006
so what's the relaease status for Singapore?
Some days back, someone posted that the phone is with iDA for some clearance?
- D
- Dr pg
- Pxx
- 11 Jul 2006
Go for se p990i
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- Anonymous
- PFM
- 11 Jul 2006
To NH
Go for P990, no regret. It'll work better then N93 although N93 seems more superior in tech. but it still lacks UIQ 3. Which is s.e. best interface by far. Trust S.E. to give u the best phone in the market~!!!!!! :)
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- Trini
- PvW
- 11 Jul 2006
The phone received FCC approval this week (July 11th 2006).
http://tinyurl.com/zbaxz
(Copy and paste the link in your browser).
Estimates are that it should hit stores sometime in August.
I'm still waiting on it. The Qtek 9000 nearly caught my eye, but now I see there is a new model of that line due out on the market soon.
To date, I haven't seen a phone that packs all the P990 features into a package that could still be considered stylish, and I can understand why SE still believe it can command such a high price.
You have blackberrys, samsungs, Qteks, Motorolas and others for smartphones. But the Touchscreen,wi-fi, 3G, 2MP Camera goodness of the P990 can't be beat.