Sony Ericsson emphasised its continued commitment to Symbian OS today with the
announcement of its next generation smartphone to the global development
community. The P990 will be the first commercially available smartphone to adopt
the enhanced Symbian OS version 9.1 and UIQ 3 software platform. This flagship
UMTS smartphone is Wi-Fi enabled, has a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus and
features a new hardware keyboard beneath the flip-down keypad. The phone will
start shipping during Q1 of 2006.

The P990 is the next in a line of successful Sony Ericsson smartphones - the
P800, P900 and P910 – and is based on the same proven concept and recognisable
form factor. All have been popular with users, operators and software developers
thanks to their powerful productivity features. Operator feedback and download
statistics from the Sony Ericsson Application Shop have shown that consumers,
both business and personal, are interested in using their smartphones to the
fullest potential. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) can be as high as 4 to 5
times that of more traditional voice-centric mobiles.

To ensure a large proportion of applications are available on the new Symbian
and UIQ software platform when the P990 goes on sale, Sony Ericsson has decided
to announce the smartphone well in advance of availability so that developers
have time to create and certify as many applications as possible.

“The technical prowess of the P990 will be brought to full life by
applications from the third party developer community,” said Jan Wäreby,
Executive Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing. “Demand for
applications on the P800, P900 and P910 has been very high. Our smartphones have
been recognised as the most advanced and useful on the market, and we want to
maintain this reputation with the P990 by ensuring there’s a rich supply of top
applications for enterprise, productivity, leisure and gaming when users make
their first visit to the Sony Ericsson Application Shop.”

As with its predecessors, the P990 is designed to be first and foremost a
great mobile phone. It also offers all the benefits of UMTS including video
calling, high-bandwidth multi-media downloads and the ability to browse the
Internet with full HTML pages. These are viewed in landscape on the new Opera 8
browser. In addition, the P990 is prepared for all major push e-mail clients
enabling full e-mail access with attachments, anywhere, anytime.

The P990 has multiple text input methods enabling it to support all users’
needs and preferences. Writing e-mails is made easier by the new hardware
keyboard positioned beneath the flip-down keypad on the main body of the phone.
Reading them is made simpler on the large 2.8 inch QVGA touch screen. Multi
tasking – being able to browse the Internet, send and receive files at the same
time as talking – is now possible due to the enhanced capabilities of the new
software platform.

Memory has been extended in order to handle all multi-media downloads and
e-mail attachments. Memory Stick PRO Duo up to 4GB will be available in the
market at launch and the P990 now has up to 80 MB user free memory. A 64 MB
Memory Stick PRO Duo is included in the box, preloaded with a VPN client and
trial version of a virus scan package.

The combination of UMTS and WLAN features will also significantly improve the
efficiency and flexibility of applications such as e-mail, browsing the
Internet/Intranet and video telephony. WLAN, available in hot spots all over the
world, acts as a complement to high speed 3G services, enabling widespread
access to corporate network services.

Other new features include automatic time zone change to the Calendar diary
and updated PC sync software with extended synchronization possibilities.
Additionally the 2 Megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom, photo light
plus the bright TFT screen and video recording provide a high quality imaging
experience.

In a separate announcement today, Sony Ericsson Developer World and UIQ
Technology outlined their plans to support UIQ 3 developers.

Developers can program in C++ or Java™ to create powerful professional and
personal productivity tools for the P990. The smartphone is based on Java
Platform 3 (JP-3). It supports four new Java Specification Requests (JSR’s)
including Web Services (JSR-172) and is the twentieth phone from Sony Ericsson
supporting Mobile Java™ 3D, demonstrating the company’s leadership in this new
technology. Standard Java™ applications can be run with either the flip-down
keypad open or closed.

The P990 will be commercially available in Q1 2006. The variants will be:

• P990i Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia
  Pacific, Middle East, Africa
  
• P990c Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China.
  Launch for mainland China dependant on availability of 3G services.
  
• The P990 will be available in 4 hardware keyboard variants: QWERTY, QWERTZ,
  AZERTY and Russian

The P990 will be demonstrated in booth # 124 at The Smartphone Show 2005 in
the ExCeL Centre in London on October 11-12, where Sony Ericsson is headline
sponsor. Rikko Sakaguchi, Senior Vice President and Head of Product &
Application Planning, gives a keynote presentation.

Technical specifications

• Operating system - Symbian OS v9.1
  
• Software platform - UIQ v3.0
  
• Size - 114 x 57 x 25
  
• Weight - 155g with battery and flip keyboard
  
• Screen - Large 2.8 inch QVGA (240 x 320) touch screen with 262 k colours
  that supports landscape view for camera, video imaging and browsing
  
• 
  
• Interaction - Using touch screen, 3 way Jog Dial and dedicated buttons
  
• WLAN - 802.11b compliant
  
• Bluetooth - Includes car handsfree profile
  
• Infrared - Yes
  
• USB - Yes and charging via USB
  
• UMTS - E-GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900 and UMTS 2100
  
• Application memory - Up to 80 MB user free memory
  
• Camera - Integrated 2 megapixel CommuniCorder 24 bit colour depth, autofocus
  for still pictures, video clip recording and video calls
  
• Video telephony - Application included which allows video calls and video
  conferencing via the built-in dual cameras
  
• Media player - Supports playback, streaming and playlists
  
• Activity menu - Customizable top level menu
  
• Upgradeable - Via Sony Ericsson Update Service
  
• FM/RDS radio - Yes
  
• Browser - Opera browser (version 8) supporting frames and javascript
  
• Push email - Prepared for all major e-mail solutions including Research in
  Motion (Blackberry)
  
• Messaging - SMS, MMS and email
  
• PIM applications - Contacts, Calendar, To Do, Jotter for notes and sketches,
  Voice memo and Calculator, Converter, Stop Watch and Timer
  
• Viewers - Microsoft Excel. Word, Powerpoint and Adobe PDF
  
• Editors - Microsoft Word and Excel
  
• Themes - Easy personalisation of animated icons, screensavers, wallpapers
  and skins
  
• Speaker phone - Yes
  
• Memory Stick - Memory Stick PRO Duo slot for up to 4 GB removable memory. 64
  MB supplied
  
• Flight mode - Includes option to turn Wi-Fi on
  
• Local and remote synchronisation - via SyncML
  
• Business telephony - Yes
  
• Java™ ME platform support - Both CDC and CLDC environments supported:
  

  
  

  • JTWI 1.0 (JSR-185) consisting of Connected Limited Device Configuration
    (CLDC) 1.1 HI (JSR-139), MIDP 2.0 (JSR-118), WMA 1.1 (JSR-120). - PDA Optional
    Packages (JSR-75), Bluetooth (JSR-82), Wireless Messaging API 2.0 (JSR-205), Web
    Services (JSR-172), Mobile Media API (JSR-135), Mobile 3D Graphics (JSR-184),
    Nokia UI API 1.1
    
  • Connected Device Configuration (CDC) 1.0 (JSR-36) - Foundation Profile 1.0
    (JSR-46), Personal Profile 1.0 (JSR-62),PDA Optional Packages (JSR-75)
    

# posted by Sneakytje @ 6:40 PM