Sony Ericsson Announces a Slim UIQ Smartphone

Sony Ericsson has officially announced the latest entry in its popular P series of smartphones. In a slightly confusing move, the new model, the P1, is a replacement for a device with a much higher model number, the P990.

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Perhaps this is a sign that Sony Ericsson is trying to re-create this line. The P1 will be much thinner than its predecessors and use a new kind of keyboard.

Inside and Out

Like the earlier models, the P1 will run the UIQ user interface on top of the Symbian OS, and include a QVGA touchscreen.

Below the display will be a combination keyboard and numberpad. It will have only 20 keys, but how each one is pressed will control which letter or number is typed.

It will include 160 MB of internal memory plus a Memory Stick Micro slot.

Wireless Networking

The P1 will be a GSM phone with GPRS and EDGE. It will also sport the 3G cellular wireless networking standard UMTS. All of these will be in the frequencies used in Europe, but Sony Ericsson might willing to create a version for North America, as it is for China.

Other wireless networking options include Wi-Fi (802.11b) and Bluetooth 2.0.

This smartphone will come with VoIP support built in, and also be able to use both Microsoft's and RIM's push email systems.

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Multimedia

Sony Ericsson included a 3.2 megapixel camera/video recorder in this model.

Other multimedia features in the P1 will be an audio player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/e-AAC+ support), a built-in FM radio, and support for Bluetooth stereo headphones.

Later this Year

Today's announcement of this smartphone comes well before it's release. Sony Ericsson says it won't debut until the third quarter of this year.

There has been no word yet on pricing.