New Sony Ericsson C905 sees Sony Ericsson claim UK top spot from Samsung for one week only, with Nokia down in third Sony Ericsson has topped the weekly sales statistics with a brand share of 28.7 per cent following the launch of its C905. According to figures published by GfK for week 44 of the year, Samsung hit second with Nokia third. Sony Ericsson’s share has grown three per cent since the C905’s launch; it is now the second best selling contract phone. “This is a really good result,” said Sony Ericsson UK and Ireland marketing manager Dave Hilton.

  It’s good to see that smartphones are steadily gaining momentum in China. To put this into numbers, volume sales of smartphones in the world’s fastest growing economy grew 12.2% on year to reach 2.53 million units in September 2008. According to CCID Consulting, Nokia, Motorola and Dopod China benefited the most out of this trend. With 70% of the market, The Finnish giant ruled the Chinese smartphone sales in September, followed by Motorola with 18.9%, Dopod with 5.2%, Samsung with 2.6%, and Sony Ericsson with 1% share. China-based Coolpad ranked sixth with a 0.8% share, whereas other domestic branded vendors were unable to make significant gains in the segment.

  Frustrated that mobile makers refuse to develop strong internet handsets for under $500, 3 parent Hutchison has created its own $179 hyper-connected phone under a new brand, INQ. Some have dubbed it the "Facebook phone" as it is the first to fully integrate the social network into the phone's address book and message inbox. The 3G handset has also been built around Skype and Windows Live Messenger.The INQ phone can be bought from 3 for $179 on prepaid or free on a $39 a month two-year plan. It will be available before Christmas. Frank Meehan, the Australian chief executive picked to run INQ's global operations, said while expensive handsets like the iPhone, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices grabbed headlines, 90 per cent of phones sold were cheap, basic devices. The trouble for carriers like 3 is that those cheaper phones have appalling, clunky internet features, so they are rarely used for browsing the web, equating to swathes of lost revenue for mobile operators. And with devices like the iPhone, which 3 does not sell, the high up-front cost for carriers means they have to charge hefty amounts for data plans just to earn a profit. Announcing its second quarter results, Optus singled out high iPhone subsidies as putting a $44 million dent in...

  Officially announced today, the Samsung Anycall SPH-W6050 is the latest 5-megapixel cameraphone to appear under Korea’s handset spotlight. While it may look rather bland, looks are deceiving, as aside from a 5MP auto-focus cam, it also features a built-in DMB TV tuner. And if that’s not enough, a 3-inch WVGA LCD touchscreen display is also on-board, as well as Samsung’s Haptic user interface and Internet browser. Some users may also like the simplicity of its design, which is key to making it look good on hand and on a table. This new handset supports HSUPA and 3G connectivity, which could make that front-facing camera very useful. Of course, there’s the usual array of mobile phone features available with the Samsung SPH-W6050 and expandable memory via microSD cards. No word yet on a release outside of Korea, but in that part of Asia it will retail from 800,000 Korean Won or nearly $600 at the very least.

  Sony today announced the commercialization of IMX060PQ, a new type 1/2.5 CMOS image sensor Exmor, for use in camera enabled mobile phones that features an effective resolution of 12.25 megapixel. IMX060PQ is designed to meet the need for advanced image quality within mobile phone enabled cameras. Sony also announced the launch of IMX046PQ, a type 1/3.2 CMOS image sensor Exmor with 8.11 effective megapixel resolution, and IMX045PQ, a type 1/4 Exmor CMOS image sensor featuring 5.15 effective megapixel resolution. Furthermore, Sony will also commercialize IU060F, a type 1/3.2 lens module with 12.25 effective megapixel resolution, and IU046F, a type 1/3.2 lens module with 8.11 effective megapixels. Equipped with lens and auto focus functions, the two modules are the industry's smallest and thinnest in their class. Camera phones and other small-pixel consumer imaging devices often suffer from poor performance, especially under low light conditions and therefore we really don’t need a smaller, better, larger and more sensitive sensors for cellphones supported with a better optic and that is the only way to get the image quality that can be equal or even surpass what is available from current classic point and shoot cameras! In a matter of...

  ClarityLife C900, one of the few mobile phones especially built and designed for senior users, is now available for purchase in the US. The handset is manufactured by Clarity, a division of Plantronics, and it’s sold unlocked for $269.99. Unfortunately, there is only a GSM version of the phone (to use with AT&T or T-Mobile), so you won’t be able to use it on a CDMA network. Being targeted to seniors, ClarityLife C900 is obviously a simple phone packed with features that can make communication much easier for this categoy of mobile users. Among the features of C900, we must mention: *Amplification – seniors with hearing loss can hear incoming sound amplified up to 20 dB (decibels)*Four large buttons that provide an easy navigation*A one-touch emergency help button on the back, for instant contact with the loved ones*A large backlit screen that displays oversized text for convenient reading*Text messaging*Flashing orange LED for incoming calls*Incorporated flashlight

  According to a cost estimate by iSuppli, Google's first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, has an estimated bill-of-materials (BOM) of $143.89. For those of you keeping score, that puts it at $30.44 under the BOM cost of the iPhone. The most costly part of the G1 comes from the baseband with its combination of ARM11 and ARM7 microprocessors, which account for $28.49 of the total cost. The G1's 3.2 inch touch screen comes in second for cost at $19.67, with the camera and radio frequency/power amplifier following as the third and fourth most expensive components. iSuppli does state that the estimate is based purely on the cost of the components in the device, and not the software or manufacturing costs that go into it. Since the G1's major draw is the Android software, it would be interesting to see the rundown of software cost analysis at some point.

  All mobile phone makers grow rainbows inside their head at some point, and for Motorola, that is now. Which is why the company has announced the existence of two new colorful handsets, the Cocktail Mint and Cocktail Tropical. Both phones don’t pack in anything revolutionary, except maybe for the fact that they’re so color-filled, it’s supposed to be a feature. Well, who can blame Motorola, for they were the ones who introduced variety and stylishness in an otherwise dull and non-RAZR craving world. The Motorola Cocktail Mint and Cocktail Tropical phones are actually fairly similar. About their only difference would be that the Cocktail Mint is colored with a combination of chic black, fresh mint, and pearl white, while the Cocktail Tropical uses white, light green, violet and orange in its hues. For no obvious reason, both phones also feature a wine dictionary so users can work on their wine jargons and other wine-related skills.   We know the Cocktail Mint phone supports 3G data, supports microSD cards and has a 2.2-inch QVGA screen. There’s a camera lens at the back but its megapixel count isn’t show anywhere, so it could be anyone(or someone who knows Korean)’s guess. And speaking of guesses,...

  After teasing us with a touchscreen phone way back at CES this January, iriver has been decidedly mum on the subject ever since, calling what we saw more of a "proof of concept" than a ready-for-market product. Well, that veil has been lifted and we're finally staring at the iriver wave, a touchphone that iriver plans to start shipping in Korea on March 9th of next year with KT, and with other major carriers to follow. Other than a touchscreen, the phone packs WiFi and the traditional kitchen sink approach of Korean PMPs, with multimedia playback, FM radio, e-books and an electronic dictionary. There's miniSD expansion, access to the Bugs Music Service for online music and we're sure a few other perks hidden under layers of Korean spec sheets. Overall the physical design hasn't really changed much from what we saw at the start of the year (looks like that 3-inch, 480 x 272 touchscreen is quite intact), but the software has certainly been refined, and is devoid of many of its original, erm, iPhone-inspired...

  More and more often, LG comes with devices that have a special focus. With this we mean that a clear segmentation arose in fashion devices, basic mobiles, cameraphones and music phones. This last category will soon welcome a new family member, namely the LG KC560. This slider will have a very good price and have a fresh design. The employees of Unwired View laid their hands on the first details and pictures of the LC KG560 today. Due to this, we also know that the device likes a proper beat, at the bottom of the slider we namely find different LED lights that blink on the beat of your music. Very nice for the young mobile caller. Besides an average amount of internal memory, which can also be expanded, the LG KC560 also offers a musicplayer. Besides music possibilities the LG KC560 also has some nice things to offer on the area of photography. A 3.2 megapixel camera with an LED flash is namely placed at the back. You won't be able to reach the internet on rocket speed because the device is "only" equipped with GPRS and EDGE support, but that you are able to reach the internet and e-mail are no two ways about. A specific timeframe in which we may expect an official announcement of the LG KC560 is something we don't have at this point, we do know...

  LG Japan hosted a Mobile Design Contest and with the winners announced the phones were put on display at a Tokyo Designers Week event. Although the phones are only concepts and may never actually become products, its always interesting to see the designs and concepts that come out of these competitions. The winning design was “Planet Phone”, the circular smooth phone takes inspiration from our planet and the people on it to develop this unique clam shell mobile. The top of the phone has LED lights embedded in it. The lights represent the users friends and the frequency of contact between them. The more you keep in touch with your friends the more the lights stay in the center, but as your communication drops the LEDs retreat to the outskirts of the phone. Our second favorite design is the Temprature Phone concept. Similar to the Planet Phone concept it aims to raise awareness of your friends. The back of the phone has a number of tiles which can be removed from the phone and shared with friends. You can give your friends a tile with your name on it and vise versa, this provides a unique design for every cell phone. The Temperature phone also has LED lights behind the name tiles which glow according to the temprature of the place your...