There may have been plenty of rumours about a dumbed down version of the P990 smartphone, but instead Sony Ericsson has chose to launch a trio of new phones aimed at basic consumers.
The new handsets are the company’s answer to the Vodafone Simply phone which the network launched in collaboration with Sagem earlier in the year. Largely bereft of features – there’s no camera, MP3 player or email – they are designed so that even the most tech-unsavvy users can find their way around them. The phones are expected in Australia early next year.
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Sony Ericsson’s big idea, for two of the phones, the J220 and J230, is to include an option that allows the user to customise the interface to make it even simpler to use. They can either opt for the traditional multi icon interface or go for a single icon menu. This enables them to access their core features – and on these phones there aren’t a great deal to chose from anyhow – with one click.
The chocolate bar style handsets also include a 128×128 pixel, 65k colour display, embedded games and a calendar and the J230 has an FM radio, but that’s all. The pair have a battery standby life of 280 hours. Even more basic is the Z300, a small clamshell with fewer features than its siblings. It doesn’t even sport the speaker phone that’s found on the other two new phones and there’s no single icon user interface option. It does however feature a 128×128 pixel, 65k colour display, embedded games and a calendar.
